Scribbles

I love traveling. Not just seeing new places, but also the aspects of it that people don’t typically enjoy, like dealing with airports, sleeping in hotels, finding the best bargains. Semi-disturbingly, that’s probably one of things I miss most about consulting. Sometimes I wake up on Monday and lament not having to cab to the airport and spend the next three nights in a hotel bed. And I surely feel less motivated to self-indulge in FlyerTalk. I found it hilarious meeting some new friends in the Bay Area who were equally avid Starwood fans as myself. Nice to share the obsession of maximizing points and their redemption value.
 
But I’m not carping about not collecting points and status. I realized that my traveling, while less frequent than my past professional life, has been rather respectable. Thanks to a slew of weddings and side trips, I’ve been to Peru, North Carolina, twice to NY, and San Francisco, all within the first five months of 2009. With that, and the uncooperative economy, I’m shutting it down for a while and self-imposing a travel freeze for the summer. Of course I enjoy doing my part and helping the economy, but there’s also my personal economy to worry about. Not that I will be remotely bored, I already figured it all out. Tons of movies and shows to catch up and a long reading list awaiting on the new eReader.
 

Speaking of television and movies, I recently upgraded my Netflix subscription to the 2-disc buffet variety. I caught some of the shows highly recommended by friends:
 
Dexter – I found myself quickly drawn into it and finished the first season before realizing. The main character, a serial killer bound by an honor code, surprisingly connects with the audience with his inability to feel any emotion.
 
Californication – the first two episodes have been brilliant, not to mention apropos; The protagonist, a slumping writer, moves from NYC to LA and starts blogging about his hatred for the city while womanizing and trying to win back his family. Hey, I can compare notes, without the womanizing part. And yeah, that makes my blog a lot less entertaining.
 
Burn Notice – discovered by accident this sleeper show about a spy in Miami. There’s spy stuff, fashion, girls in Miami, and mojitos. Did I mention girls in Miami?
 
I suspect this recent surge of interest in entertainment is partially spurred by a couple good flicks I caught. Doubt was a tour de force in acting and story telling. Pixar’s Up would’ve moved even Dexter. And the Hangover got me itching for a boys trip to Vegas. Anybody wanna volunteer to get married?

 
Even though describing those plans makes me feel like a hermit, I do entertain people frequently enough, so I’m not at a loss for social activity. That’s before accounting for further exploration of the city of Angels. While all of this isn’t nearly as exciting as traveling, it’s also a lot less disruptive, allowing for settling into a more local routine and spending more time with friends in the same area code.
 
And if I get really bored, all those miles banked up can still make for a short trip in August.
 

Our beloved friends from NY arrived last Thursday night and kicked off our extended MLK weekend. Putting to the first true test of how my apartment handles guests, I think we managed it quite well. For one of our friends – it was her first time in California – we strung together a diverse itinerary stretching from the beaches of Santa Monica all the way down to Orange County. And for good measure, we even trekked out to Magic Mountain for some amazing roller coasters, eleven of them to be precise. And heavy partying in Hollywood and tons of food filled in the gaps. Believe me when I say that I’m exhausted, mostly from the eating. That and some unhealthy eating this weekend for CNY, should be grounds for another detox session.
 
Whenever I travel, I usually hate the tourist traps. And this time around, I’m sincerely glad that we didn’t overdo them. I always enjoy a walk along the ocean so Santa Monica works for me regardless. Walking down avenue of Stars along the Chinese Theater was something I hadn’t done in years. The rest of it was relatively localized: Chinese food in San Gabriel Valley felt like my weekly visit to see gramps; brunch at Farmers Market is already becoming part of my weekly routine; and reliving my youthful days in Magic Mountain, a theme park you don’t expect to beat out Disneyland or Universal Studios when it comes to tourists. Not that I could possibly bear Disneyland anyways.
 

Our laundry list of merry eating and drinking:
LA-y places: Brunch at Farmers Market (meet me at 3rd and Fairfax), 3 am vegan meals at Swingers, self ordered grub from terminals at uWink in Hollywood, the obligatory pit stop at In-n-Out Burgers (where I unfortunately had a small bite after years of successfully avoiding);
Downtown: Shojin (my adopted family in downtown), Nickel Diner, drinks at the Association;
San Gabriel Valley Taiwanese Food Tour: Din Tai Fung, Tea Station, yam porridge at Lu’s Garden;
and a long haul down to the OC for raw Vietnamese food at Au Lac.

 
When I review that list I realize that we crammed too much into too short of a time period. Next time I would tune things down a notch and include a real beach trip for lounging around. Sand under the toes has to be a crowd-pleaser. As for consecutive nights of clubbing, hindsight says they’re excessive. Although it did make for two separate instances of negotiation training. On the first night out, the parking attendant tried to rip us off by charging us another $10 for picking up the car after 2am. He threatened to make us wait until the parking office opened in the morning. I made him unlock the doors so the girls can rest in the car while I talked his ear off for 10 minutes. I’d like to believe it was my fast talking instead of his fatigue that led to him “doing me a favor” and handing off my keys. And on the second night, four members of the crew managed to wrangle themselves into the club for free after missing the time limit on guest list access. The money saved was eventually spent on Tequila, which may not have been such a great deal after all. Nonetheless, I can’t help thinking that our over-partying resulted in missing our planned visit to the Getty Center, one of my favorite places. But hey, no regrets, c’est la vie.
 
All in all, the timing was perfect. After freezing in NY, our guests enjoyed perfect weather here, with most days nary a cloud and temperatures friendly to t-shirt and shorts. On they day of their departure, we bore witness to the Inauguration at home while watching the crowd congregate 2 blocks down at LA Live. An inspiring and memorable send-off to a great visit, undoubtedly with more to come.
 

The diversity of Peru in geography and people opened my eyes like no other place in recent memory. We had a fabulous time in Lima, living the city life and partying with locals. I was lucky enough to take two full weeks off and immerse myself in a brand new country. While I’ve been to other south American countries for work, but never experienced it as a traveler. And I did it while celebrating some very special events with some of my best friends.

Our official reunion took place on New Year’s Eve, where Gino’s college buddy Marcela graciously hosted everyone at her house. Guests came from everywhere, her friends and family, both sides of the wedding couple, random friends from all around the world. I’ll admit that at first the eclectic group from different backgrounds and various ages didn’t click. We battled over the music, we formed our little cliques, we were being uncomfortable norte americanos (euphemism for gringo). Maybe it was jet-lag and travel fatigue that caused the lull in energy and outgoingness. Still a fun night was inevitable. We loosened up and time flew by. The countdown crept up so quickly and caught me by complete surprise. The pleasant part of the surprise was when the older aunties passed out all sorts of merry-making props, like funky 2009 plastic glasses. They grabbed each of us for warm hugs and kisses. If only my family could learn from them and lose some of their uptightness, but that’s a battle for another day. The summer weather allowed us to salsa away on the backyard dance floor while free flowing food and drinks kept us going the whole night. It couldn’t have been a better pre-wedding party.

After a day of recovery, we attended the grand event – holy matrimony for Gino y Laura. The Catholic wedding was a little more special than usual because of Gino’s brother Antonio, whom I met almost 3 years ago at our graduation. Still his charming, humorous self, the man of the cloth led the way in Spanish and English. I still remember the first time Gino and Laura met in Paris. It was the French Week party. There were three of us from our house; Gino and Juan encountered two very lovely ladies (one of them was Laura) while I was introduced to a somewhat aggressive woman that I felt no attraction towards. At the end of that night, I left Gino and Laura on their own while I took the shuttle bus back to Fontainbleau, feeling a bit miffed about getting ditched, muttering to myself a popular Chinese saying about seeing the beauties and forgetting one’s friends. Little did I know from that fateful night, that we would eventually have this beautiful couple, so happy to have each other, and with our full blessings. Douglas calls them the tallest couple in Peru; they certainly are at the top of the world.

Newly Weds Surrounded by Monty Gang

One final thought on Lima – mind blowing food. From all the options available, and there were many, my favorite was the ceviche, fish and seafood appetizer marinated with lime and onions. On first taste, it short circuited my taste buds and went straight to the bliss neurons in my brain. I’ve had ceviche elsewhere before, but it doesn’t compare to what’s offered in Lima; fresh from the ocean (Lima is right on the coast) and marinated with refreshing ingredients. It has to be the freshness coupled with the succulent lime. Back in France, Gino always told us about how great the lime was back home. Then we could only imagine and mouth water over the citrus delight that we eventually consummated in reality years later. But it’s not just me, even the hard-to-please, the world’s least-adventurous self-proclaimed foodie, Peter Guy gives his props to Peruvian food.

Heavenly, Breath-taking, Out of this World

Peru is certainly a gem, and relatively undiscovered one that’s not on everyone’s shortlist of places to visit. It should be on yours.

The trip was the perfect imbalance of visiting friends, partying, sightseeing, and eating eating eating. After all, what better way to honor the holiday than excess eating, to the point of recovering half the weight I lost the week before. Compared to my last trip, this longer one allowed me to soak up more of the good things in HK and checklist the remaining tourist attractions – venturing out to Lantau Island to see the giant buddha and gambling in Macau. Obviously we managed our jetlag by partying the nights in Lan Kwai Fong.

Stoopid drunk on food

Blessed with brilliant weather, the Lantau day trip thoroughly impressed me. The long cable car ride up to the buddha provided generous views of the scenery and surrounding water. And our reward for the brief trek up the stairs were delicious desserts at the monastery. They made a killer smooth version of my favorite hot tofu dessert that dissolved in my mouth, just heavenly. Who knew monks ate so well?

Calm before the food storm

While Macau’s claim to fame may be gambling – I even played craps in Cantonese at the Wynn, albeit to a losing cause – what stood out was the eating, again. After the hour-long ferry ride to Asia’s gaming capital, we took a cab to the town square and promptly began our eating ordeal in a crowded milkery (I struggle with the translation) that served milk-pudding (more like jello’d) and piping hot pork sandwiches. Our party of 7 was split up and 3 of us shared a table with two other people, who decided to gain back some of their casino losses by sneaking off without paying. The restaurant tried to stick us with the bill and in typical Cantonese style we politely declined in yelling fashion. And that was just the start. We left the joint and hiked up the street for the main tourist attraction, some unremarkable landmark consisting of the front wall of a church after the rest of it was bombed. In the short length of this half-mile walk, we ate pork jerky, cookies, peppery pork buns from Taiwan, Portuguese style egg custard pastry, and countless other samples heaped upon us by the locals. The pork jerky woman literally dragged my arm into the store and forced me to try more flavors.

Macau, where you’re always full

Season pork strips freshly roasted and served

The one sobering aspect of the trip was the economy and its affect on our friends in the financial industry. Like NYC, HK’s large financial industry makes it a hub for many of our MBA classmates from INSEAD and Haas. We partook in a few bankers’ luncheons in the famous IFC (also the Asian locale for Dark Knight) and listened to the worries of our friends. The level of uncertainty and lack of daily work shocked me. Some people literally go into the office for 8 hours to browse the web and wait for management to announce layoffs. As bad as things were, all of them have kept their chins up. I suppose they’ve all gotten pass the shellshock stage. I was relieved to see them not in panic or depression. I can only hope that the global economy recovers quickly, for all of us, and also to restore the city’s vibrancy.

View from Victoria Peak

The other similarity HK shares with NYC is its metropolitan nature – big city, big crowds – which I really love about cities. Hong Kong’s unique aspects are numerous: a modern, model transit system, the geography of islands, a much appreciated cleanliness especially compared to NYC and most Chinese cities, and a true nightlife culture. Despite my personal biases for big cities, I can’t help but rank HK highly on the list of desirable places to reside in.

(Photo credits to Dave and Euge)

Napa Valley is horrible for allergies. Arriving in perfect timing for the pollen in full bloom, I sneezed at least as much I drank.

That’s all I have to complain about my 2-day sojourn in amazing California wine country. After a rather productive week in the Bay Area, the brief time off relaxing in Napa was the perfect conclusion to my trip. Sure there was a lot of wine to taste and food to eat, but the theme of relaxing was well maintained. Think leisurely walks, naps, and massages.

I didn’t bother too much to visit many wineries. We took some suggestions from the inn-keeper and trekked between highway 29 and Silverado Trail for a bit of tasting and sight seeing. Clos Pegase stood out for its eccentric art-loving owner, who graciously outfitted the winery with his vast art collection. While I didn’t get much into the paintings hung on the office walls, I fully appreciated the statues scattered throughout the grounds and the caves. We picnic’ed on the patio, enjoying the breeze and surroundings. While generous with art, they were somewhat stingy with their wines for the tasting, proffering less spectacular samples while hoarding the good stuff.

The name-brand slut in me couldn’t resist stopping at Opus One, the Louis Vuitton of wines. For once I could relate to the hoards of women who dig LVMH. I even paid the premium price of $30 for the tasting – a single glass of the 2004 blend. Served in a Riedel glass by a French hostess, of course. I knew I was probably out of place the moment I walked in; some Japanese tourist had laid out several thousands of dollars worth of travelers cheques on the counter. He must have a lot of friends back home that need souvenirs. Quality wine, premium price.

Having my fill of nature and architecture, I wanted a good swig of grape. The final stop did just that. Jessup Cellers put up a tasting room in one of the Napa towns for the sheer joy of tasting, cutting out all the winery related sideshows. No tours, no vines. Simply a store front with bottles of oenoholic goodness. The host poured me at least 6 delicious reds, and offered to open up anything more I wanted to try, all complementary. I enjoyed their wine the most, preferring their flagship brand over Opus One.

Ending on a string of high notes, we stopped for a late lunch at a classy Vietnamese-fusion restaurant on Main St. The chef, Anna Lien, played host while we gobbled down the yummy food. Not taking away anything from Ubuntu‘s unique and delicious veggie fare, Anna’s presence makes her cozy place stand out in the superb dining environment of Napa.

French Laundry will have to wait until next time.

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!