Aug 2007

Now I know why I don’t usually blog. It takes way too long. I’ve been traveling through Hong Kong, Macau, and Thailand over the past week and haven’t had much access to affordable internet. Now I’m in Alexandria, which feels like a different century altogether. I’ll have to fill in the blanks on Asia later.

Mary Anne and I got into Cairo after a 9 hour flight which almost didn’t happen. The tour agency we used forgot to confirm our Egypt Air flights from Bangkok to Cairo so our reservation was automatically cancelled by their system. Despite getting to the airport 3 hours early, we ended up rebooking the flight on the spot with 50,000 baht cash and sprinting from immigration to the departure gate to make the plane 6 minutes before takeoff. Really makes me hate how big the new BKK airport is. After catching our breath and sleeping the entire flight we arrived in Cairo at 6am to wait around for the domestic leg to Alexandria. Turns out our return flight is cancelled, so we'll have to take a train back to Cairo. A little tip, trains are much cheaper, more flexible, and nearly as fast as flying if it's a bullet train. Probably could have done without the flight in retrospect.

A few impressions about Cairo. Their airport needs a lot of work. Despite having a new international terminal, the airport is incredibly dated and security is laughable. There’s also nothing to do there when you have a 5 hour layover. Also, apart from tourists, 95% of the people there are men. I guess women just don’t fly domestically that much??

Not sure why they bother carrying around automatic weapons. The security is really laughable. Must be the intimidation factor.

Flying into Alexandria felt like traveling back in time and to the equivalent of whatever middle-America is over here. In contrast to Cairo, where every 5 seconds someone asks you if you want a taxi, we had to wait around the Alexandria airport for 10 minutes to get a taxi who eventually tried to charge 3 times what it should cost. Luckily we had asked one of the Egypt Air flight attendants how much it should have been ~ no more than 15 LE (Egyptian pounds). The exchange rate is something like 5.6 so that works out to somewhere around $2.50 USD. Since we had no luck bargaining with the first driver, we walked out of the airport on foot with luggage in tow. It was only a 5 minute walk to the street where we found that every other car was a yellow/black city taxi. Unfortunately, the first 4 we talked to didn’t have any idea where our hotel was. Not a great sign. The 5th guy figured it out from the street name and we finally bargained him down to 15 LE.

So what is this picture about? We hop into the taxi and the next thing we know the guy pulls over at a road side mechanic and tells us in Arabic that we have to wait 5 minutes. The taxi was broken? Seriously? Yeah, broken enough to pick up some passengers on the way to the mechanic.

I’ve had taxi’s drive me to a gas station before in Beijing, but never to a mechanic. 5 minutes turns into 15, but there was a cool breeze and some local explained to us that Egyptian minutes are long. Haha, very funny. A couple of people tinker around under the engine and finally we head off, pop a u-turn and crank up the radio. With the background music and all the weird stuff happening it really felt like we were in a movie.

Thankfully, the hotel was a really nice surprise. Super decked out boutique with a cool antique elevator, 15 foot ceilings, classic architectural features all over, and a well-trained staff. The front desk is almost as good as Thailand. (For anyone coming to Alexandria, definitely consider Le Metropole Hotel.) So apart from the hotel, Alexandria is probably the filthiest city I’ve ever been to. China looks clean compared to this! I haven’t really been to Cairo yet, so we’ll see. Everything here is covered in dirt, people are sweeping black sewage off the sidewalk, and there’s polluted traffic everywhere. After one evening, my lungs feel worse than 5 days in Vegas.

On the bright side, we’re one block from the Ocean drive and very centrally located. The first night we played it safe and ate at the Sofitel. That was followed by a banana split at one of the sidewalk cafes where people chill in the evening and people watch in front of the Ocean drive. FYI, this is really not a tourist destination. . . yet. So far, I’ve seen only 3 Westerners outside the hotel, probably French, and no Asians at all! Every 5 minutes we get some bus full of locals shouting “hello” to us. Pretty funny actually, especially when the little kids just stare.

After Hong Kong and Singapore, there really isn’t much shopping that looks appealing. We’ll probably pick up some souvenirs later during the tour. For now we’re keeping our luggage light and stomach happy with KFC, Pizza Hut and bottled water. There’s plenty of opportunity for breaking out the Pepto and Imodium in the days to come.

This morning we woke up early and walked over to the Library of Alexandria. Definitely the most modern building complex I’ve seen in the city. Probably more money spent on that library than any other public project here. I snapped a bunch of shots from the outside but they wouldn’t let us in until 11. So instead of waiting we took a cab to the National Museum, which was basically the size of a two story 4,000 sq ft house. Interesting display system but just not very large of a collection. Tackled the entire thing in about an hour. Around noon time we caught another cab to a semi-private beach that’s located just under and behind a 6-lane bridge. I don’t think I’ve ever run across 6 lanes of traffic before. There are no cross-walks here so everyone just walks between cars. It looks like human Frogger but with cars barreling full speed. Quite crazy when you think about it. The beach was really filthy – you could see a foamy string of trash floating on the surface right up to the sand – but it was interesting to see how the locals chilled at the beach under their umbrellas.

Mosque on the way to the Library

Outside the "Modern" Library of Alexandria

Suicide Bridge + Beach


Staying at the Metropole one more night and then catching a bullet train back to Cairo to meet up with Jennifer Yu and the rest of our tour group at the King Hotel. I suspect that we’ll pretty much be on the move non-stop for about 10 days.

lived an feisty little Shanghainese girl (who I now call Mom.) So we had a great time in Hong Kong, staying on the Kowloon side in Tsim Sha Shui. I still can't pronouce it properly. It rained almost every day, but remained sunny most afternoons. We mostly got around by airconditioned bus anyway. I'd been there with my friends before, but never with Mom. It was funny to see her constantly commenting about all the new buildings and how in the 60s it would take all day to travel the distance you can now traverse in 10 minutes.

Stuff we visited:
Happy Valley (where mom grew up)
Aberdeen Fishing Village
Stanley Beach (market was disappointing)
Victoria Peak
Jackie Chan's house (just drove by)
IM Pei's Bank of China building
Lan Kwai Fong
Wynn Hotel in Macau

Also had a chance to catch up with Autie Darling, my cousins Carolina and Stella, and of course Anastasia (a.k.a. Baby).

The racetrack near Mom's old house in Happy Valley

Caught in a downpour

I think we look alike!

Finally able to track down a battery charger for my digital camera in Singapore so photos are on the way.

After Hua Hin Mom, Mary Anne and I spent a day in Bangkok to regroup We visited a friend's wedding boutique, called Aunchalee Couture (her name!) located off of Sala Daeng and later ate at my Uncle Robert's house.

The next day we took off for Singapore using Air Asia. Imagine Southwest Airlines but with a bunch of pushy Chinese people who have never heard of standing in line. Plus, we had to load into a bus to get from the gate to the plane. They also only allow 15 kg/person check in. We learned the hard way and bought a carryone suitcase for the return trip.

Back to Singapore. So whenever I ask locals about this place, they always tell me to try Chili Crab. I tend to imagine something between an american chili dog and chinese chili sauce, which of course taste completely different from each other. Anyway, at every meal I tried to find this chili crab but was foiled by more enticing food. The food courts had to be the highlight. Sorry no pictures! And for those wondering, i never ate Singaporean noodles. =P
I Started with Colo Mee the first night at Suntec City mallnear the Pan Pacific. Noodle soup, Char Kwe Tieu and a mix of Malaysian/Indonesian Satay the next day while exploring the food courts interspersed along Orchard Road between Takashimaya and Tangs. Finally, on the third day we visited Marina Square, Vivo City and the Esplanade Mall where I finally got a great view of the skyline and found my Chili Crab. Since I was the only one with a healthy stomach, most of that crab belonged to my plate. I have to say delicious, but not something I could eat repeatedly. Sort of the way I feel about Philly cheesesteaks but not that extreme. It really does taste like American chili to me, but with the consistency of a gravy containing bits of minced crab. At least I hope that was crab. Also managed to squeeze in a movie (Flashpoint w/ Donnie Yen and some other guy).

It's really insane how many shopping malls they can pack into one city. While it wasn't too hot and humid, the major benefit for me was the air con. I also found Clarke Quay to be a great place to walk around at night, and I would have loved to spend more time there. Overall, I liked Singapore and could probably see myself visiting often. I still can't stand the accent when locals speak Singaporean English, but I guess that's where the Mandarin is supposed to come in handy.

Oh yeah, this building really looked like a giant durian to me. Mom found a durian stand inside a food court. The funny part was that there were two chinese women in front of her who purchased over $200 USD worth of durian products. I feel really sorry for the passengers on their plane. They actually had to buy foil bags for the durian pancakes so it wouldn't stink up every place they went.

Morning: 7am Golf Lesson with Jorgen at Palm Hills, followed by buffet breakfast.
Afternoon: Lunch at Hua Hin Market Village, then digested at the Holiday Inn (former Regent Hotel) with a beachside massage
Evening: Dinner at MK Restaurant with Thomas, our unofficial tour guide.
Yum. . . HOT POT!

Holiday Inn, Cha-am

Monday was the start of the resort and spa motherload. We moved from the site of Michelle's beach wedding, the Sofitel Central, to the Anantara which is more of a traditional Thai style resort. As a graduation present, Mary Anne treated myself and Mom to an afternoon massage at Asara. Thailand is the mecca for spas and massage, and Asara is a high end resort that just opened for operation two months ago. Since it was still at the pre-opening stage, the grounds were nearly empty apart from staff. One of the most amazing spas I've been to. We actually spent the entire afternoon there - touring the pool villas, hanging out at the spa, and eating some pretty good thai food just before the monsoon downpour slammed into us.

Tuesday, we met up with Thomas, Eddie, and Mag (all friends through my cousin Dennis) around midday at the construction site for Eddie and Mag's new resort in Cha-am. By coincidence, Mary Anne had interned for the architecture firm for the hotel back in the summer of 2005. It's difficult to describe the construction site. Everything was enormous in scale, from the monumental entrance to the Yao Ming sized doors everywhere. Each suite has something like 11 ft ceilings. Crazy! The pool villas were also amazing, constructed right up to the beach. I can't wait to see the finished product, which will be under hotel management by the Indonesian boutique hotelier Alila later this year.

For lunch, we ate at the Veranda, a beach resort in Cha-am with a modern touch. Great Thai food again. Then had a quick tour of the Sheraton (something like 2.1 billion Baht construction) and the Boathouse condos which are still under construction. Ended the afternoon with a golf lesson with Mary Anne at Palm Hills Golf Club. Pretty good time actually, despite the intermitent afternoon downpours which seemed to have returned since this past Thai holiday weekend.

Anantara, Hua Hin

Asara, Hua Hin

Construction Site, Cha-am