Off to Indonesia

Written on the plane:

I’ve prepared myself for large pockets of down time by bringing my work laptop on my Indonesia trip 2013!  Though I told my boss 7 month advanced, the LA office is scrambling because other folks will be missing at the same time. At points there will be an out of office that will link to another out office until the client is frustrated and cancel our relationship. Since I brought my work laptop, I can still help out and peak in on my 50 accounts.  But the main reason for bringing such an inconvenience is to catch up on blogging between flights.

I have a list of events that I want to blog, but noticed that a lot of events happened in 2012 – the opportunity is gone; the stories are stale - thankfully I can "publish" the entry appropriately on the date the event happened; like filing a document in the right spot.  Below is what I've added!

Exploring San Francisco
Ignia 2012 Christmas Party
Bay to Breakers Part 2

Opening Ceremony
Chinatown Summer Nights
Race LA - Scavenger Hunt

I was a bit frustrated with Jimmy – everything felt last minute to me.  The vacation day approval, the ticket purchase, the plan; I was getting antsy.  But everything is working out.  A shared google document has kept me organized and calm, but the document also revealed how insane I am.  There’s a tab of points of interest with star rankings based on my personal interest level.  There’s a to-bring list tab, finance tab and contact info tab.  I am not a lazy traveler.  I can’t be when it happens only once a year at such a high cost.

I am already thinking about next year:  Europe.  Visit my cousin in Switzerland?  Visit romantic points of interest.  That should be very expensive, but worth the adventure.

This is the plan for today:

Jakarta for 5 days – hang out with Jimmy’s family, check out malls and attend Jimmy’s brother’s wedding as a guest.

Bali for 5 days – Have eat pray love moments;  I have to admit that I actually don’t know what that means.  Enjoy one night at a beach side 5 star hotel, enjoy two nights near gay clubs in Seminyak and enjoy one night in the jungles by rice terraces in Ubud.  Hopefully I am awakened by the dew of the morning.

This is what we have to see:

Tanah Lot.  Monkey forrest. Lake Temple. Bali Joe. Rice Terrace

And the rest of the time will be spent in a pool.  Definitely different from our Asia trip last year where we squeezed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Beijing.

16 Hours later

The first leg of the flight wasn’t too bad.  Though Jimmy and I sat separately, I was able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep with the help of ear plugs.  My neighbors with this disgusting man that kept me awake with his banshee-like snores… though at some points I thought he was dying because it looked like he was gasping for air… yes, he was dying as well as transforming into a zombie from Walking Dead.  His morning breath laced the air.  I ran the service bell twice and pleaded for ear plugs.  To my rescue, I serviced 13 hours which included 2 fair meals.

The Taipei airport was fun – the themed waiting rooms gave us something to look at and Jimmy suggested that I force myself to use the restroom because we don’t know what the situation will be like in Jakarta at his cousin’s condo.  We’re going to squeeze and I’ll be sleeping on the floor.  After feeling well rested on the previous flight, I felt like I could sleep any where, but using a squat toilet was another questions.

I spent hours researching squat toilets.  It just doesn't make sense; I imagine pooping the back pocket of my pants, I think about falling in my own soil because I did not properly train myself growing up.  Do you take off your pants… does everything get wet?  I know squat pooping is good for you, but I couldn't figure out the mechanics even after watching a handful of youtube videos.  We shall see.

Taipei airport had free wi-fi, I took a glimpse at my work email and became anxious.  Shit is quickly hitting

the fan.  My poor backup has no historic knowledge of my 50 accounts and his task seems impossible.  I’m worried that I will be coming back to a disaster.  But I can’t think of that, I’m on vacation.

Most of the trip is planned except for transportation in Bali and the last hotel which we’ve decided will be in Kuta.  Hopefully something between 20-30 with breakfast, but without bed bugs.  We can plan that later, I should learn to take relaxed vacations.

Epic Asia Trip

In September 2011, Jimmy and I decided that we would hit up Indonesia the following year and stay with his family.

Since I was drunk, I tweeted something like, "Indonesia, it has to happen in 2012."

Little did I know, the trip has become a reality and we are set to leave tomorrow evening at 1AM, but instead of Indonesia it became a tour of Hong Kong, Singapore, Phuket and Bangkok.

Two main goals: eat and shop for cheap.

Inspired by Mony, I created a google docs that organized everything.  I printed out all hostel confirmations and flight numbers and stapled it into a folder in chronological order.

Jimmy went on a shopping spree on Amazon investing in a heavy duty water proof backpack to protect his gear, space saving bags to help with the clothes we plan on purchasing and an extra camera battery in case the first one dies.  We have 32 GIGs of memory and a tripod.  Prepare for amazing photos.

We are packing light light light.  Only the essentials which includes some anti-diarrhea and a skimpy bathing suit to even out our white thighs.

A peak at our schedule:

Los Angeles
Unfortunately I'm leaving work at a "bad time." But when is a "good time?"  I'm worried about coming back and everything being on fire.  After a full day tomorrow, Jimmy's mom will pick me up from 321 and we depart LAX at 1:40AM for an amazing red eye flight.  Blessed with my, "I can sleep anywhere" talent I am excited for a cramped airplane with crying babies, suspicious smells and little to no leg room.  The best 12 hours of my life.

Hong Kong
When I first moved to LA, I made friends with Jason, but he quickly went to Hong Kong for work and never came back.  Lucky for us!  He's going to meet us at the airport and is excited to show us a good time.

• Eat Pork and Goose
• Temple Street for "men's fashion"
• Big Buddha
• Ferry/Sky Tram (Skip the veggie lunch)
• Victoria Peak
• Chungking Mansions from Jimmy's favorite movie

Our Hong Kong Inn Hostel is right off the Causeway Bay stop so we should have no problem getting around and just for kicks we'll check out the gay club Propaganda.  Why not?

Singapore

Apparently Singapore has the best airport in the world.  Upon arrival I want to go on their large slide.  Maybe check out a free movie in the airport theatre.  Items on the list:

• Helix Bridge/Sky Park
• Bukit Tima Reserve
• Arab Street
• Hawker Center

Ever since watching Anthony Bourdain's No reservations, Jimmy and I have been salivating over the amazing food this man consumes on both the Travel and Food Channel.  We learned about  Hawkers which are outdoor food courts with only the best cuisines. Going to eat everything.

Phuket

The idea of being on a beach with a cocktail sounds so amazing to me right now.  Phuket is where you go to get scammed but by avoiding the grudge of Patong we found plans to revolve around Koh Phi Phi.  Jimmy found this amazing program aptly called Maya Bay Camping that has amazing reviews online.  After an afternoon of snorkeling, the hosts cook you a meal and hand you a mat and blanket where you can fall asleep on the shore next to a camp fire; this is truly a "one with nature" experience.  And also where Jimmy's water proof backpack will come very handy.  Jimmy insisted that we be surrounded by islands so there was no way we were going to stay at just "another" beach.

After camping on the beach we are spending a day at a beach side resort doing resort-y things as a treat to ourselves since we are in hostels in HKG, SIN and the first night in HKT (Phuket).  It's the romantic part of the trip.  I think the goal here is to buy cute swim wear and flip flops and to reenact a scene from the movie The Beach or Castaway.

Bangkok

The biggest reason we are going in April is because of Songkran or Thai new years which is a city..actually country... wide giant water fight.  Bloggers say that it's impossible to stay dry during this weekend.  Luckily I'm borrowing Alysia's waterproof camera (even though it's also good photo quality proof as well.)

We're meeting up with blogger Thwany for two days and a night.  I offered to bring him stuff from California since he hasn't been back in a long time.  His request: Bayer Aspirin and a large bottle of Sriracha since it's manufactured in Southern California.  You didn't know that, did you?  Read the bottle next time you have pho, it says, "Made in Rosemead."  The bottles were just made to LOOK imported.  A gift to you fellow blogger.

The rest of our stay in Bangkok is blurry, but Thwany recommended we keep it open ended because the city was built for backpackers.  But a couple of things we had jotted down include:

• Grand Palace
• Open Flea Market (Chatuchak)
• Khao San Road
• G Circuit - the largest circuit party in... i have no idea.. and why not.
• Night markets
• Taylor a Suit?

Once again lots of eating and buying cheap goods to fill our space saving bags

Beijing

Surprise. Surprise.  Our connecting flight back to LAX was canceled so our 6 hour layover in Beijing turned into 13 hours.  And according to this, we can sneak out of the airport on a Stopover permit to explore the Forbidden City.  If we don't come back, you'll know why.

We will arrive at 6:30AM and plan to dash on the subway to explore the Forbidden City, the Hutongs and any other temples we can squeeze before our 9PM departure.  Oh and a quick delicious meal of course.

I'm the most nervous about Beijing because of the huge language barrier and the potential of being stranded.  But I feel like taking this risk since we won't be returning for a while.

And there you have it.  

In between I will be meeting up with Mony and some SF gays to chill and hang.  We've decided that we are only eating local, and checking out what the McDonalds menus... McFriedRice?  McDimSum? McPadThai!?  I can only imagine the bastardized delicacies of America + Asia.

Please leave some tips and suggestions for any of these places.  I would love to hear it!

See you in a couple of weeks!!!!!!