A Year in Review: 13 Things I Learned Traveling in 2013

Although my 2013 was definitely not as exciting a travel year as 2012, I did manage to visit some really awesome places this year: I saw three new states (Wyoming, Texas, and Washington), one new country (Monaco), and one new Special Administrative Region (Hong Kong), in addition to trips to some amazing places I had been to before.  Since I sadly forgot to blog throughout any of my journeys (oops), I've decided to wrap up 2013 with one big post of 13 photos summarizing the travel highlights of my year (in lesson form).  So here they are, in roughly chronological order:

1.  Bison Can Be Surprisingly Friendly (Colorado/Wyoming Border, USA)

After discovering that Colorado State is a mere hour's drive from the Wyoming border on a January trip to see Steph, I (slightly) bullied her into taking me on a day trip to Cheyenne instead of on a hike on her day off (exercise is for chumps).  On our way to Wyoming's fine capital, we stopped at the Terry Bison Ranch, a tourist trap on the Wyoming/Colorado border where they let you feed (and kind of pet) bison and camels.  If this is what life in Wyoming is like, I give it an A-OK!

2.  Sometimes the Best Views Aren't High Up (The Peak, Hong Kong)

On my way to Singapore in March, I stopped in Hong Kong for an extended layover, and my first tourist stop was to "The Peak," the highest point in HK.  Unfortunately, I got a typical hazy, polluted Hong Kong day, so I had to settle for a coffee with an only slightly impressive view (above).  The next day, I got a better sense of the city on foot and by ferry, which connects the two major parts of the city that sit on opposite sides of the harbor.

3.  Yes, They Make an Escalator for That (Singapore, Singapore)

In March, I traveled to Singapore with some colleagues for a follow-up visit to my summer in 2012, and I spent a lovely week there meeting with folks from SUTD, eating delicious food (Din Tai Fung, of course), and wandering through shopping malls (see the shortest escalator EVER...above).  It was very nice to return to Singapore and wonderful to see all my former students...hopefully I'll be back again in the next few years so I can see the new SUTD campus as well!

4.  When It Comes to Old Friends, Some Things Never Change (Chicago, IL)

When in Chicago for a conference in April, I was able to check in with some old friends from both college and high school, which was absolutely wonderful.  Jocelyn and I were immediately up to our old tricks...getting pedicures, sassing each other non-stop, and being semi-inappropriate in restaurants. I also got to see the beautiful and inspiring Lexi Zimmerman, who gave me a wonderful place to stay and made me smile to no end.

5.  Everything is Really Pretty Big in Texas (Houston, TX)

On the way to our post-thesis vacation in Mexico, the TPP gang stopped in Houston, Texas, for an extended layover with the lovely Dina, who was a magnificent host and guide in her hometown.  We drank big margaritas, ate big lunches, saw big water walls, and drove around in a big car...all signs point to stuff being pretty big down there.  Although I'll definitely need to collect more data points in the future (Austin?  San Antonio?) this was a lovely and BIG introduction to the Lone Star State.

6.  A RUINed Vacation Isn't Necessarily the Worst...Get it? (Chichen Itza,  Mexico)

On our post-thesis trip to Cancun, we took a day to participate in a sightseeing tour, which included swimming in a cenote (coolest thing ever), seeing some Mayan ruins (above), and getting stranded on the side of the road after our bus overheated (twice).  All's well that ends well, though, and our bus mishap actually led me to procure some of the most delicious churros of all time.  So there you go.

7.  Maybe I am a Beach Person After All (Cancun, Mexico)

I'm not sure if it's all my beach training from Southeast Asia, my love of a good book, or the thrilling companionship of my travel partners in crime (see above), but I've discovered that I really do enjoy beach vacations.  The five of us had a great time in Mexico despite some pretty intense sunburns, and it was a fabulous way to celebrate turning in 5 on-time master's theses.

8.  I Don't Take a lot of Photos in Our Nation's Capital (Washington, DC)

Despite my two (two!) visits to DC this year, I have exactly one picture from my time there: a glorious CTY reunion with two of my favorite RAs of all time (above).  Washington still feels a bit like home to me (which might account for the lack of pictures), so on my next trip I'll make a special effort to get some photographing in.

9.  I Can Eat a Surprising Amount Over the Course of One Weekend (Seattle, WA)

At the beginning of August, I did a quick cross-continent trip to visit two friends in Seattle, which was my first-ever visit to the Pacific Northwest.  Although we definitely did lots of fun touristy things during my visit (aquariums, boat tours, museums, and the like), my highlights of Seattle were all food-related.  In three days we managed to hit 3 Eater 38 restaurants, in addition to much snacking from various food vendors as well as a visit to ONE OF TWO AMERICAN DIN TAI FUNG LOCATIONS.   I was over the moon to get real, authentic soup dumplings, and am barely containing my excitement in the photo above.

10.  A 28-Hour Stay is Too Short for a Trip (Edmonton, AB)

The weekend before departing for France, I made a (very) quick trip to Edmonton, Alberta, for Mark and Barbara's wonderful wedding.  Unfortunately, I ended up arriving very late and leaving very early, so I only had about 28 hours total to explore Edmonton (and attend the reception).  Mark was a wonderful guide, however, and I'm glad I got to learn a little bit more about Western Canada.

11.  Provence and I Really Get Along (Southern France)

On our week-long road trip from Paris to Nice, Claire and I saw far too many amazing things to count--the photo above is from the Chateau des Baux, one of my favorite castles we saw on our journey (and believe me, there were more than a few).  We ate wonderful food, met amazing people (many of whom I could even speak to in French!) and had a really remarkable time together.  It was the first long vacation I had taken since Turkey, and I'm so thankful to Claire for taking so much time to spend with me in her beautiful country.  Fun fact: there are native flamingoes in France!  Who knew?

12.  Sometimes, Driving Through 3 Other Countries is the Fastest Way from A to B (Monaco, Italy, and Switzerland)

To get from Nice to Alsace, where Claire's summer home is located, we took a two-day journey through Monaco, Italy (including an overnight stop in Milan), and across Switzerland (with a stop in Lucern for lunch).  Driving up and over the Swiss Alps was probably the most breathtaking experience I've ever had--I took over 150 photos in the hour it took us to go up and over the mountains.

13.  Ashley's is Still the Best Bar in the World (Ann Arbor, MI)

Similarly to in 2012, TPP sent me off to Ann Arbor this October to recruit some sweet Wolverines for our next class at MIT, and on my visit I got to see some wonderful people and visit Ashley's and Zingerman's, the two Ann Arbor establishments that can never be replaced in my heart.  Although now it's a little sad to return to A2 (where did all my friends go?), it will always be a special place.  I also finally purchased a replacement "Harvard: The Michigan of the East" t-shirt, although I haven't figured out any places in Boston I could wear it without seeming like a jerk.  Alas, perhaps in the new year...


Well, that's all folks!  Thanks to all the wonderful people who made my 2013 travels special, and here's to many more adventures in the year to come!  I'll be spending the first two weeks of 2014 exploring Scandinavia, so expect some interesting (and potentially very cold) posting soon!

Dara

Top 12 of 2012!

So for me, 2012 was quite the year of traveling - I spent almost 4 months abroad, visited 9 new countries, and took what appears to be hundreds--if not thousands--of pictures (enough that they've slowed down my computer's iPhoto application to a virtual standstill).  On the off chance that anyone's still subscribing to this blog (and so I can look back on this 30 years from now when iPhoto has, in fact, lost all my photos), I decided to put together a top 12 travel moments/experiences of 2012, in chronological order.  Thanks so much to all the people that made these moments possible this year!

1. Visiting the Harpoon Brewery (Boston, MA)

So yes, this was not technically MY travel experience, but when Chris and Steph came to visit Boston in the spring, we went with Alistair on the Harpoon Brewery tour, which was absolutely fantastic and maybe one of the more fun hours and a half of my year.  This visit also led to the infamous "Wobble" experience at our TPP Memorial Day barbecue.

2. Juice Breaks in Bali (Ubud, Bali, Indonesia) 

While in some travel locations it's imperative to stop for afternoon tea (or even a strategic pint) while exploring, in Bali we always stopped for fresh squeezed juice, which usually cost on the order of $2-3 USD.  At this little restaurant we met a local flying a kite with his son over the rice paddies at the back. He let both Chris and I try it out, and we had fun wandering around the paddies trying to take artsy photos of ourselves.

3. Meeting Tiger Cubs in Thailand (Tiger Temple, Kanchanaburi, Thailand)

On our second day in Bangkok, Lexi, Chris, and I took an excursion to ride elephants and pet tigers in western Thailand.  While we thought that the elephant rides would be the highlight of the day, the Tiger Temple was actually amazing - the three of us got to pet this little guy in addition to a lot of full-grown (and very scary) tigers.

4. Swimming in the Marina Bay Sands Infinity Pool (Singapore, Singapore)

One of our last weeks in Singapore, a few of us decided to split a room at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to gain access to the rooftop infinity pool (pictured above).  We spent our stay hanging out by the pool, swimming, and at the hotel's casino...perhaps one of the most luxurious 20 hours of my life.  Definitely something I won't be forgetting any time soon!

5. My First Flight in a Prop Plane (Tioman Island, Malaysia)

For our journey back from Malaysia, Chris, Melanie, and I traveled via Berjaya Air, which runs exactly two flights per day out of Tioman Island, Malaysia (one to Kuala Lumpur and one to Singapore).  I had never flown in that small a plane before and am notoriously afraid of heights, so it was a slightly stressful experience (to say the least).  After only forty minutes, however, we landed in Singapore safe and sound--it was way easier than the bus/ferry combination we had taken to get to the island, for sure!

6. Walking Fish (Outside of Ko Panyi, Thailand)

An entirely inconsequential part of our trip, these walking fish were by far the coolest little bugs I've ever seen in my life.  While on a kayaking tour around a bay off the coast of Phuket, our guide showed us these little guys, who swim during high tide and then wander around using their fins as legs during low tide.  They're also really aggressive and fight all the time--the big one with his mouth open in the photo above is actually yelling at the smaller one!

7. Staying at the Kelebek Cave Hotel (Goreme, Turkey)

Between delayed flights, airline changes, long customs lines, and an overnight bus ride, Alice and I had a LOT of trouble getting to Goreme, but the Kelebek Hotel was worth the wait!  This gorgeous boutique hotel overlooked all of Goreme, and the breakfast buffet (a sample of which is pictured above) was to die for.  We also treated ourselves to a spa night at the hamam (Turkish bath), which was located in the basement of one of the cave pillars.  I've stayed in some pretty cool places, not gonna lie, but this one has to take the cake!

8. The Istanbul Spice Market (Istanbul, Turkey)

I adored pretty much our whole visit to Turkey, but the Spice Market was definitely one of the cooler experiences we had.  For a while Alice and I just strolled around taking everything in, then we both made some amazing purchases that I'm still using in my kitchen today.  Weird to say, but also one of the best-smelling places I've ever been....

9. A Beach Day on the Aegean (Outside of Thessaloniki, Greece)

As a special treat, Katerina, our guide/hostess in Thessaloniki, brought Vivek, Megan, and I to her favorite beach outside of Thessaloniki for a wonderful break during our trip.  We swam, drank frappes, and had the most amazing lunch with a view of the Aegean.  Like any good grad student, I brought some light reading to pass the time (pictured above).

10. Dinner Overlooking Volos (Mount Pelion, Greece)

I tried hard to limit the number of meals included in this list (not a bad effort, eh?), but this dinner was too wonderful to overlook--we had warm feta with honey and sesame seeds, rabbit stew, wine, and many other things we were too busy eating to remember to photograph.  Like most greek restaurants do, our waitress brought us a dessert on the house at the end of the meal, after which we returned full and happy to our small hotel in the next village.

11. Day Trip to Colonia (Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay)

After the conclusion of our conference, Katerina and I decided to take a day trip to Colonia del Sacramento, a small city in Uruguay about an hour by ferry from Buenos Aires.  Although we were only there for a few hours, the city was beautiful and we had a fantastic time--we met lots of wonderful people, bought some souvenirs, and ate a fantastic lunch.  Although Buenos Aires was also fabulous, I really loved the small-town feel of Colonia and how friendly all the locals were.

12. Visiting Iguazu Falls (Iguazu, Argentina)

Thanks to the recommendation of my Uncle Mark, I made the trek from Buenos Aires to Iguazu, Argentina, a city on the border with Brazil home to one of the world's greatest waterfalls.  I spent about a day here exploring the national park that surrounds the falls, and it really was one of the more beautiful and amazing places I've ever been.

Well, that's it, folks!  2012 really was an amazing year for my travel, and although I don't expect that 2013 will reach the same level (how could it?) I'm sure I'll have more to update this blog with in the future.  To all of you that have patiently read this thing for the last six months, thank you so much...and have a happy and healthy new year!

Lots of love,

Dara

SEFI 2012: It's all Greek (and Swiss) to Me!

So as you may or may not have noticed, I never actually got around to blogging about Alice and my adventures in Istanbul, although they were promised in a previous blog post.  Despite this social media gaffe on my part (oops), photos have been posted from that part of our Turkey trip, and they can be found on my Facebook here.

The reason I'm back to this sporadically-updated blog is that I'm just finishing a 10-day trip to Zurich and Thessaloniki, Greece, and it's time to provide some more updates and (hopefully) pretty photos from my wanderings.

Last Saturday morning, I landed in Zurich at about 10 AM after a not-so-satisfying nap on my Swiss Air flight from Boston.  After freshening up at the airport, I took a train to Zuirch's central train station, which is right at the end of the Bahnhofstrasse, a main tourist/shopping area running through the middle of the city.  After exploring that area (in the rain) for a bit, I snapped a few photos at Lake Zurich, grabbed a delicious lunch (sausage with onions, "Zurich style"), and then headed to the Kunsthaus Museum, which had a great collection (I especially loved the contemporary art).  After a quick hot chocolate at a cafe off of the Bahnhofstrasse (the Swiss sit outside at cafes even if it's cold and pouring), I took a train back to the airport, where I promptly fell asleep on a couch at the Starbucks until it was time to head through security (which, for the record, includes all-automated ticket and ID checking).  Overall, it was a nice mini-trip, although I've learned that (a) Switzerland is VERY expensive and (b) I do not function well on four hours of sleep.  Oh well.

Look, Mom, I really went to Switzerland!  The view of the Bahnhofstrasse.

Of course you have to get hot chocolate.

The first few days after arriving in Greece were a whirlwind of food, conference activities, and living in my first-ever AirBnB home stay, a lovely studio apartment in Kalamaria, to the east of downtown Thessaloniki.  The conference (for the Society of European Engineering Education, or "SEFI") itself was a good experience - my presentation went extremely well, and one audience member came up after to thank me for putting together such a clear and well-explained talk (YES!).  I received lots of good questions, and it seemed like everyone in the room thought what I was doing with SUTD was pretty awesome (I think it is too).  Despite the craziness of the conference schedule, within the first few days here we also found some time to go to the beach, where we ate amazing seafood and drank frappés, the unofficial drink of Thessaloniki.  Although we don't know exactly what they are, it appears to be a blended, chilled coffee drink, whipped until there is foam on top and generally served with milk and copious amounts of sugar.  Yum.

The view from our lunch at the beach - not bad!

The frappé generally comes with free food.  Which is awesome.

After conference activities ended, we had one day in Thessaloniki before taking our side trip to Mount Pelion (more on that below).  This also turned out to be a strike day in Greece, when many of the major unions (including many public workers and, terrifyingly, air traffic controllers) got together to protest EU austerity measures.  Despite the chaos downtown, we managed to take a self-guided walking tour of the older parts of the city in the morning, with one unexpected turn: we saw a few young people graffiti-ing the Old City in broad daylight!  There's tons of graffiti everywhere here, but it was definitely a surprise to see a group just walk up to a wall with some spray paint at 11 o'clock in the morning.  The rest of the day was a bit less exciting, although we ended with an absolutely delicious dinner at a restaurant with a really unique blend of tastes - it was influenced by the Turkish-Greek cuisine that existed in the northeast of the country before the population exchanges.  Highlights included retsina, a special Greek white wine infused with sap, and a feta mousse (yes, this exists, and yes, it is amazing).

Not the graffiti we saw being done, but a good example of what many Thessaloniki walls look like.

Protesters march through the city center.

The next day, Vivek and Megan picked me up in a rental car to begin our drive to Mount Pelion, a mountain situated on a peninsula in the Aegean Sea about halfway between Athens and Thessaloniki and the mythological home of the centaurs (I kid you not).  Portaria, the village in which we stayed, was about a 3-hour drive from Thessaloniki, although we made a bunch of scenic stops along the way (including a few beaches, a castle, a beautiful gorge, and the actual Mount Olympus).  After arriving in Portaria and settling our schedule with the proprietor of our inn, the three of us drove to a neighboring village called Makrinista to watch the sunset and have dinner at a small restaurant off the main square.  This may have been our most incredible meal in Greece so far; we had "small goat," grilled feta with sesame seeds and honey, stuffed zucchini, bean soup, and the customary free dessert that we've received almost everywhere we've eaten.  The view was also fantastic, and it was just a really lovely meal overall.

The sunset view on Mount Pelion.

The next day, Katerina had suggested that we drive to the "back" of the mountain to go to the beach at one of the remote swimming areas along the shore.  What I had no idea was that this entailed an hour and a half of the curviest, smallest, least-guard-railed roads I've ever encountered, as well as the fact that we needed to drive up and over the mountain to reach our destination.  Given my fear of heights this was slightly petrifying, but we eventually made it and the beach was totally worth it!  We spent a few hours there, had a small lunch (or small by this trip's standards, anyway), then drove back to the hotel and worked a bit before another lovely dinner at a small tavern in Makrinista.

The beach!  Not bad for September, eh?

Yesterday, we drove back to Thessaloniki, and it's been a really relaxing last couple of days in the city. Vivek, Megan, and Katerina all left this morning, so I've been spending some time catching up on my work and seeing a few last sights in the city.  Today I climbed the White Tower (as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the White Tower is to Thessaloniki) and also went to the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki, which was a lovely (albeit very small) tribute to the historic Jewish population here.  It's an incredibly sad story - the Sephardic Jewish population of Thessaloniki topped 100,000 at points (specifically during the Spanish Inquisition), but all 50,000 that remained here during the 1940s were transported to Auschwitz, where 96% died before the end of the war.  Despite the sad content, it was a well-presented museum and I'd recommended it to anyone happening to visit Thessaloniki in the future!

View from Thessaloniki's White Tower.

Tonight is my last night in town (I'm planning on a delicious last meal at Greek dinner time, which is about 9:00), and I'll be flying back to Boston tomorrow afternoon for 13 days of work before my next conference, the World Engineering Education Forum, in Buenos Aires.  Wish me luck with getting everything done, as well as safe travels back to the good 'ole US of A!

Dara

Cappadocia: The most magical place on Earth?

Hello from Istanbul!

So clearly, Alice and I made it safely to Turkey and through the first leg of our trip, and although we've already been here for 5 days, I'm just now getting some time to sit down and put together some thoughts on our travels thus far.

Sunday afternoon, after packing up my things and watching some last-minute Olympics coverage, one of my students from the summer offered me a ride to the airport in Singapore, which was both incredibly nice and incredibly important (as he was the one who managed to successfully argue with the check-in desk when they tried to skimp me on my luggage allowance).  About 15 hours later, I landed at London Heathrow, where I spent 4.5 hours clearing immigration, collecting my luggage, changing terminals, checking into a new airline, passing through security, and eating a nice breakfast, all on one of the busiest days in Heathrow's history.  Everything went okay, however (snaps to the Brits!), and Alice and I managed to rendezvous just fine at the Istanbul airport, despite hellishly long lines for both visas and immigration clearance.

Using the Istanbul metro, the two of us (and all of our luggage!) made it to the Esenler Octogar, the main bus terminal in Istanbul.  Long-distance buses are a very normal mode of transport in Turkey, and we managed to find our bus to Goreme (a town in the central Cappadocia region) with the help of some friendly bus attendants (like flight attendants, but for buses!).  Twelve hours later, we got off the bus and made it to our hotel...for the record, at this point I had been traveling for about 42 hours straight.

Alice and I were both absolutely exhausted, but our hotel - called the Kelebek Hotel and Cave Pension - more than made up for the journey.  The staff members were welcoming and attentive, the breakfast and view from the terrace was amazing, and our room was in an actual cave (see below).  Even though we arrived at about 8 AM, the staff made sure we got into our room straight away, and even let us help ourselves to breakfast even though we weren't technically guests of the hotel as of yet.

Breakfast spread at our hotel - fresh cheeses, vegetables, honey straight from the comb, and LOTS of olives.

The view from Kelebek's breakfast terrace- the pointy things are called "fairy chimneys" and are the most famous type of rock formation in Cappadocia. 

Our room!  In a cave!

Understandably, our first day we were fairly exhausted, so after a long nap we headed into town to do some quick shopping and grab some snacks and cay (Turkish tea, which is pronounced "chai"), as well as smoothies made from fresh fruit, honey, and thick yogurt (what we would call "Greek" yogurt in the US).  In the evening, we returned to our hotel to visit the hamam (Turkish bath).  After the discomfort of our travels, Al and I decided to spring for the full experience - we checked out the sauna, got exfoliating treatments, received face masks, and finished with short massages.  That evening I definitely slept like a rock!

The hamam at our hotel.  For the exfoliating treatment, they make you lie on the heated marble in the center, do the exfoliating stuff, then they cover you in bubbles and throw bowls of water on you to remove everything.  It was definitely a unique experience!

The next day, we decided to take a guided tour through an agency associated with our hotel, which ended up being us and about 10 other people from Italy, the US, and Canada.  Our first stop was a town called Mustafapasa, a city in Cappadocia with several thousand years worth of history, which our tour guide ran through in about 10-15 minutes.  Most interestingly, Mustafapasa was a place where Greek Christians, Turkish Christians, and Turkish Muslims lived (relatively) peacefully together for hundreds of years, until the Turkish Republic was founded in 1923.  At this point, Greece and Turkey did a "population exchange" - essentially a forced relocation of Muslims in Greece to Turkey and Christians in Turkey to Greece.

The large building in front was originally a church (you can see the tiny tiny spire above the apex just to the right), but when Muslims conquered the area, it was converted into a mosque.

After Mustafapasa, we drove to the Keslik Monastery, a series of caves in 4 fairy chimneys that would have once held 200-400 priests and students (about 1000 years ago).  This is the first place we got to see paintings in caves used as churches (see below), which were really beautiful, although badly damaged by soot (hence the black layer on top) and various vandalism across the ages.  We also got to see the kitchen and dining area for members of the monastery, which was really cool!

Paintings in the church (covered in 17th and 18th century graffiti).

Alice sits in the dining room of the monastery - in front of her is a table carved into the stone of the cave, and on either side were long benches for the students to sit and eat.

After the monastery, we made a quick stop to an archaeological site excavating ruins left by the Romans during a campaign through central Turkey.  Although funding has been limited and therefore excavation has been slow, there were some incredible mosaics in near-perfect condition unearthed and on display (see below).

Mosaics!

After a group lunch, we started a short hike through the Soganli Valley, where we got to see a few more churches and rock formations.  The one below was probably the coolest we saw - at the top there were two church rooms, one on top of the other, and below that (on the right side of the photo) was where families would live, cook, and raise their children.  It was amazing to me that this one big rock was an entire community, and some people may go their whole life without straying far from it.

A Cappadocian neighborhood.

Our final stop of the day was the Derinkuyu Underground city, the deepest of the 32 discovered underground cities in Turkey (the lowest level unearthed thus far is 70 meters below the surface!).  Used up until the 11th century, these cities were built to allow farming communities to hide from whatever invading army happened through the region, and they had areas designated for family quarters, cooking, worshipping, meeting, and even stables for the livestock.  Although archeologists don't really know how many people lived there at a given time, estimates range from 2,000-10,000 people, with maximum estimates of 60,000!

None of my pictures from the underground city really came out (clearly) - but as you can see it looks like...a cave.

On our final day, we visited the Goreme Open Air Museum, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of dozens of Fairy Chimneys with housing and churches inside.  One of the churches, called the "Dark Church," had some of the more amazing frescoes we'd seen, and even included a rare depiction of Jesus in his teenage years!  The dates on the various paintings ranged from about the 6th to the 12th centuries, so we got to see a good mix of different styles and such throughout the tour.

After a delicious dinner of testi kebap (lamb stew cooked in a terra cotta pot which is cracked open at the table) and manti (little Turkish ravioli served in a yogurt sauce), Alice and I boarded another bus bound for Istanbul, where we arrived at about 7:30 on Friday morning.  I'll save all of our Istanbul adventures for another post, most likely after returning home to the States on Wednesday.

Wish us luck for our last few days here!

Dara

Happy National Day!

As many of you may not know, August 9 is Singapore's National Day, which commemorates Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965.  It's crazy to think that this country has only been around for 47 years - imagine if 4th of July celebrations were celebrating America's 47th birthday!

Most of my close friends have already left Singapore at this point, but I was lucky enough to spend the day with a native Singaporean - Marcus, an incoming TPP who will be starting at MIT in just a few weeks.  To begin the day, Marcus took me to High Tea at the Swisshotel Stamford, a very posh buffet on the 65th floor of one of Singapore's tallest buildings.  It was really nice to be in the AC (called "air con" here) and away from the crowds, and we could see everyone gathering at street level in preparation for the National Day Parade (NDP) from our table.

The view from high tea - crowds are starting to gather at the lower left to watch the parade.

After High Tea, we wandered out into the crowds, trying to place ourselves strategically to watch the festivities, especially the evening fireworks display.  We managed to cross the bridge in the above picture, eventually settling for a standing-room table at one of the bars on the Bay, which came at a steep cover charge (but with a "free" drink).  From our spot, we had a very clear view of the Bay and could roughly see what was happening at the Parade site.

Unlike what we consider to be a "parade" in the United States, the NDP is basically a big show which celebrates the history of Singapore, most notably its current armed forces (more on this later).  The venue in which it takes place only seats 10,000 people so it is extremely difficult to get tickets (especially for foreigners); most families watch the spectacle from home on TV.  The whole thing culminates in a large fireworks display from the center of the Bay, and many of the surrounding buildings participate in the light show as well (see below).

One of many sets of fireworks during the NDP.

As I mentioned, the Singaporean military is very present in these proceedings - we saw 3 flyovers, 6 parachute jumpers, a navy boat display, a 21-gun salute, and a massive flag flown by military helicopters in the course of a 3-hour show.  Like many other countries, Singapore has a mandatory national service requirement for all of its male citizens - interestingly enough, as Singapore was being formed in the late 1960s, the new government actually contacted the IDF in Israel so they could base their program off of Israel's system.  Singapore is located very strategically and has not always had the best political position in the region, and it really seemed as if the NDP festivities were the government flexing the muscles of its impressively large defense force.  Certainly interesting to an outside observer!

GIANT flag flown over the NDP coordinated to the President's entrance.

After National Day, I have three full days left in Singapore - today was spent at Sentosa (a resort island off the coast), tomorrow I'll be visiting the Botanic Gardens, and then Sunday I'll finally be making my way to the Jurong Bird Park.  It's crazy to think that I only have two nights left here, and that my next post will be written in Goreme, Turkey!

Happy August, and looking forward to seeing many of you soon!

Dara

PS: For a completely absurd look at National Day (as well as some strangely-placed commentary on Singapore's population issues), check out this YouTube video courtesy of a friend from MIT.  I warn you, it's pretty weird...

Thailand 2.0: Our Weekend in Phuket

Howdy, everyone!

So this post comes a little late, but I thought it was still worth it to provide a quick rundown of Chris and my weekend in Phuket, a beach island off the southwestern coast of Thailand.

After arriving in Phuket and making our way through the VERY long line at immigration, Chris and I were picked up by a driver at the airport and brought to our hotel in Patong Beach, one of two main town/beach areas on the island.  Upon arrival, we were greeted by the owner of our hotel: a very tan, very eccentric Australian man named Lindsay who was super helpful throughout our stay.  After informing us of all the potential dangers befalling tourists in Phuket (including but not limited to reckless tuk-tuk driving, drink spiking, ATM hacking, and passport theft), he sent us on our merry way to grab some dinner and explore the town.

The main bar/entertainment area in Patong Beach was about a 10-15 minute walk from the hotel, and on the way we made lots of little pit stops, checking out fruit markets, juice vendors (who made their smoothies with condensed milk and tons of liquefied sugar, I was unhappy to learn later), and the one Thai boxing stadium in town.  When we finally got to the bar street, it was complete sensory overload - neon signs, music blaring from every club, and thousands of people jostling their way through the street.  After walking up and down the length of the street once, we stopped for a quick drink at one of the many bars, and a woman who worked there insisted on playing a few rounds of "Connect Four" with both of us!  It turns out that I am very bad at this game (especially when sleepy), but Chris actually held his own and won his best-of-three.

In Phuket, even the taxis are meant for parties!

After our excursion into town, Chris and I headed back to the hotel and stayed up to watch the opening ceremony of the London Olympics (well, as much as the opening ceremony as we could stay awake for, considering it started at 3 AM Phuket time).  I think my assessment was similar to everyone else's - long, a bit strange, but overall quite entertaining.  It was definitely cool to see a few Michigan athletes in the mix!

Saturday morning, we woke up fairly early to grab some breakfast and head down to the beach.  Strong currents are yet another peril of Phuket, and if you're not smart and don't follow what the lifeguards are saying, it can be really dangerous.  Chris and I only stayed a few hours, however, taking quick dips in the sea (I've now kind of swum in the Indian Ocean!) and reading under our umbrella, trying to keep our sunburns from Malaysia out of the line of fire.

Yet another beautiful day at the beach!

After finishing at the beach, we went back to our hotel to freshen up (and apply more aloe) before meeting another hired driver to take us to the Phuket Weekend Market.  Although definitely not as big as Bangkok's weekend market, we still had a really great time, and got a chance to shop at a leisurely pace and get some final souvenirs from the southeast Asia part of our trip.  Upon returning to Patong Beach, we dropped all our goodies off at the room, then went and got our final Thai massages of the trip (5 massages after 6 total days in Thailand this summer, folks).  After getting back to our hotel, Lindsay and his partner greeted us with some snacks they had picked up at the market, which was so nice of them and a really great way to end the evening.

Sunday morning, we were picked up at 8:00 for our day-long speedboat excursion to Phang Nga bay, an area between Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula.  After about an hour in a minibus and a short transit to the ferry dock, we boarded our speedboat, which we shared for the rest of the day with about 30 other guests and two tour guides (one English-speaking and one Russian-speaking).

Excited to be on our speedboat!

After cruising past some cool islands with amazing limestone rock formations, we arrived at our first stop of the day: Khao Phing Kan, or "James Bond Island."  In 1974, this island was used as a location for The Man with the Golden Gun as the hideout of the movie's antagonist, Francisco Scaramanga, and ever since has been one of the largest tourist traps in the region.   Even if I don't have a particular appreciation for all things Bond, it was cool to see, and was a nice stop to get off the boat and walk around for a little bit.

In front of the infamous island...

After the James Bond stop, we moved on to a sea canoeing location, which was pretty cool (although we weren't allowed to paddle our own boats and our driver kept harassing us for extra cash).  For 40 minutes, we were canoed through caves and cool rock formations, so much so that at points we had to duck so we wouldn't hit our heads.  Perhaps the weirdest/most interesting part of the day were seeing "walking fish," which were little fish that scuttled around during low tide getting into fights and making weird noises at one another (it's worthwhile to note that we also saw schools of flying fish that day - a weird fish day, I guess!).

Aggressive walking fish yelling at one another!

After our canoeing stop, we got back on the speedboat and traveled to Ko Panyi, a village of 1,600 people built entirely on stilts in the middle of Phang Nga Bay.  This village was built by Muslim immigrants in the late 18th century because of restrictions on land ownership to only Thai nationals; today, most of the people living there are descendants of the two original fishing families from Indonesia.  It was a nice lunch stop and an interesting place to walk around - some highlights included Chris getting handed a monkey by a local woman and seeing the "floating stadium" where the youth team practices (for more info on the town and stadium, check out this cool YouTube video).

Chris makes friends so easily.  This was right before it grabbed his nose...

The floating stadium!

In front of the village.

After our lunch stop, we traveled to one final island - a small beach where we spent about two hours swimming and relaxing before heading back to Phuket on the speedboat.  After getting back to our hotel, we changed, went and grabbed some dinner, then wandered around a bit more before turning in early, as we had to leave our hotel at about 6:30 to get our flight back to Singapore.

During the flight, it was so surreal to write "London" as my next port on my arrival card - I can't believe that I'm almost done my time here in Singapore!  The summer has flown by overall, but I'm so SO excited to head back and see my family in the US and move back into my lovely apartment in Cambridge.  I'll probably provide one more update on Singapore before I leave, then it's off to a 9-day Turkish vacation extravaganza with Alice!

Hugs,

Dara