Brighton, England

We were barely in London a day before we decided to get on a train and explore some nearby towns. The first one we went to was Brighton - a cosmopolitan resort by the sea. Prince George (later King George IV) built his pleasure palace here in the 18th century, and apparently the town's Bohemian spirit has grown ever since - at least that's what my Lonely Planet guide book says.

The English Channel water was an aqua color and glowed in the sun. So much so, that we could see picaresque white cliffs far in the distance. For whatever reason, I didn't expect the English Channel to look this beautiful.

The Brighton Pier is one of the town's major attractions, extending far into the water with amusement rides that can scare you just by looking at them. I will remember it for two things: 1) the fresh, out-of-the-fryer donuts covered in sugar and 2) my first 99 cone - a cone of soft vanilla ice cream with a Cadbury chocolate stick. The donuts are unique to the pier, but the 99 cones are all over England and I indulged everywhere we went.

Would love to come back here and spend more time...

48 Hours in Phuket, Thailand

Apologies for not posting in a while - but now I'm back with a vengeance. Just returned from England yesterday and before I tell you about that great trip, here's a quickie about Phuket, Thailand. I went there for a weekend with a good friend of mine in Singapore.

Phuket is an island in the south of Thailand - a place that was affected by the tsunami a few years ago. It has since recovered with massive amounts of development. Now, there are bright blue signs seemingly every 1/4 mile directing people towards "tsunami evacuation routes" as well as occasional memorials to those who died.

As far as what we did, well it was pretty much as follows: go to beach, drink on beach. Rewind and repeat.

The Arab Quarter

The Arab Quarter is the closest Singapore will get to NYC.  A few blocks long and a few blocks wide, with street names like Baghdad and Kandahar, this part of town is where you will find vintage shops, graffiti, sidewalk cafes, smoking dens, hostels, and lots of fabric & rug stores.

I was in the neighborhood on Saturday, writing at a coffee shop called Sleepy Sams.  On my way back, I walked past a rug store, and the owner comes out, hollering, "Hey.  Hey, where you from?"  I said I was from the States, not breaking a stride.  To which he responded, "You want a flying magic carpet?"  I'm still trying to figure out if his sense of humor was dumb or his insult was brilliant.

Bangkok

The Thais call their capital Krung Thep, or City of Angels.  It's an interesting choice of words given the hedonist atmosphere that pervades much of the city - the busy red light districts, the uber-malls that put Singapore to shame, the overwhelming number of massage parlors, the heavenly smell of curry boiling on the sidewalks, the x-rated t-shirts that would make a New Yorker blush, the 'wily strangers' on every block looking to con a quick buck (or "bhat").....

The cabs are colored like Tropical Skittles; the street markets are serenely hassle-free (are you listening, Vietnam?); the Thai boxing matches, with sweat, and occasionally blood, spraying in all directions, are thrilling and brutal; the rivers are filthy and god help you if you fall in, but they're the best way to navigate the city (I read somewhere that some consider Bangkok to be the "Venice of Asia," hmnnn); the Buddhist temples ("wats") are bathed in gold, jewels and colored glass that literally glow in mid-day sun.....

The locals will come up to you and pretend they're police, trying to con you; they will approach you 20x a day with brochures filled with naked women and say, "body massage?;" they will bow their heads, with their hands together to greet you and thank you each day; they will construct a soccer goal out of anything available; they will say "America" with an exclamation point; they will use their umbrellas on a clear day to block the sun (I did too); they will tell you their king is a "very good man" even if you didn't ask; mostly, they will just make you miss Bangkok.....

Goin' Country

I took a trip into the Singaporean countryside today.  I didn't even know there was such a thing...but apparently, there's a small rural community called Kranji in the northern part of the island.

Once I got off the train, I found a minibus nicknamed The Kranji Express, which stops at all the farms - and there are lots of them. Farms for fireflies, frogs, goats, koi, palm trees and the list goes on.  Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" was blasting inside the bus, and the man next to me was trying to calm a live chicken he held in a grocery bag.  Ah, the country.

Thirty minutes later, I arrived at "Bollywood Veggies," which is run by a married couple, who I think were former hippies and now produce the largest source of organic papayas and bananas in the country.  As soon as I arrived, the staff handed me a faded black-and-white map of the farm and asked for the $2 entry fee.  The owner called out, "No entry fee for him.  He's a foreigner so give him a nice map."  And so I walked away $2 richer with a laminated color map in hand.  Not bad.

I donated the savings back to them at their Poison Ivy Cafe, where I sampled some home brewed aloe vera tea and sweet potato leaves with chili.  When I ordered, like a dummy, I asked, "Is that sweet potato?"  Waitor: "Nooo, it's the leaves.  It's a local favorite."  Anyway, it was very good and tasted a little like collard greens.  

And I topped it all off with some homemade banana bread, which was AMAZING.  Bought a half-loaf of it, got back aboard The Kranji Express, and went home. 

Signs Around Town

Here are some signs randomly found around town that I've grown to love.

From the traditional, "No Trespassing," to the more progressive "Aim Properly (when using a urinal),"which is sponsored by the National Environmental Agency no less, Singaporeans prove they have a great sense of humor.

Aloha!

What I overheard on the island of Oahu, Hawaii:

- "If people said 'Aloha' to each other more often, we wouldn't be in this mess we're in." (Aloha has 3 meanings - hello, g'bye, and I love you)

- "Bush?  Cheney? Those guys the devil.  What do I think about Obama?  Oh, he's great." Although I somewhat agree with the cab driver who told us this, it doesn't change the fact that he ended up being one crazy cabbie.

- "Ha-vie-ee."  This is the almost-German way the locals pronounce the state name.  Interesting. 

What I saw:  

-  Lots of very fashionable yet fully dressed Japanese girls strolling the streets.  I was surprised by how popular the islands were with the Japanese people.  Almost everything is written in English and Japanese. 

- The beautiful views of Waikiki and Honolulu from atop the Diamond Head Volcano

- Many senior citizens who fried their skin in the Hawaiian sun for too long

- Military tatooes everywhere: "Semper Fi, "In (insert Southern home state) We Trust" and the list goes on...

- The crystal clear water up close and personal as I wiped out countless times during surfing lessons from Hawaii's firefighters.  That's right, Hawaii's finest moonlight as surf instructors. I did stay up on the board quite a few times and will soon have the pictures to prove it.

- Local magazines highlighting "Obama's favorite things."  From the "shave ice," which is Hawaii's version of the mainland's snow cone, to a great restaurant called Alan Wong's, we sampled a good bit of the hometown hero's recommendations.

Can't wait to go back!