Monday night dinner

Gabe, Lindsay, Akilah and I met with two of our Singaporean connections, Trisha and Trina, for dinner. The first destination was closed due to spring cleaning. This is the first time Trisha or Trina have seen this. We then went to the Esplanade mall food court called Makansutra Gluttons Bay. It was the best street food I've had in Singapore by far, and only a couple of bucks more per plate. Unfortunately I did not get photos of our plates. Names will be coming soon. We'll be returning tonight (hopefully). I'll get some pictures up. The food court is right on the bay overlooking the business district and the Marina Bay Sands, so it was beautiful.

We ordered Satay (http://travelandliving.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/satay.jpg), Roti john with chicken http://www.photosofsingapore.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/dsc_2544.jpg) , carrot cake, seafood fried rice, and stingray

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

370 KM ~ 230 miles

Trip Outline: Bus trip --> Little India --> Petronas Towers --> Bird Aviary --> Chinatown --> Dinner/world cup/sleep --> Batu caves --> Islamic Arts Museum --> Home

Our trip started off with a slight snag whose blame lies solely on me. Luckily we arrived about 4 hours prior to departure, planning to get the tickets then eat dinner. I expected to arrive at a bus terminal with multiple stations, and I would pinpoint which business we used, I would present my passport, then we would obtain our tickets. Weellll, I didn't have the name of our bus line written down, nor did I have the number for their business, but I did know when we left! So we hunted and hunted, then finally realized the name of the bus I thought we were taking was incorrect. Akilah called her father who checked her email for the bus invoice that I emailed to everybody. This is how we obtained the name of the bus company. Then we called our Singaporean friend Yi-han to get the number to the bus company. She kindly called for us and got the address. We went to the the bus terminal and it was closed. After a brief stress-filled period of talking to Yi-han we decided the bus company representative left and would return prior to the bus departing. After all, I knew we had booked the tickets and there would surely be others that would need to get their tickets prior to boarding. We ate dinner at a Thai restaurant in a very interesting complex near the bus terminal. Afterwards the terminal was open, their was an employee waiting for us, and he was very helpful in guiding us to KL.

The bus ride was also quite interesting. It was from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. The drivers did not have much consideration for the those on the bus that wanted to sleep (everybody). They talked loudly, laughed loudly, and the driver didn't mind using the horn. In addition, the two drivers enjoyed listening to music. Despite this we all probably got about 2 to 3 hrs of sleep.

We arrived in KL at a completely different bus terminal than what we were told. According to my map, we could walk about 1 km to our hotel. The taxis were asking for 50RM (25SD or about 17USD) to the hotel. This did not add up. We decided to just take the taxi bc we were lost. Lucky for us. We find out that we were not where we thought we were and the taxi fare was quite fair.

After settling into our hotel we headed to the Petronas Twin Towers to get our free tickets. We waited in line for about 1.5 hrs to get the tickets. To go up to the towers you get your ticket in the morning and chose a time to attend (145 pm). after the getting the tickets it was about 930 am. In the meantime we headed to Little India to explore.

Outside view of the Petronas Twin Towers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_towers

A large mall and a massive, modern building. A frequent scene in Asian cities

Little India was pretty cool. Lots of small stands selling the typical fake goods. An old man with no teeth told Lindsay that she was pretty, then that he would sleep with her. That was pretty funny.

View down the "main drag" of Little India

After returning to the Petronas towers we got lunch in the connected mall. The mall was huge which is typical here in Asia. We then went down to the entrance to the tourist observation area. There was a typical museum-esque large room with displays about building the tower and facts. They sat us through a video that explained the oil company Petronas and how much they invest in Malaysia and how awesome Malaysia is. I wasn't the biggest fan given the anti-big oil sentiment brewing in all of us Americans. After this we took an elevator up to the 43rd floor which is where the bridge connects the two towers. We looked at the view then went back down. The view was pretty amazing as expected.

One of the many viewpoints from the Petronas Towers

Afterward we took the train to an area near the KL tower and we got a look at that. We decided not to go up because it cost money and just had our view of KL from a great height. Nearby was the National Mosque and a series of gardens that we wanted to check out. The National Mosque was not open to tourist when we were there. There are only a few 1/2 hour time intervals that tourist can go inside. So we checked out the building from the outside then moved on to the gardens.

View of the KL tower from a distance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kl_tower

The Bird Aviary was one of the areas we could walk through. It cost about 30RM so Lindsay, Gavin, and I attended and Akilah and Gabe passed. Gabe had an allergic reaction from something and at this point was pretty tired. The aviary was the largest in the world. It consisted of about 30 acres of jungle covered by nets that allowed the birds to fly around and us to walk through on trails checking them out. In reality, many of the birds were in cages for their (and ours probably) protection. In my opinion, it was definitely worth it. It started to rain during which only added to the atmosphere and cooled us off.

The birds were not very shy.

This Bird Park houses more than 5000 birds, from more than 50 species, in an enclosed aviary. Out of these 5000 birds, 90% are local birds and 10% were imported from overseas. The size of this bird park is around 7-16 hectares. (wikipedia)

To top off the long day we cruised around Chinatown. This was craazy. The street was just outside our hotel. There were tons and tons of stands and very little walking around. Only 12 hrs prior the street was bare. We ended up hunting for a place to eat that was reasonably priced and also showed the world cup. We found a great Korean place that was on the second story of this building. We got a few beers, ate a well-deserved plate of food, and enjoyed the Australia-Japan soccer match.

Bed time.

We rose up at about 9/10 am and headed to the Batu caves via a 30 min. bus ride that costs us 2.5RM (0.8USD). The bus system was quite different then Singapore. You paid when you got one and they didn't always come to a complete stop at the bus stops along the way. One European couple had to run and jump on as the driver was in some sort of mysterious rush to get to the final destination. The caves were amazing. Monkeys were running around and we were told to get bananas to feed them, which we did. They were pretty funny. The Murugan statue was the largest in the world. It was a Hindu religious area. We found out later an interesting bit of info. that explained the small number of attendees on that Sunday, but that will remain confined to the travelers.

View entering the Batu Caves

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batu_Caves

The monkeys would snatch bananas straight out of your hand, unexpectedly, if held too low.

The cave is considered a Hindu shrine

The view of the opposite side after walking through the entrance, into the cave.

After this we took a taxi to the Islamic Arts Museum. It was very very interesting. The peices there were less paintings and more physical artifacts relating to the Muslim religion dating back to about the 14th century. There were scrolls, different Qur'ans, clothing, pottery, different tools, weapons, and tons of other stuff. The building itself was beautiful as well.

Rendition of the Qur'an. I want to say the whole book is squeezed into this piece, but I can't quite remember

The details of the script in some Qur'an renditions were amazing.

Finally, we smoothly obtained our bus tickets, ate (ice cream for dessert!), then departed. The trip back took waaay longer. There was an accident on the way. Traffic slowed way down on the three-lane highway. This led to cars forming their own lane on the shoulder. Once we reached the bridge that connected Malaysia to Indonesia we had to go through immigration then customs. Our bus waited in line for both of these processes for probably a total of two hours. Our bus departed KL at 430pm. We arrived at our hostel in SG at about 1230am.

This weekend.....

Booked everything for the weekend. We are staying at http://www.chinatowninn.com/ for about 30 american dollars a night. Only staying saturday night. We are taking a bus from SG at midnight and getting in early Sat. morning. We'll probably walk around then eat, then check in, then go to the Petronas Twin Towers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Twin_Towers). Pictures will be posted in due time...

SUSHI

So I had my first true experience with sushi last night and it was amazing. The restaurant was in a mall that is near our hostel. Rotating around the restaurant was a conveyor belt, and the chef prepared the dishes at the front near the entrance then placed the dishes onto the belt. The food that we ate is recorded by keeping the plates you grab on your table. It was only $1.8SD for a small plate of sushi. This was two little rice ball things wrapped around the sushi and vegetables... I think? There were also other little dishes. There was also a menu with more dishes that could be ordered. We ordered a couple dishes with raw fish because all the dishes on the belt were cooked. I had raw tuna, and it was pretty good. I found out that wasabi is my favorite spice.

The floor above the restaurant had a this business that just had a bunch of gaming computers and you can go there for $2/hr and play online multiplayer games. I'm tempted. One kid was playing WoW and counter-strike at the same time. Right next to that was an arcade that was as stereotypically Asian as an arcade could get. It was great.

I had durian the night before and last night i had a durian pancake. I liked it quite a bit. They just cooked a regular pancake, then put down some durian fruit that and wrapped it up. Durian is a fruit that is a very pungent odor and unique taste and texture. Some people find the odor repulsive and others enjoy it. I really didn't mind it; maybe I even enjoyed it. So far I think I'm the only one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durian

This weekend = Kuala Lampur, Malaysia

Interesting day at work today. We had a lunch for all the attachment students. It turns out the director of BTI joined us and went through each of us and engaged in a short conversation. We basically introduced ourselves and reminded her of how we ended up at BTI. In addition she basically quizzed us on the project that we have been assigned. In the end, I think it was her way evaluating the lab mentors that we are working with and the types of projects we have been assigned. For example, two 17 yr olds that are in junior college are planning on studying history. For this course they have to or chose to get some research experience. When she probed them about the type of project they were doing she found that the project was not suitable and their background was not as deep as it should. For the students in our group it went well. After I talked to her about my project she informed me that industry pays researchers 30k to perform a zinc-finger nuclease deletion, which is what I am doing. Summer job next year? Not really. I am just working with someone who is doing this technique. I am being trained in it, but there is a lot of work that was done prior to my arrival that I am unsure of.

The pizza was from Pizza Hut. I guess that is the standard food choice at BTI for lunch meetings. It was definitely different from the US PH. I wasn't really in the zone for evaluating -- just hungry. I mean in comparison to Pizza Hut in the U.S. it was just a little off. The crust seemed like it was frozen at one point then re-baked.

Just booked a bus to KL from SG. It was 330 for 5 people round trip so about 65 bucks. No visa upon arrival so saving money there. It's a 5 hr bus ride so we are leaving at midnight on Fri night and returning at 430 on Sunday. We will arrive in the morning at KL and go to the top of this huge tower. This Austrian guy is advising us and said that it's very cool looking over the city in the early morning hours, and there are no crowds. We'll be booking the hotel tomorrow.

Last night we went to an awesome Indian place called Mr. Prata. We got 5 dishes and shared. I'll be posting the names of the dishes later so I don't forget.

First taste of SE Asia

A little late to the game for journaling my trip so I will give a brief summary of what has happened so far...

June 5th: Arrived at the hostel at around 1 a.m. With no hostel experience prior to this trip, I was surprised at the size of the room and the toilet that is inside the shower. It's about 20x20 with two bunk beds, three mattresses, two standup closets, a desk that can fit three chairs, a shower with a toilet inside. The mattresses were quite interesting. Visibily they seem like your standard small, cheap, twin mattresses; but when I sat on them I realized they were, in fact, compressed cardboard disguised as mattresses. They were hard as a rock. In addition, there were no blankets. For the first five days or so I used my small bath towel and my rain jacket to keep warm at night. There is an air conditioner which is very critical.

June 5th afternoon and 6th: We took care of logistics this weekend and got our first taste of Singapore in the daylight. It's a very interesting city. With a population of about 5 million during the night and 5.7 million during the day packed into an island of 270 sq. miles (wiki) it's pretty busy. The city is very modern, very efficient, and from what I have seen so far there are no slums. Most of the population is in government subsidized high-rises. The rest of the population stays in expensive homes and apartments/condos. Most children stay living with their parents until they get married. It's also well known for it's many fines. This is definitely true and the rules are well-posted. No spitting, drinking/eating on the public transit, and certainly don't trespass (bottom photo).

Orchard Road

Skyline

We went to Orchard road to get cell phones. We decided to price shop which meant running around to these two different cell phone providers. Singtel and M1 are the two biggest ones. We found that we could purchase a 50 dollar motorola phone (Motorola wx180) and get a 30 dollar SIM card for 8 dollars. Then with M1 we could purchase a 30 dollar SIM card. When we re-up the M1 SIM card we get 120 dollars free. So it seems like they have a lot of deals for pre-paid right when you start out, then I'm sure you dont get the deals anymore. It works out well for us b/c we are only here 8 wks.

In addition to the cell phones we went to get our public transit card. This is called the EZ pass. It literally is easy. You buy the card for 15 dollars, and this gives you 10 dollars on the card, so the card costs 5 bucks. At any MRT (train) station you can load more money onto it. When you enter the station you scan it to get through a barrier then you do the same when you exit. The same is true for the buses. There is a scanner that you use when you get on and off the bus. I've used about 40 dollars so far (as of June 15th). I use the transit system for all of my travels so I think it's a pretty fair deal.

EDIT: Forgot to mention we went to Singapore's most popular tourist destination -- Sentosa Island. It wasn't really that interesting to me. I have never been to Disney World, but there were lots of plastic attractions that reminded me of the image of DW I have in my mind. The experience turned around quite a bit when we arrived at a beach. We had put our stuff on this large wooden chair and, to my amazement, I was given the boot because I didn't purchase a $14 beer haha. I simply moved myself to the sand and enjoyed the sun.

All of this was done with the help of Yihan, Trina, and Trisha. Yihan was a former UW student who is entering graduate school at Stanford. She worked at BTI in the past and she was the crucial link that connected Dr. Jon Roll with BTI. Trina and Trisha are sisters. Trina graduated from UW and Trisha is still a student. They pretty much hauled us around Singapore showing us the good places to eat. My favorites so far has been Thaiexpress in Holland Village and this place in little India (pictures below) that, unfortunately, I am unsure what the name is.

Bhattura ($3.8)

Plain Dosai ($1.9)

The week of June 7th:

We started at BTI on Monday. We had a brief presentation from all the mentors on the projects. Jon gave a short speech that briefed BTI staff on the IRES program. We had a 2 hour safety orientation. We had to take a quiz! I am proud to say that I passed my first Asian examination. The building is very high tech and very secure. We all get these lanyards and i.d. cards. the security at the first floor won't let anyone without an i.d. card get into the building without being accompanied by BTI staff. It seems like they tried to scare us right away with all these rules and regulations. Starting in the lab was interesting. Lab coats and gloves must always be worn. All work with cell cultures including HELA cells and E. coli must be done in a biosafety hood. Both of these facts are very different then working at UW. Very rarely did I use a biosafety hood at UW and I have never worn a lab coat. There are times when we use gloves though. So far I have been getting used to running around the lab and figuring out where things are. My mentor is great, as are my coworkers. Studying for the MCAT during the day. Nothing too exciting. No complaints against the safety precautions; it's just a new, learning experience.

I work at BTI which is in the Centros building. One of seven research buildings in the Biopolis network.

June 12th weekend:

Now the excitement begins. We travelled to Bintan Island, Indonesia. Getting to the ferry terminal was fairly easy. We took the MRT to a bus transfer point, then took bus 36 to the ferry terminal. We did not purchase our tickets in advance. Because of this we had to take a departure time that was slightly earlier than planned, but unexpected things always arise with travel and it was no big deal. Finally we could buy liquor without the burden of the Singapore sing tax. I liter of Bacardi Superior was like 26 SD which I think is pretty darn cheap. I have a feeling duty free shops are going to be our primary alcohol distributor. The ferry was set up like an airplane with similar seats and organization. I zonked out immediately, sitting up, so I must have been tired. We arrived in Indonesia and went through the typical immigration and customs ritual. The owner was at the ferry terminal and he arranged a taxi for us. His wife was on the same boat, so they drove back separetly. It was about a 50 min drive from the ferry terminal to the resort. The roads were crazy! Very windy and uneven and narrow. I sat up front. At one point a car was in the passing lane coming right at us; it was a close call and everyone got a little nervous. The driver was very skilled though. As with all the drivers over here, they tend to dog the transmission (low rpms) which is kind of annoying for me.

Arriving a night was interesting because we didn't have an idea what the whole compound looked like. We had dinner and some drinks, then checked out the beach. They had a world cup game on which was nice during dinner. There was a match on later that I stayed up to watch, but it never worked. Their satellite wasn't working so they were using an antanee trying to catch the match over the air from Singapore broadcast. It turns out that the matches aren't on public channels, only subscription, so that did not work. I stayed up with Ian, the owner, and his uncle until probably 4 in the morning. Conversation flowed easily with drinks over the hours.

We stayed in small huts that were on the beach, about 15 feet from the surf. In total I think there were 6 or 7 huts. I don't think accommodation like this can be found in the west for 19 dollars a night.

Saturday spelled sunbathing, and that is about it. At one point in the afternoon we were soaking in the sun reading. It became so incredibly hot, yet very enjoyable at the same time. I think this was the exact moment that I learned to enjoy the heat and to appreciate sweat. I tried to stay in the water when the tide was up so I didn't get bit by so many bugs. For some reason I lucked out and everyone else is much itchier than I am. We have deep woods bug spray which is works great because it has a lot of DEET in it. Sat. night we played cards and had drinks. Lindsay learned how to play euchre, so she can now legally claim to be from wisconsin.

We woke up sunday, ate breakfast, kind of hungover, did some beach, then headed back to Singapore :(. The drive back was shorter and I sat in the back middle. The windy roads meant a little car sickness, but nothing to extreme.

Beautiful Bintan.

June 14th/15th:

The weeks are mostly SSDD at this point. Writing a blog this morning instead of studying for the MCAT was quite enjoyable, and now it's almost lunch! Last night my gruop was trying to book flights and hotel for BK next weekend. They got as far as filling in all the billing and personal info then the internet failed at the hostel. Poor buggers. I may have made an enemy last night. I left my laundry in the machine for little longer than the 30 min it takes to wash. When i went to retrieve it he did not seem very happy with me. Oops.