Have Love Will Travel

I hear it's a lil' steamy over there? Why don't you come visit Singapore now that you know how the weather feels?

Lots of travel plans are taking place here on Gopeng Street. First up, we are going to Hong Kong this week. Paul is going to work for a couple of days so naturally I'm tagging along. We'll stay through the weekend, and already my schedule is almost full. One reason I'm especially happy to be there this particular weekend is that my friend Maggie and her husband will be moving to China in less than two weeks and Saturday night is the farewell party. China! She's a braver soul than I am. Not that I wouldn't try it, but it's an entirely different world. Another of my earliest friends there, Kathleen, is soon moving to New York where her husband got a job. I'm a little envious. Such is the nature of expat life... a few years here, a few years there. Or everyone is leaving HK because it's just not as fun without us.

Have I ever mentioned how I knew four people in Singapore before moving here? Yes, I moved countries - in Asia - and I know people. They are either friends or friends of friends from HK. One already moved back to the UK, but I've seen each of the others a few times here. One just arrived recently. I didn't even know my neighbors' names in Fords.

In August, Paul is taking me on a whirlwind tour of... someplace. My hubby took it upon himself to choose a destination and book everything while leaving it a mystery to me. I guess we can call it a 9th anniversary trip. I'll find out what is once we check in for boarding passes. I'm not used to such a surprise since I plan all the trips and he comes along as Mr. Piraino. Sweet, isn't it? Don't think he's not harassing me with teasing statements, mostly about how much fun we'll have in Sentosa - an island off Singapore that's an easy day trip. He tells me to stop frowning my disapproval as he goes on about how great the ferry ride will be.

Then in October we will travel to Bhutan. This one's all me. I saw a documentary about this small, beautiful mountain kingdom back when I was maybe early 20-something, scribbled a note on whatever scrap of paper was on hand at the time, and decided I must go. So it's sort of a dream fulfilled. If you've never heard of it, look it up. It's often referred to as Shangri-La. You'll have to wait until we've been there for my description.

Once we get back from HK next week, I'll get to work on New Zealand, our November trip. That one will be our long, ambitious trip this year as Japan was last year, Australia the year before that. I've wanted to visit NZ for ages too. Two trips of a lifetime will happen about two weeks apart. I'm a lucky, lucky girl. You can't say we haven't taken advantage of the regional travel opportunities. The more we travel, the more I long to see more of my home continent. America, the beautiful.

Speaking of which, we did celebrate July 4th. A friend had a BBQ at her place and 10 Americans gathered and did what Americans do on July 4, minus the fireworks. But we did have sparklers! I don't know where she got them but they've been illegal at home for so long that it was a novelty to hold them again.

August 9 is National Day here. Preparations have been ongoing for weeks and they include military jets roaring overhead at a distance I consider too close for comfort. The rumbling unsettles me every time. I hear there will be loads of fireworks and a parade. In Singapore style, the government works to create interest, and in Singapore style kills all the spontaneity and fun by requiring tickets to see the parade. I don't even know how that's possible but I suppose I might find out if I get arrested for peeping at a marching band.

Come Sail Away

(Click on the arrow to play slideshow. Click on a picture to go to album.)

Surprise! We haven't taken a trip, yet you're getting a post about a trip. My every-day-living reports must be boring by now, but don't fear; I have Vietnam up my sleeve. It's the trip we took back in February and never documented. With moving soon after, settling here, and a pinch of procrastination it's taken some time (yikes - five months!) to complete a worthy post+photos. I probably forgot some details by now but I'll dig up what I can.

We arrived in Hanoi on a Thursday evening, February 4, and checked into the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi, a historic luxury hotel built in 1901 in the French colonial style and perhaps my current favorite hotel in the world. There are two wings, the classic and the opera. The classic wing contains the original rooms and the opera wing is an addition of more modern yet equally elegant rooms. We passed through the hotel briefly for two non-consecutive nights with an excursion sandwiched between our stays in Hanoi. So to sample both tastes, we first stayed in the opera wing and upon return we stayed in the classic wing. They were both beautiful, but remaining true to my tastes, I especially enjoyed the classic room. The entire hotel had an old-world atmosphere and it felt like a true sanctuary in the center of the hyper city. I cherished the level of detail which you don't often find in more modern, built-for-efficiency hotels. It felt like something special. Elegance and charm all over. Wish we had more than two brief glimpses.

If I remember right it may have been a bit rainy when we arrived. We made a reservation at a "must try" restaurant called Bobby Chin but after some minor complications we canceled and ate nearby the hotel. My credit card company takes it upon themselves to randomly protect me at times when I try to charge something online from abroad, particularly airline tickets or travel plans, considering it high-risk activity - even after living abroad for two years. Therefore, I wasted a good bit of time before dinner trying to make an online payment to the tour company we had scheduled our next day's excursion with. Hotel staff tracked down someone from the company on a mobile phone after hours to confirm for us and we had to pay in cash once on the tour. Thanks, as always, Citibank.

Bobby Chin was a fair distance by taxi, so we nixed it. No matter, we had a fine dinner after all. We chose a place called The Press Club. When I studied the menu I was slightly disappointed at first that we hadn't managed to choose a more Vietnamese cuisine. We really enjoy Vietnamese food we've tried, mostly in Hong Kong, and this place had a more Western flavored menu, but it was a very good meal in a classy setting nonetheless. We took a short walk before returning to the hotel to have a drink at one of the hotel lounges, this one poolside.

The next morning, a van from Indochina Sails picked us and a few others up for the 3-4 hour drive to Halong Bay. Driving through Hanoi and surrounds is an adventure in itself. Controlled chaos is a gentle term. Vehicles sprawl in all directions with seemingly no road rules and converge at intersections like ants on a cookie crumb. Families of four on single motorbikes is a common site. What do you do when you have to transport two trees somewhere in Vietnam? Hitch them up on the back of the motorbike. Four six-foot porcelain vases? Why, the motorbike, of course. A cow? Motorbike. Wait - If you're picturing some sort of trailer attached to the bikes - no, no, no. Just the bike, driver, some fantastically manipulated cord and 200-400 pounds of miscellaneous items. It was a long, tedious drive sporadically eased by marveling at impossible sights on two wheels. One sight I unfortunately can't forget was a cage of kittens so tightly packed they couldn't move - and the sack on top of the cage where there were more kittens - unmoving for a different reason.

Once we arrived at the pier we had to wait for nearly an hour at a cafe/gift shop, obviously owned by the tour company. After 30 minutes of boredom, you might be more likely to purchase a can of soft shell crab flavored Pringles. Eventually a small boat conveyed us to the larger boat where we would spend our time cruising Halong Bay overnight. Ours was a traditional Chinese style teak boat. Our cabin was small but comfortable enough.

We started with a lunch of several small courses of Vietnamese specialties like fresh spring rolls. After lunch we cruised to a small island called Titop where we disembarked to climb the steps to its peak for some photo ops overlooking the bay. Halong Bay is enchantingly beautiful with its scattering of beveled limestone peaks jutting out and reflecting across the water's silvery surface. We weren't lucky enough to be accompanied by the stingy sun so the vistas were shortened by haze. But even the gray mists complimented the atmosphere.

We returned to the boat and cruised along to the next stop. Here we had a choice of either visiting a floating fishing village or kayaking. Feeling like we knew what to expect from the floating village, especially having seen one on the river in Cambodia that likely couldn't be topped for the "Wow, people live like this?" factor, we chose the kayaking. I'm glad we did. Even with the light drizzle, paddling around this stunning backdrop was so peaceful. I felt small among the peaks. It's a good moment that I'll remember. And our team kayaking skills have improved significantly - which only means that we didn't get hit in the face with branches this time (Russian River... Sonoma, CA... pre-blog travel).

After returning to the boat for some relaxation we cruised to our overnight anchor spot and had dinner. After dinner I think they started showing the film Indochine in the lounge but the sound didn't work so they stopped. Paul and I were already out on the upper deck enjoying that silence and the black sky and the light of another boat anchored in the distance. A few others were also out there but eventually we were the last ones.

Early morning activities began with Tai Chi on the deck, though we didn't participate. Our morning began by relaxing in bed next to the picture window, admiring the passing scenery as we slowly cruised. The tranquility came to an awkward end as a woman in a small boat paddled past and lingered along side our boat. She was fully stocked with seashells for sale. She caught our eyes and stared at us hopefully, as if we would throw open the window and shout, "We'll take six clam shells!" while tossing her the payment. It just wasn't her lucky day.

Our final stop was at Sung Sot Cave or Surprise Cave. After climbing the 100 steps to its entrance it was a surprise how... well, cavernous the cave was. It was vast and mesmerizing and exquisitely sculpted by time and the elements. I don't have a lot of cave experience to compare, but it was more than a worthwhile excursion. DEFINITELY different from the bat cave in Borneo. Not a cockroach or bat poop to be found. Probably why there were so many more tourists to be found.

After the cave exploration we ate breakfast back on the boat, packed and checked out. It was about a two hour cruise back to the pier so we sat on deck and soaked in the last of the mist and mountains. Then another hour in the cafe/shop. The reason this drove me insane was that the one and only thing I wanted to see in Hanoi was the Hanoi Hilton, the Vietnam War prisoner museum, and I knew we would run out of precious time which was wasted sitting around this dump. I had to give up the goal. I suppose it's possible we'll return one day? Let it go...

The van was full on the way back to Hanoi and Paul and I were the lucky ones who got to cram up front with the driver. Vietnam roads are not for the faint of heart. My front seat view kept me alert for the four hour drive which felt like six or seven. You name it and we saw it hurling past on the backs of motorbikes. The real circus only began as we wound through the streets of the city to drop off guests at their different hotels. I don't know how to describe the pace and the action of people and vehicles moving in every direction. I could only believe it by witnessing it. It was the one advantage of being stuck in the van. Normally I like to explore a city on foot, but if we had been walking those gritty, buzzing and whirling streets I would have quickly run screaming back to the hotel. Behind the relative protection of the windshield we got a good look at the frenzy that is modern Hanoi.

We did of course get back in the late afternoon, too late to catch the Hanoi Hilton. We instead made a reservation through the concierge for a water puppet theater performance at the theater a few blocks from the hotel. We headed out early and took a slow walk there along the river. I am still recovering from my anxiety of crossing the six lane street without any traffic signals. It was definitely reminiscent of Frogger. The general advice is to keep a steady pace with no sudden darting or stopping and the traffic will allow for your steady movement. In other words, just go. Easier said than done. The smaller streets are no picnic either as motorbikes zip past, inches from your feet. You may also be assailed by people selling stuff, as usual. We made it to the show alive... I guess the Metropole gets the best water puppet theater tickets because we sat front row center. It was totally touristy but fun to watch. It hardly lasted an hour which was the perfect amount of time to watch puppets.

We hit the streets again and walked around the "old section." The colonial architecture was something I really enjoyed. Some buildings showed their age while some were well preserved. Most were quite colorful. Life seems to be lived out on the streets. You can witness modern Vietnam mixed with steadfast tradition, comfortable cafes among ancient food stalls, faded and cracked facades next to brightly painted colonial architectural jewels, hawkers enthusiastically trying to get your attention as well as impenetrable faces staring silently, and I believe somewhat defiantly, back at you. Throw some ever-present communist flags into the apparently capitalist mix... Hanoi: a thriving and struggling composite in full color, full stereo frenzy. It's a peculiar and compelling fusion. I did appreciate the city's personality; I just think I could only handle it in small doses.

We had dinner on the small 2nd floor terrace of a casual restaurant called Bar-Club 69. We chatted with our neighbors, a Swiss (I think) father and daughter. She was a flight attendant celebrating her birthday by meeting up with her father in Hanoi. He suggested the location because when he had last been there 15 years ago, he thought it "quiet" compared to Saigon, so he was quite surprised to see how much Hanoi has changed.

Fed and content, we didn't make much of an attempt to find nightlife. It just seemed like it would be an exhausting and sweaty endeavor, so we walked back to the hotel and sat at the poolside lounge again. In the morning we took a last walk around outside. It pained me to bid farewell to our lovely room after such a short stay, but I was slightly comforted by the sandwiches we had made for the road from the hotel bakery. There's a legacy of great French bread in Hanoi. Not to mention that they buttered the bread - of my tomato and cheese sandwich. Butter and cheese. Mmm.

We ate the sandwiches on the drive to the airport. I'm glad it wasn't a chicken sandwich. One of our last memorable sights... Paul noticed something out his window and eagerly nudged me. I looked up and there was a cardboard box on the back of a motorbike. The box had two holes cut out, and poking out of each hole was the small face of a chicken, all eyes and beaks, both staring at us just inches from the window. They just cracked me up, even if they were heading for a dinner plate.

So that was our trip to Vietnam. It was an interesting enough place that I would like to return to and explore further if we had the time. I didn't even get any pho (simply delicious noodle soup), though Paul had some on the boat. I would go to Hanoi again just to stay at the Metropole, and beautiful Halong Bay was worth the nerve-rattling van ride.

What can I say? My memory did a respectable job after five months rest.

And my favorite moments shared with the one I love:

-Ha-long till we're there?

-I don't know. Stop Hanoi-ng me.

Finger an inch from the other's arm - I'm not tai-chi-ing you. I'm not tai-chi-ing you. I'm not tai-chi-ing you. 

-Now you're really Hanoi-ng!

Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers

This past Saturday we went to Beerfest Asia. Friends of mine told me about it and I had a hunch it was something Paul might be interested in. I knew about 5-10 others going so I figured it would be fun - beer from around the world under tents at one of the marinas. The tickets stated the time as 6 p.m. to 5 a.m., but that was a bit too ambitious for us. We got there just after 7 p.m. and left by 1 a.m., before some and after others. There was music, big screens showing the World Cup, some no-fuss food, a few games... and beer. Not to mention stuffed monkeys, Hell's Belles and Bono.

You see, live music was performed by cover bands, one called Achtung Baby doing all U2 songs and one called Hell's Belles, an all female group covering AC/DC. My friend from Washington state was quite familiar with Hell's Belles who hail from Seattle. Her husband is a fan. I was looking forward to the U2 songs. Our group congregated in one tent while the music was in another. Paul and I wandered over to hear some "U2" songs. For a band that only plays U2, they could use a little improvement on their U2. The freaky thing was that Australian "Bono" spoke with an Irish accent and introduced the members of the band as the members of the actual band. They dressed like them too (circa 1992). A little weird. Hell's Belles, however, were spot on for AC/DC, and the wild schoolboy outfits worked pretty well on women. The crowd loved them. Quickly after hearing how truly AC/DC they sounded, I remembered how much I dislike AC/DC.

Somewhere in between all the rockin' Paul and I played a good old-fashioned boardwalk game of toss-a-ring-on-a-bottle. As a team, we earned a monkey. If only there was skee ball or frozen custard and funnel cakes. It was one of the less boring nights we've had in Singapore anyway. But try keeping a beer cold while outdoors in this country... the bottles sweat almost as much as I do.

It's sort of fun to be in a country where people care A LOT about the World Cup. I mean, I still couldn't care less, but it's fun to be around people who do. I guess our neighbors are Japanese because there were excited screams coming from across the hall the night Japan won a game. I know people rooting for USA, Mexico, Australia. I might join in to watch the next USA game with some USA fans. Why not? Everybody loves an underdog. Here's hoping they... tie... again. Woohoo. And now I know what a vuvuzela is, whether I want to or not.

Related to the World Cup, there's a curious display that you might catch round a random corner while traveling the streets of Singapore. Cows. I don't know for sure, but I was told that a marketing company is behind this quirky project. Marketing what, I'm not sure. In different parts of town there are standing metal cut-outs of whole "teams" of cows wearing various World Cup team jerseys. My friend told me about two teams she saw in different spots and I though it sounded bizarre. Sure enough, I spotted a team the next day in a grassy field on my way to a train. The jerseys were light blue and white striped. I'm told that's Argentina. There's a sign among the cows that says These cows are under surveillance. If you must take one, call... and gives a phone number. That may actually be the kookiest part. I didn't have a camera on me but if I pass them again, or maybe Mexico's or Italy's cows, I'll try to snap a picture.

Happy Father's Day.
Happy Father's Day.
Happy Birthday.
Happy Graduation.

Australian U2

One of those fine fellows in the back came home with us

One More Time

My last post about banking problems was so boring, Paul finally stepped in for relief. He'll be glad to know that our minds have grown so alike that he wrote what I would write and I don't need to add much more.

It was strange leaving from the Singapore airport for the first time. I kept looking around for the familiar sights of the Hong Kong airport after so many trips from there. We can reach this one by cab in about 20 minutes. I realize when talking to people who live in places like Alabama just how much I take for granted always having lived near major international airports. We knew we wanted to return to Bali from the minute we left it in 2008, but the longer we live here and the more places we check off the list, the more we seem to add. It's good fortune that we ended up even nearer to Bali, making a return practically required.

Well, we just might have to go back one more time for continued furniture shopping. The hotel wasn't so helpful in this matter; they gave us a list of shops and got us a driver, but out of the few shops on the list, one was closed; one was, according to our driver, still under construction; others were a bit far away. We spotted the table in one of the last shops along a road with several others. The shipping is costly - not to get out of Bali but to get into Singapore. The expenses seem to accumulate at the receiving port. My HK friend with the furniture that inspired us said it would have been cheaper for her to ship it to the UK than to HK! Guess we'll have to look into other options if we want the table. Or go back to Bali - just to double check. Seriously, before we head home, we should go there and load up on teak lawn furniture.

As Paul said, the hotel's lost some subtle touches that had contributed to our love of the whole experience the first time, but it is still quite lovely. We did get to try something new, the meal at Bumbu Bali. I had a dish that sounded so simple: shredded chicken with lemongrass and shallots. Oh man, I can still taste it and it would be a pity to never taste such exquisite flavors again. (2 hour, 15 min. flight+about $120 airfare=Possibility)


The weather wasn't quite as perfect this time. It was more humid and some hours of the day were sunny, some overcast, and on the day we left it actually rained for a few hours. I would just like to make one correction to Paul's account. The photo he labeled, Lisa went for the hollowed out watermelon, is not an entirely accurate representation of my poolside beverage consumption. In reality, he said he would order us drinks and surprise me with his choice. Then a watermelon arrived. We shared.

Here are links to the posts from our first Bali trip, in case you'd like to reminisce:


July 9, 2008  July 4, 2008

And more photos from this trip (click on a picture if you want to go to the album):

Going Back to Cali

Nah, I don't think so.

Actually we went back to Bali.

I know it's been awhile since I've jumped in here because I couldn't remember my password and had to have them email me a new one.

My primary excuse is work which has had me in the office some crazy hours. It was also the primary reason for our trip.

One good thing about Singapore is it is a hop, skip and jump from so many great locations you can see so much of the world on just a long weekend.

So where to go, where to go.... Philippines? Thailand? Kuala Lumpur? All close by and places we want to get to and explore, but Bali is now only just over 2 hours away! Faced with a Mendy's like decision (for you non-Seinfeld fans it means either going to a place you know is great or taking a chance on something that is new and exciting) it was actually quite easy even for two very indecisive people. In desperate need of some relaxation and not exploration and with little need to revisit the tourist sites we've already seen, Bali, one of the most beautiful places on earth, was our obvious answer. To make things even simpler we decided to stay at the Ritz again, except that it's now Ayana Resort and we weren't sure what changes that might bring. But a quick scan of their website showed everything pretty much the same, with only the addition of a bar built on the cliffs over the Indian Ocean, so we were booked pretty much right after that.

Relaxation wasn't too hard to find...

We left late Thursday night and after the usual inconveniences of traveling got to the resort around 11:00 pm. Not ideal but the schedule left us with 3 full days and we ended up with a much nicer room than last time with an upgrade to an ocean view (our only complaint last time was our room, which we paid additional for a "technical" ocean view and had to settle for double beds).

Upon entrance we were greeted with fragrant leis (but no giant gong), refreshing tropical drinks (but we weren't seated while the staff ran around, just typical counter check in) and no live Indonesian music pulling you into another world. However it was an 11 pm check in so we assumed that may have played a part, but as you could see we would be comparing everything to our last visit (in detail).

We got some sleep and started our Friday with their buffet breakfast (not included this time which was disappointing). From there we suited up and headed straight for the cliff side, infinity pool which took us some time to discover last time.

No glossy memories here - this is still one of the most beautiful places on the planet to be! We kind of always wondered since we last left that pool two years ago if we would ever make it back knowing how much we want to do while we're in Asia and how limited our time really is, so we were very happy and very appreciative that afternoon.

Infinity beer... A man can dream

Lisa went for the hollowed out watermelon

Dinner plans that evening were very easy as well. Back to the Lia on the beach for some grilled seafood. A 2+ pound lobster, delicious local fish, cold beer and serenaded with live music all for about 60 bucks. Very happy & very appreciative.

Feisty and delicious

Saturday was the only day we decided we would "do" something. And that something was take a half day to look for furniture. We went to a party back in HK and saw this really beautiful wood furniture which the couple that lived there told us they got in Bali very cheap. As we're still under the assumption we have a big empty house back in Jersey somewhere, this was maybe something we could use.

Somewhat under prepared we got a driver for a few hours and headed out. We randomly stopped in several shops where they had nice things but nothing that jumped out at us. As we weren't looking for anything specific we were moving pretty quickly. In the second to last shop they had this nice carved coffee table. It was huge (4.5' x 4.5') and nothing we needed, but was very pretty and out of curiosity I asked what it cost. The answer was low enough without haggling that I then asked what shipping cost, and to get to Singapore was not too much. Then I asked what it would cost to get it to our apartment after import taxes, etc. and she told me she would email me. Well those costs were literally 3x the price of the table. Singapore is just ridiculously expensive but that is a topic for another post.

Worth a second look?

Either way we're still in deciding mode and (quite easily) thinking maybe a trip back would help our decision.

So if that gives it away, yes the rest of the trip lived up to our expectations. Without going into all the details we enjoyed some time on the beach (however it does not look like it will be private much longer as they are building another resort next to in with a path leading to the same spot). Tried the "fancy" restaurant and martini bar we didn't get to last time at the resort which was quite good. Spent a good amount of time in our favorite pool and our last dinner was at a local restaurant that was "redonculously" good and amazingly cheap.

That's right I said redonculously good!

Pint size martini testers - sure we'll give it a shot

We also tried the new Rock Bar addition over the Indian Ocean. Not for us. Standard club / bar like atmosphere with a DJ. Completely takes away from the charm and tranquility that brought us back there. We really missed the little band of locals that walked around playing requests - our favorite bar from last time was modernized a little and we were the only two people there. What a shame. But at least we got to see these guys on the beach.

Technical difficulties uploading the video - will have to try again later.

I wouldn't say they don't know what they are doing because the rock bar was pulling in tons of Japanese tourists and someone at work asked me about the place because they read it was the "place to be" in Bali now.

Would we still recommend the place? I would say yes, because it is still beautiful, people are super friendly and no one else would know what they were missing. But like a "Royal with cheese" it's the little things. And while we are already talking about making it back for just one more trip before we say good bye to this part of the world (I mean you want to be sure when choosing a coffee table) we probably would give another resort a shot and hope we're not thinking about the Mendy's soup (or our pool) when we're there.

Anyway that's all for now and I'll blog ya' later. (hopefully not too much later)

Borrowed Tune

After such a dreadfully boring post, I've decided to offer you all something more interesting. It's borrowed, but you might enjoy reading this blog. Our friends Christine and Jerry adopted a baby boy from China earlier this year. Christine detailed the trip to China here:

http://nihaohon.blogspot.com/

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

Maybe we weren't quite as wide-eyed and willing to be challenged once we moved to Singapore as we were when we first moved to Hong Kong. I'm not sure. I just know that there seemed to be an endless path of obstacles to settling in here. In fact, I still don't have a PIN for my ATM card, as one example. Everything we attempted was like one step forward, two steps back because each thing hinged on something else: opening a bank account, paying bills, opening other accounts. I know I shouldn't complain, really. I do have all day to solve problems, but I felt so frustrated at the end of every day when none of the attempts got us anywhere. I was at a point where I was hoping for not even a good week but simply a week where everything wasn't so difficult. I'm filled with excuses for not writing, but this is probably why I hid from it for so long.

Now that the dust is starting to settle (really, I gotta dust), I can recap less grimly because I'm mostly over it. I know Hong Kong wasn't without transition difficulties and it may be too rosy a memory, but I swear it was easier to move from the US to HK than from HK to Singapore in some aspects. Some things were easier this time, like deciding what to bring (everything), filing familiar paperwork, not having to sell cars, not wondering what it's like to live in Asia.

I have not forgotten how desperate I was for weeks in Hong Kong when we moved into J Residence and couldn't get an internet service provider. One major difference this time is that just before we left HK we bought a laptop (Macbook of course). What a difference. While in hotel and temporary residence, no problem. But again, once we moved into this apartment the trouble started and I was consumed for hours a day by trying to correct it. Worse yet, much of the trouble needn't have happened.

The Icon provides free wireless internet access throughout the building. Great, we thought, we might not have to pay for service, as long as we found the speed acceptable. We got a connection on the laptop but not on the desktop computer. After a couple of days of trying countless fixes, I went to the management office and inquired. I should have done so earlier. I was told I should use a router to connect and I would find a network name listed that would include my location like T2L22, as in tower 2, unit 22. I thought, aha, I don't have a strong enough signal because I'm not using a router. So I bought one but the signal was still so weak it was often non-functional. I visited the office again and they sent up 3 "IT" guys to help. I knew it was a bad sign when one said he'd never seen a Mac before. I asked why I didn't see the network name I was told to look for, T2-blahblah, and after some dancing around they told me that was incorrect information. Basically, they were making up answers. They knew less than I did and their answer was essentially that I should pay for a service. I just didn't want to surrender before I knew I had done everything right. Hours and hours more investigating. I'm up on a lot of tech-speak again.

I concluded there was no malfunction but the connection was just not fast or reliable enough so we planned to sign up for a service subscription. Paul had to leave work early to meet me at the shop (because he had to open the account because he has an employment pass and I don't... see what I mean here...) About an hour before, I found a box in a cabinet above the refrigerator containing a router labeled T2L22. Plugged it in; it worked; I cursed. We went ahead and paid for service anyway because it's still unreliable sharing a public connection, especially during after-work hours when everyone's home web surfing. But I didn't necessarily need to buy my own router, though it is more technologically current. The worst part was wasting about two weeks struggling.

Then there was banking. We opened a Citibank account. The woman who helped us typed so poorly that she had us write all our information in the standard application forms and didn't finish entering it until about nine hours after we left her. We had asked if we could open a multi-currency account and she said we'd have to open separate accounts for each currency, so we opened a Singapore Dollar account. Of course, some days later I saw a brochure detailing Citibank's multi-currency account option. Should have known how things would progress from there.

In Hong Kong, we still had money at HSBC. The way to wire the money from HSBC to Citibank is to go into HSBC and request it. Not an HSBC in Singapore but the HSBC in Hong Kong. Yep. So we had to fill out a request form and mail it to HSBC in Hong Kong and wait and see if the money appeared at Citibank. Thankfully, it did.

...But we couldn't access it. We used Paul's work address when we opened the account here so everything addressed to me got lost because I don't work there, including the checks with both our names on them. And yes, even though it's a joint account, they send everything separately. Paul received his ATM card and PIN so he could withdraw cash, but a situation arose when time came to pay rent. The real estate agent/relocation gang forgot to give us the landlord's payment details so when I realized this as the rent was due, they asked us to make an online bank transfer so it would be on time. This is when we learned that we couldn't access anything online because they send a one-time text message to your mobile phone with an additional PIN. But we didn't have local numbers when we opened the account so they took Paul's HK number and added a Singapore area code to it. Needless to say, he never received the message at this non-existent number. They wouldn't update the contact number to the local number I then had unless we went into the bank, filled out a change form and waited to receive the online banking PIN in the mail.

The landlord's agent threw a minor hissy fit that the rent might be a day late, so Paul ended up going to Citibank, withdrawing cash from the ATM and walking over to the landlord's bank and depositing cash into his account. We've since gone into Citibank to set up automatic bill payments, including rent. In the meantime, after having gone into the bank a month ago and spending 30 minutes filling out update forms, my address still has not been updated, therefore no PINS for me. Paul, on the other hand, has received a good three notices saying they've updated his address.

Back in Hong Kong accounts, I believe we need to have a child (a son probably preferred) so that we can offer the customer service reps this child and perhaps persuade them in finally letting us go. For internet service, Paul got the runaround before leaving Hong Kong and we had to leave the modems with my friend Maggie to return for us because they wouldn't just end the service. We only had a month left on the subscription so we let it run out and then he called from here and it was a bit simpler. However we are still receiving phone bills. When Paul tried twice to cancel, they said they had to call him back each time - on a Hong Kong number. We're just not paying the bills. I don't have a phone contract here so I can eventually leave the country without bills trailing. I read about a plan from a particular phone company that would work well for me, though I did have to go to three of their shops to find someone who knew how to set it up.

I gotta admit, I've gone to bed grumpy many a day here in sunny Singapore. Sorry, this was really boring. Some people pay therapists. This is what do. I owe my readers some sort of payment after this post. Oh, sorry. I still can't get to the money.