South East Asia '06

2006-06-11T23:23:00.000-04:00

this is my last 17 hours in a foreign country! what an awesome trip this has been...going through something like this really does open your eyes to a lot of things. it literally is a life changing experience.

i dont have much time left on my card here in singapore so this is short and to the point. i'll blog my final entry after my return to the states!!!

thank you to everyone for your support, i couldn't have done this without you :)

2006-06-10T00:48:00.000-04:00

what a way to start off the morning...a good vietnamese almost knife fight! we are thinking it started becasue we asked for butter for our toast (it probably wasn't that but who knows) so yesterday we all went to the war remnants museum and it made me sick to my stomach. i now know why none of the vets want to ever remind themselves of what happened. however, we did find the museum extrememly one sided, but i guess that's to be expected. there was also a book that you could sign in the building that showed some of the tourture devices and tiger cages and needless to say there was a lot of anti-american comments.

im speechless

however, we did find a place last night were some of the vietnamese women and there husbands (american/english) who told us that the vitnam people harbor no ill feelings towards american's because of what happend. they basically are trying to move on like im sure the vets are still trying to do. they (vietnamese) dont even like it when people like big rock stars come over for concerts and start apologizing for it. that made me feel a little better, but that muesum was hard to deal with. it took all my willpower to keep from crying. just thinking about it now makes me tear up.

but on a better note, i did eat some really amazing KFC the other day! i know i know, but vietnamese food makes me sick...and i am craving the heart clogging goodness of greasy McDonalds food! (so american!) ok, in less that 24 hours my booty will be on a plane back to singapore and then....HOME! the postcards should be rolling in and im probably gonna beat the ones from phuket, cambodia and vietnam home (plus i havn't really sent em yet) hahaha, ok till next time!

cheers

2006-06-08T07:26:00.000-04:00

we are now in the capital of cambodia, called pheom phen or p^2...we had a 6 hour bus ride to the captial and seriously i have way too much stuff. i broke down and bought dvds for like 2.50 a piece and then i bought somethings for gifts and now i have too much shit!

we got here around 1:00 and checked into the blue lotus? something to that effect and we had tuk-tuk drivers that were so incredibly nice. they wanted to know what our plans were for the day so they could take us. we had decided eariler to go to the killing fields and then the genocide museum. well i hadn't done much reading about the killing fields but when i heard the story i was sick to my stomach...what made it worse was the fact that as we were walking and looking at the mass graves, we were actually walking over the victums bones! i felt horrible and opted out of the musuem that showed actual pictures.

before the killing fields however, payne, dave, trisha and i went to a shooting range. it was so awesome, they actually had a menue of what you could order! how much a magazine was for each gun (AK 47s, M16s) that is what the boys shot...trisha and i went for the smaller but still fun K54 which is a chineese hand gun!

and then tonight we will sleep and get up at 5:40 am to catch another bus to vietnam...ho chi man city...and we will spend a few days there. i have been hearing that there is no internet in vietnam, so please nobody panic if i don't write for a few days! i can't wait to come home and mom...thank you for my dinner request! your the best :)

2006-06-07T03:52:00.000-04:00

i have the worst luck ever! i didn't pull any money out of the ATM in KL because we were only staying for one night and i didn't want to have a ton of ringet (that is what they call their money) and of course i didn't have any US money on me because it has all been exchaged! the cambodian visa is 20 american dollars. and i knew this. as the flight landed we all went into the terminal and filled out our visa forms and jumped in line. on the wall behind them was a sign that said "cambodia prefers visa" how exciting for me, i do have my bank card that is a visa! well they lie because they do not take visa...cash only. plus nobody could understand what i was saying, so big lanugage barrier. that wasn't the hard part...the stern gentleman behind the desk wouldn't give me my passport until i obviously paid for my visa and i was told that a line a little farther away took visa. so i got in it realizing that i was the only person with no passport, but i couldn't get my passport until i paid for the visa...so i get up to the counter and explained myself to two men who spoke extremely broken english. they told me that i couldn't pay with plastic and i needed to sit for a minute. well by this time, i was getting a little scared (i dont mind saying that i almost cried) the group came together for me and pulled enough money for me to get my visa! AND no tears! HA :)

we are wisked away in our private van to our guesthouse called "the villa" it is owned by an aulstrailan couple, fiona and anthony. the rooms are big, the showers are hot and the beds are comfy! we got to go out late to ta phrom temple and have a look around and then watch the sunset while drinking wine and eating cheese and olives! it was so amazing! then next day we got up early to go exploring again, we did about 3 smaller temples, and then back to the villla for lunch. fiona and anthony have connections with other hotels around and we were able to get pool passes at this really luxurious hotel. they had an infinity pool and the water was just right! we swam all day and i am so dark now! dinner that night was a dinner/show deal and it was pretty cool. it was buffett stlye and the dancing looked a little like thai dancing.

today we got up around 8:15 and got to the temples at 9-ish and rode elephants! payne and i were on elephant #2 and it was really neat. at first i was scared becasue you are really high up but the elephants are so sturdy that once you get going the only thing you can think about is "how many people can say they have ridden an elephant through temples!" we walked over victory bridge and along this dirt path to the bayon temple. it is famous for all the faces carved into it. oh, and the temple ta phrom was where they filmed the first tomb raider and indiana jones! bayon was pretty sweet, of course tons of pictures! and then we went for lunch.

we sat under a tree in front of ankor wat, the largest religous building in the world. now you havae to understand something about cambodia. they thrive off of visitors coming and blowing a ton of money on nik-naks...so when the van pulls up to a temple, it gets swarmed by little kids saying "lady, you buy from me!" and they are sooooooooooo adorable and sweet and you really dont want to say no, but the second you give in all of them expect you to buy from them too. today however, our feelings changed about feeling bad for them. payne and dave had to hide in the van to get away from the little girls and had pursched some hats to make them sort of go away. as they (the girls selling things) saw that we girls were walking to the van, of course they went after us. well you learn quickly to grow a thick skin and say "no thank you" and just walk away. plus by this time, we were sick of it so when we were all in the van and still not making eye contact, trisha pulls the curtian so that we dont have to look at them and one of the girls mouthed "f**k you" and then another girl flicked us off! we all busted out laughing. so no longer do we feel bad for saying "NO!"

this time tomorrow i should be on my way to vietnam via bus and i will continue from there! i miss everyone and i can't wait to come home :)

2006-06-03T10:27:00.000-04:00

phuket is amazing! we got in last night and went straight to bed...well after some desperatly needed room service :) we got up around 9:30 today and caught the bus to the beach. we were not prepared for how incredibly intense the sun was. i got burned on my face, chest, and top of my legs...ouch! but i did get some really great pictures so i'll show everyone when i get back! we have to wake up early to get to the airport for our flight to cambodia and im really excited because that means that im a little bit closer to flying home!!

i miss everyone!

GREATEST QUOTE OF PHUKET
nikki "i heart crabs!"

2006-06-01T23:58:00.000-04:00

today we are going to the beach!!! we are flying to phuket and staying the day and then we are back on a plane to KL, malaysia and then another to cambodia! there i will pick up with the blog, proablby after ankor wat!

cheers

2006-06-01T06:47:00.000-04:00

the last few days have been a little different. when jamie and i woke up on tuesday, we decided to actually so and see things rather than shop! we decided on the grand palace. so we hopped on the sky train and took a ferry boat...which ran out of gas! so as the boat was sitting there gasless in the water, a nice gentleman told us that the palace was only a short walk from where we were! sweet! we got off the boat...and he was partly right, you could walk to the palace, but it took about 15 mins. once we arrived at one of the side gates another nice man told us that the palace was closed until 3...it was about 2ish i believe...so he hailed a tuk tuk for us and told the driver to take good care of us and show us the sitting buddha, lucky buddha, and the standing buddha and then to this shopping place and then right back to where he was and the palace should be open. jamie thought it was sketchy and i thought it was cool so we jumpped in the back of the tuk tuk and off we went. jamie still had her doubts so she kept her map out. and sure enough, we ended up going to a place that wasn't marked on the map. we walked in and it was pretty decent. i liked it and realized that we were probably going on a wild goose chase, but hey it was pretty neat. well jamie was having no parts of this adventure so she told the tuk tuk driver to take us back to the palace. tuk tuks have this funny thing were they will keep your price down if you go to a place their friends own and just look around for a few mins. well we didn't want to do that so the driver basically said that he couldn't drive us anymore and he wouldn't take our money!

so we get off in the middle of this city and we have no idea where we are! finally we decided to walk back to the palace after another guy tried to get us to go on the same trek. this time i didn't fall for it. finally we get to the front gate and surprise surprise...its OPEN!!! there was never a time that it wasn't open! so in we go! this was the most amazing place i have ever seen. as we are walking, we notice that all the tiles are hand-painted! and all of the buildings are so colorful and bright and just amazing. we wanderend into the temple of the emerald buddha and when you go in you can't point your feet at the buddha so we had to sit on the floor on our knees. as we were sitting reading about the buddha, i overheard a tour-guide telling a man how to pray to the buddha, so jamie and i tried it! it was the most amazing feeling to be sitting in a buddhist temple. nobody cared that we weren't exactly the best at the art of praying or the fact that we were having a really crappy day, they just went about their business and smiled and left! it was so nice. outside the temple was holy water with flowers that you dipped in the water and then tapped your head three times with. 3 the number for perfect balance in the universe. so of course jamie and i partook of that as well. after the emerald buddha, we walked around and saw the throne of the king himself! the walls in the throne were hand-painted and the throne looked like it was pure gold...clean, sparkly, and just amazing. we couldn't take any pictures and i don't think they would have done it justice anyway.

the hunger pains were creeping up on us slowly. we found a resturant and ate and then realized that we didn't know how to get back. the harbor was closed becasue the country is getting ready to celebrate having their king for 60 years! so basically we were screwed! we stopped a few cabs to see if they would take us to the sky train...they said "no, too far" see they don't get tipped here so the cabs make their money by turing lots of fairs...so we again were out of luck. and so we looked at the map and figured that it wouldn't be that bad to walk to the closest MRT station (subway). so off we went on foot. 3 hours later, we finally navigated our way from the grand palace through chinatown across a few major roads to the beginning of the MRT. and the train station and MRT are in the same building. we didn't know that, and this walk was no picknick...nothing was written in english (go figure right?!) so we had to sit and decipher the signs...i was about to cry! i was fed up with walking, i was sick of everyone in the city becuase we must look pretty stupid that they kept trying to pull the same shit they did around the palace. so i walked up to the info desk at the train station and i pointed to the MRT and they smilied and pointed around the cornor and down the stairs...i have never been so happy to spend money on transportation in my life!!!

wed. was the day of our fitting!! we were awaken by trisha telling us that we had to be downstairs for a meeting with Ogilvey Thailand. that was pretty cool. except she basically insulted us right to our faces for being American by saying that she knows that Americans don't take the time to be open minded about international differences! (wow...ok) i understand that might be true for some people but not all Americans and im am 10,000 % that statement can be applied to people all over the world...not just those from the US. as the presentaion went on, we found out that Boeing jets were one of their clients. and of course they keep track of when planes go down becuase if it was one of their clients, they obvioulsy need to get started on a crisis response. well she made a snide remark about 9/11 and i personally didn't appreciate it. she said she recalled that day...they got the call and pretty much the jist was, that she was more woried about her clients image than the actual lives that were devistated!! sometimes its a blessing to not speak your mind...all i wanted to do was say a few choice words, slap her in the face and walk out. oh well!

after the meeting jamie and i decided to stay around the area becasue we had to go for our fitting at 5 and it was about 3..so we tried to get to this mall that was recommended to us by a localish guy. (hes english but works here...long story, and i'll share that at home) so we tried for 30 mins to get a cab...but once again, we didn't speak thai, they didn't read english...so we were stuck. finally we found someone that could help us! the mall was a bust, it looked like it was going through a liquidation. we did find some hand made shirts for about $5 amaerican! and so we went back to the mall we knew, MBK. we have NO clean clothes! so i bought a short skirt and jamie bought long skirt and we felt so much better and once again jumped in a cab and headed to the fitting that i had been freaking out about for 2 days (like having anxoity over). we got there early and went upstairs to the dressing room and it was the first time today that we were around people that understood what we were saying and he asked if we need anything for drinks or food as when he left and came back...i was in tears from the stress! hahaha...so! the clothes come in the room...and i just smiled :) they look awesome. i tried them on and i kept the coat the same, and i made my skirt a little shorter and my pants a little longer. they promised us delivery by thrusday night! and they delieverd...I LOVE MY SUIT AND MY COAT!! needless worrying :-D

today our group went to bangkok university. it was "freshie" day. much like radfords quest and so it was neat to see that. and we walked around a bit, the campus was amazing and the stuendents were so nice. we got to see the communication and arts department, and got to see all the media they use to produce there mock news shows and radio shows. their equipment was soooooo nice and clean and expensive! and then we had a little good-bye dinner with the group becasue we are officially done!!! it sounds weird to say that out loud...amy, katie and christy are leaving tomorrow for home...meg and john are leaving for europe...and trisha, jessica, trey, dave, and payne left for phuket after dinner...melissa, nikki, jamie and i are leaving for phuket tomorrow evening. i'll try to blog as much as possible while in cambodia and vietnam!!

I MISS EVERYONE AND I CAN'T WAIT TO COME HOME!!

i do have a dinner request...chili with a ton of meat!! please no rice (i can't eat anymore rice) and a glass of iced tea, with a lemon, ice and free refills!!!! -thank you momma, i love you forever!!!

2006-05-29T11:28:00.000-04:00

wow, so last night was out of control! trisha ended up wanting to go out for her birthday so we did! they had dinner at a place up the street from the hostel and as jamie and i were walking up to meet them, an elephant came walking up!! her owners had sugar cane for us to feed her and she would take it right from your hand. then we went directly across the street to a place called golden eye (i think) and apparently they offered "massages" (if you catch my drift), but we stayed downstairs...we were the only people in the place. so we decided to find a place that was a little more lively. up the street a bit was a place called genesis. it was a tiny bar that played go-go, dance, rap, hip-hop...anything and the girls danced on the bar (in clothes). well as the night went on trisha, jaime and i thought it would be a good idea to join the ladies in dancing! oh yes, there is photographic evidence of this event! it was a wild night, we literally closed down the bar.

jamie had left a little bit eariler that i did, however, when i walked out of the bar she was sitting on the cornor next to a little boy who was about 6. he was selling roses and he couldn't go home until he sold them all...this upset jaime to the point of tears, so we bought all the roses...it was like 400 bhat. and then the dancers walked us home! (how nice)

tonight me, jamie, nikki, and melissa went to see the da vince code at the mall and i have to say that i liked the book better. ron howard got too creative with certian scenes and it really took away from the story i thought. but it was still a good movie. the seats in the theater were pleather and they were so comfy, and you could pick your seat when you bought your ticket. and before the movie started, the national anthem played and everyone had to stand up. it was an interesting site! well im beat...so goodnight for now from thailand! oh yea, i bought a suit today....eek!

2006-05-28T07:40:00.000-04:00

what an amazing day! i woke up at 11, ate lunch at Hard Rock cafe and then out of the blue, this woman comes up to jamie and i and tells us how pretty we are and askes us what we are doing in bangkok. she then proceeds to tell us about this great place to go to have clothes made...well jamie and i broke down and decided to go. the place we went to sells directly to manhattan...that is actually the name of the store. but to get the full affect of this womans converstaion, she actually talked to us for 30 mins! she called us a tuk tuk (he was cute and off duty and spoke awesome english), she got us this tuk tuk to take us to the manhattan store, and to the mall for 60 bhat! thats about 1.20 american! he was so awesome! so we go to this store and everything revolves around you! i actaully got a trench coat...double breatsed, classic cut, for only 210 american dollars! its going to be a camel color, and it is made just for me!! i have a fitting on wed. (sorry mom, but this coat is amazing!) our driver waited downstairs for us for 2 hours! then when we came out he asked us to visit his friends shop for 5 mins and he would get free gas...so we did. it was a jewerly shop with unpolished stones and we talked for a bit, but it seemed sketcy so we left.

our tuk tuk driver told us that he is in the thai airforce and has had training in the us from our army! thats how he learned to speak english. he asked us where to go next and jamie needed a camera so off we went to the mall...this mall that speicalizes in electronics and it was overwhelming, but our tuk tuk driver came shopping with us! all of this took place in about a 4 hour period. so finally we had to ask him to take us home and he didn't even charge us...he said..whatever you feel like paying...we gave him 200 bhat, but now i wish it had been more because he was really a good sport puttin up with us all day!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
jamie "i have died and gone to barbie heaven!"

<3J

2006-05-28T00:59:00.000-04:00

i got a blog reply from my daddy!!! and obvisously we aren't really paying attention to whats going on in the world becuase none of us knew about the earthquake! but yikes and i hope that there wasn't too much damage. we are all ok! um, out of curiosity...where did the earthquake hit? shopping out here is so amazing! seriously you can bargin your way down to like 5 american dollars for handmade, puter and wood sushi sets!!! wait...did you miss that? 5 DOALLRS AMERICAN!!!! yea i have restrained myslef thus far, but im getting ideas for everyone! HAPPY MEMEORIAL DAY! hope everyone is swimming and cooking out and having a blast :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRISH!! we will hopefully be celebrating tonight!! ok jamie and i are off to eat and shop more :)

2006-05-27T04:12:00.000-04:00

i dont think i have ever been so happy to be in bangkok. allow me to explain! teman negara was awesome, we did a canopy walk through the trees and i was 45 meters off the ground walking on a rope bridge!!! i feel like such a bad ass :) and then we shot the rapids and got soaking wet and i swam in the temebling river and then hiked for 2 miles, (1 straight up hill and ! right back down) and then we woke and took a bus to the jungle train. not as cool as it sounds. we were told that i had air-con...it did not! we were told that it was only six hours...it was 9. we were told that you could take a 10 hour train ride to bangkok from kota baru...it was 23 and it was not in that city! yea, not to mention it was more of the locals train, so there were all types of characters on this train. i spent most of my time sitting in the stairs of the open doors watching the scenery fly by, the rest of my time was spent sleeping upside down in my broken seats. i have never sweated so much in my life!

"but brandy," you might be saying "there is always a silver lining." yes my friends, this is true. our silver lining was an extremely nice hotel with an outdoor swimming pool, air-con, 24 hour room service and a suberb resturant upstairs! however all good thing must come to an end, no? we took a 4 hour cab ride to the airport because when we actaully arrived at said awesome hotel, we had no plans of what to do next. we boarded a discount carrier and in about 2 hours we were finally in bangkok. after we sercured all of our bags we need taxies. my group was called first! we got a van! (oh yes! leg room, first ones to leave!! WRONG!) meg, john, amy and i came to the conclusion that our driver was on estcay! oh and he definetly did not like to keep his eyes open on the drive. he didn't keep up with the speed limit and we almost got rear-ended im sure, and then he decided to come to a complete stop in the middle of the freeway! so i can't look anymore, i close my eyes and pray that we make it throught this alive. when i finally muster up enough courage to look we are in a lane that you can only go straight in and thank god it was only big enough for the cars to stay in a line. well we all noticed that the lane was quickly coming to an end and that we had to turn left...well captian X had other plans...he was going to go straight and that was that!

we almost got T-boned by another cab! amy let out a gasp/half scream and the driver i guess came to for a second and turned left and apologized. well the other driver was having no parts of that so he proceeded to follow us! and im talkin real close, we couldn't see his head lights anymore. my heart started racing. the pissed off driver pulls in front of us, missing the front bumper by inches and slams on his breaks...he wanted our driver to pull over so he could yell. so we slow down and our driver actually opens the window on meg's side to speak with the obviously irate man. our lives flashed before our eyes! finally we made it to the street the hostile was on and we just told him to stop and we got out! and he still had the balls to charge us 350 bhat for the death ride! thankfully we only had to walk like a block or two to the hostle, which our room smells like wet towel! BUT we are alive and thats just fine with me!

oh, and i dont know if i mentioned in an earilier blog, probably not, but when we did our night nature walk, we saw a porcipine!!! it was huge. and then we came to the end of the walk and the guide told us to turn off our flahslights to get the full experience of how dark the rainforrest actually was...yea it was pitch black, even if your eyes adjusted...it didn't matter! it was that dark! we saw all sorts of animals though, deer, walking sticks, night flowers, spiders and a slow laurs which is like a small sloth!

well thats all i have for now, i'll close with my
QUOTEs OF THE DAY:
Dr. Kennan when were were riding this werid boat for 3 hours (you couldn't stand up at all, you had to stay seated) "man, i am going to need a butt transplant!"
Meg as we were getting off the 1.5 hour ride back on the same type of boat "i shaved my legs on the boat!"

2006-05-26T01:12:00.000-04:00

this blog will be short for now...lets just say the jungle was awesome, the jungle train was not, and now we have to check out of the hotel at 2 to catch a flight to and a connection to bankok...i love and miss everyone and dont worry, im ok!!

2006-05-22T02:58:00.000-04:00

this morning started off on the extremely hectic side. i was woken by christy saying that we had to be downstairs in about 30 mins to catch cabs to TQPR (total quality public relations), and that she was getting in the shower so that she could be ready! well amy and katie both still had to shower to i just got up, bit the bullet and got dressed. (ew right?!) anywho, by the time we figured out where we were going, split up into "cab groups" and were on our way...everyone got lost. the first cab showed up third, and the last cab was almost an hour late...the cab service here really isn't that great.

so after the meeting, which was lovely, we all split up to figure out what the plan is for the rest of our time here in malaysia...so far we are debating between the jungle and beach (two polar opposites) and that is why i am here at the hostile alone and blogging!!! well apparently the decision has been made that we are headed to the jungle! (meg just walked in and told me that!)

today is going to be laid back, packing and reading and just waitin to see if this is truly the plan (figers crossed and god help us!) the blog may not be written of for a while, i dont know how equiped the jungle will be with internet!

2006-05-21T05:14:00.000-04:00

ah, another day to sleep in! i got up at 11 am and it was fantastic. dr. kennan is requiring us to visit a mosque, hindu temple and a buddhist temple for the class so thats what we did today. we went to the national mosque in malaysia and it was pretty cool. i took lots of pictures. all the girls had to wear robes that went all the way to the floor and cover our heads, the boys also had to wear them if they didn't have pants on (our boys did not)! needless to say, dave looked like the saviour himself...we also had to walk around barefoot (not as gross as one might think!)

after we did that we came back to the green hut where we are living and walked up the street for some "us" time. i got a full body massage and it was phenomenal! and i got the hot oil treatment on my legs and feet. i feel a little bit like a new woman! now i am sitting in my very first internet cafe and i can't lie, its werid! they have japanamation posters up all over the windows and all you hear is club music and game sounds...cars racing, boys yelling, etc...and there are not lights on...like i said...werid!

well i didn't get a chance to talk about dinner last night becasue i was sooooooo tired. we went to la bodega and it was absolutly amazing! it was a very artsy place that had tastefully nude pictures of women all over. for example, there was a woman in a hat like the old rat pack used to wear, and she was smoking a cigar but you couldn't see all of her face. it was pretty neat! the food was excellent, the table was covered in salmon, bruchetta, sangreia, mojitos, rack of lamb, mushrooms and chicken...it was the best food we have ever tasted!

nikki acutally went out last night and i opted to stay in and apparently missed the nikki maddness that occured! she and trish didn't get until wee hours and apparently danced there hearts out! (im sorry i missed it :)!) and lastly we have a meeting tonight to figure out if we are going to the rain forrest tomorrow or tuesday...so i dont know if they have internet service in the jungle, but if they dont, rest assure that i will keep you all informed when we get back to civilization.

2006-05-20T12:09:00.000-04:00

today was awesome! i got to sleep in until 9:30 and then went to a hindu temple that is inside a limestone cave. it also was home to monkeys, and they had no problem walking up to people and taking food right out of their hands. however to get to this temple, you had to walk up 272 stairs...and i went stratight up (can we say winded).

after that the news around the hostile was that we were going to see a symphony! well i had nothing to wear so i had to go out and buy a new dress and shoes for the occasion (oh so sad right?!) and we all looked so cute. and yes, we took a lot of pictures! the concert hall was beautiful and we heard 3 different contemporary pieces. the first was a cynical look at childrens stories (a little scary), the second was a tribute to the composers late wife (too choppy for me), and the third was a mix of beetoven, motzart, and the composer. i really liked that one, it was more of what i was used to!

i'll have to write more tomorrow cuz im tired and yea...i miss everyone and i can't wait to see everyone!

<3

2006-05-19T08:28:00.000-04:00

ok so we are now in KL malaysia...and can i say, i dont really like it. first of all we had a 7 hour bus ride where nobody spoke english but the 14 of us! it was interesting. then we get to our hostile and it had mold growing on the walls...ew...so we fanned out across the town to find a better place to stay and we did! we are now bunked up in the greenhouse! its adorable.

as we were driving today i looked out my window and say monkeys on the side of the road just hanging out! it was a site to see, and we also saw a forrest of palm trees!! then as we were walking around today we walked past a motorcycle that purple cats on it! like real live purple cats!

im really starting to get a bit homesick...espically being in KL

well one good thing from this trip is that i have officially started my workout program...its called hauling what ever you need you carry on your back in a pack!

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
comes from amy on the bus ride to KL - "i don't think i wanna suck on this!"

2006-05-18T07:34:00.000-04:00

what a day...its our last one in singapore and we really went out with a bang! we started off our day at rendezvous hotel, it was interesting to say the least. we talked with a lady from IPS (institute of public relations of singapore) and as the powerpoint rolled on we learned that they work closely with companies in malaysia and indonesia sharing information and trying to make sure that each company can run at their full potential which i found really neat! after 9-11, like most companies, they formed a crisis plan specificly for terrorism and now with the recent epidemic, bird flu. as i was sitting there listening i got a good quote that really made me wonder why america doesn't think this way...seeing as how we are supposed to be a melting pot "english is the official language (of singapore), however, we are mindful that we have to things to reach every community" every sign here has it written in at leat 3-4 different languages. they understand that just becasue english is the national language that not everyone speaks or reads it.

but on a better note, this next quote made me happy that america's government isn't so controlling...the da vince code was almost banned from singapore becasue the christian groups were getting offended. the govt. decided to keep the moive in the state and label it NC-16...meaning if you are under the age of 16 you are not allowed to watch the movie, even with mommy and daddy!

after that meeting we decided to go to sentosa beach and so a little sightseeing. we rode in a cable car which my fear of heights did not like too much! then when we landed on the other side, we were officially at the southern most tip in asia!! underwater world was our first stop, it was like the baltimore aquarium only smaller...and then we caught a bus to the dolphin lagoon. and there were no ordinary dolphins, these dolphins were PINK. no joke! pink dophins aren't as graceful as bottlenose dolphins, but just as cute. they called for volunteers in the middle of the show and told the audience that you were going to be in the water up to your chest! of course my hand shot straight up in the air and i was picked! (keep in mind i was wearing a skirt and a white shirt!) so we did a little hola-hooping and then we were told to walk to a trainer and into the water. the trainer then asked me to knee on the bottom of the lagoon so only my head and neck were sticking out of the water. the dolphins were already standing with a trainer and she (trainer) said to stay very still and dont be scared. well needless to say, i got scared (a little) and out of the cornor of my eye i see this thing come out of the water and up to my face! i got a dolphin kiss :-* it was so adorable! (does this count as cheating??) i actually have photographic evidence of this!

we finally called it quits at about 7:30...loooooong day! considering last night was a loooooooooong night. it stated out with a really nice dinner on the water at merlion park. we had chili crabs, scallops and rice...it was interesting, i think we ended up getting more on us than in us! then we left for a night on the town, it was ladies night in the entire city and i figured what the hey...so we all went to a club called insomnia and i actually met an airline pilot from germany! and well we didn't really get back to the hostile until the wee hours of the morning (me and the girls, not the german guy)

anywho, we are jumping on a bus tomorrow morning and heading to KL in malaysia.

QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"it's all about the experience"

2006-05-17T06:17:00.000-04:00

wow, today is a blogging bonanza! we went to Edelman's PR Firm today and it was pretty exciting. aside from the fact the guy didn't really offer any contact information like the previous companies had, it was still nice to hear from someone who is doing exactly what most of us think we want to do! Edelman's is also international and they have an office in NY (yea that got me thinkin!) and they really do love what they do, which is a positive note.

so to clear up the quotes from last night...computer penetration is not sexual (dirty dirty people reading my blog!) its actually what the government does to all the people who have internet connections in their houses. they use a computer penetration system to make sure that nobody is being/thinking like a radical...no speaking out against the govt. and no putting thoughts in others heads about an uprising! SCARY! that would be the one reason that i couldn't move here, i have been spoiled with freedom! GOD BLESS AMERICA!

talking cock....again not sexual (please remove your mind from the gutter!) is a website that shows you how the loop holes can work to your advantage. this site actually does speak out against the govt. however, they do it in a "comical" way and its not serious bad mouthing, more or less you must read between the lines.

those two quotes came from the NUS tour yesterday, it was enlightening.

ok, so the beach was not happening today, i figure im goin to phuket i can wait! you should really google that place...you think your jealous now, have a look see! (its in Thailand and they filmed "the beach" there) once kennan found out that Edelman's had actually canceled, we had to reschedule for 12 noon and by the time we were done it was almost 4 so we grabbed a bite to eat and we went to visit the merlion...you should also google that! it was a site to see!

BLOG SHOUT OUTS!
first i would like to shout out to my momma! she started her very own blog (with some help, ehemm..madison) without her i would not be the person i am today!!

big kev, the man! he truly is the father that every girl dreams of! he knows just what to say and when to say it and i couldn't ask for anything more!!

cheeze-head...well lets just say, without you...my life would be uber boring!!

justin - through it all their is somethin about you that i just can turn away from...thank you for your support on this trip, you dont know how much it has helped me!

finally but not lastly...alex paynes mom! that woman can wash a shirt so well, that her son can sweat profusely and still smell like a dryer sheet!!! well done mrs. payne!!

instead of quotes...i have some nicknames i'd like to post
1. christy - "fresh fruit"
2. nikki - "cupcake"
3. brandy - "kibbles 'n bits"
4. amy - "travels with snacks"
5. katie - "panty lines"

2006-05-16T22:51:00.000-04:00

good to see the blog trend has caught on! congratulations to babe and justin!! last night was awesome! after our long ass day we went to the night safari and it was so cool! animals didn't have cages(yikes) and they would just walk right up to the tram! i saw a gigantaic bat fly over the tram and land it the tree, i swear it was 2 feet tall...it was late night though, we didn't get back to sleepy sams until midnight (that makes me sound old but hey, we've been in bed by 10 every night) things are mucho expensive here too!

well i had a request to talk more about the food, no i have not eatin dog! (i dont think) i've been sticking to things that i can pronounce like, waton noodle...chicken curry...sweet and sour pork...although i do have the option of lamb brain and ball soup, or even fish head soup...i have yet to wander off the beaten path.

i think the plan for today is beach! (music to my ears) i need get a jump start on my tan to try and beat kevin this year (doubtful, but eveyone needs a goal in life right ;) hahha) i do have to admit about the food, my stoamch is holding up fine with anything foreign, its the mcdonalds that made it upset. go figure!

the shower situation is lukewarm to cold, but actually i dont really mind because its like 100 degrees here with 110% humidty and i can hardly breathe (no joke). i think we might doing a tour of sultan mosque tonight, maybe, we'll have to wait and see. blog shout outs are tonight, so everyone be lookin out! it will also include the quotes for the day!

2006-05-16T07:29:00.000-04:00

today was by far the busiest. we started at 10 am and didn't end until about 6:30 pm. we went to NUS (national university of singapore) and it was absolutely amazing! the standings that met with us were very excited to have as we were excited to be received! we did a little round table talk about their country and we learned that they don't have set courses that they have to take, its more or less an umbrella and they can pick and choose what they want as long as it fulfills their course requirements. so basically they get to customize their degree which i thought was totally awesome! we got take mini tour of the campus and dropped by the bookstore, not as big as ours but still very nice!

next we went to SPH (singapore press holding) only to find out that we were in the wrong place because dr. k got his messages mixed up. so we hopped cabs to Bloomberg and met with a PR practicioner by the name of Yvonne. she was very informative and this company looked like it had to potential to drive someone insane. Bloomberg deals with everything from world news to sports and everything in between. they have an intranet ticker that shows headline stories from all of there offices, too numerous to name, and they have to pick and choose the stories they feel would have the most impact for their audience. it looked like it could be a fun place to work!! (if being insane is up your alley)

so we still had one more stop, back to SPH. we met with a marketing director and a journalist. needless to say the journalist was extremely long-winded but he had a plethora of information to speak of. they have revamped one of their magazines 3 times to really try and cater to their audience of singapore residence. they acutally picked random readers and sent them a week supply of the magazine/newspaper and asked them to tick what they actually read and send it back. that data was analyzed, and then the company did a focus group and asked their reader group and those who didn't read...18-30 year olds...to basically say what they did and didn't like. it was interesting to hear that exactly what we have learned about it does actually happen in the real world!

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
NUS presentation - "computer penetration", "talking cock" (i'll let you think about that one before i explain it)
Bloomberg - "oh, you all are PR majors? welcome to the darkside"

2006-05-15T10:18:00.000-04:00

i am really glad that this blog keeps track of what day it is, because i honestly don't know. today we visited a woman that worked for an international hotel chain called pan pacific and she was so helpful and knowledgable! she deals with everything from PR to crisis management, the woman is on call 24 hours a day! her name is Cheryl and she made sure that we understood that even though she works from 6:45 am until 8 pm she still can find time to workout, visit with friends and have a life...thats important!

after lunch we went to a hindu temple and it was so beautiful. we had to take off our shoes to walk through it and our feet were burning up on the walkways. after the quick temple walk it was time to do some shopping and we literally shopped until we dropped...right into massage chairs! thats right, we got a foot/back massage for $16 american dollars! that was well needed :) after that was dinner in a hawker stall (?) and then off to try the famous singapore sling! it was very fruity and very good...but the walking and shopping of the day finally got to me and i was dead tired.

now im back blogging for everyone and closing down the hostile!

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
Dr. Kennan and Payne after Dr. Kennan got us lost trying to find the long bar - "its not called being lost, its called exploring!"

Nikki on the up escalator to get lunch - (singing and waving arms over her head) "first i say it and then i eat it FOOOOOOOOOOOD!"

2006-05-14T05:02:00.000-04:00

so here it is the middle to end of day two and can i say...i love this country! we went to a really nice coffee shop and got breakfast and chit chatted about what to do for the day, we decided to shop and then visit the botanical gardens! if i can use someone's usb cord i'll upload the pix on the blog, but i do have to preface that, i love orchids, soooo its like 1,000 pictures of beautiful orchids and if you get tired and wanna skip it, i understand.

so today was so hot that i was sweating in places that i didn't know could sweat...my eyebrows were sweating and then the humidity was so bad that i finally had to put the hair up! we also decided that it was a good idea to use the MRT today and it was nice, fast and really clean! i have made an observation that even though asian cultures are said to be colletivist, i beg to differ, get one of them alone and its every man for himself. they will push you and shove you and not even pardon themselves. they also like to walk in front of pictures and they like to take up the entire sidewalk without a thought as to who is around them.

other than that singapore is an awesome country! oh and nikki has also told me that i need to finish the da vince code before anyone can see the movie so the pressure is on!

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
1. Chirsty at lunch - "i hate chew tabs, they make me want to hurt myself!"
2. Nikki at lunch - "im all about instant gratification...espically when it comes to food!"

2006-05-13T22:24:00.000-04:00

finally everyone has arrived! apparently united air has been having some difficulty keeping customers happy and planes running properly, nikkis flight had to turn around mid air after they started leaking fuel! (um yikes!) so they got in late last night as did the boyz. someone had the bright idea to get up at the god awful hour of 7:00 am!! (seriously, not funny guys!) so we walked around a bit and found a nice coffee shop to wake up in.

its about 80+ here and so incredibly humid! needless to say its pointless to do my hair cuz its just frizzes! we are all having a blast and today the agenda is to go the botanical gardens!!! i took pictures yesterday of the bike ride on the island and they are awesome, however i didn't bring my software to upload the pix so i'll have to show everyone when i get back!

miss everyone and i'll blog tonight about the adventures today!!

2006-05-13T05:00:00.000-04:00

wow, what an adventure getting out here! the flight out of BWI was delayed because the flight crew needs so much time in between flights so that was a little nerve racking but the flight was a smooth 5 hours. landed in LAX and as the plane was ready to take off, the engine did start!! (yikes, bad sign right?!) well it got fixed and as we backed out to the tarmac we had to pull back in becuase the fixed engine wasn't compatable with the other engine (are u kidding me?!) so we waited again...its been about an hour, i get a little anxious...so captian james comes on and says that now everything is fixed and we have to wait for a fuel truck because we burned 6000 lbs of fuel just sitting there. so 2 hours later we finally embark on our 11 hour flight...thats right 11 HOURS...of course i couldn't sleep but i got to watch some good movies: nanny mcphee, hookwinked, memorais of a geshia.

once the plane landed in tokyo i had to bolt across the airport to make sure that the plane to singapore ( 6 hour flight) didn't leave me! this plane had two seats on the left, 5 in the middle and two more on the right...yea i was stuck in the middle of the middle. by this time i thought i was gonna be sick from airplane food, my eyes bured from the nasty recirculated airplane air and all i wanted to do was lay down and pass out! so let's pretend im a math major and add this up real quick...5+11+6=22 hours on a plane!! when we landed (me, meg and john) it was about 1 am singapore time and we had to get a cab, we started to get worried when nobody could tell us where our hostile was..the cab driver didn't really know where the hetch we were going either.

sleepy sam's was a sight for sore eyes! it is a cute backpacker hostile and it was obviously quiet hours. the downstairs was/is hot and muggy and when we were escorted upstairs to the beds a nice cold breeze hits you. pretty much it is a series of bunk beds lined against the walls with a maze like quality to walking around. no shoes allowed upstairs which makes me pray that nobody has any nasty foot diesase.

walking up to dr. kennan in your face was different...HAHAHA but we all cogregated downstairs...right now its just the 4 of us because apparently it wasn't a good day for RU students to travel, nikki's plane had to actually turn around for some reason...anyway we went to pulau ubin which is an island that has 50 people living on it and lots of wild dogs. we got bikes and rode all over and it was beautiful! palm trees and exotic birds, plus it had just finished down pouring so it was nice and cool. meg and i decided to use the bathroom in the middle of the ride and to our surprise it was a squaty (that is just a hole in the ground) good thing i wore a skirt!

QUOTE OF THE DAY: it comes from meg on our bike ride:
"even the birds are asian!"

2006-05-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

ok, im totally new at this making your own blog thing...and my link doesn't work. i was thinking that maybe i had to write something before anyone could view it. im sitting here in my parents house, totally packed, and i already feel like im forgetting something! the nerves are starting to kick in because i went to bed at 4 am and i got up at 10 am and i feel as hyper as i did before i went to sleep.

my parents got me my first digital camera, whoot whoot!! and needless to say tonight when i depart for the airport i really dont think sleeping is an option, see you all in singapore!!!