Happy New Year!

Say goodbye to the Year of the Cock and hello to Year of the Dog!

I was in Jakarta most of last week (reason why I didn't have a chance to blog). There was a decent amount of Chinese New Year decoration up in the hotels and shopping centers around town. When I talked to my coworkers who've been in Indonesia for awhile, they were all surprised at just how visible Chinese New Years is now in Indonesia, considering even 5-7 years ago, all forms of Chinese writing were banned from Indonesia.

I celebrated this year by having a nice dinner with my relatives who live in Jakarta. Peking duck! On Sunday I went and bought an oven for the Aceh house. The oven adds to the list of medium-sized home appliances I've lugged back to Aceh (vacuum cleaner, microwave, and now, a large toaster oven that is big enough for a 12-inch pizza).

This coming weekend, a couple of girls from the UN and IOM (International Organization for Migration) are hosting a Chinese New Year party. I've volunteered to help them make spring rolls and dumplings. This will continue my tradition of cooking for friends for the new year...but nothing will ever top last year's bash in DC!

It's Me!

1. Go here
2. Scroll down about half way
3. Click on "Why We Travel"

For those who are too lazy to click on the link:

Sharon Zhao, left, from Washington, D.C., a contractor for the United States Agency for International Development, with a colleague, Melissa Janis. ''December had been a crazy, crazy month with the one-year anniversary of the tsunami: Clinton was here, Andrew Natsios, the administrator for U.S. A.I.D. came, there was a crew from NBC News out for a week, I was organizing an art competition for children in the villages, the president of Indonesia was here and brought his 40-car caravan. So it was just a madhouse. By the 29th, finally, it wasn't crazy anymore, so Melissa and I decided to go down to the beach after work, watch the sunset and relax. The mosque in the background was the only structure left standing in Lampuuk -- pretsunami population around 6,000, posttsunami around 500.'' As told to Seth Kugel

Why rent your cruddy studio for $1500 when you can rent a mansion for $2500?

...in Aceh!

After the tsunami, as the NGOs were moving in, the rich Acehnese were moving out. Luckily, majority of the upper-crust neighborhoods in Banda Aceh were not destroyed by the tsunami or greatly affected by the ensuing flooding. So, it was perfect timing for these well-to-do families - the quality of life in Aceh went down the tube, and all these eager NGOs were willing to pay super premium prices to rent and renovate these large houses.

To give you an idea...think of a large 3000 sq meter house - similar to the million-plus colonials next to my parents house in McLean, or houses in El Macero in Davis, or...just think big. Before the tsunami, they were probably going for about $8,000 per year, now it's $30,000++ per year. On top of the rent, NGOs and donors are renovating the houses, bringing them up to "western standards" including installing flusing toilets, retiling the floor, putting in entire new electric and lighting systems...on and on. It's a good thing that the international community is employing workers to remodel and injecting cash into the economy by paying high rent (hoping it'll trickle down from the landlord to the needy) but at the same time, the presence of the donors have contibuted to high inflation in Banda Aceh (some 35% over the course of the past year). It's great for those people who have the skills the NGOs and donors are looking for - they're making 5-10 times more than they did before the tsunami, but for those who do not speak English or have not had much schooling - life has gotten much tougher.

News Flush......I mean Flash

My toilet now flushes automatically! *

This is very very exciting news. No more filling up a bucket and then using that to flush my toilet. It's all very civilized.

* It is highly possible that my toilet has been able to flush for the past 7 months, 16 days, and 23 hours and that I just never discovered it. The first and only time I tried flushing it was the first night when I arrived. Maybe it was the jetlag preventing me from using the facilities to its fullest capacity and I was just never adventurous enough to try it again until tonight.

Shake Shake Shake!

Earthquake #12

Magnitude? 5.1
Date? Friday, 13 January, 21:47:29 local time
Epicenter? 60 miles SW of Banda Aceh or 4.863°N, 94.738°E
What was I doing? Watching "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit"

Zagat Guide - Aceh Edition (Part 1 of Many)

Pizza House serves up decent pan, thin and cheese crusted pizza. Similar to what you'd find at Pizza Hut. Beef pepperoni substitutes for the non-Halal regular peps."Texas Style" is "chunky chicken and pineapple with spicy sauce" and the oddest topping consists of pepper sauce with beef burger and corn. A large pizza is about $6 (size is equivalent to a small in the US). The joint also comes with a simple salad bar - the only one in Aceh. Lasagna and other basic pasta dishes are also on the menu. Beverage wise, can't go wrong with the cappuccino dingin (iced cap). Delivery available to those lacking transport.

Imperial Kitchen is the best place in town for a good solid meal. Every dish is unique and the quality is consistent. The menu is rather interactive. You pick the key ingredient and a method of cooking. You always know you will get a good dinner here. For appetizer, the lumpia udang (shrimp eggrolls) are delicately wrapped in a tofu wrapper. Beef stir fry with dried chili and cashew is another highlight. In the soup department, my personal favorite is the seafood hot and sour soup. A limited dim sim menu is also available. Reservations are recommended or you'll be fighting over a table with all the other expats in town. You're guaranteed to recognized at least 3 other fellow diners.

Alla Turca is the newest restaurant geared towards the expat/NGO community. This 2-storey Turkish joint is tastefully decorated and the Turkish folk music playing in the background adds to the ambiance. It gets the thumbs up for the best dining environment in Banda. Menu choices are limited to 2 soups, 4 entrees and 3 salads. No dessert. The rice has a nice touch of butter and the kofte kebabs are tender and well seasoned (but not as good as the Turkish rice and kebab made by Can Can). American prices, entrees range from $8-$10 per person. Soups $3-4, and Salads $3-5.

Singapore Photos

Welcome to Singapore
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View from our hotel. The fireworks were right above the Marina.
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No champagne flutes but wine glasses will do...Lillian and I enjoyed a post new year toast in our room.
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Colorful building near Clarke Quay
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Enjoying an after-midnight snack at Newton Circus - one of the many Street Food centers in Singapore. Mmm dumplings and beer...
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Hindu temple in Little India
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Changi Changi Changi!

I'm at a free internet terminal at the Singapore airport.

Today I go home after spending 4 days in this city, country, and island. Singapore is amazingly organized and orderly. You 'queue' up for just about everything. No such thing as hailing down a cab on Orchard Road (equiv. of 5th Avenue) instead, you have to line up at a taxi stand. It's also an amazingly clean city. I was sitting around yesterday afternoon waiting for my movie, someone spilled a coffee on an escalator, within 30 seconds, the cleaning crew (3 people) was there. It's amazinging efficient.

I had a great time here. Met up with Lillian and her parents for New Years, will post pictures once I get back to Banda (too bad there's no posting of videos!)

That's all for now, I gotta go catch my plane back to Jakarta!