BlaringSmelly

Now, here is a city anyone can have fun and wanting to come back for more. My first impression about Singapore is the constant smell of food in the air. It began as soon as you step into the airport terminal. Even walking out from the hotel gym, by the swimming pool, I smell roasted duck.

One can spend hours and hours in the Singapore Botanic Garden. The varieties of orchards and other exotic plants were beyond my comprehension. Even though the heat and humidity made us extremely uncomfortable, I didn’t mind at all being sweaty and sticky being outdoor browsing different garden areas.

Excellent food anywhere we went in Singapore. We traveled far and ventured into different areas of the city looking for local favorites and eateries recommended by food critics.

There is definitely nightlife in this sleepless city. Nearly midnight, Orchard Road are still alive with streetlights, jammed traffic, and shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrians.

I also noticed a good amount of art displays in public areas. In the downtown area, MRT and malls are connected with tunnels. These cooling underground passages ways showcases contemporary and experimental art pieces.

Installation pieces are also common in outdoor shopping areas.

It’s not fair to compare Taipei with Johor Bahru, a city right by the Singapore and Malaysia border. However, the place is definitely not tourist friendly.

Before the trip, I was warned by many about Johor Bahru’s notoriously high crime reputation. Pedestrians were known to be robbed under broad daylight. Some more hairy stories involved victims getting hammered on the skull before their purses were snatched. And because of serious population, it was also not recommended to swim, jog, or cycling.

So my days spent in Johor Bahru were limited to napping and watching tv. We only went out for food or visiting family, and the means of traveling were restricted to car.

Kuala Lumpur was by far a more happening city. The buildings and streets are cleaner and carry more characters. The twin towers stands tall and can be seen day or night from any corner of downtown area. There are pockets of hip hangouts and good eateries in the city. But it’s hard to find unless you have locals to show you around. During my short stay, the capital of Malaysia still didn’t strike me as a place I would like to revisit.

It wasn’t on our schedule, but somehow we ended up at a gold driving range behind Miramar Entertainment Park.This was a first for both Ktula and I. Betty took courses before. She gave us some pointers then off I went.

After a few practice swims, I went for the ball for real. “Pong!” I hit the little white ball in 1 swim!

Call it beginner’s luck, but it deserved a little victory dance.

This winter Ktula and I took a 2-week trip to Singapore, Taiwan, and Malaysia.

First stop in Taipei, our schedule was packed with sight-seeing, friends visit, and constant feasting on local food. The hotel i pick initially was located in a questionable alley on Chung-Shan North Rd. After 2 nights, we moved to The Grand Hotel(圓山大飯店).

We covered the usual tourist attractions and then some:

In past years, I would make the effort to pay a visit to the National Palace Museum (國立故宮博物院) when I’m in Taiwan. This year was no exception.

We were blessed with good weather. The day we visited Taipei 101 observatory, the visibility to the entire Taipei basin was clear under blue sky.

My mom took us to Liouhuang Valley in the Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園). The air in the valley was filled with strong sulfur smell. Taipei locals came for the hot springs and scenic hiking routes.

Shilin Night Market (士林夜市) was yet another eye-opening experience for young Ktula. The varieties of local food stands; the boiling noises of vendors yelling, traffic, and market goers; not to mention the unique smell in the air. It was Taiwanese culture in its true and most colorful nature.

About 30 minutes ride from downtown MRT main station is Danshui (淡水). Used to be a fisherman’s town, now it’s evolved into a popular seaside destinations for locals and tourists alike.

My sister Betty took 2 days off from her extremely busy schedule and accompanied us to destinations that’s harder to get to with public transportation. Jiufen (九份), a declining gold mine town, now visitors came near and far for its Chinese style narrow streets and tea houses.

After his unsuccessful shrimping incident, Ktula has being dreaming about shrimping in Taipei. And so we did. For a change of luck, Ktula caught his first shrimp in less than 15 minutes, shortly another one, and then another! Betty caught her first one, and then Liam caught one too. I didn’t catch anything for a long time but eventually i started to catch up. At the end, each of us had at least 5 catches, that’s 19 times more shrimps than Ktula previously caught!

The days in Taipei was short and sweet. We left Saturday early morning and to our next stop, Johor Bahur, Malaysia.

When I told people there were bowling allies on the cruise we took to Alaska, more than once I was asked how could you bowl in a moving vessel.

Just so we happened to take some video footages while we were bowling in the ship’s Bliss Lounge. I tried iMovie for the first time to compress the original footages and also playing with some basic film editing features.

There was also a dance revolution arcade next to the bowling alley. As we were attempting to keep up with the beats, I vaguely heard someone speaking Chinese in the background, something like “…damn these 2 are really bad at this…”.

Hello, we are new on this ok? Sheesh!

Orcas Island is fun. The kind of fun you get from close encounter with wild life; getting dirty, smelly, and soaking up the sun; being a lazy bum, dozing off a warm summer afternoon; or spoiling your taste buds with hardy grubs, healthy snacks, or fine dinning of your choices.

I attended Tab and Jon’s beautiful wedding and had a great time doing all that during my 3-day visit at the Island.

Most wedding guests stayed at Outlook Inn. Outlook Inn faces the island’s calm east bay water. Not far from shore is a tiny island that can only get to at low tide. Shellfish hidden under the sand squirted us with salt water as we were exploring the area. These shellfish we believe to be geoducks. Narisa and Paul were trying to dig one out to see what they look like. Later a nearby kid and I help out as well. As soon as geoduck sensed our present, it dug deeper under the sand in an incredible speed. So fast we didn’t stand a chance. One time I tried to grab its neck with my hand. I got everybody squirted on the face and the geoduck escaped.

Just the other side of the island, hundreds of bright color starfish scattered on the beach and in the shallow water. And of course, more geoducks!

An afternoon whale watching trip with Orcas Island Eclipse Charters. Being at the present of these playful and gentle giants was an unique and humble experience.

This photo was taken about 3 hours before low tide. The main street of Eastsound was still asleep. I seated myself comfortably in this scenic spot surrounded by flower, sipping coffee and munching on maple sugar cookies i bought at a local organic grocery store. What a relaxing way to enjoy a peaceful morning.

Leaving Orcas Island, we were pleasantly surprised to find this family of seagull nesting on the pole within reach from the top level of docked ferry.

I can come up with only handful of things you can do in Tokyo that’s more unique and cultural-centric than watching Kabukiza (歌舞伎). The word “Kabukiza” in Kanji characters literally mean sing, dance, and talent. Together with intricate costumes, make-ups, stage and set designs, Kabuki theatre is one elaborate journey to the art of stage performance.

Again we went solo to Kabuki Theater in Ginza (銀座). A mix of tourists and local audiences filled up the theater. Once we were seated, the regulars started on their lunch box and snack sold in the theater store.

Lights were completely off before the performance. Kabukiza started as the stage dramatically lightened up and the actors, the musicians, and the set all in place. I wish I had a pair of binocular with me like some of the people did. So I can get a closer look at the actors’ expression and their stunning costumes.

Stage design was quite elaborate as well. Interestingly enough just yesterday at Edo-Tokyo Museum, an exhibition of stage tricks developed during Edo periods gave us the first glimpse of stage design techniques and historical reference.

After the show, mom and I followed the guidebook to Ginza Kyube (銀座久兵衛) for a late lunch. Ginza Kyube was highly recommended by all the guidebook I’ve read. Politicians and celebrities were known to pay visit to this restaurant for its quality food and services. At the sushi bar, I tried to order mixing English with limited Japanese words I know. That was no help. I defaulted to a cheat sheet I prepared with list of Japanese dish pronunciations for situations like this…not working either. The head chef was super friendly and determined to help us getting a meal. Somehow we managed to order a bento box and some sashimi. Even though we couldn’t understand a word of Japanese, the head chef just kept talking to us, made us feel much at ease. Before we left, he came out behind the sushi bar and gathered up the waitress to take pictures with us. Even though we couldn’t communicate, we certainly felt his warm hospitality. And that was just awesome.

According to the tour schedule, today we were going to Disneyland…can’t say I was all that excited about that. Instead we split with the group and took the subway to Shibuya.

Shibuya in many ways weren’t that much different from any other big cities. Everything from people, traffic, stores to street signs seemed to be more dense here. Wondering in Shibuya, Mom commented, and I concurred, there were times she thought she’s in downtown Taipei.

We returned to Ryogoku in the early afternoon. Ryogoku is known as the Sumo Town. Our hotel was not far from the Sumo Stadium and Edo-Tokyo Museum. I got really excited watching bunch of Sumo wrestlers on the street but only managed to take some distanced snapshots. Very quickly I regretted for not working up the courage to approach them in person. Coming back from the museum, we got a genuine Sumo wrestler right in our hotel lobby. Once again I was being a chicken and was going to walk away. Mom reminded me, “Come on, now it’s your chance.” Thanks to her, I didn’t let this opportunity pass by. He turned out to be very friendly. According to Ktula, he has seen the Sumo wresting on TV. How about that? I met a celebrity Sumo wrestler!

In the evening was reunion with my high school friends Akiko. Akiko and I were classmates at Escola maria Imaculada in Sao Paulo, Brazil. We took the same school bus. And for almost a year, our families were neighbors living in the same apartment. Akiko was a sport star and an A student. I was really dorky and awkward. The one thing we had in common was we were both international students.

It’s being over a decade but waw, she hasn’t changed much. Her dad still remembered and talked about the times when we were carpooling to take TOFEL test. My dad always asked her “Akiko, did you study?” I found that just hilarious she still remembered bits and pieces like that.

What a day to be on a pilgrimage to Shibuya; up and close with a celebrity of a national treasure’s caliber; and reunited with friend first time in more than a decade. I think I’m ok missing out on Disneyland.

We woke up to a full view of Mount Fuji from our room window. The sky was at its purest blue in this cold winter morning.

Today we bused to Tokyo. As we approaching the city limit, my shuffle started playing soundtracks from “Samurai Shamploo“. Some good timing that was!

We spent a large part of the afternoon at Odaiba (台場). Odaiba was like an adults’ theme park. There was the futuristic Fuji TV building, vintage toys and arcades, designer clothing stores, splendid view of Rainbow Bridge lighted up at night… but wait, that’s not all. Don’t forget to check out the Ferris wheel and Toyota’s automobile and universal design showrooms.

Tonight we stop at Ryogoku (両国 ). It was dark by the time we arrived. The streets were still quite alive with people came from the subway station, restaurants, and sake houses.

Before going to Hakone, we detoured to Asakusa temple (淺草寺), for a quick stop. This temple somehow has became one of the must see temple destination in Tokyo area. Just outside the temple courtyard, there was a long stretch of street vendors and small shops selling gifts and souvenirs. We wondered off the main street and it was a much quieter and much closer to what I had in mind the typical Japanese street. Beautiful fabrics quietly displayed at the window, housewives bargaining with old woman selling fresh and pickled vegetables, discounted house items neatly displayed on the table by the store entrance, and small sake house at almost every corner.

Hakone was about 45 minutes from our hotel. Cruising Lake Ashi, one can sassily spot the Torii of Hakone Shrine. Mom and I came by the Torii and saw couple Japanese women were praying. The sight brought such inner peace and serenity I don’t think my photos quite capture it.

At night we stayed at Fujinobou (富士之堡華園). The rooms were traditional Japanese inns style with tatami floor and low seating areas. Also guests were welcome to wear hotel provided yukata in public areas like the restaurants and hot tubs.

I found a paid internet station in the hotel’s store/arcade area. Took me a while to realize the keyboards were slightly different from what I used of. For example the @ key wasn’t on the 2 key. I wonder if it was just the hotel keyboards or keyboards in Japan are all like that.