Christmas in Singapore

In Singapore with family for Christmas. Mostly eating

Halong Bay

Connected right through to Halong bay and spent a couple of nights there. It really is beautiful, with the dramatic karsts rising out of the calm clear waters of the Bay. First night we spent on a boat. Nice idea at the time, but after spotting about a half dozen cockroaches at dinner on the curtains, lamp and once or twice on the table, it put a dampener on the rest of the evening! Second day we went sea kayaking (see photo) which was a great way to see the bay

Sapa and the Northern Highlands of Vietnam

We just got back from three days in the North West of Vietnam, based in Sapa. Did a half day hike through some ethnic minority villages (the Black Hmong and Red Zou in particular still wear their traditional dress), spent a day mountain biking and then visited the weekly market at Coc Ly which is full of Flower Hmong in their very colorful traditional costumes (see photo), then a boat trip. It sounds more active than it was - the hike was more of a stroll, and the biking mostly downhill. But the scenary was spectacular; terraced rice paddies, mountain landscapes wreathed in mist and the villagers going about their daily life (and trying to sell you stuff!). Took the night train back -heading to Haulong Bay today

Ankhor Watt lives up to the hype

We've been in Siem Reap for the last four days, mostly spent visiting the various temples in the area. Ankhor Watt is the most well known and is duely impressive, but I think our favorites were Bang Malea and Da Prohm, which are very atmospheric as the amount of restoration has been minimal so they still have a very Tomb Raider/Indiana Jones feel to them. See photo to get an idea. This places really lives up to the hype - its been the highlight of the trip so far. Our guide, Mr Da, has been really wonderful in helping us to appreciate the various sites in historical context. Tomorrow we're leaving Cambodia and flying to Hanoi

man bites snake

Tried the Snake Set Menu a couple of nights ago at Can Tho - snakemeat spring rolls and a snake curry. The snake meat was sort of like the tentacles of an octopus in appearance and consistency. Taste was harder to discern given the preperation. Don't really need to do that again.

Took a boat trip to see some floating markets near Can Tho (see photo). The river really is the center of life on the Mekong.

Overnighted at Chau Doc then on up the revier, crossing into Cambodia, and now in Phnom Penh. The traffic rules here, much like in Vietnam, seem to follow those of international diplomacy - might makes right. Which I'm a bit uneasy about in both cases, and especially so when precariously perched three to a motorbike riding about town. It seems the norm for the locals - most people we saw on a single motorbike was five, but I won't be doing that again either! Tuk tuks are a much less hazardous way to get around town.

We saw the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center - one of the many Khmer Rouge Killing Fields in the country, as well as the Toul Sleng Museum of Genocidal Crime where victims were held and tortured until they confessed during the mid 80s. All a bit grim. Between 10% and 40% of the population - depending on your source - died in the 4 year period.

Off to Siem Reap and Ankhor Watt tomorrow by car

Mekong Delta

In Can Tho on the Mekong Delta right now. Its hot and sticky. Geckos all over the walls. Took a boat ride along the river and saw some of the floating markets today, watched people make candy from rice, pineapple etc. Green rice paddies and tropical fruit fields everywhere. On to Chau Doc tomorrow then crossing the border to Pnomh Penh the day after by boat.

The economics around tourism are interesting. A 2 night/3 day trip up the Mekong and on to Phnom Penh costs USD $36/person, including hotels, transport in an a/c bus, tour guide, activities (boat rides etc) and some meals. Its quite astonishing that it can be done for so little. It would be cheaper to go travel in South East Asia for a month than pay rent in DC. Doing the same thing as a private tour ups the cost to around $400 - real economies of scale, although there are only about 18 people on our trip. There are tons of travel agencies retailing a relatively small number of wholesaled trips- any deviations from the norm rapidly increase pricing. One exception is hotels - you can upgrade pretty easily either through an agency or online. This internet thing - I think its going to be big

Hiking in Dalat

Got into Dalat (central highlands of Vietnam) yesterday and spent the day wandering around the city. Today we went on a 6.5 hour hike through the jungle. It was a tough, hilly, muddy hike. Ranee discovered that it was also leach infested. The hike started at the "Chicken Village" with its giant statue but no actual chickens (bird flu), and took us through some varied and scenic terrain; vegetable fields, light woods, clearings, head high grass fields and the jungle, finishing up by a lovely lake. It was pretty country but we are so beat this evening. Back to Saigon tomorrow

ho chi min city

We left DC on Thursday and 23 hours plus a time change later arrived into Saigon (Ho chi min city) around midnight on Friday. The place was buzzing as Vietnam had beaten Malaysia in a soccer match that evening. Lots of flag waving and manic moped driving. Spent Saturday wandering around the city, including the War Remnants Museum, renamed from the Museum of American and Chinese War Crimes, which is what happens when you don't consult the marketing team first. It was pretty sobering. Took "cyclos" back (see photo) - a modified bicycle cart that can be unnerving in traffic.

Today we went to Cu Chi to see the tunnel system that the Viet Cong fought from (widened for widened tourists) and visited the Cao Dai temple (an 80 year old religion with 4m followers that blends Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism and Confucianism). Virtually every chicken and duck dish has been struck off of restaurant menus, presumably due to the outbreaks of bird flu earlier this year.

Head to Dalit tomorrow morning

thanksgiving etc

We've had family in town the last few days. Ranee's parents came in on Monday before thanksgiving and her brother, sister and brother in law came in on Thanksgiving. As a result of her mother being here, we've been eating very well.

We took Ranee's parents to see Cavalia the night before Thanksgiving - its billed as Cirque du Soleil with horses but I think you really have to be into horses to think that...

Although we're nominally hosting thanksgiving (for the first time ever!) all we're really doing is providing the venue, with Ranee's mother doing all the great cooking. Thanksgiving dinner did feature turkey ... in the wonton soup! Plus eggrolls and dumplings. It was a very Chinese Thanksgiving dinner

Some thoughts on Google Base and citizen generated media

I'm
late to the party to comment on Google Base, but thats the luxury
of being unemployed! Over the summer, I developed a framework for
thinking about user generated content and what was the right format to
take advantage of it:

A/ One right answer (e.g. encyclopedia definition, best way to clean
things, lyrics for a particular song, synopsis of a TV show) > wiki
B/ Many right answers (e.g. books reviews, recipes, photos of a person
or thing) > User generated searchable, taggable and sortable database
C/ No right answer (e.g. op-ed, debate about politics, religion,
current events) > Blogs, message boards, chatrooms

This explains for example why wikipedia has been successful, but
wikitorials (LA Times) or even wikipes (recipes) have not - wrong
choice of platform for the content type. Similarly successful examples
of type B include Hotornot.com, and Amazon's book reviews.

The thesis was that "community"/citizen generated media is interesting
not because its user generated, but because its free/cheap. And as with
all all content, evergreen content is more valuable, which makes
classes A and B more interesting than class C above.

As is often the case, Google builds technology and not necessarily
products. And in this case, they've built in Google Base an excellent
platform for all the verticals that lie in class B. By opening this up
to the public, they are hoping to see what grows organically in their
petri dish, rather than seeding the petri dish with specific verticals.
Its slower to start but takes a lot of risk out for them. So thinking
about this purely through the "classifieds" lens (as some have done) is
I think too narrow an interpretation of what Google Base will enable
for Google. Ebay, Hotjobs et al should certainly watch nervously, but
so too should everyone from CitySearch to epinions to Cooking.com

Catching up with friends

Last few days have been surprisingly busy for someone without a job. Spent a few days in New York catching up with friends and colleagues and being reminded what a great city New York is, and also that I'm too old and married to appreciate the city to its fullest any more.



Over the weekend we ducked down to Naples for the wedding of one of Ranee's colleagues, Keith Tomatore, then had some friends (Jay and Torrey, Taylor and Elena, Karine and Pat) over for dinner Sunday night. I think its the first time we've ever really used our new dining table.

Good movies

Saw a couple of great movies in the last few days. Enjoyed both of them for the same reason, although they're pretty different movies - some very snappy dialogue. You had to actually pay attention or you'd miss some of the reparte.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang I can own up to liking unashamedly. Pride and Prejudice was also pretty great I thought.

Housewarming and Farewell party

Had a few people over last night for a combination house warming and farewell party. It was a lot of fun. Best thing about hosting a party is that you know everyone there! Massively overcatered though - oops. It was good to finally be able to have some people over to the new condo, after all the time we've put into the renovations and getting it furnished and set up. Shame we'll be leaving it all soon

Pittsburgh is no Miami

I spent the last three days in Pittsburgh (Ambridge to be exact) visiting my cousin, Karen, and her family. They just moved there from Singapore and will be there for the next couple of years as her husband, Jon, attends a Seminary there. Ambridge is definitely a town that has seen better days - lots of old and abandoned factories everywhere. Still, it was great to see Karen and Jon again, and to spend some time with their kids, two of whom I hadn't seen in five years and one who I was meeting for the first time. From L2R in the photo here thats Elizabeth, Rachel, Dan and Karen.

We went out to Pennsylvania Dutch country to "soak in the atmosphere" (excuse me, where can we see some Amish people?) which brought back memories of an early and nixed idea for a Netscape ad campaign. Fought hard, and eventually succumbed to, the urge to point and say "look". A bit embarassing really - its not like its a museum, but it's at least some consolation that I saw one Amish kid point at us as well - maybe he hadn't seen too many Chinese people either!

We also went to the Ambridge Veteran's Day parade which was an interesting experience. Lots of high school marching bads. My memories of high school don't involve so many large people. Width and Height have both seemed to increase. Width especially. Not sure if that's a function of rose colored memory glasses, the times, the US, Pittsburgh or the nature of marching bands and flag teams, but it was certainly noticeable.

One Vietnam vet waved at us and said "Hello Charlie". It really annoyed me. Its probably the first time in over 15 years that someone has made a racial comment to my face. But its hard to get into it with a guy marching on Veterans Day and not look like you're the jerk, so I let it go. Its actually hard to even know where to start with a comment quite as offbase as that. Later that day, at lunch at the "Eat'N'Park" a couple of WWII vets came by to say hello to the kids and one of them pointed to his T-shirt and said "this is what I looked like in '45, when I was in your country". He was being perfectly friendly, and his buddy at least had the presence to ask if we're Japanese (which we're not) so I guess it puts the comment into context of ignorance rather than malice, as is usually the case. Its a good reminder that the world that I am lucky enough to inhabit, of tolerant and reasonably well educated people, isn't necessarily a good sample set for all of the US.

Are the terrorists winning?

Saddens me to say that they're at least having an effect on us - we just struck Jordan off of our list of places to visit on our trip thanks to the bombs that exploded on Thursday. Argueably since we live in DC and were in NY on 9/11 we're not actually any safer at home than as a tourist in Jordan, but familiarity certainly takes the edge off of daily concerns

Last day

Yesterday was my last day at AOL. I'm already feeling separation anxiety from my laptop and email. Its a bit pathetic really. Here is a photo of Amy (my ex EA) and me outside my ex-office.

Our friend Karine

Got some nice comments about the photo of us I posted recently. The photographer is our friend Karine Aigner who is at Nat Geo in DC and also does parties and weddings. See a link to some of here work here. She is pretty awesome.

preparing for our trip

I wrap up at AOL next week and Ranee finishes at Washingtonpost.com at the end of the month. We're hoping to start our trip on Dec 1st and get back around Feb 25th. So far we have a rough idea for an itinerary (some subset of Cambodia/Laos/Vietname through December, India & Sri Lanka in Jan and somewhere in North Africa in Feb) but don't have tickets, visas or any innoculations. I guess we better get moving

Its looking like we may be able to use Delta miles to get round the world tickets - good news. I'm waiting on my "Advanced Parole" to come from the INS so that I'll be able to get back into the US when we finish up.