elephants @ the colombo elephant orphanage! eat eat eat... munch munch munch!

pics from singapore

the bomb scare poster campaign in singapore. be careful even the person sitting next to you can be a terrorist.

Singapore and Sri Lanka

Singapore
We had one day to ourselves in the city/state of Singapore. Spent hours and hours and hours walking and walking. Talked to some local people, the waiter in one café had just finished his 2 years of mandatory military service (Rebekah’s Day Out).
I hung out with the Great Kip Cates in little India. Well, I made him watch me eat. It was quite an experience. After working together for 3 years, we know each other’s ins and outs. So, of course we ended up in a Kinokunya (a big flash bookstore downtown). I spent several hours checking out the latest titles in English, Japanese, Chinese, French and German. It’s possibly the best bookstore EVER (Matt’s Day Out).

Sri Lanka
Matt and I went on a two day tour. The boat docked in Colombo and then we had a 3 hour bus ride to a village in the mountains. We had three part to the tour: cultural exchange with locals, especially kids. They were so cute, when we arrived they were lined up and neat holding flower necklaces for us and as soon as the bus arrived it the skies opened up. They got soaked while we waited in the air conditioned bus…finally the rains stopped and we got out to meet them and they were so excited. We did tug-of-war (yuck), held a spoon with a mini-lime on it (double yuk!!) and raced to the finish line, they did a piñata type thingy and lots of other party games…all under the pounding Sri Lankan sun. The next big thing was our homestay.

taiwan

oh yeah, here are some pics of taiwan (2/28 peace park). sniff... my people.

ROCK THE BOAT!

yes, yes, yes... it's awesome. it's intense. it's been described as many things. currently, where are we? vietnam!! pronounce it however you like (the correct queen's english or the john wayne way). reba and i had the chance to meet le ly hayslip (the woman who wrote 'heavan and earth' - later to become the third installment in oliver stone's let's open up old vietnam wounds trilogy). very cool. we had an informal get-together where we could ask her questions about her life, NGO, future, etc. it's so hard when i didn't prepare by reading the book. well, i kind of skimmed it. well, i'm still skimming it. if i get a free moment to sit down, i'll try to concentrate on it. we took a bunch of pictures w/ le ly. to be posted soon.

LIFE ON THE OCEAN. a couple of days ago we stopped off in taiwan. it was a first for me to enter 'china.' whether it is or not, it's to be debated. at least it was china... ish. people were asking me, 'wow, it's the home of your ancestors. are you PLANNING on breaking down and crying?' i thought about it. but it hasn't happened. all i did was eat things attached to a stick.