V is for Vagabond

Aki Ra Clears Cambodian Landminds by Hand

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:15:00 +0000

Three decades of war in Cambodia left many landmines all over the country. These landmines were scattered throughout the country side by the Khmer Rouge, the Heng Samrin and Hun Sen regimes, the Vietnamese, the KPNLF, and the Sihanoukists. Unfortunately many of these landmines were undocumented, and as a consequence upwards of 40,000 Cambodians have been victims of landmine blasts from 1979 through the present.

I loved my time in Cambodia, though I only visited Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor. The people were so friendly and the Temples were amazing. Cambodia is a dangerous place to visit though, you must always stick to the path because of active undocumented landmines still out there.

This video I randomly found shows a man named Aki Ra, a former child solider in the Khmer Rouge's army, finding and disarming landmines with nothing more than a stick and knife. This is a truly courageous act, but it doesn't just stop there. Apparently Aki also houses and pays for the schooling of children that were victims of landmines.

Tips and Tricks: Free E-Books

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 12:35:00 +0000

If you like reading you can get free e-books at Project Gutenberg. These are books who's copyright has expired so they are free to download or print. Since they're copyright is expired most of these are old classics.

http://www.gutenberg.org/

Singapore Day 4: Just wandering around now

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:28:00 +0000

Having finished off the temples fairly quickly I decided just to spend the day wandering about. I came across the Chinatown Heritage Center and decided to check it out. No photos were allowed so no pictures. I met a girl from the Philippines who had gotten a free ticket or something. I don't understand why but she was afraid to go in by herself and asked me to go with her. It turns out she was a java programmer and so I talked a little bit about her job, just out of curiosity. It's not so clear to me anymore but I think whatever she was working on used J2EE... yikes. Why anyone would still want to use that overly complicated architecture and technology is beyond me when there are other lightweight ways to do the same thing... but I'm getting off topic here.
The Chinatown Heritage Center was ok if you've got nothing to do. It told the story of the Chinese immigrants that came to Singapore and what their living conditions were like. I'll let you guess.... yep, not so good. I think I probably had the most fun checking out their replica toilets from the old days. It was about the size of a portapotty but made of..... concrete or stone... something heavy. Anyway you stood on a platform about 2-3 feet above the ground and there was a hole under you. I don't think you're supposed to touch it, but since nobody was around I jumped up on it and squatted just for fun. No photos for you... too bad! Maybe I didn't really do it then!

A random sign I saw while walking around... I did not get any since I already had crocodile in Cambodia.

After this it was off the Esplanade again. There was some fair going on, maybe a motorcycle trade show or something so I got to snap a few pictures of import models. There wasn't much to do there, and I think I ended up eating Popeyes of all places because it was right there and I was lazy, hungry, and tired.

The Ferris Wheel at the Esplanade. It's quite expensive and I think it takes 30 minutes to go around once.

Some fair was going on, I got there just as it was ending.

Import models.

Import Models

Tired I returned back to the hostel only to find the most interesting thing I saw in Singapore. A bunch of Chinese people line dancing in front the of the Chinatown Complex in Chinatown. Yes, Line Dancing... to country music. They were really into it, and I guess they do it once a month. Quite a spectacle. Enjoy the footage.

Singapore Day 4: Chinatown Temples

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:03:00 +0000

Almost a month between posts... and my asia tour trip has been over for quite some time now. Sorry for the delays... if you're still following me. I promise to finish it all up soon.

My 4th day in Singapore was pretty relaxing. I felt I had seen most of what I wanted to already so my plan was just to explored two temples: The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and The Sri Marianmman Temple. Both of these temples were in Chinatown and only minutes away from my hostel. I had walked by them plenty of times already by this point, so it was about time I dropped in for a visit.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple .... eh, I didn't think it really stood out. I also some how missed the Buddha Tooth Relic. Hahahaa. Oh well.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum

100 Buddhas

Monks Chanting

Sri Marianmman Temple
The Sri Mariamman Temple is the oldest Hindu Temple in Singapore, having been constructed in 1827. It has played an important role in the history of Hindus in Singapore. Early on it was a shelter for Indian immigrants. It was also the only Hindu temple who priests were vested wit the authority to marry people. The temple is dedicated to the Mother Goddess Sri Mariamman so people come here for her healing powers.

Warning the next picture is NSFWNotice anything inappropriate by western standards in this ceiling art? How about his um...

Litter in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Wed, 27 May 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Singapore is the cleanest city/country I have ever been to. The streets are so clean you can practically eat off of them. Well, that is except for two places. The first I saw was Little India.

The other place? Why, Chinatown of course! Hahahaha. Has there ever been a clean Chinatown anywhere in the world? I don't know. Not in my experience. "Clean Chinatown" is like an oxymoron.

Not litter free in Chinatown.

As for Little India... I'm reminded of a joke told to me by a Malaysian I met in Tokyo and again in Kuala Lumpur.

The Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew (LKY), once visited India. He was warmly welcomed by Gandhi, who took him to view many places in India. After sightseeing, LKY has this to say to Gandhi, 'All the places I have visited in India are dirty, filthy and untidy. you should see how clean Singapore is!'

A month later, Gandhi made a visit to Singapore. LKY brought him to Compass Rose for dinner. Gandhi who was unhappy with LKY insult, tried to find some dirty places in Singapore to return the insult.

He took a pair of binoculars and look all around singapore to find a place which is dirty, but could find none. Finally, Gandhi after 10 mins of searching, saw a place which is very dirty and untidy.

He signaled to LKY and ask him to take a look. Gandhi said, 'This particular place is extremely dirty and untidy. Can you tell me where it is?'

LKY took a look from the binos and said with a smile, 'Oh, that is Little India.'

In defense of both Little India and Chinatown, most of the areas were indeed litter free, I just found a few spots where it was dirty. ;-)

Singapore Day 3: Singapore Zoo

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Tue, 26 May 2009 09:09:00 +0000

I really enjoyed going to the zoo as a child (so thanks Mom and Dad if you read this). I grew up in the Los Angeles area, so during the summer my parents would take the family down to SD for little outings. Sea World, San Diego Zoo, and The San Diego Wild Animal Park were always popular destinations for us. I suppose Southern Californians like myself are quite spoiled to have such attractions like the world famous San Diego Zoo close enough that we can visit them without traveling too far.

Now the San Diego Zoo is world famous for a reason; it is one of the largest and most progressive zoos in the world. With over 800 species and 4000 animals it really dwarfs nearly all zoos. So I was lucky enough to be exposed to so many different animals from all over the world as a child, from animals in my backyard like raccoons to exotics species like white tigers from Asia. Same goes for the Wild Animal Park, generally a free roaming area for the animals.

Well, that was great as a child, but as an adult I've largely lost interest in going to zoos. So why did I go to visit the Singapore Zoo at the end of my 3rd day in Singapore? Well, it was highly suggested to me, and it was supposed to be one of the tops zoos in Southeast Asia. I figure, why not?

The Singapore Zoo is famous for basically being a free roaming zoo. Animals are basically allowed to go wherever they want. However natural barriers have been erected to prevent, say, the tigers from eating the gazelles, or the elephants from trampling people.

It's also famous for its night safari ride. It's just a tram that takes you on a tour of the zoo at night when the animals come out and are generally more active.

I decided to take the tram ride. You remember earlier in this blog entry where I said Southern Californians are spoiled? Yeah... the zoo was kind of a let down for me. It wasn't all the interesting since I had seen pretty much everything before as a child back home. Also as it was night I didn't bring my regular camera cuz I figured it'd be useless, I just used my phone. Hence why there are so few pictures in this entry.

After the ride I stayed for their show: Creatures of the Night! Sounds exciting eh? I did walk away impressed with one thing. It wasn't really the show, it was the people there. During the show the main stage handler would ask for volunteers from the audience to come onto the stage. They would always ask where you were from. The stage handler was of Indian decent. One of the volunteers was a young girl of Chinese decent, and the other was a middle aged man of European decent. They all identified themselves as Singaporean, and it was accepted right away. When the stage handler ask for all the Singaporeans in the crowd to give it up for their fellow countrymen a loud applause followed from Singaporeans of all different ethnic backgrounds. Was it just because of the show or was it really real? I don't know, but I liked it.

Creatures of the Night Show.

The creatures of the night show was pretty boring to me. The shows at the San Diego Zoo are of much higher caliber in my opinion. The only excitement came when a python had escaped. One of the handlers rushed on to the stage and whispered something into the main stage handler's ear. She then told the crowd not to panic and said there's a huge python loose. Ha. Well, people were scared but the handlers prevent panic. They eventually found him hiding in some space under the seats of some audience members. I believe it really wasn't part of the show because after they found him no attempt was really made to show him off like other animals from the show.

The handlers found the escaped python hiding under the seats of some audience members.

You'd think being in Southeast Asia, in a show featuring creatures of the night they would show something exotic. That's what I thought. At the finale of the show I figured, ok, here it comes.... And sure enough they delivered something exotic alright. The handler said "And....... ALL THE WAY FROM NORTH AMERICA!!!! THE MOUNTAIN LION!!!!!!"

What?!?!?! A mountain lion? You know, I could find those things in the park not far from the house I grew up in! What the heck! Ok, maybe they're exotic to people in Southeast Asia but not me. Man, talk about a let down. Where were the tigers, panthers, or whatever?

Just after exiting the zoo I saw a massage place called Nibbles. They have Doctor Fish there that eat dead skin from your body. You just place the part of your body you want cleaned in a tank full of the fish, and they'll come up to you and start eating you dead skin leaving you nice and clean.

Dr. Fish eating dead skin.

Of course I had to try it. I mean.... it's a nasty concept to me, but still..... I HAD to give it a shot. It doesn't hurt, it kind of tickles, but it's really a very strange sensation.

People trying Dr. Fish.

The embarrassing thing though.... well, there were some people sitting next to me with their legs in the tank. Fish were nibbling away at their skin. As soon as I put my legs in the tank all the fish came over to my legs. I pretty much monopolized the fish... damn... what does that say about my skin?????? =P

Dr. Fish eating my dead skin.

Video Clip of the Dr. Fish eating my dead skin. I move in the video because I was forced to by the people working there, so sorry for the blurriness.

If you're lucky enough to be from So Cal and been to the SD Zoo before I would totally skip the Singapore Zoo. If you haven't been to many zoos then check it out.

Singapore Day 3: Sentosa

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Sentosa is a small island resort just off Singapore. There are beaches, little rides, etc. There are talks to add some casinos to the island making it sort of like Macau.

Sentosa Island Map

Though Sentosa was highly recommended to me I found it extremely boring. There's nothing special about the beaches. There are tons of better ones in SE Asia. The rides are kind of lame, and the shows not that interesting.

Some girls working for Sentosa Island.

How you get to Sentosa.

View from the Sky Tram.

Wanna dress like a flight attendent from Singapore Airlines?

Merlion Statue

A snack for a hot and humid afternoon.

Water wadding area.

Insect Kingdom. I skipped this but thought I might as well take a picture.

A resort at Sentosa.

Sentosa Beach.

Beach at Sentosa.

Sentosa Beach.

Dude in speedo.... nasty.

Sky ride.

View from Sky ride.

Singapore from Sentosa.

Luge ride.

Singapore Day 2: Esplanade

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:53:00 +0000

To finish off my second day in Singapore I headed off from the Civic District to Esplanade. This is where you can see the famous Lion Head Fountain, the city lights, and enjoy concerts at the Theaters on the Bay. It's a very nice area.

Esplanade Park

Esplanade Park - a young couple blow bubbles, Ferris wheel in the background.

Lion head Fountain in the distance.

Theaters Along the Bay

Theaters Along the Bay.

City Buildings before sunset.

City Buildings before sunset.

City Buildings, the sun is setting along Esplanade.

City lights along Esplanade.

City lights along Esplanade.

Now that the sun set the Theaters along the Bay were getting ready to go. Some bands show up to preform at a free concert. They covered 90s rock, including Stone Temple Pilots, Nirvana and others.

Esplanade Theaters Along the Bay from the other side of the water.

Lion head Fountain.

Lion head Fountain.

Lion head Fountain.

And thus my second day in Singapore came to an end. Stay tuned, Day 3 is next!

Singapore Day 2: Civic District

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:34:00 +0000

After finishing up with the Temples on Waterloo Street I continued on to see the Civic District.

A map of the Civic District along with suggested routes for tourists.

An ad on a bus to join the Air Force. Look at the name tag: TJ Johson. Why does this guy who looks like he's of an Indian ethnic background have the last name Johnson?

Walking towards the famous Raffles Hotel.

Raffles Hotel.

Raffles hotel is famous for its luxurious accomodations and restaurants. It was built in 1887 and named after the founder of Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles.

Foutain in Raffles Hotel.

The Long Bar at Raffles.

Long Bar.

Raffles Hotel.

Raffles.

Ok it was time to leave Raffles Hotel and walk around some more.War Memorial

The old Supreme Court Building.

Cenotaph Memorial to WW1 Dead

St. Andrews Cathedral

Old Supreme Court Building.

Old Supreme Court Building.

A statue of Stamdord Raffles errected by his landing spot.

Singapore River

Singapore River, once dirty and poluted has been cleaned up.

Singapore River

Victoria Theater.

Victoria Theater.

Another shot of the Old Supreme Court.

Asian Civilzations Musem.

Guy sleeping in a rickshaw.

Singapore Day 2: Kwan Im Temple and Sri Krishnan Temple

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:52:00 +0000

After getting my fill of window shopping for computer stuff I started heading off for the Civic District. Along the way I bumped into some temples on Waterloo Street: The Kwan Im Temple and the Sri Krishnan Temple.

The Kwan Im Temple is a Buddhist temple dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy. It has existed since 1884, though it did undergo some reconstruction in 1895. It is one of the major temples in the area and recieves thousands of visitors. Worshiping here is supposed to bring good luck to the worshiper.

Rub the Buddha for luck!

Sri Krishnan Temple was built in 1870 and is right next to the Kwan Im Temple. It is dedicated to Sri Krishnan. Unfortunately I don't know much about the temple. I did see Chinese people light sticks at the temple as well. I saw some where online that this is the reason you'll find an alter dedicated to Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy.

A tent was covering the entrance so the pictures are not very good.

Singapore Day 2: Sim Lim Square

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:45:00 +0000

After Bugis Village it was off to Sim Lim Square... where you go to buy phones, computer, whateve electronics you want. You gotta bargain here, so if you're not a seasoned tech-vet you might wanna try other shopping areas. The people here will happily rip you off; it feels like a smaller version of the Hong Kong Arcade with computer stuff.

Hey I own a case just like one of the ones here!

Tons of netbooks!

Singapore Day 2: Bugis Village

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 14 May 2009 09:13:00 +0000

Now that I had seen the Malay Heritage Center and the Sultan Mosque I was ready for a little shopping, so I headed off to find some electronics, but along the way I walked right into Bugis Village. Bugis Village is a little shopping area, they have fresh fruits, fresh fruit juice, and tons of clothing and accessories (I think fake). There are lots of young people shopping for clothes, and everyone else there for the fruits and juice.

Bugis Village

Come get some fruit.

Fake Watches

It's packed inside with young people shopping for clothes.

purses

JizzSaw Hair Bar. Yes, this place is real. No, I did not get my hair cut there.... NO WAY!
Then again I don't think anyone else did either because the place looked like it was closed.

Sugarcane juice.

The shirt reads: No Job? no problem! No car? no problem! No money? no problem! Guess what? No date!!!
Hey... that's me! No job, no car, no money, and no date... but I'll tell you what, it's freaking awesome!

Police Cameras, they're everywhere in Singapore.

Street Performers.

The price of shorts.

Singapore Day 2: Malay Heritage Center

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Right across from the Sultan Mosque is the Malay Heritage Center. I really do not have much to show here. Everything interesting is inside the center and photos are not allowed. Inside is information on their history such as their seafaring past, and, for example, how they build some of their traditional huts.

Entering the complex

Map of the Malay Heritage Center.

The Malay Heritage Center.

Outside is a small garden called Garden of Scent containing spices used in traditional Malay cooking. I don't have anything to say here, I didn't really know what I was taking pictures of. Spices.. that's all I know. I couldn't smell anything from the plants.

Singapore Day 2: Arab Street

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Wed, 13 May 2009 20:52:00 +0000

Day 2 in Singapore had me walking all over the city (In this post I'll just cover the first stop). After leaving my hostel and a quick cheap meal in Chinatown I hopped on the subway and headed off to Arab Street.

The beginning of Arab Street.

Shops along Arab Street.

Silk Shops were common.

Hookahs for sale along Arab Street.

Approaching the rear of the Sultan Mosque.

Muslim women in Singapore. They cover themselves with a shawl, cover their arms and legs, but it's not as strict as in the middle east.

Another Muslim lady.

Muslim men and women wait to cross the street. They might be heading over to the Sultan Mosque to pray, it was almost noon.

Sultan Mosque
The Sultan Mosque is the major place of worship for Muslims in Singapore. It was build in 1928.

Sultan Mosque

The Sultan Mosque

Inside the Sultan Mosque.

If you want to go inside the Mosque you need to be dressed properly. For men that means your knees should be covered, so no shorts, and even if your shorts cover your knees they may not accept that. You also need to cover your shoulders. For women, your whole body must be covered, no shorts, short skirts, tanks tops, no midriffs, etc. I think you get the idea. You can however wear one of these gowns. They are like graduation robes and they cover your whole body.

People wearing the gowns.

Women pray upstairs in a separate area of the Mosque.

Visitors are not allowed upstairs.

Islam's prophet Muhammad's last Sermon.

Sounds from the Sultan Mosque around Noon, time for praying.

After visiting the Mosque I decided to drop by some of the Arab Restaurants and get some grub. This is beef mutebak.

Singapore Day 1: Orchard Street

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Orchard Street is the big shopping street in Singapore. It has all the expensive stores, malls, and restaurants as well. I walked through the street, in the hot sticky and humid night but didn't eat at any of those places. I figured I was backpacking and maybe I could enjoy these more luxurious things another time on a different kind of trip.

It was approaching Christmas time (these pictures are from 11/27/08) and Singapore was getting ready for it. Orchard street was lined with extravagant decorations everywhere despite not being a Christian country. Over 42% of Singapore is Buddhist and only 14% is Christian so Christmas is basically purely commercial... though I'd argue that's what is back home as well only we pretend it's about Jesus Christ. Well there's no pretending here, it's shop for fun and for friends and family. Singaporeans remind me a bit of Hong Kong people, they like to eat and shop for fun.

Christmas decorations in Singapore.

One of the expensive stores along Orchard Street. Ladies... this one's for you.

A small stand selling cheap curry. I got one and liked it.

Interestingly as I walked around the streets I heard birds chirping. I thought they were just in the trees or something like that. However I continued to hear them all the way down the street, the same exact chirps. I looked around the trees and there was no bird poop below or within the vicinity of the trees (or anywhere for that matter). I think Singapore is so strict about cleanliness that they don't want real birds in their trees so there won't be bird poop around. Instead I think they may have used speakers that play the sound of birds to make the area pleasant for people! I don't know... maybe I'm crazy. It's just a hypothesis, I don't know for real.

Singapore... litter free. Yep, except for 2 places.

Shop lifting is dangerous! The police cannot help you! Really? Duh.

Christmas decorations in Singapore.

House of Condoms? Kinky Singaporeans?

Wtf?!?! Urban male??? It's a clothing brand! Weird!

Singapore Day 1: Little India

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 09:07:00 +0000

I passed through Little India really quickly, so I don't have many pictures here. Unlike, say Orchard street, Little India wasn't all that clean. One of the few places where Singapore is dirty. Where is the other place?

There's litter on the ground in Singapore's Little India! Litter in Singapore??? Say it ain't so! Well, this isn't the only area. The other area is... guess! I'll have pictures of that place in another post.

A menu of Indian Muslim food.

A market selling fresh fruits and vegetables in Little India.

Another look at some more veggies in Little India.

I want to say that the smells of Indian spices filled the air making my mouth water at every turn... but it didn't. It didn't smell very good until you got right next to the restaurant. I figured I would have time to come back and try some Indian food so I decided to move on to Orchard Street. Too bad I was wrong about coming back... oh well, I'll just have to go to India to try some authentic Indian food (or I guess some good Indian places back home).

Singapore Day 1: Chinatown

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:46:00 +0000

My first day in Singapore was November 27, 2008 (Yeah, I know, what an incredible lag in my blog). As with most first days in a new place I got acquainted with a little bit of the area first hand while looking over maps and areas of interest for the next few days.

Thailand was under going major political protests leaving the Bangkok Airport shut down due to demonstrators. Many of the flights were diverted to Singapore where many unhappy travelers were trying to figure out how to continue their trip.

I on the other hand was happy to be traveling again after my long rest in Phuket. I was interested in exploring again and seeing what sites and smells Singapore had to offer. As I wrote in an earlier post my hostel was Service World Hostel located in Chinatown, so after landing in the airport I caught the subway there. By the way, public transportation is great in Singapore.

Map of Singapore's Subway System

So here we go... this is a quick look at what I saw in Chinatown as I wandered around looking for my hotel. I'll have more pictures of these places later when i went back for a little more exploring.

My first glimps of Singapore's Chinatown as I exited the subway.

While wandering around chinatown looking for my hostel I bumped into the Sri Mariamman Temple.

Sri Mariamman Temple

street vendors line the streets of chinatown.

Empty rickshaws parked next to the Chinese Cultural Center.

Found my hostel!

I was in need of a little snack. Luckily the hostel was right next to the Chinatown Hawker center - filled with cheap chinese food. It's one of the few places you can find cheap food in Singapore, so it's perfect for backpackers.

A cleanliness sign. Perhaps it is gentle persuasion considering the strict littering laws in Singapore. Then again... this is chinatown, will the people here follow the law? This question will be answered in a post to come. Stay tuned!

A quick cheap snack, peanut butter on bread.

rolls

Illegal drugs kill!

This stand was for the Ah Lo Famous yam cakes. Most of the other stalls were empty as it was between lunch and dinner time but this one still had quite a line (or queue as they say in Singapore).

This snack requires a more... traditional chinese taste in sweets to appreciate. I don't have that, so I skipped it.

The Hawker center selling clothes

More clothes being sold.

Hawker Center sign to be clean.

Stingray? Should I try some? I think the scuba divers wouldn't like that i'm tempted...

Ok, the scuba divers won't be happy! Stingray! It had some very spicy sauce on it. The texture and taste were like fish. It wasn't bad, just too spicy for me. I'm a spice wuss.

Chinatown Complex.

Old people playing mahjong and chinese chess by the Chinatown Complex. This reminds me of a picture I took in Hong Kong, the one labled: Outside Tin Hua Temple.

Right across from the Chinatown Complex is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple & Museum.

A quick peak inside the Tooth Relic Temple & Museum. More on this later.

Capsule Inn in Ahkihabara Closed

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:55:00 +0000

I got an email tonight from the Capsule Inn I visited in the Ahkihabara district of Tokyo today. Sadly, they told me the inn would be closed April 21, 2009. They'll reopen on December of 2009 in Kyoto.

My blog entry on my stay at the Capsule Inn.

This is the email I received from troilus[at]troiluscorp.com:
Dear　Mr. **********

Along with the real estate redevelopment project of the vicinity region,
Capsule Inn AKihabara has decided to cease operations as of Tuesday,April 21, 2009.

Thank you for your patronage for twenty years since 1989.

At Kyoto in December 2009,
Capsule Inn Akihabara is completely reborn to the hotel of the novel style.

Let's meet by all means in Kyoto next time.

「9h」nine hours
http://www.capsuleinn.com
http://www.9hours.me

Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:27:00 +0000

Ah, Singapore, one of the surprise delights of my trip. I really wasn't expecting much from this small country, but it quickly became one of my favorite places in the world. In general the people here are so nice, and I couldn't believe how clean Singapore was. I mean... people think Japan is a clean country.... well, wait until you get to Singapore. Singapore puts Japan to shame with it's cleanliness.

It's really easy for English speaks to get around. Most people (around 75%) in Singapore are of Chinese decent, varying from the Canton or Fukken areas of China, but there are also Malays, Indians, and Arabs living there. Because Singapore was a former British colony everyone speaks English, and they speak English really well! But you will run into what's called Singlish, an interesting mix of English, Chinese (usually mandarin but sometimes other dialects), and Malay. It wasn't too bad for me though, everyone there can switch to just English, though from my limited understanding of mandarin I could get by with Singlish too.

I arrived in Singapore from Thailand on 11/27/08 and stayed at a Hostel called Service World Hostel. It was run by a delightful man named Andrew Yip (I showed him how to use skype). The hostel was nice, but there are only shared bunks. It was similar to a place I stayed at in Japan. Singapore is not a cheap place to visit, it's quite expensive and Service World was clean and safe, but still affordable. It was located in Chinatown and right next to the Hawker Center filled with delicious cheap Chinese food. Yum!

Andrew Yip is a very interesting guy. You couldn't ask for a better hostel owner. The man knows everything about the city. He knows it's history, it's politics, it's soci-economic situation, and was once Singapore's Director of City Planning. This means he's got tons of stories if you're interested. If you need directions anywhere he knows exactly how to get there. He'll rattle off bus routes without looking any directions up. He can tell you the quickest way there or the cheapest way there, always offering the most economical way.

He also sells his father's breath taking photographs. His father was an award winning photographer who was awarded Honorary Outstanding Photographer of the Century by the Photographic Society of New York. I bought a few for my family. There is a website which shows some of the photos, you can find some wonderful pictures of Singapore there. Andrew's a poet, and writes poetry to his father's photographs. He read me some, and he could tell I was not one for poetry. I had to laugh a little; was it so obvious? I tried to be polite. His poetry is not bad at all; I would simply say that I do not have the capacity to appreciate poetry in general... as in all poetry. =) Andrew's poetry to his father's photographs can be found here.

At this time political protests had exploded in Thailand and the Bangkok Airport was overrun with protesters preventing planes from landing safely. This meant people trying to fly to Thailand were all diverted to other countries. Many of them were diverted to Singapore. I met many Europeans in Singapore. Most of them were quite a bit younger than me, and those that were supposed to be in Thailand were very angry. Some complained that their around the world tickets were all messed up now and they might not be able to get a different flight or refund. Others were, well, spoiled kids. Still I met a hilarious bunch of English and Irish guys. One of them, the brother of a UK Royal Marine told me that the UK marines had a clear shot of Osama Bin Laden and were told not to fire... by the the Americans! I don't know how true that is... it is hear say, but it would be sad if that was true.

I also had a very interesting conversation with a guy from Pakistan. He was a friendly guy, then he learned I was American. At this point, he did not turn violent or anything like that, but he clearly said he did not like America. He said American is bombing Pakistan and innocents are getting hurt. I spoke with him about the issue. I said, America is not at war with Islam despite what the nut jobs may say. Americans do not cheer when a innocents are injured in war, innocents like the children he said that had been harmed by America. Innocents get hurt in war... I don't think there has been a single war where an innocent wasn't hurt, that's why war is hell. Osama Bin Laden clearly attacked America with the events of 9-11, and he has not been brought to justice yet. These radicals are now hiding in your country, and we want them brought to justice. This has nothing to do with the Pakistani people, but rather the the terrorists hiding in it.

I asked him about his views on the attacks of 9-11 and violence in general. He said Islam is a religion of peace, and he did not condone the attacks. Also mentioned was that people involved in suicide attacks are actually paid. They themselves are not paid, as they die, but their families are paid handsomely. These people are usually young, and come from poor families. There isn't much for them to live for, so why not die a martyr, get a hundred virgins in heaven, and allow your family to live in comfort with the money paid to them by organizations like Al Queda? These people are easy prey due to their economic situation and easily manipulated by their religion.

We then went into a conversation about how history has shown that men in power will manipulate those without, and that religion has a long history of having men in power. Even religions like Buddhism, which is viewed as a peaceful religion, once had a history of bloodshed, monks were once an extremely powerful fighting force in ancient China for example. We ended up concluding, it wasn't necessarily the religions that were evil, but evil men using and manipulating religion to harm others.

We also talked generally about why America has the presence they have in the Middle East. It's obvious, it's for oil. And while I think most Americans, myself included, would rather not trade blood for oil as we unfortunately have lately... Still, someone has to sell it to us... so I don't think you can blame the United States entirely for our presence in the Middle East, but I think we must acknowledge that a large portion of blame does fall upon us.

I guess and hope he walked away with a better appreciation of why America is in his country now... even though he does not like it. I hope we don't have to be there long, I certainly would prefer our young men and women in the armed forces be safe than in harms way.

Well, I guess you can get a little hint of the many different cultures in Singapore from this first post... from the Chinese Singaporians, to the Indian Singaporians, to people from neighboring regions like the gentleman from Pakistan I had that conversation with. I loved the melting pot that is Singapore, the people were so friendly and speak English (easy for me to get around), the food is great, the place is clean, what more could you ask for? I originally intended to only stay for a couple of days in Singapore but ended up staying 8 days.

Ok... more info in the next post... and I'll bombard you with pictures of Singapore.

Diving in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:50:00 +0000

While in Phuket I saw scuba diving schools everywhere. After seeing them so many times I gave in to temptation. I looked up the dive shops I saw online until I found a review of one I was comfortable with. I finally settled on Phuket Scuba Club (their blog).

I started out at their Karon Beach facility which was basically really just a tiny little hut on the beach. It makes for a nice classroom though. Normally you go through book work, videos, quizes and tests over three days while doing water work as well. Well I didn't get to do that thanks to a scheduling snafu. My first instructor, Rachel, apparently did not realize she needed to go on a visa run until after we started the class. Because of that we decided to do all the paper work, videos, quizes, and tests crammed into two days with no water work. Then I did all my water work with a different instructor. Normally you just get one instructor for the whole course. It worked out though. I passed my tests and for PADI open water.

It was on to water work at their other location at Karon Beach with Ashley (Ash), one of the other instructors there. What seemed to be a horrible mistaken on Phuket Scuba Club turned out to be pretty good. I thought Ash was a wonderful instructor. He was able to show me all the techniques I had to learn and was an absolute wealth of knowledge as he answered all my questions effortlessly. He also took me to a some yummy places to eat, and took me to a bar to catch the Ricky Hatton fight. All in all I owe my diving success to him and would highly recommend him to anyone. He's now running his own diving company teaching privately: Elite Scuba Europe.

Scuba Diving has been one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had in my life. What that says about my life I'll leave up to you. What you can take away from that statement though, is that if you've never done it I highly recommend you try.

I had never experienced anything quite like the act of diving. It's as close as you can get to the weightlessness of space without being in space. Floating along the ocean floor, moving up and down as you breath in and breath out; it's quite exhilarating your first time. In fact, you'll probably get a kick out of just being able to breath underwater.

I grew up watching Jacques Cousteau (inventor of scuba diving) videos as a child. I was always amazed with the sea life he was able to capture on film. Of course, as a first time diver, I didn't exactly do the dives or see the life of the famous Jacques Cousteau. Still diving off long boats from Kho Phoo Island in Phuket Thailand was still special as I was able to see an abundant amount of tropical sea life in the very warm and comfortable waters of Phuket.

I did five dives off Kho Poo Island / Phuket, where one of them part of my training and, three were my open water dives for my class, and one of them was just a fun dive after my training was completed. In these dives I saw a small school of barracuda, of course all the tropical fish from the movie Nemo, a puffer fish, a blue spotted manta ray, angel fish, many many different schools of fish that I cannot name, and of course sea anemone, and star fish (even saw a few moving... slowly).

The highlight had to be my last dive, the fun dive. I dove with Bank, and dive master from Europe of Thai decent I believe. We saw lion fish, cleaner shrimp, of course tons of schools of fish (Bank actually got a few fish and shrimps to play with him) and this beautiful rock formation home to so many little fish. We had to swim against the current to get there, and it was more taxing than any dive I had done before, but it was well worth it. Around this large rock (easily larger than two of me) were tons of different schools of little fish all swimming in different rings. Some around the rock, some through the holes in the rock. Think of those pictures of plants with rings around them only where there are many rings and the rings are made up of little tropical fish. I thought it was absolutely breath taking.

Now I'm making little dives and not in the more well known places in Phuket like Phi Phi Island, or the Similan Islands, so I didn't get the most amazing views of sea life. But despite that I had such a blast. I really enjoyed watching the marine life though. The warm and clear waters of Phuket probably spoiled me too. I'm really looking forward to future dive trips where I may be able to see sea turtles, sea lions, kelp forrests, and maybe if I'm lucky whale sharks. I do plan on getting my Advanced certificate so I can dive deeper and into wrecks.

Food in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:38:00 +0000

Here's some food I had in Phuket:

This little street cart was selling pad thai for 40 baht. She would cook it for you on the spot.

cooking pad thai

Pad Thai for 40 baht and so good. Oh man, just looking at it makes me miss it.

a little cart selling a abanana pancakes. they'll cook in on the spot.

cooking the banana pancake.

oh boy, this was good. banana pancake.

the first was so good I had to try another. chocolate banana pancake... oh man this was excellent.

Strawberry. It was not real strawberry, just jam.

American Breakfast.... mmmmmm

banana pancake

pineapple fried rice

soup

porridge

burger at Baan Suay, it was pretty good and I was dying for American food at this point.

orange and pineapple shakes at baan suay

more burgers at baan suay, told ya I was craving american food.

cheap eats from a 7-11, all of this was less than $3.

BBQ "buffe" for less than $3.

hawaiian pizza. the waitress seemed happy to practice her english on me and did a short little hawaiian dance when she served it.
Wiener Schnitzel, sold everywhere because phuket is crawling with europeans

UFC orange juice.

Dino Burger

Buffalo Steak House "The best steak in town" is also the only steak in town. It SUCKS. It's super small and expensive. It's really not even all that good as far as steak goes. You can make better steak yourself at home.

More pineapple fried rice.

fish and chips.

kabobs.

See those little things hanging up on the cart? At first I thought it was rat meat but I think it's squid... I dunno.

fruit cart

spaghetti that was not very good

wiener schnitzel with fried rice.

wiener schitzel again... i developed a liking for it.

ham sandwich

pancakes with some white crap all over it. i wasn't a fan.

pineapple shake

strawberry shake

bbq

small pizza, not very good.

deep fried ice cream

fruit stand

fruit stand

fruit stand

pineapple shake and some flat noodle dish

pork cutlet burger

fried bananas

pad thai for 80 baht
lemon shake
here's me being a pig. the first dish i ordered... noodles
the second dish i ordered... chicken and chips
the third dish i ordered.... banana pancakes

And yes, I ate all three all by myself. I'm such a pig. When the waitress brought out all 3 to my table and saw it was for one person she started laughing. All I could do was smile sheepishly and start wolfing down my food. In my defense, I had just gotten back from scuba diving and felt completely famished.

My Phuket Hostels

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:21:00 +0000

Baan Suay Room

I stayed in a few different hostels in Phuket. Here hey are.

The first one was called Baan Suay. It was alright, the owner's wife was very nice and tried to make the guests' stay as pleasant as possible. Her husband was from australia and had decided to make a home in Phuket. They had two little children together. It was a little far from the beaches and ants crawled all over my tooth brush. The food was quite good and that's where I got a good fill of western food. Yes, western food, don't judge, I was home sick.

The next one was only $3 a night. It was a dorm, but nobody else was there. It was actually not too bad. The person working there was new, a traveler as well who had set up this place to earn some money before her next trip. I felt bad for her because she didn't have much business. There was no AC but the fan worked well enough. There was also no wifi in the place. There was another establishment that welcomed me to use their wfi but that meant having to leave this hostel, a pain when it was raining.

View from $3 hostel.

My bed. Across from me was a bunk. Nobody else was there.

The sink in a $3 hostel.

The toilet in a $3 hostel.

Cold showers only.

The problem? The bathroom had no hot water for showering. This kinda really sucked, even in the topics. So after a night with a cold shower I left.

I found another hostel called Pineapple. It was clean enough. I was tired from all my traveling so I decided to live in luxury. I opted for a single room with AC and my own bathroom. Yes, there was hot water. There was a little fridge, fans, a small desk, a very small TV, and the wifi extended to my room. This cost $15 a night. Besides exploring Phuket I also slept in super late, play videogames on my computer, fixed my computer's wifi problem, and just really enjoyed doing nothing.

My room at pineapple.

My bed.

Toilet in my room.

The owner of the hostel was an british man. He seemed like a man maybe in his 50s that had given up his life in the UK to settle permanently in "paradise". His wife was a thai lady and they had some children together. He didn't seem to be able to speak thai or understand it. They were both ok, and the workers there were very nice but had limited to no english skills. He did try and raise my rates while I was staying there. I just told him to put me in a cheaper room then, which I had no problems going to. But after saying I'd be willing to go to the dorms he said "ok you can stay for your rate".

Time For The New Thai PM To Go Already?

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:52:00 +0000

My blogs are really behind, so my Thailand entries are from Nov 2008. I thought it would be interesting to follow up on events that took place during my trip. During my stay in Thailand protesters took over the Bangkok Airport until the military decided to remove itself from power. A new Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, came in (not through elections) to replace the military power that had been in place in their peaceful coup of former PM Thaksin Sinawatra.

Well, it appears the new PM has worn out his welcome. Protesters, supporters of former PM Thaksin Sinawatra, want the new PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to step down so an elected PM can come into power.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7965319.stm

Random Phuket Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 17:02:00 +0000

Porn Laundry

Porn Souvenir

"No I don't want a f*?kn tuk tuk, suit, or massage, thank you very much"
If you've ever been to phuket you know the feeling.

Walking around the streets of Phuket.... hey, a random baby elephant. You can pay a few baht and feed it peanuts.

Dino Burger, Flintstones theme restaurant.

This starbucks in Phuket was completely empty. A foreshadowing of starbuck's over expansion and its current decline? (this picture was taken around Thanksgiving 2008)

Mc what?

Elvis in Karon.

Some homes (I guess they're homes) next to the Kata Beach Bars.

A Tuk Tuk in Phuket. They don't look the same as tuk tuks in Bangkok even though they're called the same thing. There are smaller red tuk tuks in phuket, but they look more like this truck than the Bangkok tricycles with motors.

Muay Thai

Live entertainment at dinner... the band.

Fly me to the moon

Just Say No to Jet Skis in Phuket

noreply@blogger.com (Vagabond Vince) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:23:00 +0000

I mentioned in my last post about renting jet skis in Phuket being a scam. Well, here's a video from someone that learned it the hard way.