GE 2016: Hustling in Singapore... on to India... and landing in Oman

Sorry that I have not blogged in a few days ... but we have been "on the move."  And we have now been traveling for almost 30 hours straight so I am going to hit the highlights of the last 3 VERY busy days. I have no idea why my blog is loading so weird... so excuse the odd patches of white background.  Since I don't understand why it is happening, I have no idea how to fix it.

View of Singapore from the Flyer (a giant Ferris wheel by the bay).

The Singapore leg was short (from 5PM on Thursday to 10PM on Friday) but Rainey and I really hustled.  We got to see virtually the whole city in that time and walked 8 miles the first day and 14 miles the second plus over a dozen subway legs  (very sore legs).  Because Singapore is a true melting pot of Chinese / Buddhist and Indian / Hindu and Arab / Muslim people and cultures, I found this leg very interesting and we had some great fun. I have been to Singapore before but not for as long and we had not seen many of the sights.

A few favorites scavenges (and I mean "a few" as Rainey and I did probably 40+ scavenges in this short time):

- Team Name in Chinatown
We had to go to the Chinatown section of town and have someone do a calligraphy banner for our team. Since our team name is so long, we went with just "lawyers."

- Eat Singapore's specialty

Singapore is know for its Chili Crab.  Messy as heck (I had chili sauce up to my elbows) and so spicy that my lips blistered a little, but delicious.

- Drink on the Boat deck
We had to go to the roof of the Marina Bay hotel which is so interesting architecturally because it has a boat on the top. Actually what looks like a racing speedboat that tops all three towers. And the deck of the boat is an elegant bar with an incredible view of the entire city. 

The bar at night was filled with elegantly dressed and impressively hip young people. 

 - Cooking Class

We took a cooking class one morning where we (not so expertly but under careful supervision) whipped up a meal of curry chicken, fish marinated and steamed in a banana leaf and sautéed green beans with rice. And it was an equal participation event with the boys cooking as much, if not more, as the girls. Then we got to sit and eat it all... and celebrate Bop's 25th birthday. The class was at a lady's house in a very nice neighborhood in the suburbs: two subways and a bus out of town. We had not really seen the other teams at all so it was fun to spend three hours together chopping, pounding, dicing and chatting.

- Hurl yourself into the sky

There were 30 points on the line if you road the G-Max so - even though I am terrified of heights - I strapped myself into a chair and got slung 225 feet into the air on a bungy cord. Totally terrifying. Not exhilarating. Not exciting. Just "keep our eyes shut tight and pray for it to be over" terrifying.

- Acting posh at the Raffles Hotel

The Raffles hotel is the oldest hotel in the city (founded in 1887). We had to eat "high tea" in their fancy tearoom

And enjoy a "Singapore Sling" (a fruit punch based cocktail made famous by Ernest Hemingway who apparently drank a lot of them) in the Long Bar.

- Ride a Bumboat 

A bumboat is an old-fashioned wooden boat that goes up and down the river that runs through the heart of downtown.  Another challenge was to get a group of strangers on a mode of transportation to sing a song with you... so we convinced everyone on the boat to join us in a rousing rendition of "row, row, row your boat." 

- Swim with the bull sharks on Sentosa Island

We went all the way to Sentosa Island (a sort of amusement park island) to try and talk our way into the booked-over-a-week-in-advance opportunity to swim with sharks at the Underwater Aquarium.  No luck despite our best pleading. But I did get a photo of me "swimming with the shark."

Chennai, India

We left Singapore this morning, flew to Chennai, India for a 9 hour layover and then on to Muscat, Oman. For the layover we had a limited number of scavenges including eating at a restaurant where they serve the food on a banana leaf (no plates) and without utensils (eating rice and curry with only your right hand is a truly messy experience ... I may have set a new world record for number of curry stains on a single shirt). 

There were bonus points if you had a boat ride, probably because the ocean in Chennai is very rough and there are no tourist-type boats. So instead we had a Iong "talk" (a/k/a price negotiation) with a fisherman who agreed to take us out on his boat. The boat had an open slot in the middle of the deck and when we smashed down on the waves a geyser of salty water spouted up and then all over us. I was soaked and sandy and gross by the time we got back to shore. Crazy scavenge.

Row of fishing boats (naturally ... colorful... because after all we are in India)

And each painted with a Hindu god or goddess for good luck

Launched into the rough waves

Also got to joke around with some street kids by the beach. Indians must have some kind of great teeth genes because even the poorest person in India seem to always have a big white smile.

Now we are in Muscat, Oman and Flat Stanley was chilling on the cushions - on the ground - in the sitting area in our hotel lobby while I checked in.  We are definitely in the Middle East as there were no couches or chairs... just cushions on the floor.

GE 2016: Fast Tokyo Drift

By the time I got back from Kofu, I had 7 hours to go and see some of Tokyo. First stop was this Temple complex close to our hotel. 

The scavenge was to get your fortune told at the Temple.  You pay 100 yen and shake a metal box until a chopstick falls out.  

You then match the numbers (written in Japanese) on the chopstick to the corresponding drawer and inside is a piece of paper with your fortune.  

Naturally you expect a fortune cookie type of fortune: something general and upbeat. Oh No. Instead my paper said:  “Bad Fortune.” 

What? Is this actually a thing?  Do fancy temples with incense and an entire industry of fortune telling really deliver an entirely bad news fortune?  Yes. My “Bad Fortune” went on to list a series of terrible things to expect including: “You should know that there may be some bad people like a snake or tiger that hurt you” (I don’t think “people” means what they think it means). “Your family is out of joint.” “The sick patient is hopeless” (wow, that’s a pretty depressing one. Apparently no chance of recovery at all). “The lost article will never be found.” “The person you wait for will never come” (now I’m not sure if Rainey will actually be in Singapore when I get there). “Building a new house or marriage of any kind (not sure what that means) or starting a trip are all bad.”  I think they covered all the bases: my fortune is indeed TERRIBLE. I wanted to just start again and choose another chopstick but I was too traumatized.

I then visited an “animal café” where – because Japanese landlords do not allow pets – you can get a cup of coffee or a snack while playing with a room filled with cats. They are everywhere.

How about this as an efficient eating system:  Outside of most restaurants is an entire window box filled with plastic food meals (very authentic looking).  

You look over the options and then go to a vending machine, type in the letters that correspond to the meal you want, put in your coins and walk into a stand-up bar space.

And the food you ordered outside gets plunked before you within minutes.  My choice was tempura special with rice.

I met up with the Bajan teams and we went to do “Escape the Red Room” Tokyo style.  It was the oddest Escape game I've ever done.  You walk into a complete square room with absolutely NOTHING in it.  All of the walls and ceiling and floors are painted red.  There is nothing in the room except 2 doors with padlocks.  You have to figure out how to open both of them.  It was super tricky, but fun.  I won’t give away any clues in case anyone is ever in Tokyo and wants to have the experience.  Note: we did not get out before our time ran out (first time that’s happened).

Here is a totally original scavenge.  There are public photo booths in Japan where the strip of paper that the machine spits out bears little or no resemblance to you.  Instead, the computer photo-shops your eyes wider and bigger and re-shapes your face to make you look like an Anime china-doll character.  Sort of creepy on many levels but funny as heck.

Chris and Chloe's

Savannah and Bop's

Every toilet in Japan is fancy.  These people really love buttons and accessories on their toilets to make the seat warm, various ways to spout water on various parts of your genitals etc. etc.  Going to the restroom is not dissimilar to operating the space shuttle.  

Everyone in Japan is OBSESSED with “Hello Kitty.” I don’t understand it but it is a true fad.  Flat Stanley apparently shares the excitement.

Goodbye Japan ... heading on to Singapore.

GE 2016: Jordan in Japan

Yes, I got to see and hug and hold Jordan in Japan.  And WOW does he look different.   

But first, an update on Rainey. The US embassy was incredibly efficient and issued him a replacement passport by the end of Monday. I so wish we'd lost the passport on a weekday instead of late on a Saturday as he might have been able to come with us or only a little behind. As I write this Rainey is out of Mexico and on his way to meet us in the next country: Singapore.

Second, Bill gave out the rankings for the first leg and the Littlepage-Booth-related teams SWEPT the top 4 spots. Wendy and Georgia (T3) worked their butts off in Mexico City and came in first. The two Bajan teams were in very close pursuit and Rainey and I took 4th place (since we lost a section of the one day leg to the passport fiasco). Hooray. So proud of everyone!!! What good travelers and global citizens!!!

I left shortly Tokyo after the Japan leg opened to visit my son Jordan in Kofu. Jordan is on a 6 month study abroad program that is total immersion. He does not "learn" Japanese in the traditional sense but rather is thrown into an environment with no English and is forced to figure things out in order to communicate. Seems impossibly hard to me. He is now 5 1/2 weeks into the 6 months. He lives with a Japanese family and goes to a regular Japanese public school and participates in Japanese after school activities. I'm not sure how much of what is going on around him registers but he is having an incredible cultural experience, if nothing else.

The train to Kofu (which takes about 2 hours) is through very sparsely populated open farm land. Kofu is close to Mount Fuji and the towns I saw along the way (like Kofu) are in  plains surrounded by the hills and mountains. Very pretty and peaceful.

I arrived in Kofu mid-afternoon and walked to the hotel I had booked for the night (with a few minor detours because I got lost repeatedly and NO ONE spoke English). I even stopped at a Starbucks but not a single person there could understand or even recognize the English name of my hotel. Sort of surprising since it was only 2 blocks from there. My inability to be understood was pretty intimidating and made me better appreciate how hard these 6 months will be for Jordan!! It is so isolating to not be able to communicate.

Jordan came over after school - with his host mom - to pick me up. When I came down to the lobby there was a group of businessmen in one corner and a very pretty lady with a young man in a suit sitting on some chairs but no Jordan. Then I realized the "young man in a suit" was actually Jordan: but an almost unrecognizable new Jordan in his school uniform (wearing a tie and blazer) plus short hair plus no acne. It's like the aliens invaded my son's body and I'm not sure where the sweat pants and baggy shirt and hippy- haired Jordan went.

Jordan's host mom is intimidatingly pretty and totally put together: beautifully dressed, perfect hair, thin, fancy jewelry.  She'd give a Japanese soap opera star a run for their money in terms of looks and elegance. Next to her, I looked like a homeless bum (especially since I was wearing Great Escape Goodwill throw away clothes that have had one too many hand-washes-in-a-sink-with-bath-gel-acting-as-detergent). 

Jordan with his host Mom and Dad

The host mom drives a brand new fancy Mercedes SUV (the top of the line model) and their home looks like it starred in a Better Homes & Garden photo spread. But most importantly she is kind and sweet and so nice to my Jordy P. She took us first to her office. She works with her husband at the family business: a prominent jewelry manufacturing company. The family owns a big block of land which they've made into a type a compound with the jewelry factory, the offices, the host dad's family home (where his mom lives ... We visited host granny as well) and Jordan's home. I got to see Jordan's bedroom and his bike (that he rides to school every day). His host parents speak a little English but Jordan had to translate some as well.

Host family's great room: living room, dining and kitchen

Every morning the host mom gets up early to cook a bento box lunch for Jordan to take to school. It is packed up in this nifty insulated container ... with chopsticks tucked into a slot on the top... and cupcake paper circles dividing each type of food...and a carrying case that it all fits into. Handy.

Jordan and I then went to eat at a restaurant where you cook thin slices of marinated meat on a griddle (over open flame) in the middle of the table. Jordan talked to the waiter in Japanese (since there was obviously no English spoken and there was absolutely no English on the menu or even photos of food that would let you cheat by pointing). Jordy ordered us plates of different meats, various sauces for the meat and a type of fried rice. And yes, Jordan was actually speaking Japanese (although a little halting) and asking the waiter for recommendations etc. Blew me away. The meal was delicious and gave us a chance to really talk and catch up. 

Jordan slept with me at the hotel but I was a terrible room mate as jet lag hit me hard about 8:30PM and I slipped into a sleep coma. This morning I got the cab driver (who was taking me to the train station) to drop Jordan at school first so I got to see the outside of his school and snap a photo of him.... with Flat Stanley. 

Back in Tokyo now and I'm heading out to do some of the scavenges (even though I get no points because Rainey is not here yet). But doing the stuff in the competition book is always a great way to see the city.