Scribbles

Ah, so fitting that I am blogging from Singapore's Changi airport again, just as I did when I first arrived on Christmas day.  Four months flew by in a blink of an eye.  I must admit, a big part of me really does not want to leave this nice city country.  It just grew on me over the past months.  I will miss this place a lot, and I am sure to be back.  If any of you had any doubts about the INSEAD experience at Singapore, I can tell you that it is a must have experience and anyone who goes through the program without coming to this campus (both for that matter) would be missing out. 

Last 3 days here in Singapore, my room looks like a warzone.  In the mist of packing and preparing for the final assignments for this period, I am feeling the stress of INSEAD.  Samir talks about this issue, and claims to be mentally checked out already.  I can't blame him, I'm almost there myself.  Reflecting on my stay here, I really enjoyed this nice city/country.  I discovering how difficult it  is for me to leave, a testament to how much I really enjoy city life.  I wouldn't be surprised to find myself here again soon.  Nonetheless, I am looking forward to spending some quality time in the US to visit and network, before I'm off to France again for the final period.

Ridiculous, that's how I would describe it.  The amount of people jammed into MOS and the energy they projected, absolutely ridiculous.  This type of event you don't see frequently anywhere, let alone Singapore, but there we were, up front in the heart of action.  The Dutch guys from school who organized our VIP arrangements were having an utter blast, with one of them getting his INSEAD Dutch national week shirt signed.  They were good fun and of course two of my best friends were there partying with me.  Props to Peter who pulled off a hat-trick, going out full thrust 3 nights in a row.  I'll post some pictures soon, promise.

Came to campus today and discovered that the bookstore and staff were on holiday.  Then it dawned on me, it's Good Friday, and some of these South East Asian countries/cities (like Hong Kong) get the day off.  Being so used to the efficient and hard working Singaporean staff here at INSEAD, it just felt weird that they would have this particular holiday off (as we never do in the US).  Nonethess, wish you all a happy Good Friday, and perhaps see some of you tonight at the Tiesto event at MOS.

Feel like catching up a bit on my blog tonight… I mentioned previously about my break between P2 and P3, where I spent New Years in Thailand, and then traveled for a week in Cambodia.  Although my posting was quite somber, the trip was in fact full of adventures and eye openers, my first time in South East Asia.  While in Thailand, we decided to get out of busy Bangkok for a few days while waiting for our INSEAD friends to show up.  We signed up for a 2-day leisure tour package to Kanchanaburi, famous for the bridge over the River Kwai.  On one section of the tour, we enjoyed a relaxing lunch on a boat, stationed under a little waterfall.

A little box lunch and a dip in the water.

After the New Years celebration at the busiest square in Bangkok, we moved on to the Kingdom of Cambodia.  Any traveler there will visit the amazing Angkor Wat temple, a feat of architecture built over 800 years ago.  We went to see it while staying in the city of Siem Reap, a quaint little town whose lifeblood depended on tourism, and was just about to have its first ATM machine.

Ta Prohm Temple Tree

Alas we tired of the endless temples and traveled down south via boat to Phnom Penh, the capital city.  The six hour boat ride went through the large lakes that ran north and south between the country.  Along the way, the friendly fisherfolk would wave at us gringo foreigners.

I was impressed by the spirit of the Cambodian people, where despite their poverty, they beamed positive energies in their interactions with others.  The most interesting encounters usually involved children who picked up a nice repertoire of English to peddle their goods.  A little exchange would typically go like this:

Kid: Buy bracelet for 1 dollar?
You: No thank you.
Kid: For your girlfriend?
You: I don’t have a girlfriend.
Kid: That’s because you didn’t buy anything for her!

The general advice is to refuse them, because once you buy, the entire village of kids will be on you to buy more.  Dave had an elaborate interview process, where he would quiz the kids basic math questions.  And only if they got it right, would he buy anything.  Most of the time, they closed.

Some of my best buddies came to Singapore last week to visit during their spring break, and we went to Hong Kong for a weekend of mayhem.  It happened to coincide with the Hong Kong Sevens, one of the largest rugby events in the world.  While we are not much into rugby, we are into good food and fun times.  Needless to say, the foreigner friendly Lan Kwai Fong was flooded with people looking to party the night away. It was that crowded the whole time, even on Sunday night.

The scene at Lan Kwai Fong all weekend into the wee hours of the night.

Chomping on some late night food to satisfy those munchies.

Hong Kong way exceeded my expectations.  The bustling city was full of energy, people, food, shopping, and things to do.  And it was much less polluted than I expected.  We got to do touristy stuff during the day, and even fit in some shopping too: I picked up a nifty new phone at bargain price.  And not only did we gorge ourselves stupid on some of the best culinary treats ever, we even had a chance to catch the excellent Filipino cover band at Insomnia.

So what’s with the title of this post?  Well, it comes from this Russell Peters clip, where RP does a spot-on Cantonese accent.  The night before, we chanced upon this friendly little bar named “JC @ 65″ near Lan Kwai Fong.  The bartender/owner Ken turns out to be this gregarious guy who grew up in Hawaii/California and loves to fix up cars, just the kind of friend our little group can easily relate to.  The last thing I remember was drinking with him, his wonderful stuff, the lovely patrons, and finishing a sequence of shots called 3 dead men: Cognac XO, Jack Daniels, and what Ken lovingly called “just rum”, which was actually 151.  Good night, farewell, lights out.

Fast forward to the next day morning.  We somehow managed to get up to have a traditional dim sum brunch, as we had previously planned.  While we were waiting to be seated at City Hall’s Maxim Palace, the hostess was calling the numbers for people queuing on a microphone.  She would read them off in Cantonese and then in English.  All of a sudden, Dave gets the idea that I should ask her to announce “thirty four fifty” to the crowd.  Hmm… in our hung-over, sleep deprived, bored-with-nothing-to-do state, I accepted.  I approached and soon realized that neither her English or Mandarin was up to par to understand what I was asking for.  Soon her colleague comes by and it becomes a 3-way negotiation with translations.  Well, I’m not taking negotiation analysis at school now for nothing, so I launch right into a spiel about how my friend doesn’t think I can pull off this seemingly bizarre request, and what a happy customer I’d be if she would perform this tiny favor.  After some back and forth, I scribble down the number “34.5″ on a piece of paper and read it to her in English.  She stared at me skeptically, realized the benefits of getting this crazy person off her back, and picked up the mic and announced it.  Mission accomplished.  Oh, and the dim sum was superb too.

Great times in HK and in Singapore the past week.  I have a feeling I will be visiting again soon.  A big thanks to my friends who shared with me my first adventure to this wonderful city!