As usual, its back to Asia this spring. This year much earlier than usual, which I'm happy about to get to some warm weather! Unfortunately I didn't know just how warm it was going to be 95 to be exact, so it was a big change from the winter weather I was used to in Boston.
My first stop this time was Bangkok, one of my favorite cities to visit. While it was only a short visit, a day and a half, I was able to see some great schools, enjoy some great weather, and have some great food. I had dinner with one of my counselors at a very good egyptian restaurant (don't worry I had thai food 3 times in the day that I was there). Bangkok is one of the most beautiful and vibrant cities in Asia and it is always fun driving around to my visits as it can take anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes to get to a visit. This spring for some reason traffic wasn't too bad and I made it to my visits with about an hour to spare, so I did a lot of reading.
After Bangkok it was on to Singapore for a few days of high school visits and Admitted Student Receptions. This spring is very different to those in the past as I am not traveling to Singapore and Hong Kong alone. We have done so well in the past few years that this year our Dean of Undergraduate Admissions has accompanied me for the trip to participate in the receptions which have been a huge success. Not only that but I have worked with our Alumni office to combine the admitted student reception with Alumni receptions so I have a lot of company! Last night I enjoyed an alumni dinner with a few alums and the Northeastern Rep at Clarke Quay a very touristy area with a lot of restaurants along the river. After the dinner I tried Durian ice cream which is from the Durian fruit, known for its extremely pungent smell.
I did not mind the taste, it wasn't my favorite type of ice cream but the durian tasted almost nutty and the smell (in ice cream form) was not bad. At the end of the night we had to make one last stop. There is a bar in Clarke Quay called Clinic and it basically looks like a hospital clinic: wheelchairs for chairs, gurney's for couches, surgical lights on the ceiling, waiters/waitresses dressed as Doctors or Nurses etc. but the weirdest thing was that they had a drink that actually came in an IV bag. Who else can say they had a drink in a place like this?
The fun in Singapore is now over and off to Hong Kong where I hope to show my travel companions the light show, the peak and maybe some local markets before our Admitted Student Reception on Sunday.
For all my canadian counselors, here is your moment of zen:
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Friday, February 26, 2010
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Singapore
Well its been a while since my last post but I have been pretty busy! Last time I left you I was just finishing up my second day in Singapore and the rest of my time there was just as fun. On Friday I watched the Dodgeball tournament at ICS in Singapore and then went out to a nice mexican dinner (in Singapore) with the school counselor, principal and about 4 of the teachers. It was a lot of fun and I got to learn alot more about the school and how challenging their curriculum is, not to mention the enchiladas were pretty good for halfway around the world!
On Saturday I had a lot of free time but just as I was about to head out into the city I heard from my colleague from Skidmore who was in Singapore too, we decided to meet up and have lunch/sightsee in Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a big tourist spot in Singapore and the restaurant hub, right along the river in the middle of Singapore. It has every type of food you can imagine and is a great place to hang out on the weekend. It was alot of fun having lunch there so we ended up going back to Clarke Quay for dinner with two other colleagues from Colorado College and Kenyon College. It was a fun night but unfortunately I woke up to pouring rain for all of Sunday, which was disappointing as I was going to explore the bird park but it did allow me to catch up on my work. On Sunday night I was able to get out for a bit and had dinner with one of the alums I see regularly which was great for my last night in Singapore...until the spring! Next onto Seoul!
I've added pictures from Singapore, enjoy!
On Saturday I had a lot of free time but just as I was about to head out into the city I heard from my colleague from Skidmore who was in Singapore too, we decided to meet up and have lunch/sightsee in Clarke Quay. Clarke Quay is a big tourist spot in Singapore and the restaurant hub, right along the river in the middle of Singapore. It has every type of food you can imagine and is a great place to hang out on the weekend. It was alot of fun having lunch there so we ended up going back to Clarke Quay for dinner with two other colleagues from Colorado College and Kenyon College. It was a fun night but unfortunately I woke up to pouring rain for all of Sunday, which was disappointing as I was going to explore the bird park but it did allow me to catch up on my work. On Sunday night I was able to get out for a bit and had dinner with one of the alums I see regularly which was great for my last night in Singapore...until the spring! Next onto Seoul!
I've added pictures from Singapore, enjoy!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Back in Asia for another adventure
Its 4:15am on the second day in Singapore but I'm wide awake thanks to the 12 hour time difference and the 27 hour flight from Boston to Singapore, but even with all of this I'm excited to be back in Asia for another recruitment season!
As you may have noticed I have added some new features to my blog for this year, I am continuing to try to make it more interactive. To start I hope that everyone who reads this blog will participate in my poll so that I can get a better sense of what my followers are looking for. I have also added a news feed to keep everyone up-to-date about world issues that I find important. I hope you enjoy these new features!
This is going to be an exciting, exhausting, overwhelming, wonderful trip this fall. It is now August, 27th, day two of my new excursion with 44 days in Asia remaining. I will be returning to all of my favorite places (Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok) and adding some new places (Hangzhou, almost all of India and Jakarta) which I'm really excited about. In total I will be away from my homeland for almost 7 straight weeks but I'm looking forward to this much more than the 3 separate trips that I did last fall.
Today is day 2 in Singapore and already I am noticing the differences from the last time I visited. Traffic is becoming an increasing problem. I have asked some of the secondary school counselors and taxi drivers why this is so and they have told me that cars have become much more affordable and many people are choosing to buy and drive instead of taking public transportation and taxis. While Singapore is a small city-state and you can usually get from one side to the other in about 30 minutes I don't know how much longer it will be before traffic becomes a bigger issue. My visits are going well, I had three yesterday at some of my best schools and was able to draw quite a crowd at most of them. At one school I asked: "How many of you have visited Northeastern?" almost everyone raised their hand, and even more so, they told me that I was the one that presented their information session! Pretty impressive when I only did about 4 sessions this summer and there were about 10 students that had visited!
The weather here has been overcast and rainy, which is awesome because it has kept it cooler than usual. Although I have done some heavy training in preparing for the temperature change (Boston has had a couple of weeks of 90+/30+ degree heat) it is always a bit of a shock to get used to the humidity.
I'm really excited for a few things here in Singapore:
1) I'm hopefully going to go to dinner with a few alumni here that I try to see regularly. I try to keep them up-to-date on Northeastern's progress but also its nice to share a dinner with someone
2) I have been invited to participate in a dodgeball tournament at one of my schools which will be a perfect ending to my visits in this city. I then will be going to dinner with a few counselors which once again is nice to not have to eat alone all the time
3) I have the entire weekend free which is rare even for a long trip. I will be leaving for Seoul on Monday and until then I hope to do a bit of sightseeing, although I don't know what to see, recommendations are always welcome
For now, I'll continue to try to take pictures and update you on my trip, hopefully I'll be able to put up new posts in each city I visit. In the meantime keep in touch, e-mails are always great to get when you are abroad!
In the spirit of Jon Stewart, here is today's moment of zen...
As you may have noticed I have added some new features to my blog for this year, I am continuing to try to make it more interactive. To start I hope that everyone who reads this blog will participate in my poll so that I can get a better sense of what my followers are looking for. I have also added a news feed to keep everyone up-to-date about world issues that I find important. I hope you enjoy these new features!
This is going to be an exciting, exhausting, overwhelming, wonderful trip this fall. It is now August, 27th, day two of my new excursion with 44 days in Asia remaining. I will be returning to all of my favorite places (Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Bangkok) and adding some new places (Hangzhou, almost all of India and Jakarta) which I'm really excited about. In total I will be away from my homeland for almost 7 straight weeks but I'm looking forward to this much more than the 3 separate trips that I did last fall.
Today is day 2 in Singapore and already I am noticing the differences from the last time I visited. Traffic is becoming an increasing problem. I have asked some of the secondary school counselors and taxi drivers why this is so and they have told me that cars have become much more affordable and many people are choosing to buy and drive instead of taking public transportation and taxis. While Singapore is a small city-state and you can usually get from one side to the other in about 30 minutes I don't know how much longer it will be before traffic becomes a bigger issue. My visits are going well, I had three yesterday at some of my best schools and was able to draw quite a crowd at most of them. At one school I asked: "How many of you have visited Northeastern?" almost everyone raised their hand, and even more so, they told me that I was the one that presented their information session! Pretty impressive when I only did about 4 sessions this summer and there were about 10 students that had visited!
The weather here has been overcast and rainy, which is awesome because it has kept it cooler than usual. Although I have done some heavy training in preparing for the temperature change (Boston has had a couple of weeks of 90+/30+ degree heat) it is always a bit of a shock to get used to the humidity.
I'm really excited for a few things here in Singapore:
1) I'm hopefully going to go to dinner with a few alumni here that I try to see regularly. I try to keep them up-to-date on Northeastern's progress but also its nice to share a dinner with someone
2) I have been invited to participate in a dodgeball tournament at one of my schools which will be a perfect ending to my visits in this city. I then will be going to dinner with a few counselors which once again is nice to not have to eat alone all the time
3) I have the entire weekend free which is rare even for a long trip. I will be leaving for Seoul on Monday and until then I hope to do a bit of sightseeing, although I don't know what to see, recommendations are always welcome
For now, I'll continue to try to take pictures and update you on my trip, hopefully I'll be able to put up new posts in each city I visit. In the meantime keep in touch, e-mails are always great to get when you are abroad!
In the spirit of Jon Stewart, here is today's moment of zen...
Monday, April 6, 2009
Singapore
Well I have arrived in Singapore only to find out that North Korea had finally launched its rocket. For those of you who have have not heard about this, North Korea was planning on launching a Satellite into orbit, however most of the regional countries and the U.S. believe it was more of a test of their ballistic missile system. A lot of people were worried in Tokyo while I was there. The government had brought in surface-to-air missile systems to shoot down any debris from the launch if it ended up over Japan, luckily none did.
Apparently North Korea launched the rocket while I was sitting in the airport in Tokyo. I didn't hear about the outcome until I arrived in Singapore. For me there was no need to worry, this has far more policical implications for the North Korean's than military implications.
Singapore is as beautiful as ever. I arrived in my hotel late last night and had a full day of visits today. As is typical in Singapore it is a beautiful day until about 2pm when there are torrential downpours for about an hour at most and then back to beautiful weather. I am definitely enjoying the warmer climate, I believe it is high 80's today? Not much time for sightseeing this visit. I'm off to my last Admitted Student Reception this evening then another full day of visits tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be as nice. I'm enjoying my last week in Asia but looking forward to returning home at the end of the week!
Apparently North Korea launched the rocket while I was sitting in the airport in Tokyo. I didn't hear about the outcome until I arrived in Singapore. For me there was no need to worry, this has far more policical implications for the North Korean's than military implications.
Singapore is as beautiful as ever. I arrived in my hotel late last night and had a full day of visits today. As is typical in Singapore it is a beautiful day until about 2pm when there are torrential downpours for about an hour at most and then back to beautiful weather. I am definitely enjoying the warmer climate, I believe it is high 80's today? Not much time for sightseeing this visit. I'm off to my last Admitted Student Reception this evening then another full day of visits tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will be as nice. I'm enjoying my last week in Asia but looking forward to returning home at the end of the week!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Singapore
The Grand Prix night race was fun to watch! There were over 50,000 tourists in Singapore for the event so everywhere was packed, but I was able to watch the race on TV. It is definitely a fast race, and the night makes it even harder, there were a number of accidents, luckily it ended up not raining so that road was dry, preventing even more accidents.
On Monday night I decided to check out the Night Safari, apparently the only night zoo/safari in the world. It is just like a regular zoo but the animals are much more lively at night, since many of them are nocturnal anyway. I was able to catch the Creatures of the night show and took a 45 minute tram ride around the park to see animals from small mousedeer to leopards, lions, giraffe, zebra and elephants. Many of the animals came right up to the tram. Afterwards I was able to walk around the many trails to see the animals. It was cool because I was there when many of them were being fed so they were a lot of fun to watch. I saw some Hyena's fighting over some meat and a lot of Hyena "laughing" was happening it was actually really cool to hear. I ended up staying at the safari until about midnight.
On Tuesday night I was able to get out with an alumni for a really good native Singaporean dinner (which is very similar to Chinese, the style coming from the island of Hainan). We stayed out late talking about NU and Singapore.
On Wednesday I travelled to Taiwan which took most of the day, I am currently in Taipei for some visits. Unfortunately I don't know how much time I am going to get for sightseeing as I leave tomorrow morning for Hsinchu, a city about 20 minutes away by bullet train.
I am currently watching the Red Sox game in the middle of 2 visits so at least I'm able to follow one sport.
The end is near, on Saturday I move on to Beijing, my final stop before heading back to Boston. This trip has been a lot of fun, a little bit stressful and very exhausting but I'm looking forward to getting home for a while. I'm hoping to take some more pictures of Beijing and will post them when I get there.
On Monday night I decided to check out the Night Safari, apparently the only night zoo/safari in the world. It is just like a regular zoo but the animals are much more lively at night, since many of them are nocturnal anyway. I was able to catch the Creatures of the night show and took a 45 minute tram ride around the park to see animals from small mousedeer to leopards, lions, giraffe, zebra and elephants. Many of the animals came right up to the tram. Afterwards I was able to walk around the many trails to see the animals. It was cool because I was there when many of them were being fed so they were a lot of fun to watch. I saw some Hyena's fighting over some meat and a lot of Hyena "laughing" was happening it was actually really cool to hear. I ended up staying at the safari until about midnight.
On Tuesday night I was able to get out with an alumni for a really good native Singaporean dinner (which is very similar to Chinese, the style coming from the island of Hainan). We stayed out late talking about NU and Singapore.
On Wednesday I travelled to Taiwan which took most of the day, I am currently in Taipei for some visits. Unfortunately I don't know how much time I am going to get for sightseeing as I leave tomorrow morning for Hsinchu, a city about 20 minutes away by bullet train.
I am currently watching the Red Sox game in the middle of 2 visits so at least I'm able to follow one sport.
The end is near, on Saturday I move on to Beijing, my final stop before heading back to Boston. This trip has been a lot of fun, a little bit stressful and very exhausting but I'm looking forward to getting home for a while. I'm hoping to take some more pictures of Beijing and will post them when I get there.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Hong Kong
Well the typhoon passed through Hong Kong within the first night that I was there. It became a signal 8 typhoon shortly after I arrived in my hotel, which is lucky because I later found out that during a signal 8 typhoon taxi drivers are supposed to drop you off at the nearest safe place for you to wait out the storm. If I hadn't arrived to my hotel by the time the signal was hoisted, I would have been stranded somewhere! The storm definitely picked up in intensity throughout the night but by the morning it had died down again to a signal 3, basically just some strong gusts of wind. Unfortunately the rain continued for most of the week. I was able to get out to my visits on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but because of the rain, I didn't really leave the hotel until Friday evening.
On Friday, after my visits, I did get a chance to visit Stanley Market, which is on the other side of the island, away from the central area of Hong Kong. This is one of the places that I have wanted to visit since the last time I was in Hong Kong. It was just like any other asian market in China or Bangkok, but its right on the bay so it is really nice to walk around. I was able to pick up a few things and spend some time relaxing after the long week.
On Saturday I had the whole day to myself before the Alumni dinner that I was attending in the evening. I decided to check out the last remaining "big" thing for me to see, big being the key word. I went out to Lantou Island to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha or the "Giant" Buddha. This is the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in Asia so it is something you have to see! In order to get to the village where the monastery is located you can either take the MTR (subway) to a bus that takes an hour to get there or you can take the MTR to a gondola that takes you over the mountains. I took the gondola to get the scenic view of the island and Hong Kong. I have put up another slideshow with all the pictures. It was really cool to go up over the mountains and see the whole island by gondola, I definitely recommend it. The monastery and Buddha were a bit disappointing. I mean the buddha was great to see, because it was so massive, but that was all it was, there wasn't much there besides this buddha and its not even that old. The construction was finalized in 1989 and the formal ceremony was in 1993. It was still a good day's trip to get out of downtown Hong Kong, see some of the attractions and have a really good lunch. I had sweet and sour pork and spicy string beans with minced pork, it was good! Afterwards I saw a show called "Walking with Buddha" which basically in 15 minutes described how the "Buddha" became the buddha.
In the evening I went off to dinner with some coop students and alumni which was really cool. I heard about all the coop jobs that students are doing around Hong Kong and got to speak with some alumni that I knew. We had a 12 course meal (thats not a typo) which featured sharks fin soup, and abalone along with a ton of other really good native Hong Kong food. We ended up spending 6 hours together for dinner.
I have not said it enough, the subway systems in Asia are awesome. The MTR here in Hong Kong is so easy to use and so efficient! I used it for all the visits that I could. Hong Kong is definitely one of my favorite cities to visit. I'm hoping that next time I come it will be good weather for me to go up to The Peak (the mountain that the city is built on the edge of) and see the city at night. It is supposed to be amazing.
I have now just arrived in Singapore just in time for the Singapore Grand Prix season to begin. Tonight there will be the first ever night grand prix race in the city, so its packed (which now explains why my hotel cost so much). It should be an interesting evening and it should be fun to watch the event in the city.
On Friday, after my visits, I did get a chance to visit Stanley Market, which is on the other side of the island, away from the central area of Hong Kong. This is one of the places that I have wanted to visit since the last time I was in Hong Kong. It was just like any other asian market in China or Bangkok, but its right on the bay so it is really nice to walk around. I was able to pick up a few things and spend some time relaxing after the long week.
On Saturday I had the whole day to myself before the Alumni dinner that I was attending in the evening. I decided to check out the last remaining "big" thing for me to see, big being the key word. I went out to Lantou Island to see the Po Lin Monastery and the Tian Tan Buddha or the "Giant" Buddha. This is the largest outdoor bronze Buddha in Asia so it is something you have to see! In order to get to the village where the monastery is located you can either take the MTR (subway) to a bus that takes an hour to get there or you can take the MTR to a gondola that takes you over the mountains. I took the gondola to get the scenic view of the island and Hong Kong. I have put up another slideshow with all the pictures. It was really cool to go up over the mountains and see the whole island by gondola, I definitely recommend it. The monastery and Buddha were a bit disappointing. I mean the buddha was great to see, because it was so massive, but that was all it was, there wasn't much there besides this buddha and its not even that old. The construction was finalized in 1989 and the formal ceremony was in 1993. It was still a good day's trip to get out of downtown Hong Kong, see some of the attractions and have a really good lunch. I had sweet and sour pork and spicy string beans with minced pork, it was good! Afterwards I saw a show called "Walking with Buddha" which basically in 15 minutes described how the "Buddha" became the buddha.
In the evening I went off to dinner with some coop students and alumni which was really cool. I heard about all the coop jobs that students are doing around Hong Kong and got to speak with some alumni that I knew. We had a 12 course meal (thats not a typo) which featured sharks fin soup, and abalone along with a ton of other really good native Hong Kong food. We ended up spending 6 hours together for dinner.
I have not said it enough, the subway systems in Asia are awesome. The MTR here in Hong Kong is so easy to use and so efficient! I used it for all the visits that I could. Hong Kong is definitely one of my favorite cities to visit. I'm hoping that next time I come it will be good weather for me to go up to The Peak (the mountain that the city is built on the edge of) and see the city at night. It is supposed to be amazing.
I have now just arrived in Singapore just in time for the Singapore Grand Prix season to begin. Tonight there will be the first ever night grand prix race in the city, so its packed (which now explains why my hotel cost so much). It should be an interesting evening and it should be fun to watch the event in the city.
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