We live in Poland so we like to follow this big Polish tradition
It's my Bday.
In Warsaw, on Christmas Eve, everything (and I really do mean everything) closes after 5pm and does not reopen until the 27th. If you haven't stock yourself with food beforehand, be ready to starve.
Well, for the Japanese youth though, Christmas is a lover's day – it's a day to go out to restaurants on a romantic dinner date or take your cute-obsessed girlfriend to Dinseyland. For the rest of them, 24th and 25th are just plain working days.
New Year's Eve is a party time in the West. It's when you either try to crash a drunken party of your close friend somewhere far away in the suburbs of the city or buy super expensive ticket to a club's event in the city's downtown, awaiting the countdown and fireworks and champagne. In Japan though, 31st is the time to go to shrines with your family. When in the West, people go home around before the 24th, in Japan trains don't start getting crazy packed until right before the 31st.
As for me, I skipped on the date time in Tokyo and decided that since the past 21 Christmases I have spent with family, so will I this time. But Tokyo is a bit further from Warsaw than was Boston, so I decided to fly to Vietnam, and spend some time with extended part of family, in Hanoi. Not quite the same, but at least somehow similar.
I also took the chance to do a bit of South-East Asia travel and from Hanoi, went down to Saigon, then a small trip to Bangkok, after which I ended the journey in Singapore.
Hanoi.
As always, even in December Hanoi is surprisingly humid. And so warm, I walked around in a short sleeves all the time. But for Hanoians, 15C counts as cold already, and everybody walks in very thick jackets and winter coats, so the mere sight of me screamed “she's back from the West”. Seeing my aunties, uncles and lovely cousins was extremely wonderful and it was my first time since 1993, when I left Vietnam, that I got to go home during winter's time. I definitely liked it much better than boiling hot and humid summers.
Food that I enjoyed:
- Mango, mango and once again mango.
- Traditional Pho and porridge (chao xuon)
- and a huge but quite random Korean dinner (my uncle happened to be friends with a Korean restaurant owner so he got us a VIP room in that fancy place).
In the VIP room at a Korean restaurant. With cousin, Huyen aka. De.
Saigon.
Very red isn't it? The slogan says: "Everything because of the building and protecting the nation of Socialist Republic of Vietnam"
It is my real first time playing in Saigon. Since a Harvard friend happened to be visiting home this Christmas in Saigon, of course the pragmatic me couldn't let such a chance go and so I turned my lovely eternal “senior” Quang into my personal tour and play guide and motorbike driver in Saigon for 2 days.
Quang and me.
Saigon is definitely much more developed than Hanoi and I was incredibly surprised to see it (for some reason I never held high opinions about Saigon, probably because I really dislike southern accent, a totally personal thing). I saw much more foreigners and cars in Saigon and the past-presence of Americans is somehow noticeable as well. And it was much warmer than Hanoi, by around 10 additional Celcius degree. 25-27C was enough to make me wane, sweat and complain. And here I still saw people in sweaters and long-sleeves. “Superhumans” is what I thought.
Crazy busy streets of Saigon.
One interesting observation I noticed during my little trip: when we went with Quang for a night drink on Sheraton's top floor bar, I could not help noticing many of hookers hanging around in their tight mini skirts and a fair amount of sketchy foreign men either Chinese or Western, picking them up, very obnoxiously and openly. “Waaaaait a minute” I thought “this is a 5-star hotel right?”. Me and Quang came to a conclusion that it is just sad, how in a developing country as Vietnam, an exclusive and high class place as Sheraton can still be a scene to something that should be reserved to a red-light district.
The food I enjoyed:
- Banh xeo, some sort of savory omlette-like food.
- Tre – assorted dessert
Bangkok
Bangkok was 10 times bigger than any of the above-mentioned 2 cities. Such a huge metropolis, my mouth dropped and stayed open for the whole ride from the airport to the Vietnamese Embassy, where my uncle and auntie worked and where I was to stay over.
I will be honest and confess, that I had thought Bangkok's level of development to be around that of Saigon's. But I was hugely mistaken – it was much more advanced, bigger, with well-functioning underground (metro) system and much nicer people. Oh, and though it was hot, it was not humid but dry, so totally enjoyable.
I was like a storm to my quiet uncle and auntie, demanding to be driven around to as many Bangkok attractions as possible. So they did as I requested, drove me to many many shopping places and the world famous, mesmerizing Emerald Temple. On the day that I left for Singapore, my auntie gave a long long relief sigh, but also said : “It's good to have some big loud disruptions once in a while”.
People once believed that the King is almighty and good because he's descended from God, a notion originated in Ancient Egypt and especially persistent in the Middle Ages. If that belief survived modernization, I think it's newest form will be something like Thai King's cult in Bangkok.
Here's one of the many examples of King's pictures displayed randomly on the street.
And the food, oh dear. Everywhere I looked I could enjoy most famous Padthai, Tom Yoon Gong soup and even the simplest meat on sticks sold by street cart vendors was delicious (the Thai know how to flavor their stuff). And fruits! All Thai fruits were incredibly fresh and sweet, much better tasting than in Vietnam!
Singapore.
I didn't have much hesitations about going to Singapore by myself – the country was hailed for safety and convenience. I was very eager to see this richest country in the South East Asia region as well. I imagined it to be equally modern as Tokyo but for some reason I also expected Tokyo's or Western level of civility and sophistication from its inhabitants.
Crazy busy Orchard Road on Christmas Eve. It was impossible to walk!
Certainly Singapore lived up to its safety and convenience fame. Trains were clean and worked without problems. Bus drivers were very nice and answered all destination-related questions to the ignorant me.
One surprising thing to me though was that Singapore was so very very Chinese. I imagined a highly diversified place with lots os Malay and Indians mixing around everywhere, but the first thing I saw was a street full of banners written in Traditional Chinese characters. Well, it might have been due to the fact that the hotel I stayed at was located in Geylang, a pre-dominantly Chinese neighbourhood. However, even when riding the train, on some trips, everywhere I went I heard a lot of Mandarin. Soon I learn that even if Singapore has tons of ethnic variety around, has up to 60-70% ethnic Chinese. Duuh. なるほどね。
Another surprise was the Singaporean English dialect. Yes, I did hear rumours how Singaporean English was really terrible, but I expected that it couldn't be worse than Japanese accent of English (which is indeed awful). But no, Singaporean English was actually really bad – I never understood anyone on the first try. The shopkeepers, the train station service people, the locals – I always had to ask them to repeat themselves twice or three times. It wasn't just the accent issue, it was also the grammar, completely mixed up and changed. Yet, I did enjoy it, I found it really amusing.
On Sentosa Island, the closest thing to Disneyland. Riding a very high, scary adrenaline rope.
Night Show "Songs of the Sea" at Sentosa.
Singaporeans, as proud as they are of Singapore being the richest place in the geographical vicinity, had a trait that I found very characteristic of 3rd World country's people – a very pragmatic mind, devoid of romanticism. According to Shilin, another Harvard friend I managed to pester while in Singapore, the people there are too materialistic for her taste and that is the reason they let themselves easily be ruled in almost autocratic way – they don't really care about principal freedom, just as long as they're well-off.
A country of such contrasts, (“Disneyland with death penalty”, “the only shopping mall with seat in UN”), Singapore really is a fascinating social experiment to observe. Perfect place for visit, eat and shop, not so sure about living.
An interesting story. I didn't really know where my hotel was when I booked it; since it was a well-known fact that Singapore is such a safe place, I did not spare the location a second thought and booked myself in the first place my search engine threw out. But the moment I got to my hotel, I noticed that the neighbourhood was a bit dirty and not as glamorous and clean as other districts. And predominantly male-dominated. And somehow all of them stared at me, some whistling, some waving. Queer, I thought.
The sign reads: "Baby can swim contest"
The funniest thing I ever saw in Singapore!
Well, turns out, even if it's safe everywhere, one can still end up in an undesirable place. I soon learned from a taxi driver that the district was badly notorious for being the prostitutes area (but not yet the red-light district). Oh, that explains the number of men on the streets; and as soon as it got dark, the objects of their desires just appeared out of nowhere, standing on the streets in their high hills and mini skirts. “You careful, you walk alone and you get people think you prostitute. No, no, you'll be safe, nobody will do anything, they only come and ask you how much.” (Taxi driver)
The food I enjoyed:
Maybe because I have eaten so much for the past week of travel, eating in Singapore, the most enjoyable activity to do there (next only to shopping) wasn't as mind-blowing as I imagined. Of course the Laksa soup, the Penang rice and curry chicken were all delicious, but not a novelty anymore.
Back to Japan.
Being in Japan this year gave me a good opportunity to travel around SEA. As much as enjoyed all the sights, all the food and cheap prices, it made me also realize, I miss my cold white Christmas! Being in the SEA was the first time for me to see gigantic Christmas trees, santa-clauses and reindeer decorations without a single trait of snow but in full sun blaze and boiling hotness, something so terribly off, I could not feel Christmas atmosphere at all. After all, spending twenty-something Christmases in a snowy cold country as Poland does leave an imprint and a prejudice in one's mind, like it or not.
Luckily, Japan is as cold and snowy as it should be for New Years. I don't think I could stand celebrating even New Years in mini skirts.
