US Road Trip Pt. 3 - St. Louis and the Cahokia Mounds

The Arch in St. Louis is simply awesome. It towers over the city and reflects the sun brilliantly...I think I took over a hundred pictures. To see the Arch from a riverboat on the Mississippi River (which, by the way, is not a very pretty river), to see it standing straight underneath, to see it from atop the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois...I was endlessly fascinated by it. We rode to the top for great views of the city and saw a very good documentary on its construction - can't we build more similarly exciting public projects in the US?

We then headed back to Illinois to visit the Cahokia Mounds - a World Heritage site and National Historic Landmark. It's the largest prehistoric earthen construction in the Americas, consisting of large mounds built over hundreds of acres. These mounds used to be the foundations for homes, temples and funeral pyres. Cahokia was the largest city in the US until it was surpassed by Philly in the 1800s.

US Road Trip Pt. 2 - Des Moines & Iowa City

I'd been wanting to go to Iowa for a while. Not necessarily to see anything in particular, just to go. After all, they helped launch the Obama campaign and their Supreme Court just legalized gay marriage...to borrow an expression from one of my former co-workers: "Don't sleep on Iowa."

As interesting as our tour of the Iowa state capitol building was, as oddly fascinating as the farms of wind turbines were, as pastoral as the University of Iowa & Iowa City was, and as endless as the fields upon fields of corn were, the most memorable part of our trip to Iowa ended up being a pure accident...

"The World's Largest Truck Stop." When we saw this sign sticking out along the neverending flatness of I-80, we had to take a detour and it didn't disappoint. Trucker gear, fanatic patriotism, greasy food, and hilarious Christian t-shirts were everywhere. We were entertained, and maybe even too much so...I remember saying "hurry up" as we were walking towards our car to leave.

US Road Trip Pt. 1 - Minneapolis

Drove through Wisconsin on our way to Minneapolis, and I have to say, Wisconsin is the kitschiest state...and I love it. With its cheese shops, ski mobile crossing signs, and black-and-white cows, all you can do is smile...as long as you're there during the summer.

We helped Minneapolis celebrate Pride 2009 and did the touristy stuff as well - toured the Mill City Museum, explored the Modern Sculpture Garden, and imitated Mary Tyler Moore.

Did you know that Minneapolis is known as the Mill City - from the days when they were the flour capital of the country? Old mills, including Pillsbury, are still in tact and unsurprisingly are now being converted into luxury lofts.

Surviving the Shady Shack in Indonesia

Took a ferry ride with some friends to Bintan, Indonesia a few weekends ago. We stayed at a place called The Shady Shack - which fully lived up to its name.

Run by a married couple, The Shady Shack compound consists of 8 rickety shacks on stilts, 20 ft. from the water. Each shack has a mattress with mosquito net and a bathroom below, complete with cold shower and a toilet that can only be flushed by dumping pails of water into it each time. It costs $6.50 a night - brilliant!

I ate copious amounts of delicious Indonesian food and beer, made a giant bonfire, taught my Kiwi friends what s'mores are, avoided a thunderstorm by taking a boat to a secluded island offshore, told the group of Indians staying next to us to stop singing in the ocean at 3am, drove a motorbike on some "shady" roads (see picture), got a wicked tan, learned a few local words (how are you = abba ka bar), floated on a tube far out in the clear waters of the South China Sea, and survived a night sleeping in a shack that seemed to sway with each light breeze. Whew.

London

Simply put - London was great. I didn't want to leave, and I hope to return. I was the tourist that I hated when I lived in NYC: the one who was always looking up, never walking in a straight line, and randomly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Ok, so maybe now I have a little more sympathy for tourists around Central Park...maybe.

Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, the West End, the Tate Modern, Regent's Park, The Globe Theatre...it's tough to beat.

There are little-to-no skyscrapers in London; so unlike NYC, you can actually feel & see the sun. Must give a big thanks to the weather gods because we lucked out: sunny skies for most of trip. Except of course during my soggy commute to work on Monday, which I took as a cruel joke.

I must say that the street corners in London are the prettiest of any city I've seen. There's a pub seemingly on each one - with outdoor seating, fresh paint jobs, cool signage, and a never ending patronage of pint-happy locals. And boy do they drink. Noon, 3pm, dinner time... it doesn't matter: the pubs are full. I couldn't keep up and a big thanks to Michael for finishing my pints for me.

Other observations:
- the British use way to many coins. The 5 pound bill is the lowest denominator and the result is lots of loose change. Annoying.

- there are no doorknobs anywhere.

- the underground trains have no room in the middle aisles for people to stand. So, rush hours end up being a little too close for comfort as I was sandwiched between armpits and backpacks. I had to tackle the locals just to get out and they too returned the favor.

- there's no open container law here; just like in Singapore. People walk the streets freely drinking beer.

- make a peace sign and turn your hand around with the inside of your palm facing towards you. That's the British equivalent of giving the finger, and I used it multiple times to order 2 pints before I knew. Oops.

- the Londoners are very fashionable, with many dressing up in costume for their nights out.

- Heathrow airport ain't pretty, but at least London had the common sense to build a train line that linked it with the City. Just like Singapore. NYC, please take notes.

- at every intersection, you will find painted on the street either "Look Right ->" or "Look Left ->". Came in very handy because the intersections and traffic lanes were unpredictable death traps. I was more scared of the cars in London than I was of the motorbikes in Vietnam.

Until next time....

Bath and Stonehenge

Next up after Brighton was Bath - a World Heritage City that's most famous for its Roman bathhouses dating back 2000 years. The town itself is incredibly charming as it sprawls over several green hills. University students are everywhere, with sweatshirts that read "University of Bath" or "Bath Spa College." As reputable as these schools might be, I wonder how "Bath Spa" reads on a resume. Regardless, it's good enough for the American Olympic team because according to our hotel owner, the Americans have been in touch with local residents about setting up at the college to prepare for the 2012 games.

We walked all over the city. Felt like going back in time - and indeed, for much of the buildings and roads, we were. Ate at a good Italian restaurant, where our waiter, who was from Naples, advised us to never go there and told us of his dreams to live in Miami. Toured the Roman Bath museum to see some of the well-preserved ancient spas; the hot springs are still bubbling up from the earth into the largest bath, appropriately named King's Bath, and by still bubbling, I mean 1.5 million liters of steaming water each day to be exact.

From Bath, we took a bus tour, called Mad Max, into the countryside to see Stonehenge. Turns out, the name Mad Max refers to the owner's dog and not the Mel Gibson movie. Whichever... Mad Max's bus driver wouldn't shut up the entire trip and practically drove me crazy.

However, the trip to Stonehenge was completely worth it. It's amazing and don't let anyone tell you that it's overrated or disappointing. Did you know Stonehenge was originally built in a forest? Now, the forest is gone and all that remains are the green fields and dozens of sheep as well as a high traffic road. The stones are big, and you can go within 30 ft of them as audio tours give you details on the history of its creation. Again, don't let anyone talk you out of going there.

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...