In Jakarta and Scared Shitless

before i came here everyone said "be careful, be careful, have your wits about you" blah blah blah. i thought, ok, sure there are lots of muslims here but i am a firm believer that you cant group an entire country into one huge generalization. muslims arent all "bad" just like all catholics certainly arent all "good". well i have to admit, i am scared shitless. i had to go through a metal detector just to get into the hotel. yep, that is right, the HOTEL. anyway, i am going to meetings and back to the hotel and then to meetings and then i am LEAVING. i ended up booking the hotel car for the entire day tomorrow just because i am so worried about getting around and more importantly getting hijacked to some hill in jakarta and being raped and left for the wolves (are there wolves here?). the kicker is the car is just a bit less than my nightly rate here at le meridien jakarta - go figure.

and to boot, it is still ramadan. i hope i dont forget that i cant drink water or chew gum in public and get arrested. that wouldnt be good. and i forgot my camera but something tells me it is not a huge loss.

wish me luck and if i dont come back, remember that i love you all.

xo,
e

Permanent Holiday

i have heard these tales of people living and working in hong kong and thinking they are on permanent holiday. after this weekend, i know exactly why. on saturday, we pulled our hungover asses out of bed and climbed our way onto the ferry out to lantau island. after a quick trip to mui wo station on lantau, we took a quick bus and got off at cheung sha. there is a beautiful beach (and extremely beautiful for hong kong standards) and a sports "complex" where we stayed and were able to participate in windsurfing (but there was no wind), wake boarding and kayaking. it was really quite cute and sparsely populated oddly enough. see, hong kongers think a 30 minute destination is "sooooo long" of a way to go...ok, that is a cab ride from the uws to alphabet city for me but whatever...i digress. anyway, it was really quite fun and more importantly cheap as chips!!! we hung out all day in the sun and ate at a thai restaurant and stoup - a south african restaurant - next door which were both delish and again, cheap as chips. the thai dinner comprised of way too much food for even 4 hungry westerns and many many drinks (which prompted some to go skinny dipping in the warm water) for approximately only $50 usd.

now despite the fact that i am burned, i had a WONDERFUL time :)
here is a picture of the view from the room:

Swamp Ass and Other Ramblings...

for real - the humidity here is unreal. it is like walking out the door and straight into a bath...it is beyond disgusting and i cannot stand the swamp ass factor.

i guess there isnt much to say other than the market is falling apart and this little lady ain't makin' money whatsoever. how am i gonna keep up my shoe collection? plus i just had to move all my money out of wamu in case that one goes belly up as well - grrrrrrrr.

so it is off to indonesia next week and i am very much so looking forward to that other than the fact that it is ramadan still and they cant even have dirty thoughts during ramadan let along eat...good thing i am not muslim!

i had a friend from australia swing into town for business and it was nice staying at the four seasons for a week especially since the room is bigger than my new junior flat and there is a pool...and room service...and a maid...and turn down service...and...

since coming back, i have had a couple of "bad asia" days but i actually had a very good week - must have had something to do with the little desserts they bring to your room at the four seasons despite the fact that i would have been happier with some solid mexican.

all right kids, that is all i've got.

xo,
e

Managing Expectations

remember when you were a kid and you went back to school the first day after summer with your crisp shirt still with the fold marks in and you had to report on your vacation? you would sit there and hope your summer wasnt totally lame in comparison and wait for the teacher to call on you. you would proudly recant tales about summer camp and learning to jump off the high diving board or of a trip to the cape where you went deep sea fishing and on a whale watch or maybe you even somewhere exciting like florida to go see your gram (that is if youre jewish) and you learned to drive her around in a golf cart! well, i am that lame kid in class that did nothing on my summer vacation and to top it off i probably have an egg salad sandwich for lunch that has been warming up since 8:30 this morning in the coat closest.

it all began with flying middle seat cattle car for 16 hours back to newark from hong kong. i then got ripped off by a gypsy cab to get into the city - spent 3 days in the new york office "working" (because my living heart donor of a sad excuse for a boss would not consider this trip back to see my mother sick from cancer compassionate leave) and then took a 4 hour train up to boston. at my parent's house i drove back and forth to brigham and women's every day to see my mother who unexpectedly ended up back in the hospital with a ripe infection. in between driving 2 hours each day, i would eat lots of au bon pain, take away, watch tv and sleep. yes folks. that is what i did for a full week. i am that loser with the unicorn pencil box and nobody told me unicorns werent cool anymore – this year is the year of the barbie pencil box…damn it! however, the highlights are that my mother is better and back home, i went to a football game with one of my brothers (and saw beckham play-yes, he actually played the full game) and i cooked some rockin' mexican food. i barely drank which was a nice change of pace and i caught up on sleep.

and after that stressful week thus begins my journey again. yesterday, i took a train to a subway to a train to a cab to the office for more "work" and then over night in manhattan (no more karaoke...last week did me in! "maui maui maui!") and a car to the airport for another flight back to hong kong. i dont really mind traveling and doing all this stuff. alone, it is actually fairly easy. however, DIRECTLY in front of me is a screaming child (no, i have not switched seats-who says i am not maternal?!) and i think, "god, if i had to do this with a kid, i would go insane!" and honestly, who am i fooling, i would probably end up leaving the child somewhere by the side of the road...but i digress.

for now, i am back to the mayhem of hk of work and booking b-trips (i think i am off to indonesia next!!!) and of course hk social life of juggling my time between junks and happy hours and trying to keep everyone happy...

so sorry if i missed you this trip, but i hope to see you when i am back for christmas!

xo,

e