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

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

i am in love. and it is true love - the kind that lasts forever. i have to admit that the old adage of "absence makes the heart grow fonder" is completely true. i love manhattan. after being away for two months, i drove in from newark airport (after a 16 hour flight, a middle seat and a 60 dollar cab ride) and it truly hit home. i am in love with manhattan. despite the fact that i am having a blast in hong kong - i will come back - true lovers shouldnt be kept away for too long.

this week of rest and relaxation is what i need. i am always on the go and i very much so want to sit and watch tv (which i dont have in hong kong), get a facial and shop (which i havent done much of either since i was saving for my flat).

so people - give me a ring - my mobile is still active!

xo,
e

Time for a Break

what a weekend...just in time for a break back to the states. i think i clearly need it as things are quickly spiraling out of control. the weekend began early and ended with a bang!

sadly, the most productive thing i did was go to ikea...but what a mess ikea is, i swear. whoever thought a massive building packed with cheap furniture from sweeden would be a good idea should be seriously questioned. places like that make me itch..literally. i wanted to go a bit early to avoid the crowd but i dont think there is such a thing as "avoiding the crowd" in hong kong and to boot, hongkies move at a ridiculously slow pace. so, i ended up buying 3 pieces in the course of 2 hours mostly due to queuing and trying to make sure i got the right question across in as much 2 syllable english as possible. anyway, the boy came with me and thank god he did otherwise i would probably still be there crying and sucking my thumb hiding away on one of their display beds.

however, the rest of the weekend was very non-productive with lots of drinking. beginning on thursday with a "free vodka" event (or what i prefer to call "bad news") to sunday's junk with some serious lesbian action - i'd say it was another interesting one.

for serious people, i need a break...

New Flat!

i found myself a nice flat on hollywood road in sheung wan near all the antique shops and the man mo temple! it is a studio and even though i wanted a 1-bedroom, it is so very cute and has its own PRIVATE roof! that was really the clincher for me. it is larger than my one in manhattan and is the top floor of a 5 floor walk up...buns of steel, my friends.

so here are some pictures and COME SEE ME SOON!

xo,
e

Mum Update

she is having some issues with recovery but the cancer is stage 1 and has not spread so that is good news.

thank you to all who thought/prayed for her.

much love,
e

Lessons Learned from Traveling to KL

you would think i would have this all figured out by now. but apparently i do not. so here are all the lessons i have learned from this trip:

1. do not wear an itsy-tiny-weeny-black polka dot bikini in a muslim country. i was in the the jacuzzi all by my lonesome and enjoying myself quite nicely while staying at the mandarin. then, my relaxation after a very long day was disrupted by a young lad about the age of 14 who came and joined me. he plopped himself down exactly right across from me and just stared. and on top of it, this jacuzzi was a bit odd as it was a large square and very deep but the seats were at an awkward level. so i tried to get comfortable any which way i could. i would go to the corner, the boy copied me. i would float sideways, the boy copied me. i would go down to my chin, the boy copied me...ok, you get the picture. finally, after a game of copy-cat, to my relief, he started to climb out but to my complete shock, he was rockin' a woody. down boy...
2. do ask as many people as possible where you are going. much like hong kong, kl has named its buildings. locals know these buildings and that is good enough for them. but for poor directionally illiterate saps like me - it is next to impossible in finding these buildings and NO google maps does not work.
3. bring something to cover your nose. as i sit here now i am overwhelmed by the smell of B.O. i was on the monorail on the way to another train to the airport and yet another train (apparently they are all owned and operated by different companies and they will not work together - kind of like arguing siblings - from the same family but nobody will play nice together.) anyway, throughout the entire journey, i realized that nobody wears deodorant. cheers for a sensitive nose.
4. always ask for an earlier flight. i was in the loo and i heard "cathay pacific flight to hong kong now ready to board at gate c29" so i jogged down to the gate to see if i could hop on an earlier flight but i discovered you have to yet again go through another security check so that doesn't much work...boooo.
5. do not buy stamps from a machine in a "developing nation". i bought a postcard for my friends back in the new york office and thought "wouldn't it be cool if i could send it from kl instead of hong kong?" so i scoured the airport and found one lone machine that dispenses stamps. i had no clue what i was buying but i picked the most expensive one figuring it was "international". i put my ringgit in and viola...nothing. like a fool, i rang the number on the top of the machine that said to call with any enquiries and found a barely comprehensive man telling me to go to the info desk and ask for my 4 ringgit back. 4 ringgit is like a buck so i decided to let it go...

so anyway, i am back and completely knackered. looking forward to a nice supper and quite night. the weekend is already shaping up to be a bit nuts so i think i will need to preserve myself a bit.

My First SEA Business Trip

here i am, folks, in kuala lumpur. i just arrived in kl and have settled into the mandarin oriental, ordered sushi, am drinking an asahi and watching the us women's basketball and mtv (which i haven't seen in ages). yeah, i could get used to this...anyway, i have a packed day tomorrow and won't have much time to take in the city but i do have a nice view of the petronas twin towers. so it is not too bad - life could definitely be worse.

anyway, another good weekend. i watched the olympics opening on friday with my beau and went out on a junk saturday. saturday night was spent in with a mate who is having girl troubles and i was happy for it as drinking in the sun just kills me...sunday i had a brunch date, did some flat searching (and think i found something) and went for supper and drinks with some girlfriends. it was nothing exciting but it was nice weather and good times spent with great people.

above is a picture from the junk and below are some shots of the lovely toilet in the kl airport (i am just wondering what that hose is for...), and my view of the klcc from my room in the mandarin.

enjoy, kids and all those in new york, i hope to see you all when i am back end of the month!

xo,
e