SE Asia Days 4-9

Day 9
Amelia and I have just arrived in Bali, Indonesia. Not too much to report since we just arrived, but the resort does seem very remote (2.5 hr drive up and down hills past rice paddies). We got a see a crazy rainbow that went end to end into the ocean. We get internet here and hopefully we'll have some fun diving stories for tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a quick catch up on the 5 days we missed:

Day 4: Last day in Cambodia
No temples on our last day in Cambodia. We slept lateish- 7 30am - and had delicious pancakes again. Then we hung out by the pool, laying out, reading and swimming until we left at noon. I also took some cute pictures of the doggies who lived at the resort. There were six of these pekinese, chihuahua, fluffy lap dog mutts. They were all named after fruits: mango, lemon, apple, pumpkin, melon and kiwi. But Amelia and I called them the lighter biggish one, the darker biggish one, the bitchy one, the bitchiest one, the favorite and the derpy one. The derpy one who's real name was kiwi was a fatty with skinny legs and a tongue that didn't like to stay in his mouth. This is on my phone but pics to come.  Then we took the short flight from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is where Amelia was mentoring at Decode, put on by Start Up Malaysia. I knew needed to entertain myself while she was working during these next few days, but after arriving I realized that might be more expensive and difficult than I thought. So maybe an hour after arriving in KL I booked a bus to Singapore for the next morning. My host was Devon, a friend from Penn, who has been living in Singapore since he graduated in 2011 and took a job consulting for a ginger, cotton and palm products company.

Day 5: Ilana arrives in Singapore
My bus left at 9am from a hotel only a 20 minute walk from ours. It was interesting seeing the morning rush hour in KL before leaving. I certainly saw an adequate sample of the different ethnic groups: east Asians mostly from China, Indians and other south Asians, a handful of Arabs or Persians, and a lot of Muslim Malaysians. Almost all of the women I saw were wearing headscarves. Malaysia has been an Islamic nation since the 15th or 16th century, I found out later. Malaysian people have their religion on their ID cards and Muslims can be arrested for consuming alcohol, although non Muslims can't. On my way to the bus I also saw the KLCC, the big hunk of metal shiny towers that were once the tallest buildings in the world, even taller than the world trade center. The bus was definitely the way to go over flying. It had huge seats that reclined far back with personal TV screens equipped with music and movies. I listened to some Britney Spears, watched a half dozen Korean pop music videos and read Jurassic park. I arrived in Singapore at 2:00 and had 5 hrs to kill before Devon got off work, so I hunkered down with my free tourist map they gave out on arrival and circled some things I wanted to see and what subway lines I needed to take to get there. I took the subway to Chinatown and ate lunch in a mall-stall restaurant with no English translations. I had heard that Chinatown and little India in Singapore are like China and India in a gum-free, drug-free, fairly clean kind of way. Never having been, I don't know if that's true, but there are a ton of Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi and Chinese ex-pats in Singapore. I also saw a mani-pedi place with a fish tank where the fish eat your dead skin which sounded authentic Chinese enough for me. After lunch I wandered around some malls getting a feel for the Singapore style and finding an excuse to get out of the heat. Singapore is basically a city made of malls, some at ground level and some below that connect the office buildings and hotels. I met up with Devon at his office, one of the Suntec towers (I think there are 7) connected to the Suntec shopping center. While I waited for him in the mall outside his office I saw a cute art exhibit by Singaporean school kiddos. It was interesting to get a glimpse of the culture as seen by kids and taught by schools. The different heritages were represented, like a kids representation of classical Chinese water colors, and more than one piece had a "we wanted to show Singapore's diversity" message. Devon and I went to an American themed bar for 4th of July and hung out with some his ex-pat American friends. Meanwhile Amelia spent all day prepping for decode. It was hard :( but she had a nice dinner at a place called Top Hat with the decode sponsors and a woman from John Kerry's office. She also worked through her talks with the other instructors, John, other John and Marcus.

Day 6: Ilana chills in Singapore
I left with Devon when he went to work on Friday morning. We had coffee at a hipstery place in his neighborhood. Unlike most people in Singapore, Devon doesn't live in a huge highrise but instead an old school Singaporean apt building. I went to little India and wandered around, getting some pretty awesome spicy Samosas. A friendly Malaysian guy started chatting with me at one point and gave me some recommendations on what to see. When I told him I was American he said "I will kill you!" ... Uh. "You know, because I am a Muslim and you are American? I'm just kidding, have a nice day." I started walking to the Hindu temple he had suggested but was feeling kind of lonely so I started chatting with a girl who looked like she was traveling alone. She was Swiss and was down to wander around with me before going to meet her ex boyfriend for lunch. The Hindu temple was incredibly beautiful and ornate, with some depictions of characters Amelia and I had met in Cambodia and bustling with Hindu people praying and eating. Afterwards my new friend Marina and I walked to Arab street and stumbled upon the Malaysian heritage center. We learned some cool things. Apparently Malaysia actually used to have a fairly large film industry in the 1960s. Malays are also not just one ethnic group but a composite of many groups from the islands. There are also a mixture of international groups from western and eastern Asia who have been trading or living in Malaysia and Singapore since the 3rd century AD. Marina left to meet her ex and I walked about little India a bit more before heading to downtown. I walked on the River Quay which was touristy but cute, saw some of the British influenced architecture and eventually arrived at the Asian Civilizations museum. The museum was had tons of gorgeous art and was well curated with informative descriptions. I learned a ton and really got a feel for how religion and art diffused through east and south eastern Asia. Also it was only $4 for students, thanks penn card! I wandered some more looking at views and meandering through malls before meeting with Devon for dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. Then we went to Sentosa, a man made beach in Singapore where we went to a "Jazz on the Beach" event where his friend's girlfriend was the PR manager. The band was made of Spanish speaking people, who we later found out were from Mexico, Uruguay and Spain. How cosmopolitan and appropriate for Singapore. Many of Devon's friends were ex-pats or international people (by international I mean like my friend Wint Thu who grew up in half a dozen different countries before she was 10). Only the PR manager girl was born in Singapore and Devon told me later that sometimes he thought she put on a slight American or British accent to sound like she was from somewhere else, a really interesting example of how different the "cool factor" in different countries can be. Amelias first day at the program wad a lot of debugging, pretty interesting watching 500 people coding in one room. More on that later.

Day 7: Ilana chills with Devon in Singapore
The next morning Devon and I went to breakfast in his neighborhood at another hipstery place with some delicious baked goods (fuck, real butter is fucking good). We explored a little market nearby and got a "custard apple" which is a weird fruit with the meaty texture of a scallop but the taste of apple pie. They also had other exotic fruits like mangosteen, jackfruit and lychees. After we had digested Devon and I left for a run to the botanical gardens. The gardens were free (for the win) and absolutely incredible. There was so much diversity and again the curators killed it with the layout and descriptions. There's more diversity in the botanical gardens than in in all of north America (says the internet). Hardly covering 3/4 of it we saw the ginger garden, a rainforest walk, the healing garden and an "evolution" garden which described the history of plant life on the planet starting with rocks, mosses, ferns, cycads, etc and eventually flowering plants. Devon also showed me his favorite tree which was pretty big, but not as big as the red woods. Then Devon and I ran back (more of a challenge because we were already tired from the heat). Devon was disappointed in my food choices the day before in little India so we went back to little India so he could properly introduce me to delicious Singaporean south Indian food. After our run we were starving and the food we ate was delicious. Also I ate naan which is not vegan so I normally don't eat it and its so delicious in its buttery garlicky glory especially when dipped in spicy hot yellow daal with all the ginger and whole chillies. That night we had plans to meet up with his friends to go out. One came to his apt and I learned he was Pakistani but went to school in the states. Devon hadt also told me before that this 20something guy was a big deal sugar trader and owned multiple mini markets because of his inherited semilegal connections. Apparently getting around taxes and having connections in Africa and South America also contributed to the success of the company Devon works for. The politics of money in Singapore and the rest of this part of the world blow my mind. The club, Zouk, was fun, with three dance floors and great music. 

Day 8: Ilana arrives back in KL to meet up with Amelia
In the morning Devon took me to a place to get Kaya on toast, which is a coconut jam. It was delicious. I also had planned to get tanaka at this other mall, a root that you grind on a stone and can use to protect your skin from make up, reduce oil and stop sweat that is popular in Burma. One of Devons friends had told me the night before a general area where I might be able to get it but his instructions weren't specific enough and it would have taken too much time. I'm hoping I can find it in Thailand or Japan. Then I had an equally pleasant experience on the bus back to KL. When I arrived I realized I hadn't printed out directions on how to get back to the hotel, oops, but luckily I remembered. When I got back to the hotel I saw a note that said "at skybar, you should come, take a cab" with some Malaysian money from Amelia. Without too much adventure, I found her and met her colleagues including Vani, the lady who helped book this trip. Amelia and I were both exhausted and had to get up early for the flight this morning so that brings us to today. Hope you guys are enjoying these updates. Tomorrow is our first day of diving!!