Singapore

We left Bali with Lilly for a stop in singapore before she headed home to NYC.

Thanks here to Nimesh, Asha, and Amol. Also thanks to Yash, Mamata, and Parag kaka. These guys put us up and took care of us while in Singapore. We couldnt have had a niceer time.

Singapore is fascinating. A Big Brother city with amazing, amazing food and food markets. Hawker stalls abound and singapores reputation as having the best street food in the world is well deserved.

Singapore is very very safe. There are cameras everywhere and people obey the rules. But let me share something that totally weirded me out. We are standing at 4 way intersection. There are a couple cars waiting but no cars going through the green light. Traffic is light where we were but there are some other pedestrians waiting to go. The lights change, but they have a noticeable delay. No one moves. Not one person or car. No one even eases off the break, the motorcycle waiting to turn doesnt even shift into first gear. Ever one is stopped and the sun is ounding down in the 97 degree weather.

Eventually the walk sign flicks on and we go across the street. That was the most polite and ordered intersection ive ever been in. Ever. It was weird. Really weird.

I eventually discovered that people do occasionally jaywalk. But I rarely saw people walk when the sign said not to, even with no cars. And I never saw a car bend the traffic laws. Not even a cab. Not even once. Weird.

Bali

So we've been here for a while. And it is awesome.

This place deserves a number of posts, and I will write at least two. But let me say that it is awesome. It is everything people say, both good and bad. It really is super touristy, and filled with aussies. It really is shockingly beautiful, and amazingly cheap. The ocean is warm, the beaches are pretty, except when they are dirty. Some beaches are incredibly secluded and completely empty, some are packed with people. Some have huge waves and some are completely flat, with the smallest ripple to indicate that the tide is going in or out.

Inland is also amazing. Ubud is fantastic and I am looking forward to going to the volcano and looking in.

A note here: thank you to Lilly lavner for coming to visit. We had an excellent time when she was here. Her fantastic camera was great to play with, even if she did have an australian dude come up to her and say "picture picture" over and over again like she didnt speak english.

catching up

So it has been a very long time since I have posted. And I apologize.

Over the next few days I will begin to post more regularly just to catch people up with what has been going on and t share a couple of anecdotes about Bali and Singapore.

But right now I have to go catch some waves.

about to leave

we are about to leave for Bali and I found myself with some extra time. so here is a short post before we go to meet my friend Lilly on the beach.

Mini Indonesia, or Taman Mini, is a huge park. It cost 250 Million USD to build and has houses built in the traditional style of ever Indonesia island. These are remarkably different. It also has a small water park, several stages, a fair ground, and a man made lake that contains small fake islands in the shape of indonesia. Crazy. Not so many western tourists there, but a lot of Indonesian people chilling and having picnics. Good people watching.

There are some enormous and Dubai worthy malls here. But the thing I want to note is that the Food Section in the Gran Indonesia Mall has a New York City theme. A famous diner is copied and pasted there and a false rockefeller center. Bizarre.

ok, bye,

-Arjun

Jakarta

Well I have to thank my uncle Satish and his friend binay for hooking us up with a sweet loft in Jakarta. Its large and wonderful and I had almost forgotten how much I enjoyed having my own space. Its pretty awesome.

Jakarta, an enormous city, is pretty sweet as well. There are a surprsing number of things to do here, and I will share with you our trip to the zoo.

yes we went to the zoo. it cost 4000 Rp to go. that is .40$ It is enormous. The zoo was fascinating and I took some pictures of pythos for my friend Pete, they had some realy big ones. But of course the primate habitat was depressing. In the states there would be daily protests over the treatment of those animals, although some of the sumatran oraguatangs had impressive spaces, as did the komodo dragons. but as we wondered through this enormous place we found ourselves in front of another strange building.

For a dollar we could enter the new gorilla habitat. It is enormous, beautiful, green and filled with open spaces. It contains many other primates all in equal luxury. I dont know why the sad spaces in the older part of the zoo remain, but I hoping they will be moved. The new space, was awesome, with tunnels through some of the habitats where you could see but not be seen, and canopy walks for humans as well as mokeys. very nice.

Last thing to mention... its really hot, so if youre coming to visit be ready for humidity and heat.

next post from Bali/Lombok

Last piece of Turkey

Well its been a while since ive posted anything, long enough that Ive actually gotten complaints so let me tell you my excuse. My parents were here... and they move fast.

They move a lot faster than me anyway, when they got here we went to greece, we came back and rented a car and the drove around north turkey, and it was awesome, but really tiring. Mixed into this was shopping with my sister, ferry rides, and eating really late at night. This didnt leave much room for blogging. plus im not that committed to it.

After that our friend Amy came to visit, and that was also excellent. But im still recovering and think my next post will be from indonesia. We leave tomorrow, so you'll hear from me soon.

Kas

Weve been here for a few days, longer tahn ıntended, and tomorrow we wıll overnıght bus to ıstanbul. Its been nıce beıng here and ıve caght up no a bunch of emaıls, maınly because the rooftop terrace has a computer. I can look out over the med, the sea ıs almost always flat and calm. In the mornıng ıt ıs turquoıse, and as the lıght fades ın the evenıng ıt becomes a deep dark blue. The sun lıghts the ısland ın front of me, and at twılıght the few clouds ın the sky shıne, backlıt, agaınst the pale sky.

Thats about as descrıptıve as I can get... but there ıs no hyperbole there. The place ıs almost scarıly pretty. Of course ıt helps that the other tourısts arent here yet.