Cambodia

I was fortunate enough to be invited to tag along with a Singapore Rotaract and Interact international community service project in Siem Reap, Cambodia this past week. The project focused on water sanitation and child mortality. In all, Rotary's theme of 'Make Dreams Real' especially for children was promoted thoroughly throughout this trip. This made me really proud that Rotary actually executes their theme on the ground. I felt all the projects for the interactors and rotaractors alike were geared toward this common goal. Through de-worming kids and building toilets for village schools, the idealistic goal to provide a better and more enriching life for children can be reached.

In summary here is what I did in Cambodia:
- visited the floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake
- visited the Temples of Angkor, watched the sunset, sunrise and saw many other smaller and beauitful temples!
- shopped at night markets and ate some delicious Khmer food
- visited Angkor Children's Hospital and Siem Reap Referral hospital where Rotaractors provided health education to patients, also handed out food
- went to a village to do groundbreaking Rotary ceremony to dig wells
- went with Interactors to the local village school where they built a toilet and donated water preservation bowls. we played with the kids and taught them songs, donated many materials and also cooked for them.
- Visited an orphange in Siem Reap to donate materials and perform songs and dance for them.
- visited the National Angkor Museum and the War Museum
- Had dinner with the Rotary district governor along with Rotarians from sponsoring clubs

Cambodia is incredibly beautiful and sad, complicated and simple. I spent 9 days in and around Siem Reap. And although I only really got to see a small portion of this country, I honestly fell in love with it. Yes it is very poor. Tourism around Angkor is taking off and the 5 star hotels lining the road from the airport to Angkor seem oddly out of place. But there are beggars, there is little development. I hear Phnom Penh is different, but not that much. The history of Cambodia doesn't match the smiling Cambodian faces and adorable children. The simple lifestyles and poverty doesn't line up with how much money the country brings in from tourism and NGOs. But I think things aren't as simple as I want them to be. And the situation is complicated from what I can discern after talking with doctors and different people from NGOs.

The Temples absolutely blew my mind. I feel I'm getting spoiled by some of the amazing wonders I have got to see around SE Asia, things may not impress me as easily anymore. The picture to the right is Ta Keo temple. The main temple of Angkor Wat is astounding in its size, meticulous carvings, and its preservation. People say you become glazed over after seeing so many temples, but I refused to succumb to desensitization. Each temple was absolutely wonderful in its own unique way (I will love all my children equally.) The history behind the Khmer empire is impressive. While these temples were initially Hindu, Buddhist religion replaced many of them and often serve to worship the Khmer rulers as god-kings during their reign (9-10th century).

Having the opportunity to visit medical facilities, speak with doctors or NGO representatives, and getting out into the villages to actually interact with families and children was so enriching and different from being a regular tourist. I love traveling with friends and just having a good time, but the tourist hounding gets old after a while. I think one of the happiest moments of my life was in an orphange in Siem Reap watching the kids play with hula hoops Interact had donated and when they performed a song for us. I would have not had that opportunity if I had not been with Rotary. Furthermore, I think I got to see more of reality and makes me realize how different lifestyles can be culturally and historically.

I encourage people to visit places and maybe go off the beaten track and try something different to see life, and perhaps not to be treated so much as a temporary visitor. I have some qualms about donating money and injecting a surge of attention to certain organizations and then leaving. After all, it may not create sustainable livlihood for the people and may make their economy more dependent on donations. But every little bit helps and if you do your reserach you can find organizations that temporarily help and also catalyzes longterm sustainable efforts.

Vietnam

Things don't always go as planned, sometimes for better or for worse. But it is always brings a new and unexpected outcome. I have been "backpacking" for about 3 weeks now. If you were to see me, I think you could definitely tell. Initially, I had planned to go on a Rotaract service trip to Thailand, working in the north in the Golden Triangle. Unfortunately the trip was canceled. On top of that, my ticket to Phuket was canceled the day before I was to leave because of the airport crisis in Bangkok. There was a flood of foreigners at Phuket's airport during that time before it temporarily shut down too. For better or for worse, I ended up going to Vietnam for 10 days instead of Thailand. The picture above is District 1 in Saigon.

It was an incredible experience not only because it was the first "communist" country I had ever been to (there are only 5 communist countries in the world: Cuba, China, Laos, Vietnam and North Korea) but also because of the beautiul and vastly different scenery that Vietnam has all over its country. In summary, here is what I did:

- I flew into Ho Chi Minh City and stayed there for 4 days
- I visited the Vietnam-American War museum
- Went to the Mekong Delta for a boat ride and lunch and saw the floating markets where rice paper and coconut candy was made by hand
- went to the Cu Chi tunnels for a day with a Vietnamese war veteran as our tour guide
- Flew up to Hanoi and stayed around there for 5 days
- visited the Ho Chi Minh Masoleum and museums
- visited the Vietnamese Museum of Ethnology
- I spent a day at Tam Coc near Ninh Binh taking a boat tour
- traveled to Haiphong and Cat Ba island
- spent 2 days and 1 night on Halong Bay on a boat
- spent 2 days traveling back to Saigon before I left for Siem Reap, Cambodia for a Rotary service project.

I wish I could share everything I experienced and felt, but it's not really possible. I'm just grateful. Grateful to Rotary for allowing me to experience life in a different country, to be on this side of the world, and to see things with a new perspective. In all, I loved Vietnam. The pho (beef noodle soup) is absolutely delicious! I ate pho at LEAST once a day every day! Trust me, its worth it, and its inexpensive all over Vietnam. Seeing the War Museum from Vietnam's point of view was startling at first. To be honest, I couldn't quite wrap my mind around it since I distinctly remember learning about the Vietnam War in my high school American History class and how much it was a tragedy for both sides. But there was emphasis on the american soldier's experience. Clearly, movies have dominated much of what my generation perceives about the Vietnam War. And a lot of the time I thought about the Deer Hunter, etc. But it's so real seeing the Viet Cong underground tunnels, or hearing the heart breaking story of a Vietnamese veteren's life and seeing the crude techniques for traps and torture. It's cliche, but the reality of it is not what I perceived and its terrifying and really devastating.

Vietnam's history and reverance for Ho Chi Minh is incredible. Like Stalin, Lenin, and Mao, Ho Chi Minh's body is "preserved" and on display in Hanoi. Lines of Vietnamese along with tourists see his body. There's debate to whether or not that this is even his real body or not. Nonetheless, the respect is clear and profound.

Halong Bay was beautiful, unreal, and so untouched. It's a little conflicting because the tourist attraction that it has become will inevitably hurt the natural growth of the limestone rocks. But the night spent on the boat was peaceful and gorgeous. The simple lives of the fisherman living on the water made me awe.

My impression of Vietnam is that it's quickly developing and of course adapting to the tourist economy. One of the first things I noticed when I got to Saigon was that there were no Starbucks or Mcdonalds anywhere in the city. You can see the slow integration of things like a KFC or a Highlands Coffee shop. But the rural areas are covered with flat land and rice fields with many farmers and villages that make you feel like you stepped back in time. It was really pretty and I hope I can come back to visit more places in the country again. There is really too much to do and things are so spread out. The pictures below are from Halong Bay.

Singapore West and E-club

I think at every single Rotary presentation I have given in Singapore someone has asked me "who did you vote for?"Even after the election, the resonating effects of such a huge campaign, election, and new president elect has people wondering what will happen next.

RC of Singapore West is one of the oldest clubs in Singapore which I visited last week. Interestingly, I presented at the Rotary e-club this week which is an online Rotary club that only meets once a month and is recently new, chartered only 4 years ago. Rotarians also had their district conference in Brunei this past weekend which I couldn't attend.

There are lots of opportunities coming up to volunteer with Rotary. The only thing is that it takes lots of time, and between classes and traveling and other volunteering I'm already obligated to it's hard to find things that coincide perfectly with my schedule. Nonetheless, the opportunities are still there and that keeps me looking forward to even more presentations and meeting more people.

Mount Kinabalu

The Malaysian state of Sabah is located in East Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Borneo is something like the 4th largest island on earth. It's brimming with flora, fauna, and from what I've heard, some of the best dive sites in the world. Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at over 4000 meters up. I don't know how I got up there, but I climbed it and the trek up was beautiful regardless of the fact that it was raining the majority of the time. And the sight at the top was well worth the discomfort of sore muscles, altitude sickness, and the mix of being sweaty and freezing cold.

You hike the mountain starting around 10am from the base of the park and it takes around 5 hours I think for the "average" hike to the resthouse where you spend the night (Laban Rata). The next morning you wake up around 2am and head out with headlamps up to the summit in hopes to see the sunrise. Ok, so I got up there, but not quite in time to see the sunrise from the highest point, although it was amazing no matter where you were. While the majority of the trek up there was green jungle, at the top its all granite, and this freak of a mountain has no vegetation at the top. I really liked the top (even though I was exhausted) because for some parts you had to use a rope to pull yourself up some steep areas. It just felt more interactive, like I was a little mountain climber scaling the granite walls. And I've decided as fun as it is to sight see and take pictures, I'm hoping to do more 'engaging' things in my future travels. And the descent is one way, all the way and kind of tough too, especially towards the end.

I was super slow getting up there. The pounding headache forced me to take frequent breaks and try to get more oxygen in my brain. It was breathtaking though being among the clouds and seeing the granite world up there that looked like a supernatural foreign planet. The only thing I could relate some of these sights on the mountain to were video games. Other than that, I had never seen anything like that before.

Bukit Timah

In my opinion, Bukit Timah is a natural rarity in Singapore. Bukit Timah hill is the highest point in the city-state of Singapore and is filled with runners and hikers. I ventured out there the other day to trek (hike) the hill.

Although not too impressive in its beatuy or view, it was a nice workout. Furthermore, I was surprised to see all the active Singaporeans in the area since it appears that sports and going to the gym are not as popular as they are in the US. Not to say that Singaporeans aren't "active,"but there is definitely a lack of interest in athletics, especially compared with sports obsessed America and Gainesville.

The weather here has been a coin toss every day. I guess it keeps things interesting, but also really confusing. Cause it'll be beautiful one day and then a pourdown will ensue once you begin to think, "hey it's actually nice right now." It was really nice around 5pm yesterday afternoon. When the sun isn't too strong and there's a bit of a breeze, the humidity doesn't seem as stifling and then I get to sit back and appreciate the vast blue sky that you can see for miles beause of the flat lay out of Singapore. Yes, you'll see the HDB flats intruding on your view, but the tropical climate on this side of the world is nice, even though there is a gross amount of humidity.

The American Club

I registered for an election breakfast at the American Club in Singapore with a few other American Rotary scholars. It was held all morning to follow the presidential election in the US. The ballroom was filled with Americans who appeared to be of a more wealthy status. The breakfast was great, and it was interesting to see how many Americans came out to the club. I had an urge to ask all these Americans what they were doing in Singapore, but instead held my ground. It wasn't too weird being around all these caucasian faces and western styles. Since the club is located down near Orchard and incidentally right next door to Tanglin Club where my host Rotary club meets, the western atmosphere is very typical of downtown and is what I expected whenever I head to the Orchard Road area.

There were television cameras from Channel News Asia and various newspaper reporters asking for interviews from Americans about the election and cameras going off like the hollywood paparazzi when the celebration ensued with champagne. There were political analysts calling in to discuss election questions and summarize their feelings on the election. Furthermore, there were handouts of the candidates and a map of the electoral college votes so people could follow along.

The crowd was overwhelmingly supportive for Obama and needless to say, there was a rousing sense of pride and a celebration when CNN projected him to be the president-elect. I couldn't imagine being home at that moment. It was such a significant election in so many ways, and I told one of my European friends that I sort of wanted to be home today so I could experience this moment. But he reminded me that it's good that I get an international perspective since I get to see how other countries view this election. And it's true. It's incredible how many other people follow the US election, how they have their eye on America in so many ways. I feel the pressure and hopes are really high for our country and I hope we stay realistic in our goals.

Assimilation

The semester is coming to an end at NUS. In retrospect, it's always easy to say 'time flies.' But I feel this way more and more as each day goes by. As a kid, I always remember feeling like time drags on. If this keeps progressing, I think the days may last as long as minutes.

I've been in Singapore for more than 3 months now. And I can feel myself assimilating into their pace of life more easily. I get less frustrated when someone is walking in slow motion in front of me. I have figured out what times of the day are least busy on the MRT/buses. I think it may be more of a mild resignation to this culture as well. It's an acceptance and integration that has kickstarted my self-recognition that I appreciate certain aspects of the Singaporean/Asian culture. And as in any environment, you seek those out who are most similar to you, and once you make a connection I realize that the differences are negligble (or maybe even equivalent) to commonalities.

I know some Rotary Scholars who have already planned to stay on in Singapore for a while after the end of the school semester next year. I know others who suddenly express the desire to remain in Singapore indefinitely. And the more people I speak with, I am often asked if I want to apply for medical school here or stay on as well in any other capacity. Maybe it's another sign of resignation to the question or environment or because I don't want to go back to America, or perhaps I am really starting to enjoy the Singaporean lifestyle. Whatever the reason may be, I find myself contemplating it more and more. The first 2 months here was filled with overstimulation in my mind and a lot of internal criticism about this culture and my own. But once settled, life is life, no? If an opportunity presents itself here, I don't know if I would turn it down.

I was sitting in my Chinese class today during our oral presentations (which largely consisted of various asian pop songs sung by the students along with some hand motions.) And there's something about the temperment of the asian students that I'm starting to accept and appreciate. There is a lack of poor attitude and complaining and overwhelming concern for "looking cool." Yes there are always exceptions to the rule. But in comparison to my college experience at UF, it's refreshing to be around students who don't whine and have attitudes. In the beginning I think it was difficult for me to acknowledge and accomodate to since I do the same things. And although I think the maturity levels are much different than kids my age in America, I'm enjoying this change in temperment.

My host Rotary club had an evening meeting this week with the District Governer. Interactors were also invited and I had the opportunity to see an induction for a former Rotary scholar, which I think was a very exciting time for him. Again, I got to meet new Rotarians, visiting Rotarians, and catch up with friends. I was impressed to meet some incredibly young Rotarians in my host club and see how much I had in common with them, even though we are from different backgrounds. The DG emphasized the need to increase membership, and increase fundraising in the district. The effort to maintain Rotary International is no easy task and from what I see, it requires the commitment of incredibly motivated people who truly believe in Rotary and its' ideals. In addition to their professional career, and personal life, taking on the task of coordinating Rotary events as a president or governer or anything seems like a significant challenge.

I ate some really colorful dessert at the dinner. Apparently it is a mix of Peranakan dessert. I had to take a picture cause it was so small and individually wrapped.