Gong Xi Fa Cai!! Last week was the first of the Chinese New Year! It is officially the Year of the Tiger now. While I think that it would be pretty awesome to be born under such an awesome animal - the Chinese disagree and probably plan to have fewer children as the Tiger is seen as "inauspicious".
For those of you that aren't familiar with Chinese New Year festivities, its bigger than Christmas for the Chinese, a time to visit family and friends and wish them "Gong Xi Fa Cai!" (literally "wishing you enlarge your wealth" - here are some good examples of the meyhem:
I'd like to consider myself pretty passionate about learning about the world and I thought that I was doing decent job by traveling, talking, meeting people from different cultures, etc. While all of these things are very important in developing an accurate perspective, my viewpoint is still skewed by preconceived notions and it is still very difficult to see the big picture when one can only be exposed to a relatively small view of an new environment and is left to form an opinion from that experience. That is why it is important to also understand the actual facts from behind the scenes - facts which are usually hidden in survey, statistics, and databases which one must search for, aggregate, normalize, visualize, etc, etc - things the average person isn't going to do or be interested in.
Earlier this morning I watched a lecture by Hans Rosling, a Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institutet and Director of the Gapminder Foundation. He gives an amazing demonstration of a statistical visualization software which he has helped developed for the purpose of "Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view." After watching his lecture I was really blown away at the potential for this type of data visualization in the energy field and haven't gotten a single thing done today besides read about Gapminder.
I encourage you to spend twenty minutes to check out the lecture - it's well worth it.
Thanks to my fellow Fulbrigher Lauryn, I was clued in on an article from the latest issue of National Geographic magazine. If anyone out there wants to understand the atmosphere of the place I'm living right now then you must read this article! Lee Kuan Yew, the youth, the food, the culture, everything is spot on.
The following picture is an awesome diagram of how much Singapore has changed over the last 44 years. I'm not using this with official permission but don't turn me in. :)
Also, if you have a chance and are interested in Asian politics, check out this interview with Singapore's very own Lee Kuan Yew. He has really seen it all in this region and his views are fascinating. The video below is the first of a series on youtube:
The next December trip which I will chronicle is my adventure to the Mekong River delta in Cambodia and Vietnam with my old roommate from Omaha, Kyle. Kyle stopped in Singapore on his way back to London where he studying to take over the world at the London School of Economics. Our adventure began after a rowdy New Year's Eve in Singapore and a victorious Husker bowl victory. The latter was all that more sweeter since I was able to enjoy watching it with a fellow Husker fan - a rarity in Singapore.
Our journey began in Saigon (the communists named it Ho Chi Minh City after the war but Saigon sounds cooler, in my humble opinion). We arrived in good shape, found our guest house at the end of a weird narrow alley and started to explore. Later that evening we met up with one of Kyle's old coworkers, Dan, from Omaha who moved with his family from Vietnam almost 20 years ago and was just visiting his home for the first time since then. Dan also hooked us up with one of his friends, Calvin, who also is a native but has since moved to the US and became an American citizen. Between these two guys and their nieces and nephews, we were given as full of a tour of the city as one can get in two days!!
Below are a few of the main pictures from our escapades around Saigon. The rest can be found HERE.
The war remnants museum from the Vietnam War was one of the most fascinating places that we visited. It was essentially the Viet Cong's propaganda-filled account of how the war went down. There were numerous references to the "War of American" aggression and the "Liberation Armies" march towards Saigon. After the war, the city was renamed after the father of Vietnamese Communism, Ho Chi Minh.
This is our tour guide group - the nephews and nieces of Dan and Calvin. They showed us around and helped us understand the culture and we helped them practice their English.
An example of the prominently posted quotes which filled a majority of the museum.
Some less than pleasant descriptions and photos of what war can do.
"Reunification Palace" aka the Presidential Palace of the old South Vietnam
The President's Conference Room
The helicopter pad on the roof that was utilized during the Fall of Saigon
And now for some entertaining videos from our adventure in Saigon. The first one gives an example of the RIDICULOUSly crazy moto traffic that can be encountered in Vietnam and the other is an amazing Vietnamese BBQ meal which we shared in our first night in town.
The month of December began with final exams for my courses and then a series of adventures around the region combined with many attempts at making progress on my project. I was able to cover parts of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Cambodia over three trips with many good friends, epic scenery, and mind-blowing cuisine. In an effort to document these trips, I'm going to start doing a weekly blog post on each of the destinations from my holiday adventures. This can help make up for the lack of excitement that the next few months will probably entail as the project will get priority over the fun.
The first adventure that I'll cover is my journey to Jakarta and West Java Indonesia to visit my friend Fitria who was such an awesome host to me in her home country. For the geographically challenged out there, below is a map of the destinations.
We spent the first few days hanging out in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Jakarta is a massive, crowded, chaotic city that you really need to have a local guide to appreciate. It is the largest city on the island of Java which has a population of over 124 million people. Java Island itself seems sort of like one huge village; the population density is 979 /km2 (2,540 /sq mi). Compare that to the state of Nebraska at 8.88 /km2 (23 /sq mi); almost 100 times more dense!! We explored Jakarta for a couple days and ended up going to one of Fitria's friend's wedding which was a neat experience for a westerner like me.
Old Dutch Colonial Headquarters in Jakarta
Me chillin downtown with some Indonesian dudes
The Bride and Groom at the wedding just after finishing the reception line
Street Performer in Jakarta who didn't quite have his act perfected
After Jakarta we headed for the coast to an awesome beach village called Sawarna to meet up with a bunch of other Indonesia friends. It was a seven hour drive despite the fact that its only about 100 miles away - the crazy traffic and roads are hard to describe but we made it in one piece thanks to Fitria's driving skills. We stayed at a family's home in the village for a few days with all meals cooked for us and motorcycle transportation provided to beaches, caves, and other random places in the village. It was truly an awesome experience to hang out in a really non-touristy area with local people, food, and deserted beaches. Someday I plan on coming back to this place!!
Christmas in Singapore was bitter sweet. I wasn't able to spend it at home with my family but I was able to watch the kids open presents over skype on Christmas Eve which was really fun! I was able to spend Christmas Eve with some new Singaporean friends by going to midnight mass and Christmas Day included an awesome feast at the Paulaner Brauhaus with some other really great friends! I'm now looking forward to New Years with my good friend Kyle Hoback and then our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia! Will have tons of pictures from that trip and also Java, Thailand, and Malaysia soon!
Something that has really been freaking me out lately is the fact that the temperature/weather here in Singapore has remained relatively unchanged since I got here in July. Adding to this is the fact that Nebraska July and Singapore July are pretty similar as well. This equates to almost eight months now of continuous 80-90F (25-32C) weather! This is inconvenient when, as a continental climater, I base my perception of what I should be doing on the weather - For example, when it starts to get cold then I should be watching football; when it gets really cold I should be preparing for Christmas. Since none of those things have happened I feel as if I'm stuck in summer vacation forever!
Singapore Weather:
Omaha Weather:
Source: Wolframalpha.com
Oh well, I guess I should stop complaining. I'm sitting by the pool writing this blog entry! :)
"The exchange program is the one thing that reconciles me to all the difficulties of political life. It is the only activity that gives me hope that the human race won't commit suicide."
I'm a building energy engineer spending the year on a Fulbright Grant in Singapore. My focus in is building energy optimization and HVAC technologies.
This is not an official Dept of State website or blog. The views and information presented does not represent the Fulbright Program or the US Dept of State.
