Early Saturday morning, D called me to tell me she was coming to Bali. She had originally planned to just make a surprise appearance but […] Read More
Month: November 2004
I saw some beautiful temples and rice terraces (and a few monkeys too)…
You may have noticed I’ve been using UK English lately. I’m not trying to affect a sophisticated, globe-trotter persona. It’s just that on the Singapore […] Read More
Cockfighting is illegal in Bali, but the authorities turn a blind eye during the full moon celebrations. I stumbled into one that was going on […] Read More
The Barong dance is a traditional dance performed daily in Bali. It’s a story of good versus evil – the Barong versus Rangda – full […] Read More
Every month the Balinese celebrate the full moon, and this month it happened on Friday. Women and girls wear brightly coloured blouses, while men and […] Read More
Nyoman dropped me off at my hotel, the Puri Naga Seaside Cottages, at about 1:30, and rather than kicking off my whirlwind sightseeing bonanza right […] Read More
In traditional Balinese culture, there are only four names a person can have, and these are completely dependent on the birth order. Regardless of whether […] Read More
From what I’d experienced of Changi (Singapore) airport, and from what I’d heard about Bali, I expected my arrival to be like going from the […] Read More
Found 15 minutes of free Internet at the Changi (Singapore) airport. Time’s almost up. I’m off to Bali for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving my American […] Read More
In Singapore, food courts and hawker centers are where the locals eat. They’re where you go to get good food cheap. A food court is […] Read More
“There are always those who take it upon themselves to defend God, as if Ultimate Reality, as if the sustaining frame of existence, were something […] Read More
From the booking process on the Singapore Airlines web site. I only wish I’d seen this in time for Tracy and I to travel as […] Read More
Yesterday, for the Hari Raya holiday, the Istana (“palace” in Malay), the official residence of the President of the Republic of Singapore, was open to […] Read More
I haven’t watched a lot of tv in Singapore, but the other night I saw the end of an episode of Singapore Idol, and it […] Read More
So, shopping and more shopping. The Hari Raya celebration, too, was all about shopping. Geylang Serai last night was basically a big clearance sale. It […] Read More
On the subject of incredible customer service… This is a potentially delicate topic, but it makes a difference that I’m caucasian. It seemed to make […] Read More
It’s time to revisit my earlier first impressions of Singapore. I mentioned its reputation as a “boringly sterile” land of laws. I left that quote […] Read More
Here’s one last look at my view from the 30th floor of the Conrad: Yesterday, I moved ino the serviced apartments at Fraser Suites. The […] Read More
The other night a small group of us went to see a play called “godeatgod” by local playrwright, Haresh Sharma. On our first or second […] Read More
Last week, the team pitched in to get me a tailor-made shirt for my birthday. Skip and Darrell took me to Dave the tailor for […] Read More
By way of Brett, whose friend Nathan Piazza has authored an eloquent primer for honing the rhetoric of the left… “As I contemplated the depressing […] Read More
One advantage of being on this side of the dateline is that my birthday went on for 42 hours. I got lots of in-person birthday […] Read More