Vacationing

I went on a 2 week vacation, not because I needed to, or had to, but just because I could and felt I should do something while I'm out here. Coincided w/ company meltdown which was good and bad.

My Overall Route: Tokyo->Manila->Macau/HK->Singapore->Macau/HK->Kuala Lumpur->Manila->Tokyo. I spent about 4 days in each country. My overall impressions:

Manila in PI - not the best tourist spot, but there are some very posh areas, along w/ very nasty areas where the beggars come to my taxi [note 50% of taxi's try to rip you off, reminds me of Saigon] begging for money to feed their starving baby they are holding. Then some gang bangers come and wash the windows on cars and start bitching at them if they dont give tips (then again this happens in East LA too). Movies are only $2.50 -- IMAX like $5. Damn this is a cheap town to live in. KFC's are everywhere, wtf is with the love of fried chicken?

Angeles/Clark in PI - totally ghettoo-ville. Oh my god.. I went golfing for the day I was there which is good 'cause the city is nasty hell. On par with typical Saigon and poor Manila I guess. The # of 50yo white guys walking w/ a 20yo (mostly not attractive) filipina girlfriend is somewhat shocking. Movies are $2.

Singapore - quite a nice city. Went to the rich parts to a bar called Attica and let me tell ya there are some hot girls, but word is that the hot ones are all prostitutes. But my overall feel of this town is that the people are down to earth and not as money hungry and trend driven as HK and Tokyo. Hainan Chicken Rice was excellent, had it for lunch and dinner oneday. Clean city, overall thumbs up. Went to the beach resort and that was quite nice too.

Kuala Lumpur - I was quite happy to come here without knowing what to expect at all I just picked a city and went. Being surrounded by Muslims is a bit odd.. requires getting used to. There are some poor parts but overall its a city that reminds me of HK. Lots of tall buildings, good infrastructure, some posh and some local looking zones. I ate a lot of Nasi Lamek, which is some kind of Muslim/Malaysian (?) spicy plate of coconut rice and spicy stuff. I was loving it. Indian food quite good too there. Lots of tourist zones as well, probably perfect for 3-4 day trip.

Hong Kong/Macau - been there so many times nothing to note. Golf costs $200 in Macau and nobody plays. Kind of goes against supply/demand pricing model, but whatever.

Note, gambling in Phillipines is lame. Craps payouts are really bad, instead of 7-6 payout on 6and8, they pay 11-10. Wtf? Yeah its bad. And only single odds. Shit I gave up and moved to Patoong which is an awesome BJ variant.

I was tired by the end of my journey.. what did I take away from it all? Well its fun to go and do nothing and live without purpose. But in the end its always nice to come back home, even if its a transient home.

Tomorrow I find out whats new at work. Wow!!