Just a quick post to say Happy New Year 2009. I know you guys haven't hit 2009 yet, but here, in the future, it's pretty cool. No flying cars yet. Anyway, we went to see some fireworks at Marina Bay. I have a video, but only people in 2009 can see it, so come back in 10 hours.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas, etc
From Singapore to you all - Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and we miss you guys back in the states. :-)
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Translation
For those who don't play World of Warcraft, a small dictionary might
be necessary to understand the first part of Mathew's post.
WoW= World of Warcraft
WotLK = Wrath of the Lich King (the new expansion)
Tank = guy who leads the group into battle. He has a lot of armor and takes all the damage so everyone else doesn't have to.
Guild = a group of players who play together
80 = the new highest level
Also, "Lucky Draw" means a contest drawing here.
What wasn't mentioned in his post, by the way, is that we discovered that we could have had our friends purchase WotLK in the states and email us the codes. It turns out that Blizzard, the company who makes WoW, put it online for people to download once they upgraded their account with the code. I had mine earlier than Mathew because Jon got me the Collector's Edition and I got my code an hour or two after the US launch, 22 hours before the launch here.
be necessary to understand the first part of Mathew's post.
WoW= World of Warcraft
WotLK = Wrath of the Lich King (the new expansion)
Tank = guy who leads the group into battle. He has a lot of armor and takes all the damage so everyone else doesn't have to.
Guild = a group of players who play together
80 = the new highest level
Also, "Lucky Draw" means a contest drawing here.
What wasn't mentioned in his post, by the way, is that we discovered that we could have had our friends purchase WotLK in the states and email us the codes. It turns out that Blizzard, the company who makes WoW, put it online for people to download once they upgraded their account with the code. I had mine earlier than Mathew because Jon got me the Collector's Edition and I got my code an hour or two after the US launch, 22 hours before the launch here.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Update from Mathew
OK, so I know I've been pretty bad about posting to the blog... well, let's be honest: my contributions, save for one post waaaay back at the beginning, have been non-existent. So, let's see if I can rectify that a little bit, with an overall update/summary from me, of my takes on our adventures on this side of the world so far. :)
1. Wrath in Singapore
As Jenna posted last month, getting copies of WoW's expansion, "Wrath of the Lich King," wasn't quite the same here as back in the States. It started out easy enough... we went to Challenger, an electronics store in the mall across from our apartment (maybe a 10 minute walk, including waiting to cross the street and navigating the mall), where they had a giant sign advertising Wrath of the Lich King. Interestingly enough, two days before the release (when we decided to do our pre-order), the sign actually had a hand-written sign at the stop stating, "In Stores Now!"... this wasn't actually true, so we purchased two copies, and got two credit-card sized preorder cards, which we were to turn in at the "Launch Event."
Now, in the US on release day, one would go to the store where they pre-ordered and pick up their software. As Jenna detailed, such is not so here, and they have ONE place for everyone to pick up their software in all of Singapore... that's right, the 10,000-strong WoW population of Singapore converging on one place, for a box with a disc and a software key. Considering how advanced this culture seems to be in a lot of respects, this did not seem like the smartest way to do this. Oh well, when in Rome...
Jenna posted some pictures of the event itself, and some details on the overall/outside view of the event, but I probably have a slightly different take, since I was actually in the thick of things. Here's my approximate timeline:
Previous night - Jenna and I decided to have dinner near the launch venue, so we knew where we were coming the next day. At this stage, we had no idea what to expect. We took the MRT, which was maybe a half-hour ride and a few transfers, to where we thought it was going to be. After a bit of wandering, we found the building, where there were already a half dozen guys camped out. Keep in mind this was 9pm, and the event wasn't starting until noon the next day. At this stage, I began contemplating when I should head there.
Later that night: After some debate, I decided to stay up for the night and head to the launch event on the first train, at around 5:20am. Around 3am I realized I was exhausted and decided to sleep... amazingly, I somehow got up on time.
5:30am: Left for the launch site, with a PSP (entertainment), water (hydration... sitting outside in Singapore for hours is the perfect recipe for dehydration), and some soda (caffeine... remember, no sleep) in tow...
6:00am: Arrived at the launch site. Amazingly, the number of people from 9pm the night before had only about doubled, and I was just around the first corner of the building, in maybe the first two dozen people. As expected, I was the only caucasian in line at this point (and the only I saw until much later in the morning, whom were much further back in line.)
6:15am: Settled in for the long haul... since there was nobody to hold my place in line, I basically prayed I didn't have any sort of bathroom emergency. Luckily, all was fine.
8:00am: Other people actually started to show up, in a slow trickle. Probably 3 times as many people there as when I arrived... still not a huge number.
9:00am: Now people were really showing up, and there were at least a hundred people in line... still just the start
10:00am: Definite signs that something was going on... several hundred people in line, and the alleyway where they had the line going was starting to get full... they had some barricades set up about halfway back in the alley, to set up a snaking line, and they were quickly filling.
It was also around this time that the trucks hauling Wrath showed up. (That's right, they weren't even in the building yet.) At least half a dozen trucks showed up, each with 4-5 pallets of WotLK each. And they unloaded them right next to the line... in front of those of us who had been waiting hours, and were just itching to play, since our counterparts on the other side of the world were already well on their way to 80.
10:30am: Some of the guys in the line around me started joking about forming a raid to take on the guys unloading the trucks, for some "epic loot." I was nominated to be the tank... Maybe because I mentioned I play a tank in-game, or maybe because they wanted to throw me to the wolves. (I was definitely a minority at this event... not only because I was about the only white guy, but because there were WAY more hordies than Alliance.) Raid fell apart due to lack of heals.
11:00am: The Guild Master for the guild the guy behind me in line was in showed up, and handed him a STACK of prepaid cards... we're talking like 70 cards. I'm not really sure what it was all about, but I think he was actually buying copies for his whole guild... so strange.
Noon: Woo! The wait was finally over... they started moving the line forward so we could head in.
12:05pm: Line moved forward but stopped...
12:10pm: Still waiting
12:15pm: Finally, they moved a group of people forward to move in. Now, in the States, this would have meant walking in the building, giving them your prepaid card, and getting your game. As with everything else having to do with this event, such was not so here. They had us take the side entrance to the building, and go up SIX flights of stairs. (Awesome idea for a group of nerds who have been standing in the sun all day...) At the top was a dark room with funky lighting, a few monitors on the walls playing the WotLK trailer, and a fog machine. Someone in the front said a little spiel, and let us in.
Table one: turn in prepaid cards and get WotLK
Table two: get poster
Table three: get Razer mousepad
Table four: get some sort of complimentary canned drink (one of the local sodas I think... some sort of promotional thing... I ignored it and moved on.)
Down the stairs, to the floor below...
Here, a guy directed me to a computer to sign up for the "lucky draw." I threw in my information and quickly moved down to the next floor. I wanted out!
There was another bank of computers here, and a guy tried directing me to one to play "Blizzard demos" or to go out to this little area where they had some weird games set up. (No joke, I think I saw a bean bag toss thing.) I just asked him how to get out, and moved on.
Finally, down some more stairs and I was in the lobby. There were workers milling around, and I was the only consumer in site... I think most of the guys in front of me were still stuck in the floors above, while I'd just rushed through. I headed for the front door (which literally cut right through the line outside) and proceeded away from the building, amidst stares from the people still waiting.
At this stage, I think Jenna's pictures from her post tell the best story. Her and I met up at this point, wandered around for a bit to get a full view of how many people were there (thousands at that stage), and proceeded home. I was EXHAUSTED, but still managed to play for a bit before passing out.
While I didn't go to any release events in the States for Burning Crusade, I do know with absolute certainty this was NOTHING like any of the events in the States. While I can understand how they want to capitalize on having that many gamers in one place, it seemed lost on them that the only thing we wanted to do was get our game and get out. Oh well, with any luck, if/when there's another expansion, Jenna and I will be back in the States.
(Aside: Tygrand, my main, hit 80 last night, less than a month after the expansion... if it weren't for the Thailand debacle, this would have easily happened a week or two ago.)
2. Thailand.
While we don't get any days off for Thanksgiving here, since Jenna had the week off from schoolwork, we decided it would be a good time for me to take some time off from work and for us to go on vacation.
Our original thought was to go to Australia... I've always wanted to go, and while it's not super close, it's far closer than going there from the States. However, after checking flights and other costs, we decided it was going to be a bit too pricey, and to find a cheaper alternative. After checking Tiger Airways, a low-cost carrier out of Singapore, we decided on Bangkok, Thailand... the flight was only a couple hundred each round trip, the hotel was next to nothing, and it looked like it would be a fun, interesting trip. We were certainly right about the "interesting" part...
Our plan was to leave on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and stay until Friday, giving us four full days. Two days we were going to do planned tours, and the other two days we were going to explore. On Friday we booked the flight, found a hotel, and booked a couple tours online (one was to a nature reserve, and the other was a Thai cooking class... we debated a couple others, but figured we could sign up for more later.) Our trip was set.
Sunday: Before heading for the airport, I checked on our tours again... while the nature tour thing was confirmed, the cooking wasn't, but I wasn't worried. I mean, they probably don't work weekends, right? And the cooking wasn't until later in the week, so there was plenty of time.
Our trip to Thailand was uneventful... the flight was quick, exchanged some money at the airport (S$1000 -> 28,000 Thai Baht), and found a taxi to take us to the hotel. The guy didn't use the meter, but only wanted to charge us 500 Baht (about $17US), so we figured that was fine.
We got to the hotel, checked in, and everything was grand... the trip had gotten off to a great start. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all!
Monday: We had nothing planned for Monday beyond exploring, so when we got up that's what we were going to set out to do. I checked my email quick, to find out that our tours had been cancelled, with no explanation. WTF! Jenna assured me things would be fine, so we just decided to venture out into the city and figure out the rest of the week as we went. Jenna talked about our tuk-tuk adventure, so I'll leave that be... bottom line, by the end of the day, we had full bellies, Jenna had some new jewelry, and we had tours planned. While the day started off on a low note, it again looked like this could be a good trip!
Tuesday: We got up insanely early (5am), to catch our tour for the day. I'm going to leave the tour details to Jenna, since she still has pictures to post, but while on the tour we heard about some unrest going on back in Bangkok... something about a bomb somewhere, and some protests. All-in-all, at this stage, it didn't sound like anything too bad. Boy, were we wrong.
When we got back to the hotel and checked the news, we found out protesters had "peacefully" taken over the international airport, shutting it down. From all reports, it sounded like it still wasn't anything to worry about, and it would all be cleared up in a couple days, and we'd be able to get out as planned on Friday.
Wednesday: Jenna and I wandered and shopped... I don't recall anything terribly significant from Wednesday beyond this, but I'm sure Jenna will add more. The unrest at the airport continued, but our flight was still supposed to be on as scheduled, so we weren't really worrying... yet.
Thursday: Another early day for tour two. I'll leave details to Jenna and her pictures, but my bottom-line comment on the tour was it was terrible. While the actual content of the tour was neat, around every corner it felt like we were getting screwed over by the tour guide. First, we signed up for two things - floating market and rose garden - but the tour was apparently stopping at a third place - crocodile farm - which we were basically forced into going to and paying for. (Well, we didn't have to go/pay for it, but our only other option would have been sitting around waiting.) Second, the tour "ended" at a jewelry store, where we were forced to go through in order to get a van home at the end... basically, it was a bit of scam by the tour guide, where she got some sort of cut for each person she brought in to the store. I was LIVID and made this very apparent... the tour guide apologized several times, showed us through the store, and we got on our van to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we checked the news, and found out the airport crisis was still going on... but our flight had not yet been canceled... I was still hopeful we were going to get out of there on time.
Friday: The day we were supposed to leave. I got up, checked my email, and found out our flight had been canceled, with no word at all from Tiger Airways about how we were supposed to get out of the country. Dammit! I checked the US-Thailand Embassy's website to see what they had to say for US tourists stuck there, which turned out not to be much... basically, there take was Thailand had to figure things out, and recommended US travelers just sit tight and wait for it to be resolved... incredibly helpful.
Weekend: Jenna and I were officially on holiday overflow at this point, and we had nothing planned, nor anything we really wanted to do. The weekend was basically spent wandering around a bit and shopping, avoiding incessant tuk-tuk drivers, and habitually checking the news to see if there was any update on the airports. Had we both brought laptops (I, stupidly, left mine in Thailand... I mean, why would we possibly need two laptops for such a short trip?), it probably would have been spent sitting around the hotel playing WoW.
Monday: With still no word on when the airport crisis might be over, I decided Monday morning it was time to find some other means to get out of the country... enough was enough! I did some preliminary checks online, and it appeared that the train from Bangkok to Penang had some seats available for Tuesday or Wednesday. Perfect! That would have meant an overnight train ride, a short taxi to the airport in Penang, and a quick flight home... for a second, I even let myself thing something about this trip would be simple.
At the train station, we were approached by a very helpful information person, who spoke fairly good english. We told him our plan, at which point he informed us that the trains from Bangkok-Penang/Butterworth were booked until December 7th. Dammit! His suggestion: take the train from Bangkok to Hat Yai, where there were "lots of buses"available to Penang.
We headed up to the window, where we found out there were no sleeper seats available for Tuesday, but we could get one on Wednesday... not perfect, but at this stage we wanted out of the country, so we took it. Jenna and I couldn't figure out at all if we were sitting together based on this tickets, but, again, at this stage we just wanted out.
The rest of the day was spent doing a little more wandering... Jenna and I found a really nice park on one of our earlier outings, which we visited again. I believe she has lots of photos which I'm sure she'll be posting soon.
Tuesday: Tuesday AM I woke up very early, very sick. I still have no idea what caused it, but I had nasty stomach pains, and spent the majority of the morning in the bathroom. Jenna was wonderful and took care of me. :)
Wednesday. Departure day... The whole two day trip back to Singapore really deserves it's own post and pictures, so I'm going to leave this for another time. I think Jenna and I have been a bit too burnt out from our vacation to actually put this together. Long story short, it was a long, hellish journey, but we made it back to Singapore safe and sound.
3. Holiday time in Singapore
It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a couple weeks away... it's hot, sticky, and green outside, so seeing Christmas decorations up at the mall just doesn't feel right. When Jenna mentioned to me that Christmas was only a couple weeks away, I hardly believed her. It just doesn't feel right...
I'm kinda thinking that Christmas isn't going to feel very much like Christmas this year. It's too difficult to send presents back and forth with people in the States, so I've basically decided to hold off on anything like that until we're back in the US in a few months. This will be my first Christmas not spent back in the Midwest with my family... I'm not really sure yet how I feel about that, but I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later. Jenna and I have been talking about doing some sort of late Thanksgiving-turned-Christmas dinner (with turkey and everything), which would be really, really nice, and hopfully make things feel a little bit more like the holidays. Though it's likely going to be tough, given our tiny oven and lack of virtually all cooking implements. We'll see though. :)
Well, that's really all I've got... since this is my first day back at work in two weeks I should probably get some actual work done. :) I'll try to be a little bit more talkative on the blog going forward. Now that I feel a bit "caught up," hopefully it won't seem so daunting.
1. Wrath in Singapore
As Jenna posted last month, getting copies of WoW's expansion, "Wrath of the Lich King," wasn't quite the same here as back in the States. It started out easy enough... we went to Challenger, an electronics store in the mall across from our apartment (maybe a 10 minute walk, including waiting to cross the street and navigating the mall), where they had a giant sign advertising Wrath of the Lich King. Interestingly enough, two days before the release (when we decided to do our pre-order), the sign actually had a hand-written sign at the stop stating, "In Stores Now!"... this wasn't actually true, so we purchased two copies, and got two credit-card sized preorder cards, which we were to turn in at the "Launch Event."
Now, in the US on release day, one would go to the store where they pre-ordered and pick up their software. As Jenna detailed, such is not so here, and they have ONE place for everyone to pick up their software in all of Singapore... that's right, the 10,000-strong WoW population of Singapore converging on one place, for a box with a disc and a software key. Considering how advanced this culture seems to be in a lot of respects, this did not seem like the smartest way to do this. Oh well, when in Rome...
Jenna posted some pictures of the event itself, and some details on the overall/outside view of the event, but I probably have a slightly different take, since I was actually in the thick of things. Here's my approximate timeline:
Previous night - Jenna and I decided to have dinner near the launch venue, so we knew where we were coming the next day. At this stage, we had no idea what to expect. We took the MRT, which was maybe a half-hour ride and a few transfers, to where we thought it was going to be. After a bit of wandering, we found the building, where there were already a half dozen guys camped out. Keep in mind this was 9pm, and the event wasn't starting until noon the next day. At this stage, I began contemplating when I should head there.
Later that night: After some debate, I decided to stay up for the night and head to the launch event on the first train, at around 5:20am. Around 3am I realized I was exhausted and decided to sleep... amazingly, I somehow got up on time.
5:30am: Left for the launch site, with a PSP (entertainment), water (hydration... sitting outside in Singapore for hours is the perfect recipe for dehydration), and some soda (caffeine... remember, no sleep) in tow...
6:00am: Arrived at the launch site. Amazingly, the number of people from 9pm the night before had only about doubled, and I was just around the first corner of the building, in maybe the first two dozen people. As expected, I was the only caucasian in line at this point (and the only I saw until much later in the morning, whom were much further back in line.)
6:15am: Settled in for the long haul... since there was nobody to hold my place in line, I basically prayed I didn't have any sort of bathroom emergency. Luckily, all was fine.
8:00am: Other people actually started to show up, in a slow trickle. Probably 3 times as many people there as when I arrived... still not a huge number.
9:00am: Now people were really showing up, and there were at least a hundred people in line... still just the start
10:00am: Definite signs that something was going on... several hundred people in line, and the alleyway where they had the line going was starting to get full... they had some barricades set up about halfway back in the alley, to set up a snaking line, and they were quickly filling.
It was also around this time that the trucks hauling Wrath showed up. (That's right, they weren't even in the building yet.) At least half a dozen trucks showed up, each with 4-5 pallets of WotLK each. And they unloaded them right next to the line... in front of those of us who had been waiting hours, and were just itching to play, since our counterparts on the other side of the world were already well on their way to 80.
10:30am: Some of the guys in the line around me started joking about forming a raid to take on the guys unloading the trucks, for some "epic loot." I was nominated to be the tank... Maybe because I mentioned I play a tank in-game, or maybe because they wanted to throw me to the wolves. (I was definitely a minority at this event... not only because I was about the only white guy, but because there were WAY more hordies than Alliance.) Raid fell apart due to lack of heals.
11:00am: The Guild Master for the guild the guy behind me in line was in showed up, and handed him a STACK of prepaid cards... we're talking like 70 cards. I'm not really sure what it was all about, but I think he was actually buying copies for his whole guild... so strange.
Noon: Woo! The wait was finally over... they started moving the line forward so we could head in.
12:05pm: Line moved forward but stopped...
12:10pm: Still waiting
12:15pm: Finally, they moved a group of people forward to move in. Now, in the States, this would have meant walking in the building, giving them your prepaid card, and getting your game. As with everything else having to do with this event, such was not so here. They had us take the side entrance to the building, and go up SIX flights of stairs. (Awesome idea for a group of nerds who have been standing in the sun all day...) At the top was a dark room with funky lighting, a few monitors on the walls playing the WotLK trailer, and a fog machine. Someone in the front said a little spiel, and let us in.
Table one: turn in prepaid cards and get WotLK
Table two: get poster
Table three: get Razer mousepad
Table four: get some sort of complimentary canned drink (one of the local sodas I think... some sort of promotional thing... I ignored it and moved on.)
Down the stairs, to the floor below...
Here, a guy directed me to a computer to sign up for the "lucky draw." I threw in my information and quickly moved down to the next floor. I wanted out!
There was another bank of computers here, and a guy tried directing me to one to play "Blizzard demos" or to go out to this little area where they had some weird games set up. (No joke, I think I saw a bean bag toss thing.) I just asked him how to get out, and moved on.
Finally, down some more stairs and I was in the lobby. There were workers milling around, and I was the only consumer in site... I think most of the guys in front of me were still stuck in the floors above, while I'd just rushed through. I headed for the front door (which literally cut right through the line outside) and proceeded away from the building, amidst stares from the people still waiting.
At this stage, I think Jenna's pictures from her post tell the best story. Her and I met up at this point, wandered around for a bit to get a full view of how many people were there (thousands at that stage), and proceeded home. I was EXHAUSTED, but still managed to play for a bit before passing out.
While I didn't go to any release events in the States for Burning Crusade, I do know with absolute certainty this was NOTHING like any of the events in the States. While I can understand how they want to capitalize on having that many gamers in one place, it seemed lost on them that the only thing we wanted to do was get our game and get out. Oh well, with any luck, if/when there's another expansion, Jenna and I will be back in the States.
(Aside: Tygrand, my main, hit 80 last night, less than a month after the expansion... if it weren't for the Thailand debacle, this would have easily happened a week or two ago.)
2. Thailand.
While we don't get any days off for Thanksgiving here, since Jenna had the week off from schoolwork, we decided it would be a good time for me to take some time off from work and for us to go on vacation.
Our original thought was to go to Australia... I've always wanted to go, and while it's not super close, it's far closer than going there from the States. However, after checking flights and other costs, we decided it was going to be a bit too pricey, and to find a cheaper alternative. After checking Tiger Airways, a low-cost carrier out of Singapore, we decided on Bangkok, Thailand... the flight was only a couple hundred each round trip, the hotel was next to nothing, and it looked like it would be a fun, interesting trip. We were certainly right about the "interesting" part...
Our plan was to leave on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and stay until Friday, giving us four full days. Two days we were going to do planned tours, and the other two days we were going to explore. On Friday we booked the flight, found a hotel, and booked a couple tours online (one was to a nature reserve, and the other was a Thai cooking class... we debated a couple others, but figured we could sign up for more later.) Our trip was set.
Sunday: Before heading for the airport, I checked on our tours again... while the nature tour thing was confirmed, the cooking wasn't, but I wasn't worried. I mean, they probably don't work weekends, right? And the cooking wasn't until later in the week, so there was plenty of time.
Our trip to Thailand was uneventful... the flight was quick, exchanged some money at the airport (S$1000 -> 28,000 Thai Baht), and found a taxi to take us to the hotel. The guy didn't use the meter, but only wanted to charge us 500 Baht (about $17US), so we figured that was fine.
We got to the hotel, checked in, and everything was grand... the trip had gotten off to a great start. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all!
Monday: We had nothing planned for Monday beyond exploring, so when we got up that's what we were going to set out to do. I checked my email quick, to find out that our tours had been cancelled, with no explanation. WTF! Jenna assured me things would be fine, so we just decided to venture out into the city and figure out the rest of the week as we went. Jenna talked about our tuk-tuk adventure, so I'll leave that be... bottom line, by the end of the day, we had full bellies, Jenna had some new jewelry, and we had tours planned. While the day started off on a low note, it again looked like this could be a good trip!
Tuesday: We got up insanely early (5am), to catch our tour for the day. I'm going to leave the tour details to Jenna, since she still has pictures to post, but while on the tour we heard about some unrest going on back in Bangkok... something about a bomb somewhere, and some protests. All-in-all, at this stage, it didn't sound like anything too bad. Boy, were we wrong.
When we got back to the hotel and checked the news, we found out protesters had "peacefully" taken over the international airport, shutting it down. From all reports, it sounded like it still wasn't anything to worry about, and it would all be cleared up in a couple days, and we'd be able to get out as planned on Friday.
Wednesday: Jenna and I wandered and shopped... I don't recall anything terribly significant from Wednesday beyond this, but I'm sure Jenna will add more. The unrest at the airport continued, but our flight was still supposed to be on as scheduled, so we weren't really worrying... yet.
Thursday: Another early day for tour two. I'll leave details to Jenna and her pictures, but my bottom-line comment on the tour was it was terrible. While the actual content of the tour was neat, around every corner it felt like we were getting screwed over by the tour guide. First, we signed up for two things - floating market and rose garden - but the tour was apparently stopping at a third place - crocodile farm - which we were basically forced into going to and paying for. (Well, we didn't have to go/pay for it, but our only other option would have been sitting around waiting.) Second, the tour "ended" at a jewelry store, where we were forced to go through in order to get a van home at the end... basically, it was a bit of scam by the tour guide, where she got some sort of cut for each person she brought in to the store. I was LIVID and made this very apparent... the tour guide apologized several times, showed us through the store, and we got on our van to the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we checked the news, and found out the airport crisis was still going on... but our flight had not yet been canceled... I was still hopeful we were going to get out of there on time.
Friday: The day we were supposed to leave. I got up, checked my email, and found out our flight had been canceled, with no word at all from Tiger Airways about how we were supposed to get out of the country. Dammit! I checked the US-Thailand Embassy's website to see what they had to say for US tourists stuck there, which turned out not to be much... basically, there take was Thailand had to figure things out, and recommended US travelers just sit tight and wait for it to be resolved... incredibly helpful.
Weekend: Jenna and I were officially on holiday overflow at this point, and we had nothing planned, nor anything we really wanted to do. The weekend was basically spent wandering around a bit and shopping, avoiding incessant tuk-tuk drivers, and habitually checking the news to see if there was any update on the airports. Had we both brought laptops (I, stupidly, left mine in Thailand... I mean, why would we possibly need two laptops for such a short trip?), it probably would have been spent sitting around the hotel playing WoW.
Monday: With still no word on when the airport crisis might be over, I decided Monday morning it was time to find some other means to get out of the country... enough was enough! I did some preliminary checks online, and it appeared that the train from Bangkok to Penang had some seats available for Tuesday or Wednesday. Perfect! That would have meant an overnight train ride, a short taxi to the airport in Penang, and a quick flight home... for a second, I even let myself thing something about this trip would be simple.
At the train station, we were approached by a very helpful information person, who spoke fairly good english. We told him our plan, at which point he informed us that the trains from Bangkok-Penang/Butterworth were booked until December 7th. Dammit! His suggestion: take the train from Bangkok to Hat Yai, where there were "lots of buses"available to Penang.
We headed up to the window, where we found out there were no sleeper seats available for Tuesday, but we could get one on Wednesday... not perfect, but at this stage we wanted out of the country, so we took it. Jenna and I couldn't figure out at all if we were sitting together based on this tickets, but, again, at this stage we just wanted out.
The rest of the day was spent doing a little more wandering... Jenna and I found a really nice park on one of our earlier outings, which we visited again. I believe she has lots of photos which I'm sure she'll be posting soon.
Tuesday: Tuesday AM I woke up very early, very sick. I still have no idea what caused it, but I had nasty stomach pains, and spent the majority of the morning in the bathroom. Jenna was wonderful and took care of me. :)
Wednesday. Departure day... The whole two day trip back to Singapore really deserves it's own post and pictures, so I'm going to leave this for another time. I think Jenna and I have been a bit too burnt out from our vacation to actually put this together. Long story short, it was a long, hellish journey, but we made it back to Singapore safe and sound.
3. Holiday time in Singapore
It's hard to believe that Christmas is only a couple weeks away... it's hot, sticky, and green outside, so seeing Christmas decorations up at the mall just doesn't feel right. When Jenna mentioned to me that Christmas was only a couple weeks away, I hardly believed her. It just doesn't feel right...
I'm kinda thinking that Christmas isn't going to feel very much like Christmas this year. It's too difficult to send presents back and forth with people in the States, so I've basically decided to hold off on anything like that until we're back in the US in a few months. This will be my first Christmas not spent back in the Midwest with my family... I'm not really sure yet how I feel about that, but I suppose it was going to happen sooner or later. Jenna and I have been talking about doing some sort of late Thanksgiving-turned-Christmas dinner (with turkey and everything), which would be really, really nice, and hopfully make things feel a little bit more like the holidays. Though it's likely going to be tough, given our tiny oven and lack of virtually all cooking implements. We'll see though. :)
Well, that's really all I've got... since this is my first day back at work in two weeks I should probably get some actual work done. :) I'll try to be a little bit more talkative on the blog going forward. Now that I feel a bit "caught up," hopefully it won't seem so daunting.
Monday, December 8, 2008
God is Big
Mathew and I were wandering the mall looking at strange Christmas gifts (in 80 degree weather) and the sound system in the store was playing a very God-friendly CD. One of the songs got stuck in both of our heads and I felt the need to share it with you all.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Back in Singapore
Just letting everyone know, we made it back (somehow) safely. All of our luggage did, too. We are now once again clean and showered and we're both really, really tired.
I will tell of our journey tomorrow. For now, good night
I will tell of our journey tomorrow. For now, good night
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The adventure begins...
Just wanted to tell everyone that we're about to leave for the train/bus/ferry/cab/plane ride. Jon has been very kind and created a map for everyone to follow our journey.
http://tinyurl.com/5kosh9
Mathew's tummy is much better, which is good. And we're mostly packed. It'll be good to get out of here.
Wish us a safe journey. See you on the other side. :-)
http://tinyurl.com/5kosh9
Mathew's tummy is much better, which is good. And we're mostly packed. It'll be good to get out of here.
Wish us a safe journey. See you on the other side. :-)
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Tummy Problems
Mathew woke up this morning around 7am very sick. I don't know what he ate, but he's throwing up and such. I went out and got him tummy stuff, but he's not feeling much better. I hope he feels better soon.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Planes, trains, and automobiles
We have decided to do something, rather than sitting here for any longer without any action being taken by anyone. The red shirts have started demonstrations in Bangkok, and the government hasn't done anything at all. So today we went to the train depot and booked a sleeper car to some other part of Thailand. This is an 18 hour train ride. At the end of the line, we need to find a van/bus or another train for an additional 5 or so hours. Then we will have to take a ferry from there to Malaysia. Once in Malaysia, we will get a cab to the airport, where we will take a plane (already booked!) to Singapore. The train leaves on Wednesday (not tomorrow, but the next day) and we get to Malaysia on Thursday. We should hopefully get to Singapore on Thursday night.
Wish us luck.
Wish us luck.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Still Stuck
I need new subject lines.
The police chief has been removed (demoted) due to his inability to resolve the situation.
They are flying a few people out of a field that was used as a military base during the Vietnam war. It seems like 1-2 flights are flying out of there per airline for a few airlines. They can only hold about 400 people there at a time, though, so it is a very very very bad option.
I have no idea when we're going to get out of here.
The police chief has been removed (demoted) due to his inability to resolve the situation.
They are flying a few people out of a field that was used as a military base during the Vietnam war. It seems like 1-2 flights are flying out of there per airline for a few airlines. They can only hold about 400 people there at a time, though, so it is a very very very bad option.
I have no idea when we're going to get out of here.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Pictures
Some pictures to show you all what being in Thailand is about.
(Besides the airport crisis...)
(Besides the airport crisis...)
Waterfalls
The view from elephant back
The view from another elephant back - look who's on this one!
Elephant feeding time
Mmm, bananas
Elephants eat a lot
A puppy at the elephant village
Oh yeah, there are tigers here, too.
We got to pet them
Flowers in the park
At the rose garden
An orchid at an orchid farm
An elephant stepping over over two men
Snakes at the snake zoo
A crocodile at the snake zoo
A lizard in the park - he's huge, probably a monitor lizard
The bridge over the River Kwai. We walked along it, but this is a picture from afar.
Some statue in a park in Bangkok
A park in Bangkok
A street vendor selling goldfish and baby turtles
Traffic in Bangkok
There's a chain of stores here, restaurants and also a department store, named Zen. This was a giant sign in the mall
At Patapong Street where you can see just about anything - including Super Pussy!
Thank you for looking. :-)Airport Info, Part 3
The guy at the front desk assigned to watching the local news and translating it for us non-Thai speakers had some strangely bleary news to share. He said that the army is going to go in within 24 hours - they've issued an ultimatum (though we've not heard this anywhere else). They will start removing people forcefully at that point. There is expected bloodshed, and the estimate is 1 week before the airport is open again, due to having to clean the *blood* that will be there.
It is my hope that there will be minimal bloodshed, but it doesn't sound likely from all we've been hearing. There are children and the elderly there, entire families.
I hope that nothing at the airport actually gets blown up. That would only make things worse. I also hope that they can find some other way to end this without anyone dying.
We spoke to a German tourist in the lobby today and she is leaving on a 30-hour bus ride to Kuala Lampur. She has a flight out of there after that. 30 hours is crazy, let's hope that the 1 week estimate is wrong. We are expecting to have to hang out in the airport for a solid day at some point. Ugh. Oh well. Let's hope we're wrong.
OK, so next post is going to be a bunch of random photos of why we actually came here.
Well, I am going to post a slew of pictures next to show why we actually came here.
It is my hope that there will be minimal bloodshed, but it doesn't sound likely from all we've been hearing. There are children and the elderly there, entire families.
I hope that nothing at the airport actually gets blown up. That would only make things worse. I also hope that they can find some other way to end this without anyone dying.
We spoke to a German tourist in the lobby today and she is leaving on a 30-hour bus ride to Kuala Lampur. She has a flight out of there after that. 30 hours is crazy, let's hope that the 1 week estimate is wrong. We are expecting to have to hang out in the airport for a solid day at some point. Ugh. Oh well. Let's hope we're wrong.
OK, so next post is going to be a bunch of random photos of why we actually came here.
Well, I am going to post a slew of pictures next to show why we actually came here.
Stuck in Thailand
The airport is still being held captive, which means we are still hostages of this [ed: goddamned mother-fucking stupid - Mathew] foreign country. The yellow-shirts took over the other airport, which was actually not in use but had been reopened to divert some planes there. The government (the Prime Minister) has declared a state of emergency around the two airports to allow the police and military to ignore standard civil liberties (like the right of people to gather, or to be in the airport at all). However, the protesters in the airport have said that they will not leave - they will fight til the death. This is not a promising statement. They want the Prime Minister to step down, he refuses. The army has not done anything one way or another, but they may stage a coup to take over the government if they do not decide to remove the protesters.
We attempted to look into taking a train home, which appears more complicated than you can believe. The only train that leaves the country does not pre-book. It would require that we purchased two tickets at the station as they came available. We would then need to take the train for 12 or so hours, then transfer to another train (that we would need to buy tickets for at THAT station) and then take a ferry 12 or so hours after that. Then we would take the ferry from Thailand to Malaysia, take another train from Malaysia to Singapore (once again, we would need another ticket...) The tickets are cheap, but who knows how long the wait would be to get them. As well, the total journey takes 2 days by train, ferry, and possibly bus. So we're going to wait until the airports open again. We have rebooked our hotel through the weekend.
I'm a little worried that violence may break out, as this appears to be a civil war waiting to happen. Some people support the PM and some don't. Who knows what's going to happen.
We should be safe. But it's a little scary.
We attempted to look into taking a train home, which appears more complicated than you can believe. The only train that leaves the country does not pre-book. It would require that we purchased two tickets at the station as they came available. We would then need to take the train for 12 or so hours, then transfer to another train (that we would need to buy tickets for at THAT station) and then take a ferry 12 or so hours after that. Then we would take the ferry from Thailand to Malaysia, take another train from Malaysia to Singapore (once again, we would need another ticket...) The tickets are cheap, but who knows how long the wait would be to get them. As well, the total journey takes 2 days by train, ferry, and possibly bus. So we're going to wait until the airports open again. We have rebooked our hotel through the weekend.
I'm a little worried that violence may break out, as this appears to be a civil war waiting to happen. Some people support the PM and some don't. Who knows what's going to happen.
We should be safe. But it's a little scary.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Airports Shut Down
Well, this morning we found out that the airport has been shut down due to a takeover by a political dissident group. We were under the impression that it lasted for a few hours, and then it was over.
Apparently, we were wrong.
The airport has been shut down, indefinitely, until the government figures out what to do about the thousands of protesters who have taken over the airport. The protesters have food, bedding, and are prepared to stick it out for the long haul. They want the prime minister to step down as they think he is the puppet for a previously elected, newly-jailed-due-to-corruption individual.
The airport will not be flying anyone out. It is unclear when we will be able to leave, as even if they open the airport now (Wednesday evening), the people who have rescheduled flights will have to fly out, too. We are supposed to leave Friday afternoon.
For more information, google "thailand airport crisis."
Apparently, we were wrong.
The airport has been shut down, indefinitely, until the government figures out what to do about the thousands of protesters who have taken over the airport. The protesters have food, bedding, and are prepared to stick it out for the long haul. They want the prime minister to step down as they think he is the puppet for a previously elected, newly-jailed-due-to-corruption individual.
The airport will not be flying anyone out. It is unclear when we will be able to leave, as even if they open the airport now (Wednesday evening), the people who have rescheduled flights will have to fly out, too. We are supposed to leave Friday afternoon.
For more information, google "thailand airport crisis."
Monday, November 24, 2008
OMG Thailand!!
Welcome to OMG Thailand!! It's like OMG Singapore, but with 2x more Thailand!
We got up this morning, saw single digits on the clock, and promptly went back to sleep. Ah, vacation!
Finally, when we did decide to get up, we went and checked on our reservations for activities during the week. We had booked a trip to a safari where we would get to ride elephants and see nature and go on a boat. There was another thing we were waiting on confirmation for of a cooking class on Thai cooking. As it turned out, they canceled BOTH of our tours. Which sucked. But we decided to wander around and look for lunch and book something later through some other site.
We wandered a few blocks in the other direction of yesterday and some 60-something Thai man approached us and told us that the street ahead would have nothing for us to see. He told us he worked up that way in an office building and that we should go elsewhere for shopping and for food. He asked us if we were here for long, told us that the reason he spoke decent English (which he did) was because he worked with a GI during the Vietnam War. He said he liked speaking with Americans because he understood their accents, but couldn't figure out the English accents of people from Britian. Then he wrote down for us where we should go for shopping, food, and more shopping. He told us we should get a Tuk Tuk and that it would cost us 30 baht and would take us where we wanted to go. We said thank you, and I guess he thought that we meant, "Right now would be fine," because he signaled to a nearby Tuk Tuk driver (they are EVERYWHERE) that we wanted a ride. We quickly said, "no, no, we'll do it later," and he walked off towards his office.
Tuk Tuk - image courtesy of Wikipedia
On our way back towards restaurants we knew about (not some 10 minutes later), a business woman approached us and told us that the shops we were window shopping in were overpriced because of where in the city we were. She asked us where we were from, and how long we would be staying. She wanted to know if we had a tour booked and told us we should go see the floating shops on the river. We had wanted to, but the tour we had seen was not in English so we didn't book it. She wrote down where to go book a government-sanctioned tour, and also where to shop, and ALSO where to eat. Then the next thing we knew, she grabbed a Tuk Tuk driver and handed him the paper she had written it all down on. She asked us where we wanted first - food, or shopping - and we just decided this time to go with it. So we were taken to a restaurant. I guess native people here like to help out.
Our Tuk Tuk, which was green, brought us a few blocks away to a little Thai seafood place. There were live fish in tanks, which we selected along with a cooking method. They then seated us, and we watched as our fish were brought away to be killed and cooked. Can't get much fresher than that...
Fish tanks
We selected BBQ for our Grouper and Sweet & Sour for our bass. We also ordered fried rice and mixed vegetables. We ordered way too much food. WAY too much food.
Sweet & Sour fish
Other side of the sweet & sour fish
BBQ Grouper
BBQ in this sense means grilled. There wasn't much flavor to it. The fish was nice and meaty, though. The sweet and sour fish was unbelievably amazing. The skin was fried just a bit and the sauce was phenomenal. Ginger and fresh pineapple, green peppers - soooo good.
The fried rice, which looked really boring and plain, was expertly seasoned. We have no idea WHAT they seasoned it with, but it was amazing. It totally made up for the fried rice last night.
Throughout the entire meal, our Tuk Tuk driver waited. He was instructed by the woman before to take us to a specific set of places, and that was what he was going to do.
Our Tuk Tuk, waiting, driver napping inside.
We got up this morning, saw single digits on the clock, and promptly went back to sleep. Ah, vacation!
Finally, when we did decide to get up, we went and checked on our reservations for activities during the week. We had booked a trip to a safari where we would get to ride elephants and see nature and go on a boat. There was another thing we were waiting on confirmation for of a cooking class on Thai cooking. As it turned out, they canceled BOTH of our tours. Which sucked. But we decided to wander around and look for lunch and book something later through some other site.
We wandered a few blocks in the other direction of yesterday and some 60-something Thai man approached us and told us that the street ahead would have nothing for us to see. He told us he worked up that way in an office building and that we should go elsewhere for shopping and for food. He asked us if we were here for long, told us that the reason he spoke decent English (which he did) was because he worked with a GI during the Vietnam War. He said he liked speaking with Americans because he understood their accents, but couldn't figure out the English accents of people from Britian. Then he wrote down for us where we should go for shopping, food, and more shopping. He told us we should get a Tuk Tuk and that it would cost us 30 baht and would take us where we wanted to go. We said thank you, and I guess he thought that we meant, "Right now would be fine," because he signaled to a nearby Tuk Tuk driver (they are EVERYWHERE) that we wanted a ride. We quickly said, "no, no, we'll do it later," and he walked off towards his office.
Tuk Tuk - image courtesy of WikipediaOn our way back towards restaurants we knew about (not some 10 minutes later), a business woman approached us and told us that the shops we were window shopping in were overpriced because of where in the city we were. She asked us where we were from, and how long we would be staying. She wanted to know if we had a tour booked and told us we should go see the floating shops on the river. We had wanted to, but the tour we had seen was not in English so we didn't book it. She wrote down where to go book a government-sanctioned tour, and also where to shop, and ALSO where to eat. Then the next thing we knew, she grabbed a Tuk Tuk driver and handed him the paper she had written it all down on. She asked us where we wanted first - food, or shopping - and we just decided this time to go with it. So we were taken to a restaurant. I guess native people here like to help out.
Our Tuk Tuk, which was green, brought us a few blocks away to a little Thai seafood place. There were live fish in tanks, which we selected along with a cooking method. They then seated us, and we watched as our fish were brought away to be killed and cooked. Can't get much fresher than that...
Fish tanksWe selected BBQ for our Grouper and Sweet & Sour for our bass. We also ordered fried rice and mixed vegetables. We ordered way too much food. WAY too much food.
Sweet & Sour fish
Other side of the sweet & sour fish
BBQ GrouperBBQ in this sense means grilled. There wasn't much flavor to it. The fish was nice and meaty, though. The sweet and sour fish was unbelievably amazing. The skin was fried just a bit and the sauce was phenomenal. Ginger and fresh pineapple, green peppers - soooo good.
The fried rice, which looked really boring and plain, was expertly seasoned. We have no idea WHAT they seasoned it with, but it was amazing. It totally made up for the fried rice last night.
Throughout the entire meal, our Tuk Tuk driver waited. He was instructed by the woman before to take us to a specific set of places, and that was what he was going to do.
Our Tuk Tuk, waiting, driver napping inside.We expected that we would wind up at a jewelry store and a tailor next (everyone here gets custom made suits and dresses - tailoring shops with bolts of cloth are everywhere). We didn't want to go to a tailor, but we thought the jewelry store might be cool. The guy instead stopped somewhere else, first - the tour booking place!
So we booked a new tour with elephant rides and a trip to the River Kwai, the WW2 museum, and the Tiger Temple! As well as a second trip to the Rose Garden and some more cultural things including the floating market. Tomorrow is the elephant trip and Thursday is the Rose garden/floating market trip. I guess that was simple - and also about half the price of the previously booked similar trips.
Our Tuk Tuk waited patiently outside, and took us to a tailoring shop. We told him to continue to the jeweler. We wound up at an enormous jewelry and gem shop. They cut their own stuff, make their own settings, and we saw many of them doing just that as we walked through the little "tour." Then on to the showroom. They had magnificent settings and creative pieces, as well as simple things. Most of it was reasonably priced. We wandered around until I found what I wanted, which was the pearl counter. They had unstrung (temporarily strung) pearls of all shapes and sizes. I found some GORGEOUS white round 7mm pearls and fell in love. We negotiated the price, and Mathew got them for me - they strung them up and put a clasp on them while we waited. They were between 1/2 and 1/3 of the price as the same thing in the states. And just stunning. I think they are a Chanukah/ Christmas present, but they are really stunning. Some of the nicest pearls I've ever seen.
Our patient Tuk Tuk driver asked us if we would like to go anywhere else, and we did not, so he took us back to our hotel. The whole Tuk Tuk experience (around 2-3 hours) cost 200 baht (which was probably way overpriced and we could have negotiated, but...) which works out to $5 US. It seems like a strange way to travel, but it also seems to be very common for locals as well as tourists. It is not meant for long rides because it is not enclosed, but it's still really cool to get around.
There are a lot of cabs here, and a good number of them are pink.
Many are purple, but I haven't been able to get a photo of a purple one yet.
We are debating whether or not to partake in the more risque bits of nightlife - namely, the "tiger show" tonight. I think, although I may be appalled by it, I may have to see it to say that I have seen it. Any thoughts?
So we booked a new tour with elephant rides and a trip to the River Kwai, the WW2 museum, and the Tiger Temple! As well as a second trip to the Rose Garden and some more cultural things including the floating market. Tomorrow is the elephant trip and Thursday is the Rose garden/floating market trip. I guess that was simple - and also about half the price of the previously booked similar trips.
Our Tuk Tuk waited patiently outside, and took us to a tailoring shop. We told him to continue to the jeweler. We wound up at an enormous jewelry and gem shop. They cut their own stuff, make their own settings, and we saw many of them doing just that as we walked through the little "tour." Then on to the showroom. They had magnificent settings and creative pieces, as well as simple things. Most of it was reasonably priced. We wandered around until I found what I wanted, which was the pearl counter. They had unstrung (temporarily strung) pearls of all shapes and sizes. I found some GORGEOUS white round 7mm pearls and fell in love. We negotiated the price, and Mathew got them for me - they strung them up and put a clasp on them while we waited. They were between 1/2 and 1/3 of the price as the same thing in the states. And just stunning. I think they are a Chanukah/ Christmas present, but they are really stunning. Some of the nicest pearls I've ever seen.
Our patient Tuk Tuk driver asked us if we would like to go anywhere else, and we did not, so he took us back to our hotel. The whole Tuk Tuk experience (around 2-3 hours) cost 200 baht (which was probably way overpriced and we could have negotiated, but...) which works out to $5 US. It seems like a strange way to travel, but it also seems to be very common for locals as well as tourists. It is not meant for long rides because it is not enclosed, but it's still really cool to get around.
There are a lot of cabs here, and a good number of them are pink.
Many are purple, but I haven't been able to get a photo of a purple one yet.
We are debating whether or not to partake in the more risque bits of nightlife - namely, the "tiger show" tonight. I think, although I may be appalled by it, I may have to see it to say that I have seen it. Any thoughts?
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Night One in Bangkok
Inside the airport were some cool statues of gods, I think.
That one was kind of purple-y and cool. There were white ones, and pink ones, and blue ones, too. They were all slightly different, but they were all huge.The hotel is nice, it has three restaurants inside it and it is nearby to a train station. The room has hardwood floors, which is kind of strange. And a refrigerator, and a TV, and wireless internet! Woo!
We converted about S$1000 ($625US) to Baht, which is the currency in Thailand. Apparently, that works out to 22,000 baht. Things are strangely priced here - you negotiate prices on cab rides, street items, jewelry - everything but restaurant food, and I'm sure there's some way you can likely bargain that, too.
22,000 baht, give or take a baht. Those bills on the right are 1000 baht bills.
Things are also ridiculously cheap here. We went to 7-11 to check out the local goods (7-11 is everywhere) and we bought a pack of gum for 10 baht and a small bottle of hair conditioner for 20 baht. In US dollars, that's $0.28 for the gum, and $0.56 for the conditioner. They also had Tiger beer by the bottle for 31 baht, or $0.88 a bottle. Coming from Singapore where a bottle of the same beer runs you S$10 ($6.50 US), it's pretty crazy to see. Also, $0.28 for Dentyne Ice gum is crazy. Gum at all seems a little crazy now, too, after being in a gum-free country for 2 months.
We went out for dinner, and had a giant fried fish in lemon and chili sauce. It was amazing.
The other things we ordered were Pineapple fried rice (a favorite of ours) and mixed stir fried vegetables. The vegetables were fantastic - baby corn, broccoli, tomato, carrots, asparagus, and peppers - all in a light sauce. They were cooked just enough to change their texture from raw to cooked, but not enough to make them soft or squishy. The rice was not terribly good - it was soft jasmine rice, but the flavor just wasn't there. The pineapples in it were amazing, but they had like hot dog pieces in it and some other stuff. We were eating at a random tourist kind of place, so it probably didn't speak to the rest of Thailand's fried rice.
Surrounding the eatery were lots of little shops - we're going to go back to them since it was late and many were closed. They also sold live seafood - of particular interest to Mathew and me were these crazy Tiger prawns and River prawns. They had arms. HUGE arms. Huge blue arms!
Things are also ridiculously cheap here. We went to 7-11 to check out the local goods (7-11 is everywhere) and we bought a pack of gum for 10 baht and a small bottle of hair conditioner for 20 baht. In US dollars, that's $0.28 for the gum, and $0.56 for the conditioner. They also had Tiger beer by the bottle for 31 baht, or $0.88 a bottle. Coming from Singapore where a bottle of the same beer runs you S$10 ($6.50 US), it's pretty crazy to see. Also, $0.28 for Dentyne Ice gum is crazy. Gum at all seems a little crazy now, too, after being in a gum-free country for 2 months.
We went out for dinner, and had a giant fried fish in lemon and chili sauce. It was amazing.
The other things we ordered were Pineapple fried rice (a favorite of ours) and mixed stir fried vegetables. The vegetables were fantastic - baby corn, broccoli, tomato, carrots, asparagus, and peppers - all in a light sauce. They were cooked just enough to change their texture from raw to cooked, but not enough to make them soft or squishy. The rice was not terribly good - it was soft jasmine rice, but the flavor just wasn't there. The pineapples in it were amazing, but they had like hot dog pieces in it and some other stuff. We were eating at a random tourist kind of place, so it probably didn't speak to the rest of Thailand's fried rice.
Surrounding the eatery were lots of little shops - we're going to go back to them since it was late and many were closed. They also sold live seafood - of particular interest to Mathew and me were these crazy Tiger prawns and River prawns. They had arms. HUGE arms. Huge blue arms!
Tiger prawns
Crazy, huh? There was also a little temple thing at the end of the shopping center that was pretty cool.
After that, we went to the hotel bar and had a few drinks. There was a live band playing pretty standard jukebox fare and a few older Asian couples dancing. It was really strange, but it was nice to be able to have a few drinks somewhere for less than $50 (like it is in Singapore).
I wish this had sound, but you should get the idea. These was the band and a few of the dancing couples. I sort of feel like I'm at a Club Med or something.
Anyway, off to bed. Tomorrow we are going to wander around and shop.
After that, we went to the hotel bar and had a few drinks. There was a live band playing pretty standard jukebox fare and a few older Asian couples dancing. It was really strange, but it was nice to be able to have a few drinks somewhere for less than $50 (like it is in Singapore).
I wish this had sound, but you should get the idea. These was the band and a few of the dancing couples. I sort of feel like I'm at a Club Med or something.
Anyway, off to bed. Tomorrow we are going to wander around and shop.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wrath in Singapore, Part II
Mathew waited on line for hours - about 7 - with 9,999 other Singaporeans to pick up his copy of Wrath. I went later, and took these photos about 20 minutes after they started letting people in.
One of the people working there said they were expecting 10,000 people.
20 minutes after the doors opened
Around the block - this line snakes through the back alley of the store, and about a two blocks from the other photo (5 minutes after the first photo)
This is three blocks from the other photo. This is NOT the end of the line. We do not know where the end was, because we left and went home to play. People at this point were likely to wait 4-6 hours or more in the midday sun and heat just to get their copies. (5 minutes after the second photo)
Entire guilds came and bought boxes of them
One of the people working there said they were expecting 10,000 people.
20 minutes after the doors opened
Around the block - this line snakes through the back alley of the store, and about a two blocks from the other photo (5 minutes after the first photo)
This is three blocks from the other photo. This is NOT the end of the line. We do not know where the end was, because we left and went home to play. People at this point were likely to wait 4-6 hours or more in the midday sun and heat just to get their copies. (5 minutes after the second photo)
Entire guilds came and bought boxes of themBTW: Blizzard posted my pictures on their photo gallery of Wrath Midnight Openings around the world. :-) Woo!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wrath in Singapore
I don't know if I mentioned it, but there is an expansion to World of Warcraft called "Wrath of the Lich King." This expansion came out nearly 12 hours ago in the US. However, Asiasoft, the distributor of Warcraft here in Singapore, is not releasing it at the same time. We are getting it 13 hours from now, a full 24 hours after the release in the US. The pre-order system here in Singapore is entirely different from that of the system in the US. What you do here is pre-order the game at your favorite venue - we went to Challenger, an electronics store across the street in the mall. You pay in full for the game and fill out a sheet with your name and phone number on it. Then, they give you a little card.
People INside...
People OUTside
We went tonight to see where the launch was taking place. We got there at 9:30pm and 7 people were already online. (All horde, for what it's worth...) They will be staying there for 15 hours. Outside. The pictures above are when they held it in a mall. They're not holding it at a mall this time. Instead, it is at a gaming center - 5 floors of games. I don't think they're letting people inside, though. We saw that they have cases of water (we estimated over 3000 bottles of water) because, well, leaving 2000 people outside in the noonday sun in Singapore when the weather is supposed to be 82F and muggy (oh, and rainy) is probably a recipe for dehydration.
Anyway, Mathew is going to take the first train there. Which is 5:28am. I won't. I'll go around 9 or 10am, hopefully I can find him. If he's inside, then I won't be able to sit with him and I'll probably just go home and wait for him to come back.
Wish us luck. :-)
Then you take the card to the launch event. That's right, I said "the" launch event. There is only one place to pick it up. You can pick it up any time between noon and 6pm when the event ends. The problem with this is that there are 4 million people who live in Singapore. If only, say, 2000 people want to pick it up at launch time, you will wind up with sheer chaos. Which is what happened last time, when the Burning Crusade came out. See:
People INside...
People OUTside
We went tonight to see where the launch was taking place. We got there at 9:30pm and 7 people were already online. (All horde, for what it's worth...) They will be staying there for 15 hours. Outside. The pictures above are when they held it in a mall. They're not holding it at a mall this time. Instead, it is at a gaming center - 5 floors of games. I don't think they're letting people inside, though. We saw that they have cases of water (we estimated over 3000 bottles of water) because, well, leaving 2000 people outside in the noonday sun in Singapore when the weather is supposed to be 82F and muggy (oh, and rainy) is probably a recipe for dehydration.
Anyway, Mathew is going to take the first train there. Which is 5:28am. I won't. I'll go around 9 or 10am, hopefully I can find him. If he's inside, then I won't be able to sit with him and I'll probably just go home and wait for him to come back.
Wish us luck. :-)
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Goldfish Show
Yet another event in the East Point Mall - this one was a month ago, but I just got around to splicing the video together into something cohesive. This was a competition, for many categories of goldfish. Since you know how I feel about these swimming critters, you can imagine how excited I was. I went and saw them three times - it was here all weekend. Enjoy!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Come take a ride with me
One of the most common things here is the MRT - the rail system. It is not underground all of the time, sometimes it is above ground. You get to see a pretty good view from the train of buildings and stuff, so I took a video of an entire ride from one stop to another. Enjoy. I left the original sound in, so you can hear the voice that tells you where you're going. They use the word "alight" to describe de-training, and an interchange is where two train lines cross. There are 5 lines here - distinguished by name and color. This is on the East-West Line, or the "green" line. Simei is stop EW3, and Tanah Merah is EW4. For more info on the East-West MRT, see: Wikipedia.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Art in Singapore
A few weekends ago, Mathew and I decided to wander around an area of the city we hadn't really explored before. This was prompted by my discovery of an art exhibit that sounded pretty cool and our desire to eat Thai food.
The art exhibit was "non-traditional" in that it was not painting, sculpture, or photography, but instead, video. A lot of people here live in apartment complexes that are identical and facing each other. The artist apparently wanted to introduce opposing side neighbors and have them watch each other. She set up a video camera in each of 14 or so pairs of neighbors windows. She instructed that they must stand in the window for the first 10 minutes of the timed 30 minute recording. They all switched on the cameras at the same time, and that was that. The artist synchronized the films and put them on TVs that were next to each other, some askew, some higher than others, but always in pairs so you got the impression that you were watching a window of an apartment. It was really strange to see the reactions of the people on the left screen to what the people on the right were doing. Some people stayed in their windows for longer than the ten minutes, others left as soon as they could. Some people tried to entertain each other, others just stared. When the whole thing was done, she had a little lunch party with all of the participants. She had 8 sets of people in this exhibit, for a total of 16 monitors. It was a very cool exhibit and I liked the non-standard art feel of it. The piece was entitled "Jurong West Street 81" and was by Shannon Castleman.
In addition, we found some art in the basement of the esplanade. I thought this was kinda neat. It was a garden scene. I think they were all made of fabric and foam and other things like that. Anyway, they were pretty cool. I really liked the spider. (You should click the images to make them larger - some of these things deserve closer attention.)
It was all in a big glass display case.
A spider!
Not really sure what the lip things are. Snails? Worms?
Grass
A bug of some sort
A caterpillar on the wall
The art exhibit was "non-traditional" in that it was not painting, sculpture, or photography, but instead, video. A lot of people here live in apartment complexes that are identical and facing each other. The artist apparently wanted to introduce opposing side neighbors and have them watch each other. She set up a video camera in each of 14 or so pairs of neighbors windows. She instructed that they must stand in the window for the first 10 minutes of the timed 30 minute recording. They all switched on the cameras at the same time, and that was that. The artist synchronized the films and put them on TVs that were next to each other, some askew, some higher than others, but always in pairs so you got the impression that you were watching a window of an apartment. It was really strange to see the reactions of the people on the left screen to what the people on the right were doing. Some people stayed in their windows for longer than the ten minutes, others left as soon as they could. Some people tried to entertain each other, others just stared. When the whole thing was done, she had a little lunch party with all of the participants. She had 8 sets of people in this exhibit, for a total of 16 monitors. It was a very cool exhibit and I liked the non-standard art feel of it. The piece was entitled "Jurong West Street 81" and was by Shannon Castleman.
In addition, we found some art in the basement of the esplanade. I thought this was kinda neat. It was a garden scene. I think they were all made of fabric and foam and other things like that. Anyway, they were pretty cool. I really liked the spider. (You should click the images to make them larger - some of these things deserve closer attention.)
It was all in a big glass display case.
A spider!
Not really sure what the lip things are. Snails? Worms?
Grass
A bug of some sort
A caterpillar on the wall
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