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idling in iguazu

spent most of the morning in a bus or waiting for a bus. guess it was too much to ask for the coach to get to Foz do Iguazu on time, instead of 2 hours late. well, at least i slept most of the time. also experienced the strange highway stops that they have. like a diner cum convenience store.

anyway, being late put paid to my plan of visiting the Brazil side of the Iguazu falls first. which actually ended up being a blessing in disguise since i didn´t realise it would take me 2 hours to cross the border. waiting for the bus, to being left at the brazil border to get my passport stamped, and then being ignored by 2 buses. sigh. the town of Puerto Iguazu is a small one built up over the years to cater for the tourists coming to see the falls. every other building is a hotel / hostel / guest house / souvenir shop. all the roads are red with the basalt volcanic soil and everyone´s shoes are soiled red. it´s relatively low season since it´s winter so the streets are pretty empty. 

after a lunch of pizza (as beloved here as in Brazil) topped with mozarella, ham, palm heart and olives (yum!) i headed out to the Argentinian falls. managed to cover one of the circuits and also go on a jungle safary to see the rainforest and animals. when the 4wd truck driver and guide, Alejandro, handed me a guide with pumas and jaguars, i started to get excited (and worried). but alas, over the 2 hour bumpy journey , we only saw a few toucans and goutis (small rat) and a deer. at least i know the pumas and jaguars are smart enough to keep away from a truck full of noisy tourists (including an Indonesian family, whose geophysicist father is working in Patagonia). didn´t even get to see a good old tapir. since it was dark by 6pm, i plan to come by again tomorrow morning to cover more of the circuits.

Dinner was local river fish - surubi,  at a restaurant recommended by Alejandro. Quite delicious and simple. Service was great too, plus you can pay in 4 currencies - argentinian pesos, brazilian reais, USD and Euros. talk about touristy. hehe. could hear from the tables around me that there were visitors from Australia, Japan, UK and of course the US of A. outside you could see the locals sitting on the streets or selling trinkets. i guess we`re there to provide them with revenue, so i shouldn´t feel bad. hmmmm. Buenos Aires tomorrow, i can´t wait! Aside from tango, the guide book says they have great buildings, museums, cafes and parks. yay!

Gay in Sao Paulo

Can´t believe how fast the congress has gone. already more than a week here in the concrete jungle of Sao Paulo. it~s been an amazing time. we~ve been spoilt having our meetings and performances at amazing places like museums, parks, community spaces and theatres. that~s not counting the mini carnavale they put together for us. i feel that i~ve seen so much in such a short time.

we stayed in the swankiest part of the city - Jardims. where designer shops abut fantastic restaurants. the most interesting is the A Figuera Rubaiyat which is under a huge 100 year old fig tree. it made things even more surreal when we went for the closing dinner at the magnificent Sala Sao Paulo ' their concert hall convereted from the old train station, and were told that it was a bad neighbourhood outside, so be careful getting back. i guess everyone naturally accepts that the ultra poor will live next to the ultra rich. i noticed that even the main cathedral locked up their doors at dusk and had a menacing fence around the church. what happened to it being a sanctuary for all?

the parada gay de sao paulo was indeed a sight to see. 3 million out in force to show their support against homophobia. there were special floats sponsored by different clubs / communities, with ppl in costume /not on top of each. amongst those on the streets, some were in costume (lotsa superheroes and cop costumes), others just sported feather boas, spangly bits and rainbow flags for fun. i only caught the back-end (ahem) of the parade for half an hour, but it was great to see the strong support given by the paulistas (that´s what sao paulo citizens are called) and their city. of course there was no shortage of making out by the rainbow pp - some just for show, but some were a matter of course.

i suppose Sao Paulo really sums up the diversity of Brazil. there´s certainly lots more to be discovered.

annual dive

had a great time onboard the kaleebso - eating loads like crab porridge, seafood steamboat, salmon sashimi(!). the diving was ok too - vis not too great, but nice to be exactly where we're diving as soon as you wake up. plus the crew were great at helping us with the equipment.

met some nice ppl on board - a fun bunch - all united by the love of eating. wonder when my next diving trip will be - most likely next year, sigh.

toolin' around in houston

it's funny when you go away on a long holiday, 'real life' drifts far away and not reading the papers everyday is normal and somewhat soothing - like a really long weekend full of meeting with friends, eating and postponing the inevitable. can't believe it's been 1.5 weeks since i left msia - my sister has been well and truly married and we are whizzing through our 4th city/town.
finally some time for chillaxin' (i saw this on a photo album in urban outfitters). atlanta was too wet and sprawling, savannah too picture perfect, ann arbor too chilly, but houston has been surprisingly genteel. spent the day at the museum of fine arts (www.mfah.org) checking out the Met's french masterpieces and then walking around the menil (www.menil.org) neighbourhood which is zoned so all houses are in rothko brown. it was delightfully unexpected and delicious.
now waitin for dinner which will be at a down and dirty texan bbq place. can't wait! must say that the food has been great... even the waffle i had at the ubiquitous roadside waffle house, while waiting for my sister to get her wedding hair and make-up. we've been to many delicious sandwich places and delis, fancy places and even a chinese restaurant. good food can be had here indeed. the www.zingermans.com empire was very impressive - with a lip-smacking pastrami sandwich. also had a fantastic crispy blt in savannah. i think i had bacon everywhere. sigh. it's a wonder my jeans can fit.

looking forward to miami tomorrow. we're staying on south beach and hoping to see some salsa moves and the art deco architecture. woo-hoo!

driving to dc

due to the taiwan earthquake, work has been even slower with our surfing abilities curtailed. this gave me time to do some housekeeping, e.g. sift through my saved phone messages and delete the old ones.

i came across this moblog i had written on the bus to Washington DC, way back in Feb 2006:

On the coach to dc. a cheap alt recommended by a friend who used to live there. Only US$20 one way. Apparently these cheap fares started in Chinatown as low as 5 bucks! There were even killings due to price wars. Whoah. Anyway the bus driver is not Chinese. She is a no-nonsense black american. She laid down the law before leaving - 4.5 hours, no stopping - if you are sick or need to go, use the toilet at the back; throw trash in the bag at the aisle; don't talk on your cell phone too loud and no walkie talkie use (even though she is a user -over-).

hehe, i love these strong women.

last bite at the apple

yes the day is finally here. am at the lounge in jfk waiting for my flight home via frankfurt. in over 24 hours i will be home. parts of me are glad - living out of a suitcase and fearing my credit card bills is no joke. however, am dreading going back to work. have been meticulous in NOT checking my work email while away so am sure will have a lot of surprises waiting for me. luckily i have 1 buffer day to get over the jet lag and unpack and stuff. today we didn't do much. woke up late and went to the staten island via the ferry to see lady liberty. by the time we caught the bus back, it was already time to go. after a hurried goodbye to fang and anne, we left. just our luck that the weather finally came up to the teens today, unlike the previous days which had been chilly. ah well. last night met up with some friends from many years ago - college mates of one of my best friends. we went to a cute sake bar on clinton street - chibitini named after the owner's bull dog. there were pix of the pooch all over the place -even in neon on the front door. then we went down the road to another rustic place - the salt bar. according to tarry one of my friends, it is ironic that the area is now chic since it's historically a ghetto and many of the residents cannot afford to buy $10 drinks sold by the bar. right, flight is being called. next post in kl (or over the atlantic if connexion works).

bring on broadway

today may have been the funnest yet. i set out to walk around greenwich village, have lunch at the no1 zagat rated restaurant in new york and then thought would look into the theatre where the sold-out broadway musical - spamalot was showing to see if they had any returns (unlikely) and then check out the frick collection on the west side of central park.

i managed to do 2 out of 3, which ain't bad. the village was as hip as i thought it would be - full of little dinky restaurants, old school delis and s&m shops. sometimes all 3! shame that it was frigid (what the weatherman said, not me). but at least the snow had stopped and the sun was shining. had to keep crossing the roads to keep in the sunlight.

solo lunch is always tricky, but luckily i picked up a copy of some free newspapers - the villager and the onion. entertaining and fun and easy to read between courses. must say that was a bit disappointed with the decor and the main (thot the fish could have been fresher). but the service and salad and dessert were to-die-for. table seating was tight so i got the chance to eavesdrop, ahem, on the 2 guys next to me. 1 was outwardly gay (New Yorker, hates Europe, last boyfriend moved back to Hong Kong) and the other kinda wishy-washy Italian with put-on British accent and a poncey brand consultant (i should know ;-)). anyway their conversation was basically on 1. how they hate europe, 2. where to eat in new york and 3. cigar smoking (italian joe loves it, NYorker allergic),ho hum, it was back to the onion after that i can tell u.

decided to do a quick spin around chelsea to do the gallery crawl as prescribed by my trusty lonely planet, but i didn't count on being sucked into the retail trap of old navy, bed bath and beyond, filene's basement and the container store on sixth avenue. spent more than 4 hours there! came out with a hair brush, drawer organizer (don't ask), anne klein shoes (80% off, how not to buy?) and a sweater twin set. am not allowed to spend for next 2 years methinks. [bear in mind that yesterday had paid respects at century 21 and walked out with a nine west duffle bag and kate spade tote (all the better to carry my drawer organizer in, my dear]. thank god only have 1.5 more days here. who knows, maybe my credit card will be maxed out first.

anyway, the highlight was spamalot! last night we went to see the producers after getting tix at the half price ticket booth. a hoot and a half, even tho i was mentally transfiguring matthew broderick onto stage. whilst leafing through the playbill i noticed that the original cast was still performing spamalot. this includes the adorable david hyde pierce aka niles crane of frasier fame. and hank azaria who i also like. henceforth i could not rest easy until i exhausted all avenues to getting me a tix. searches on the internet revealed that it was sold out, even tho some websites were selling the tickets at thrice the price and then they'll fed ex it over. so i was determined to go to the theatre to see about returns or standing room tickets (being the cheapo malaysian). by a stroke of luck, i managed to get a returned ticket middle row 5 rows from the front (ok, still not check, but how often am i in new york). woo-hoo! it was spamilicious. based on monty python and the holy grail with  a few songs to supplement, the musical kept us in stitches. just think the knights dancing on the round table in camelot, a lusty lady of the lake and catapulted cows and you'll get the idea. the pythons' tongues were firmly in cheek. john cleese even did the cameo voice of God.

and niles, oh niles... he sang, he danced, he even played the piano, oh my. shame about the lank blonde hair 'tho. but the stars of the evening were patsy (the coconut-clopping squire) and the peasant in the mud/ not-dead-yet/horace. hank azaria also pulled off a mean french accent. arf. everyone was ridiculed - the finns, the scottish, the knights who say ni and the jewish. but the best part was when they sang ' always look on the bright side' from life of brian. pure genius. makes me want to go back and watch the movies again.

hehe. ok, that's all from your roving travel correspondent. tune in tomorrow when she tackles the brooklyn bridge and reputably the best steakhouse in NYC (where u don't have to order, everyone eats the porterhouse).

back in the apple

it's official then. moblogs from my cell phone don't work. sigh. previously they did but now nada.

anyway, just got back from dc and settling into
bohemian loft on the east side. very tiny and got to be seen to be
believed. see http://www.bedandcoffee.com/rooms.php?room=chalet for pix, but it's nice cos we're staying with the owner and get to share her kitchen and best of all internet (using her ibook now).
waiting for indian take-out as am starved and the taxi driver was
indian and smelt like he just had dinner when we got in. ok quite eee there.

weather in dc was much nicer than here. got to walk around the mall
and to the lincoln memorial and visit the smithsonian museums and
everything. even made it to the spy museum this morning.

it's supposed to snow in nyc tomorrow. woo-hoo! not. i hate the cold.
my skin is constantly dry and getting scaley. i have to moisturize my
face 5 times a day. the only good thing is that it was supposed to
snow twice already but hasn't so am hoping the inaccuracy holds
through.

am still reeling from idea that sister will now be one of these
wholesome us immigrants walking around reciting the constitution and
holding their hands to their hearts while singing the star spangled
banner and standing at ball games. ok pretty stereotypical i know.
anyway, have been told that the wedding will be in aug / sept and i'm
to be the maid of honor (note us spelling). ack! i'm not married, how
come i can't be a bridesmaid? anyway, if anyone wants to wonder to
atlanta around that time, please come along.

apple sent

6th day in NYC. can't believe how fast time has passed. in the beginning it felt like we had ages, now i'm thinking we need to rush to do the bare minimum.

the weather has been cold. average of -2% and feels colder when it's windy. we spends loads of time eating and shivering in the subway. managed to get into a few museums/ attractions free due to luck, reading up and being cheapskates. like now, am using the free internet at the magnificent marble NY Public Library on 5th Ave for free. no luck yet meeting up with friends and relatives. today tho lunch is planned with Tarry, a friend of a friend who i haven't seen in oh, over 11 years.

yesterday went on the S&TC tour which was fab. we visited the on-location sites (just viewed from the outside) and they showed clips on the bus of the show. we did stop to take pictures on carrie's stoop and also have a cupcake and the sex toy shop that charlotte bought her rabbit from. ended up with cosmopolitans at the bar which is supposedly owned by aidan and steve. real fun and there were loads of real fans on board.

the west village where most of the taping took place looked gorgeous.

ack time running out.

ms stateside

and she's off. going stateside after a decade. what will the big apple hold for this intrepid traveler? stay tuned to find out, as she struggles with moblogging.