The grainy image above (sorry! couldn’t use flash and my camera is dumb) pretty much sums up my 8 and a half days in Sydney last month. I was either playing with Woolloomoolloo (the dog) or Sarah Hannah (the baby, obviously).
I’d be the first to point out that I don’t like kids (no matter the size). They’re loud, screamy and sweaty, and their behavior erratic. But somehow, when it comes to my flesh and blood (ok, maybe just blood) I make an exception.
Sarah (my sister’s newborn) was amusing to me even when she cried, probably because at 3 weeks, she hadn’t gotten too loud yet. But also because I didn’t have the worries a mom has for her child. I knew she would get fed soon, so she’d be alright. I was more intrigued by the changing rhythms at which she’d cry and how similar it was to babies on TV. Sometimes it was short bursts of sounds but then it would work up to long yells, which would come down again to short bursts. Very interesting.
It was a little weird at first– getting used to the idea of my younger sister being a mom (when I still feel like a kid) and having feeding duties–but soon it felt just like we had a new pet. That’s actually what my sis told me about how she felt just after giving birth.
My sis and I talked to the baby just like we talk to our precious 4-legged pals (none of that cooing business) and we made up songs to distract from her tiny toothless demands to be fed. It was just like the old days except our attention was on a baby and not one of our furry friends. Although, Woolloomoolloo did get that same attention too.
Categories: Life
Tagged: dogs, newborn babies
I need a new camera.
I go to all these fabulous places and I take pictures and they always come out crap (as you can tell from this blog). It’s partly because of the sand bits stuck inside my current camera but mostly because I’m a terrible picture-taker. I need a camera that’s inspired all on its own. And possibly a quick tutorial on guiding the device, if that’s not too much to ask.
Anyway, there’s so much to think about and nothing to say at the same time. Chinese New Year came and went quite silently for me, except for the numerous reminders on facebook and Twitter. My family didn’t even acknowledge it when we met up in Sydney. It was strange.
My parents were probably relieved to be away from the craziness of days filled with obligatory visits to relatives and friends as well as the lightening of their wallets from giving away red packets to children they hardly know.
I, on the other hand, was a little disappointed.
As I get older, I feel like I need tradition or maybe it’s just cos’ I’m far away from home and it helps me remember who I am without being swallowed up in the foreign culture that surrounds me. Yet, paradoxically, I am glad to be away from the culture I know too well. I want to explore and learn and be filled with different perspectives, coming to conclusions I wouldn’t otherwise have reached with the limited input from having only lived in one place.
I know I was probably guilty of this too before I came to live here and maybe even a couple years in, but I can’t help getting annoyed when I read blogs by Singaporeans still living at home writing about their fascination with America (i.e. New York City, pop culture and food chains). They talk about this store and that store they visited, and if only they had it in Singapore (although they’d probably still come here to shop in the same store). They talk about cute little restaurants and cafes like they’ve never been to one before, like it’s only in America. In New York City. The truth is, Singapore has tons of that stuff and more. It’s just a case of greener grass on the other side.
Now, I know that it’s a very natural thing to do–eat and shop while traveling and recommending things you liked. I guess the thing that bugs me is that most times, it’s really not your regular I-went-here-and-loved-this write-up. The admiration is specific to the country and never goes beyond the superficial.
It bugs me because I think that what makes this country and its big cities great is not all its fancy stores and cute little cafes and chain restaurants (yuck, by the way!) but that it is somewhat of a petri dish for brilliantly creative minds and also the fact that its people have a voice (many different voices in fact) and are allowed to be heard (even though I wish some of them would shut up and even though it may not be the most efficient way of running a country). Maybe it’s because I come from an apathetic political culture and strict society that stifles creativity but when I leave this place, there can be nothing I will purchase, nor photograph I will take that can show why I admire this country. (Well… except for maybe a DVD boxed set of Arrested Development. Hur hur.)
Categories: D.C.
Sorry for being completely MIA for more than a week. I feel like I’ve been traveling forever. Got back from New York Monday last week and was sent to stay in a hotel near Dulles airport Tuesday evening in case I got stuck in the snow storm in DC. Flight to Cancun got canceled and then had to drive down about seven hours to North Carolina with my boss and fly out of Charlotte-Douglas airport to the conference I had to cover. Was in Mexico from last Thursday til last night. And tonight I’m in LAX waiting to board a flight to Sydney. The good thing is this trip is to visit family. Even though I still have to do some work on it, it will be good to be in warm weather and with my loved ones.
Anyway, above is a sneak peek at the Fairmont Mayakoba where I was for the past week. I’ll try and blog while in Oz but no promises. I’ll be back in March for sure though!
okBYE!
Categories: Travel Stories
So while the snow continues to fall and get swirled around by the crazy winds outside my hotel window in Dulles (see tweets), I thought I’d talk a little about my trip to New York.
The one thing I was super excited about (and I know few people can relate to when they think about New York City) was–CHINATOWN! You see, D.C. doesn’t have a proper Chinatown and if you want some of those all important supplies from home (mine is mainly Milo), you’ve got to drive out to the suburbs in Virginia and I don’t have a car. I also wanted to get some Singaporean/Malaysian food at Nonya on Grand Street and even planned what I was going to order days ahead of the trip.
Unfortunately, I was sorely disappointed at Nonya. For those of you familiar with Singaporean/Malaysian food, I ordered Popiah, Prawn Mee and Bakuteh. All of them were TER-RI-BLE!! Too sweet and the Bakuteh left a weird herbally taste on the tongue. That meal cost a fortune as well cos’ my dinner partner ordered a whole fish. I could hear my wallet whine all night from the pain.
So the next day, to cure my craving for good, cheap, comfort food, I looked up ramen on Yelp and found Menkui Teh in Midtown East. It’s a little hole-in-the-wall place that’s a great escape from 5th Ave shopping (not that I did any). It was warm and cozy and just what I needed on a super cold day. I ordered the ramen in their Menkui house special broth and it was gorgeous. Probably the best meal I had on the trip apart from the amazing tapas and sangria at Yuca Bar and Restaurant in East Village. For dinner here, definitely try the Taquitos de Pollo and the Churrasco.
Categories: New York City · Travel Tips
Tagged: comfort food in new york, good food in nyc, good ramen in new york, tapas in new york
I’m headed to New York City this weekend, just in time to escape the allegedly two-footer snowstorm that’s coming into DC. I thought I’d share how I usually make the trip.
The best way to get to New York City from D.C. is by train. The Acela Express takes you from Union Station to Penn Station in less than three hours. (The less expensive regional Amtrak train makes more stops so it takes about 45 minutes longer.) You’ve got all the legroom you want, electric outlets for that dying laptop battery and no stress from going through security-check lines at the airport. Your hair doesn’t even have time to get ruffled! This is how I traveled once I got a job after grad school.
“No more Chinatown bus,” I told myself, “I’ve got money!”
Alas, that luxurious lifestyle was short-lived and in an effort to save a ton of money for the future, I’ve had to scale far back and return to the bus. Although Amtrak currently has a $49 one way offer on their regional trains with a 2-week advanced purchase, the usual cost is between $64-$224 each way. (It makes no difference if you get a round trip ticket.) The bus costs between $1-$35 one way but takes about 4 to 5 hours to get from city to city.
Luckily for me, tons of different bus companies have sprung up in the last few years and they don’t just run between the two Chinatowns. Lots of them even include free wifi service.
The most popular bus company these days is BoltBus, which advertises $1 fares (although I’m not quite sure how to get them, the prices listed on their site usually go from $16 to $23 each way). It offers wifi and more leg room and travels between DC’s Chinatown or Union Station and Penn Station. It’s the same thing with Megabus.
There are several other bus companies that also offer wifi and leave from Union Station, Dupont Circle and Chinatown but I think most of them have a fixed price of $20-$25 each way, slightly more expensive than the above two I mentioned. No-frills Chinatown buses that go between Chinatowns are the cheapest at $35 round trip.
But sometimes convenience is something you might want to pay for. Vamoose Bus costs $30 each way but it stops at Rosslyn, close to where I live, so I can walk right home after I get off the bus. On a crazy work day, I can rush home, pick up my stuff and run for the bus. The only catch is that on the return trip from New York, it stops in Bethesda, Maryland, before going to Rosslyn, which significantly lengthens the journey. That’s why I’m just going with BoltBus this time. Hopefully I won’t have to sit next to a crazy person. Sigh, I miss the train!
Image courtesy of stock.xchng
Categories: D.C. · Travel Tips
Tagged: acela express, amtrak, chinatown bus, getting to nyc from dc
And while we’re on the topic of animals in Kauai, I thought I’d just share a picture of a reptile I saw on the beach too.
Categories: Travel Stories
Tagged: hawaiian turtle, kauai, Travel Stories
My good friend Leah at Eating With Integrity will be glad to know that there are lots of free range chickens in Kauai. Yes, I’m still talking about Hawaii.
Wild chickens are pretty much everywhere in Kauai. I even saw a bunch in front of a KFC. I guess they get their chicken from somewhere else. Heh heh. The birds were first introduced by the Filipinos who moved to Hawaii a long time ago and the locals attribute the freedom of the chickens to a big hurricane that destroyed many chicken farms and set these fowls free. They have flourished in Kauai because they don’t have too many natural predators. Where chickens on the other islands have to fear mongooses (why isn’t it mongeese?), these don’t because mongooses didn’t get introduced to Kauai.
Categories: Seen and Heard
Tagged: free range chicken, wild chickens of Kauai
January 28, 2010 · 1 Comment
Dear friends in Singapore,
This is my brother’s dog Mika. She’s been nothing but sweet, affectionate and loyal, but my brother and his family are moving to Chicago for a few years and unfortunately, 9-year-old Mika can’t go along. They’re desperate to find a good home for the energetic girl and if you would like to invite Mika into your family even for just a year or two, or know of someone who would, please, please get in touch! You can email Wen at ngoei.wq@gmail.com.
Thanks so very much!
Categories: Uncategorized
January 27, 2010 · 1 Comment
I love making friends on my travels but it mostly happens when I’m alone. So this work trip was the perfect setting to get acquainted with some of the people in my temporary neighbourhood. (N.B. The names are made up but the problems are real)
Let’s see…there was Jeff the sushi chef, whose son got into drugs and then cleaned-up and is now taking a year out before going to college, there was Gary the cab driver, who hates kids and likes to go fishing and sees 8-footer tiger sharks in the waters close to my hotel pretty often, there was Malcolm the surf instructor, whose 70-something-year-old mom teaches yoga and is completely “gnarly” (whatever that means), and there was Sheldon the bell boy, who is terrified of the cold, so he wears wet suits during his morning surf sessions, and he thinks I’m incredible just for being able to live through D.C.’s winters.
Besides the friendly chat, Malcolm lent me a board, took me out surfing and pushed me onto waves so I wouldn’t have to kill myself paddling for them, Jeff regularly cut up some fruit, which I didn’t order, for me after my meal, Gary gave me a free ride and Sheldon, well Sheldon noted my travel details after I only casually mentioned it in conversation and made sure I got to the airport on time. All in all, they made my work trip warm and pretty enjoyable.
Categories: Life · Travel Stories
Tagged: hawaii, kauai, travel friends
This is not a crime scene. The fella in the picture is not dead (I saw him heave a sigh of irritation at me and other tourists taking pictures of him from afar). He’s in a food coma after the very big meal he had the night before. The poor guy is an endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal who likes to be alone except in mating season. Part of the reason his kind are few is that tourists used to get up close to them when they’d hang out on the beach, causing them to escape back into the water with full bellies and get eaten by sharks.
So, now, whenever security guards or beach front hotel staff spot a seal early in the morning, they cordon off a large area for the seals to relax in the sun until they’re good and ready to go back into the water.
P.S. I’ve updated the trivia post below, if you’d like to see it.
Categories: Seen and Heard
Tagged: hawaii, hawaiian monk seal, kauai, Poipu Beach
