Happy Halloween

I carved a Jack O' Lantern at Juan's house. Here's a photo with a view from his balcony.

I tried to make it look like Rick Santorum. I don't think I captured the face, but the hollow, soulless cynicism is perfect.

Also, I couldn't find a proper pumpkin -- it's actually more of a gourd. And it's yellow instead of orange.

No big Halloween plans here. China's version of Halloween candy would probably include pork so I'm not too disappointed. 

Brunch

This was brunch last Sunday. It's a mandarin fish with sweet and sour sauce. The Chinese call it "Squirrel Fish" because when it's sliced and fried it looks like a squirrel. (Kinda.)

Nothing to comment really. Just thought the photo looked cool. 

Singapore last week

It’s been a few days since I’ve posted. Busy. So busy.

Ask anyone who’s been to Singapore and they’ll tell you, “It’s so clean!”

Yes, it’s very clean. It’s got spotless avenues and palm trees and humidity and malls, malls, malls. Southeast Asia’s version of San Diego except for the thick soup of Indonesian brush fire haze.

There’s a giant sign at airport customs that says “Death for Drug Traffickers.” Eep.

Luckily I quit my part-time job as a heroin mule to pursue my boyhood dream of becoming a middle-management marketing professional.

I didn’t see much of the city. Here’s a few snaps. The view from my hotel room. Outside one of the malls. The sunflower garden at the airport (this airport has everything!) 

View from my window

Singapore, last Wednesday, October 11 around 9AM from the elevator bank at the M Hotel. 

Maglev

I’m back on the road. Arrived in Shanghai yesterday and then left this morning to catch a 5 hour flight to Singapore for a meeting tomorrow. (No delays. Singapore Airlines is terrific.)

Since I only had one bag and some extra time, I decided to take the subway to the Maglev train that goes to the airport.

The Maglev train is a typical state-sponsored boondoggle – it cost a zillion dollars to build and goes from the airport to nowhere-in-particular way on the other side of town. The Chinese government contracted Siemens to build it so they could reverse engineer it and co-opt the technology – typical of the information “sharing” agreements that some foreign companies get mired in here.

That said, it is the world’s fastest commercial train – so I had to give it a go.

My experience? It’s a really, really, really fast train (over 460 kph.)

I made it to the airport early enough to have lunch and call my friend Jill in LA. She said she was in the kitchen making something called “Jilly Beans.” She described it as some kind of pickled beans – reportedly really easy to make. I will let everyone know when Jilly Beans debut in Shanghai.

Boracay moments

Just a few more snaps from Boracay. The first photo is the reception at the spa we stayed at. The second photo is on the beach at dusk (really incredible), and the next photo is a sailboat that anchored next to our restaurant during high tide. 

On the island

On Sunday we left the nuttiness of Manila and flew 45 minutes to Kalibo. After a 2 hour drive we arrived in Catican. We then boarded a Mad Max-style watercraft for the 10 minute trip to Boracay.

The island is ticky-tacky tropical but lovely nonetheless. The beach is gorgeous with fine white sand and crystal blue water. There are no cars on the island, instead people travel by “tricycle” – a motorbike with a sidecar welded on.

There wasn’t a lot to do really other than rest, read, sit on the beach, get massages, eat unimaginative vegetarian fare and then make excuses for not going to my daily yoga class. I had some vague ambition of trying to get certified as a scuba diver, but someone told me it requires some kind of math examination component. I try not to be dogmatic but NO MATH ON HOLIDAY is one of my most treasured principles.

It was a terrific vacation. We returned to Manila on Saturday and then made it back to Shanghai yesterday afternoon. 

In Manila

We (I travelled with my friend Juan) arrived in Manila last Friday about 24 hours after the typhoon hit. The electricity was out in most of the city, there were no traffic lights and uprooted trees were strewn everywhere. Also, I was suffering from my own gastrointestinal typhoon courtesy of food poisoning from some TOXIC chicken salad ordered from here.

You better believe I was in a TERRIFIC MOOD upon arrival.

Luckily, things got better fast. Juan has some friends who live in Manila and work at the Asian Development Bank, so they graciously picked us up, gave us a place to stay and drove us around. Manila is a typically ramshackle, sprawling, third-world metropolis. There are slums and chic malls and penniless women with kids begging and kitschy religious iconography and Starbucks.

On Saturday we went around town. First to Makati (the rich malls, banks ‘n expats district) then to Malate, which was described as Manila’s version of Greenwich Village. Later we had dinner at a trendy Thai place. Someone said that Imelda Marcos hangs out there, but unfortunately we didn’t see her. We did see a woman with so much plastic surgery I actually thought it was Michael Jackson. (Sadly no photo.)

I took the first photo from the apartment building we stayed in – witness the traffic chaos caused by the power outage. In the second photo is a “Jeepney,” Manila’s owner-operated public transport. The locals took the jeeps the Americans left after World War II and converted them into buses. The third photo is a street in Malate.

I tried to get a photo of some typhoon carnage but nothing turned out. Next time.