Hello from my new phone

A few weeks ago I spent my second Passover away from home (last year I was in St. Louis). It was interesting to be in a new place for the seders, but I definitely missed the home cooked food. I also had my last classes in Singapore, my last 3 group presentations (which I think went well), and I embarked on my last Southeast Asia trip of the semester.

For this trip, I went to Bangkok, Thailand and Hoi An, Vietnam. Me and Talia decided to spend the end days of Passover in Bangkok because they are known to have a great chabad. It did not disappoint. We arrived Wednesday night, got dinner at the restaurant, and since we could not drink at bars and experience the real Bangkok nightlife, we decided to get a bottle of wine from chabad and watch a movie at our hotel. Typically hotels have wine openers, but ours happened to be halal (and had large no alcohol signs), but we managed to open it by pushing the cork in, and watched the hangover 2, which takes place in Bangkok.

The next day we toured around the grand palace and a few other temples. It was super hot so we went back to the hotel, got a cheap massage, and got ready for the holiday to start again. We spent most of our time from Thursday night until Saturday night at Chabad. The food was pretty good and we met a lot of nice people. It was a very secular Israeli crowd, but there were a few other people observing the holiday/attending all the meals.

 

Saturday night, when Passover ended, all I really wanted was a bagel or slice of pizza, but since this was our last trip to Thailand and our only non kosher for passover meal, I decided I needed Pad Thai. We decided to go to the same vegetarian restaurant where we did our cooking class in Chiang Mai (they have a few Bangkok locations as well). When we arrived, the place was packed because apparently on Saturday Nights they have an all you can eat buffet for about $4.80. Luckily, they were able to seat us (at someone elses table). Even more luckily, the buffet included pad thai.

After dinner, we went to a really cool market. At this point in my travels, a night market is a night market- some are nicer, some are bigger, but they are essentially the same. This, however, was actually different. It was more of an artsy vintage flea market. We walked around there all night, got lost a bunch of times because it was so big, and headed back to our hotel to pack up and sleep before our early flight.

The next morning we flew to Hoi An, Vietnam. We decided to stay at the same chain of hostel which we had stayed at in Hanoi. For $7.50 a night we got a place to sleep, free breakfast, and an hour of free beer a day. The Hoi An location was even nicer. From the windows you looked out on to rice paddies, there was a pool, and a free shuttle to their beach club. After dropping our bags, we decided to go to the old town for lunch and tailors.

For lunch we had Banh Mi, a sandwich on a baguette (I got a fried egg, tofu, and veggies), from a place that Anthony Bourdain made famous by saying it's the best Banh Mi in Vietnam. Despite their 'fame' and line wrapped around the block, they haven't jacked up their prices too much (my sandwich was $1).

After lunch we went into a few tailor shops. Hoi An is known for having a lot of tailors. I had done research before and found one with good reviews, so we went there first and got fitted for a black work dress. We were told to come back the next day (the dress would be done by then but they could make any adjustments). Then, while walking around more, we wandered into another tailor shop which had a large book of ideas. Me and Talia both found stuff we liked, and I ended up ordering a pair of nice pants and a romper. I was slightly worried about this place, because the woman helping me was pushy and rude, whereas the previous store had been so nice. When she lifted my shirt to measure my waist she looked actually frightened and exclaimed "Oh my god! Your skin is so white!" It was hard not to laugh for the rest of the fitting.

The next day, we did a morning bike tour which included a lantern making workshop, took us through the old town, and ended on the beach. We got lunch from a cute beachfront vegan place, before biking back to the old town for our tailor fittings. We first went to the dress place- mine fit well but I had her make it a tiny bit shorter. Then, with the lowest expectations, we went back to the other place. To my surprise, the stuff actually came out really well. The pants had to be adjusted a little, but overall I really liked them. 

Tuesday, our last day in Hoi An, we walked around the old town some more, got some souvenirs, picked up our final products from the tailors, and went back to the beach. Overall, Hoi An was a really cute, charming place. 

 

Talia had to get back to Singapore to study, and was taking a flight (with a stopover) that left in the middle of the night. I decided to stay in Vietnam until Thursday night (when there was a direct flight to Singapore). Since I had seen what there was to see in Hoi An, I booked a Wednesday morning bus to Hue, Vietnam, and a hostel for Wednesday night. This was my first time travelling solo, and it was definitely an interesting experience. As I was getting ready for bed early on Tuesday night (in anticipation of my 7:30 am bus) I dropped my phone in the toilet. Yes, I know, completely my fault. Anyway, I went downstairs to reception and someone who worked there got me a bag of rice. Talia was already asleep (and was leaving at 3am), and so I had no way to wake up for my bus. The person from the front desk of the hostel promised that she'd make sure I was awake, so I went back to my room, left Talia a note that I broke my phone (since I wouldn't be able to text her), and went to sleep. At 7:30, someone from the hostel woke me up. Unfortunately, my phone still would not turn on. I scrambled to get ready, since the bus was supposed to leave at 7:30, but thankfully it didn't arrive until closer to 8.

Despite the fact that it was broad daylight, the bus was a sleeper bus. Since I could not take a picture, I'll just have to describe it. When I started walking on, the driver grabbed my foot and started screaming at me in Vietnamese- apparently you have to take your shoes off. The seats, which are supposed to serve as beds, do not fully sit up, but I could also not fully stretch out because my legs were too long for the bed. It was only 3 hours though, and I managed to sleep since I had no other form of entertainment. When the bus arrived in Hue, it dropped us on the side of the street. Something different about Hue from other places I've travelled is that it was very hard to find people who speak English. I managed to get a taxi to my hostel (which was probably a 5 minute walk, but its hard to navigate with no phone or google maps). I checked in, sent my parents an email from reception letting them know what had happened so they didn't get worried by my lack of contact, and asked how to get to a phone repair store.

Hard copy map in hand, I made it to the place recommended by the hostel. They were just selling new phones, not fixing old ones, but they pointed me to a place across the street. This was a much smaller, less legitimate looking place, with an apple sticker on the window, and three men sitting on the floor eating lunch. When I came in they cleaned up lunch and one guy completely took apart my phone. We communicated solely by google translate on his phone. After taking it apart he typed "It has water damage. 3 days." Yes, I knew it was water damage. After a little clarification, I understood that it would take 3 days to fix (and $20), so when I told him I was leaving the next day he said he couldn't fix it.

Obviously this was a little disheartening, but I still wanted to make the most of my time, so I walked from there to the imperial city. I took a short tour around, and then walked through the citadel for a while. It was very cool, but again, no pics.  I got a sandwich for lunch, and read my book while I ate, because without a phone, there was really nothing else to do. On my walk home I stopped at another phone repair store, but again they said it would take longer than I had. I'm only about 50% sure that they actually gave me back all the pieces of my phone, but whatever, it's not like it works anyway. 

That night I got dinner, hung out at the hostel, and went to sleep again with no alarm. Every time someone in my dorm room woke up, I'd ask them what time it was, before going back to sleep. Eventually, around 9:30, I got up, got breakfast with some people from my room, and then walked around and went on a dragon boat tour. I had a little time to kill before my taxi to the airport, so I sat in a coffee shop and read. Because of my lack of phone, and because I wanted to see the Hai Van Pass, I decided to take a taxi to the airport (the bus that I took on the way there goes through a tunnel, so you miss the view). The people at the hostel really tried to sell me on the motorbike thing, but I politely declined (you're welcome, mother). So, I had a 3 hour drive with a very nice driver who spoke no English. We stopped at a lookout point on the hai van pass (google it, it's really pretty). I tried to ask the driver if I could use his phone to take a picture, but that did not translate well. He did ask to take a selfie with me (I guess some words are just universal), but I did not get a copy of that. Obviously, I was 4 hours early for my flight, so I read some more. I made it back to Singapore late Thursday night- happy to have access to my computer, which felt like my first connection to the outside world.

Some reflections on travelling alone and travelling with no phone: Travelling alone was much less scary than I thought. When I told friends that I was staying 2 days longer than Talia on my own, they questioned why I would do that. Honestly, it was not a big deal at all. A lot of people at these hostels were doing the same thing, and everyone is really friendly. Obviously, breaking my phone complicated things. Yes, I know, it was my fault. And yes, I guess I am now just one of those people  that has all these things "happen" to them. When I told my parents about my phone, they said "Wow, this sounds like something that would happen to coby. It's so unlike you." (No offense cobs). However, it was also unlike me to lose my passport. Maybe studying abroad has "changed me"- I guess we'll just have to wait and see.  All that being said, my lack of phone gave me a new found respect for my parents/grandparents generation. How did people get around before google maps? I remember printing out map quest directions for long drives when I was younger, and even that seems foreign at this point.  How do you know which restaurant to eat at if you can't google the menu beforehand, or read tripadvisor reviews? Did people used to carry around full blown alarm clocks with them before they had cell phones? How did you wake up?! It was definitely difficult to not have all these things that I have grown to rely on, but I was glad to see that despite the logistical challenges I could still figure it out.

I spent Friday dealing with my phone situation. Iphones in Singapore are extremely expensive, and the apple store said fixing mine would cost a minimum of $500 (would be cheaper to fly back to Vietnam and have it done there). Even a used Iphone 4 with a shitty battery life was not cheap, so I decided my best option was to get an android. I am now a "proud" owner of a Xiaomi Redmi 5. I'm still learning how to use it, but it does the trick. 

Since then I've done some studying. I've also gone shopping, gone swimming, and this past weekend I went to the national museum of Singapore. Now I have 2 tests on Wednesday and 1 on Thursday, so I guess it's crunch time. I also leave for Australia on Thursday night, and I'll be home in 2.5 weeks from now. It's pretty crazy how quickly the semester went by. Next blog post will probably be in America, hopefully only with good stories.

Hello from the Lee Kong Chian School of Business

Not going to lie, I'm writing this in class. In my defense, the teacher is answering questions about the final, which I have not started studying yet since its in 4 weeks, so this feels like a waste of time.

So, rewinding a little bit- 2 weeks ago I took a 6am Thursday morning flight to hong kong. Naturally, I went out for ladies night Wednesday night, got back to my apartment around 3am, and relaxed until I left for the airport around 4am. To everyone who questioned this decision, I stand by it being a good idea. I had a nice 3 hour nap on the plane before I spent the full day exploring Hong Kong. 

I started my day with a bagel before walking around Hong Kong Island (PSA it is VERY hilly). I explored an antique neighborhood and the SOHO of Hong Kong, before heading to a vegetarian dim sum restaurant for lunch. After that I went to Victoria Peak which has amazing views of the city. Luckily it was not too cloudy (or smoggy?) and I was able to see everything pretty clearly. I walked on some of the trails, gave in to my tiredness and got coffee, and then ubered to my friend's dorm (she was interning in hong kong for the semester and had extra beds). After a quick nap, we got dinner and went to some bars in LKF (very cool bar/club scene in Hong Kong). We met my friend Jen (who was in Hong Kong on a spring break trip with NYU) at a club, before calling it an early night at 2am.

The next day, I met Jen and her boyfriend Phil at their hotel and we did the Dragon's back hike, followed by a delicious hong kong egglet with ice cream. Then we relaxed a little by the pool before going to the Chabad of Kowloon for dinner.

Saturday we did a great walking tour of Kowloon. We then walked around the ladies market (basically a market of fake stuff) for a while. My friend was considering buying a belt, and the salesperson never gave her a price, but made extra holes in the belt since it was too big before. WHen she asked how much it cost, the woman said a price much higher than she wanted to pay, so we began to leave. SHe started chasing us and saying we had to buy it or she'd call the police. I was not involved in the transaction at all (just standing there waiting for my friend), and this lady was grabbing me too! Luckily we got away, but she chased us through this crowded market for about 5 minutes. I'm not sure what the police would've done (its not like we stole anything) but I didn't really care to find out. 

I went to the airport right after Shabbat, and returned to Singapore for 6 hours of group meetings on Sunday (yes, I do have some work here). On Tuesday morning, my friend Olivia arrived from America to visit for her spring break. We spent the morning enjoying the botanical gardens and brunch. After I finished class for the day, we went to Chinatown and tried the cheapest michelin star restaurant, Hong Kong Soya Sauce Chicken Rice and Noodle (yes, that is how they translate it). We then walked to watch the marina bay light show which was pretty underwhelming.

Wednesday we got breakfast and then spent a few hours at gardens by the bay. I had been there earlier in the year but the flower dome was not open last time, so I got to see something new. Olivia and I tried to ask a woman to take a picture of us inside these cutouts, but instead she physically pushed Olivia off and had her friend take a picture of her in the cutout instead. Maybe it was a language barrier? Not sure. We also got asked to take a picture with people (because we are very beautiful)- I've gotten asked if that happens to me a lot in Asia since I'm tall and blondish but this was only the second time, and it still feels pretty weird. We walked through Arab Street/Haji lane and tried Kaya toast (which is a specialty here but it was both mine and Olivia's first time trying it, even though I've been here for a few months). We took a nap in preparation for another early morning flight on Thursday (still a good idea), and went to an italian restaurant on the water for dinner.

    

That night we went to Ce La Vi, the rooftop club at Marina Bay Sands. It still amazes me how many really really old people are out at a club on a Wedneday night, but the view makes it worth the weirdness. We actually had time for a 1 hour nap before going to the airport for our flight to Bali. 

When we arrived in Bali and got to our hotel, it was a little scary that they had bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors, but I guess better safe than sorry. We decided to stay at a nice hotel for this trip (which is very cheap in Bali) and had my sister book it to utilize her SPG/Marriott status. We got upgraded to a really nice suite and they were very happy to welcome "Ms. Rebecca".  While we were waiting for the room to be ready we took advantage of the large breakfast buffet. Once we were settled in we booked an UberTrip, a ride available in bali where the driver will take you wherever you want and make as many stops as you want. This costs 300,000 rupees for the first 5 hours and then 60,000 more per hour (he ended up driving us for over 8 hours and we payed a total of $42 USD). We got really lucky, and our driver, I. Made (yes, that was his name), was basically a tour guide as well. We told him things we thought wanted to see in Ubud (about 2 hours away from our hotel), and he took us around. We had asked if there were any markets, so on the way we stopped at this really cheap shopping place. I got 63 cent shot glasses which makes you really question how places in the U.S can charge $10 for the same thing. We wanted to go to the rice terraces but it was raining and I. Made said it would be slippery during the rain, so he took us to a coffee plantation first. There they showed us how they make coffee out of cat shit, and then gave us 14 different teas and coffees to try (not the cat shit one since that kind is very expensive- it was available for purchase but I decided to pass). This place also had a big swing, so once the rain stopped we did that which was a lot of fun. 

                                        

Next we went to the rice terraces, which were really beautiful. I. Made walked us through them to avoid the slippery areas. After a while there it was super hot and we were ready to head back. We stopped for dinner at the Yoga Barn- we didn't have time for a class but you feel more zen just from sitting in the cafe. We also stopped to get some water and snacks for our hike the next day, and went to bed around 8:30pm.

 

We had to be in the lobby of our hotel at 1am, and then we had a 2 hour drive to Mt. Batur, which we would hike to see the sunrise. After sleeping on the bus, we stopped at a rest stop type thing for coffee and banana pancakes. The guy who worked there was pouring everyone coffee, and accidentally spilled the entire pot on my leg and foot. I immediately ran it under the sink, but there were huge blisters and it did not look good. Then the guy started rubbing coffee grinds on the burn (as if thats some sort of alternative medicine?) which I was not very happy about. They wanted me to wait at this reststop until a doctors office would be open (it was about 3:30 am at this point). I said I'd rather go back to the hotel and see a doctor near there. Olivia and Talia tried to come with me. I told them to go on the hike, since I would feel much worse if they had to miss it, but I guess it's not so convincing when you're also crying. It took my mom yelling at them on the phone for them to agree to go. Once the group continued on their way, the guy who spilled the coffee on me drove me 2 hours back to my hotel. I got back around 6:30, took a 3 hour nap, and then got breakfast. Then I took a 2 minute uber (yes, the driver was judging me for not walking) from the hotel to a hospital which was actually really nice and clean. Everyone spoke great english and were very nice to me (I have to say that despite the fact that someone spilled an entire pot of coffee on my foot, all the local people I met in Bali were so sweet and friendly). They cleaned the burn for me (the doctor confirmed that putting coffee grinds on a burn is not a form of treatment), wrapped it, and gave me some meds. 

I went back to the hotel, relaxed, and then went to a local mall with Olivia because she still needed some gifts. That night we had a nice dinner at the hotel and went to bed early (we had slept about 6 hours total in the previous 48 hours). We woke up Saturday in time to take advantage of our hotel breakfast, before spedning the day relaxing by the pool. Unfortunately I could not get my foot wet, but I did put one leg in the water when it got really hot. We got an early dinner at the hotel, and then went to the airport after Shabbat.

Sunday I caught up on work and had a group meeting- next week is the last week of class, AKA project week, when everything is due. Monday I went to the clinic at school before class, where they confirmed that the Indonesian meds I'm taking are legit, but also that the healing process for burns is pretty slow and painful. Luckily the clinic is very close to my house, so I can go back every day for them to clean and dress the wound, at least until they are closed on Good Friday when I guess I'll have to figure it out myself. 

Now I'm just working on group projects and getting ready for Passover. Shoutout to my parents and Olivia for getting me Temptee cream cheese and Breakstone butter in Singapore, because it really wouldn't be the holiday without it.

Hello from Sunshine Plaza

For anyone who was wondering, I did get my new passport before my trip (with a few hours to spare). That feels like ages ago, but I'll start from the beginning.

On Wednesday Feb 21st, after 2 presentations on Monday and a midterm on Tuesday, I woke up bright and early to get my passport from the US embassy. Thankfully, they actually had my passport this time (after an unsuccessful attempt to get it on Tuesday). Later that afternoon, I went to the airport to fly to Phnom Penh Cambodia. I hadn’t heard the best things about Phnom Penh, and had low expectations. For this portion of the trip I was with 3 friends (Talia Trevor and Grace). Once we landed in Cambodia I took out some riel, the local currency, only to find out that everywhere accepts and prefers USD. We checked in to our first Mad Monkey hostel of the trip, found a nice bar on the river, and went to sleep. The next day we hired a tuk tuk (small cart type thing pulled around by a motorbike) to take us around for the day. We went to the genocide museum and the killing fields, both very sad but also really informative. Personally I knew next to nothing about the Cambodian genocide before this trip, so it was really eye opening to go to these museums. 

After an emotionally and physically draining few hours (it was so hot that I almost fell asleep every time we got back in the tuk tuk), we got lunch and went to get our luggage from the hostel. Talia and I were supposed to have some food delivered for Shabbat, but the Chabad Rabbi insisted that we could not leave Phnom Penh without seeing the Chabad house, so we made a quick stop there before finding our bus to Sihanoukville. 

The bus ride took about 5 hours, and we got to Sihanoukville pretty late at night. From the bus it looked like a pretty seedy place, but luckily the bus took us directly to our hostel, so we didn’t have to find out. First thing the next morning we splurged and took a $2 tuk tuk to the ferry terminal instead of walking with our luggage. At the ferry terminal we boarded a 'Speed Ferry Cambodia' boat to Koh Rong Samloem. The trip was only 45 minutes, but I was clinging to the bottom of my seat the whole time to stop from flying in the air when we hit waves. There were some older people who didn’t get seats, and I felt bad not offering them mine, but I don’t think my legs would’ve worked if I tried standing on this boat. 

Once we reached a pier, we boarded a smaller, much calmer boat, which took us to our hostel (the other way to get there is a 45 minute hike through the jungle after the initial ferry). When the boat stopped a few yards from the beach, we got off the boat into the water, luggage in hand, and walked to shore. This island had the whitest sand and the bluest water I’ve ever seen. It’s completely isolated, untouched beauty. Our beach was occupied solely by our Mad Monkey hostel, and surrounded by either jungle or water on all sides. Me and my friends had a 4 person bungalow which opened right up to the beach. This place is like a super relaxing paradise/adult summer camp. Reception, which was also the restaurant and bar, was surrounded by picnic tables. When we got sick of lying on the beach, we’d get food, drinks or just play cards. One night there was trivia, the next was pizza night and a fire show. Friday night we made kiddush with the many israelis there, who were very excited that we had brought grape juice and challah with us from Phnom Penh. The two days I spent on Koh Rong Samloem were the most uneventful of the trip, but in the best way possible. 

   

On Sunday morning, the ferry company that we had booked only had a ferry leaving at 10am. Since we had a flight from Sihanoukville at 1:20, and these boats often don’t leave on time, we wanted to take an earlier one. The hostel was really helpful and said we could get tickets for an earlier boat, and that one of their taxi boats could take us to the main pier in time. It turns out that they were able to do this because they also had to take all the garbage from the hostel to the main pier. So we got to walk through the water (this time it was high tide-going up to my waist) and ride the garbage boat to the pier. But, needless to say we made our ferry (which was even more rocky than the way there) and we made our flight with a few hours to spare in the very small Sihanoukville airport.

                              

Next stop- Siem Reap Cambodia. One friend, Grace, left us in Sihanoukville, and two more, Yoni and Lauren, joined me Talia and Trevor in Siem Reap. We found a vegetarian restaurant, went to the night market, and went to sleep early. The next day we woke up at 4am to go to the Angkor wat temples for sunrise. The temples were really awesome-very different (much older) than any we had seen anywhere else. However, the sunrise was less awesome, mostly because it just didn’t rise. It got light out, but no sun in sight. On the bright side (no pun intended), arriving so early allowed us to explore a lot of the temples at a more bearable temperature. After 6 or so hours there, we went back to the hostel, napped, and had a snack before going to the Cambodian circus.  

  

The next day we got really good brunch, a manicure (which I picked off immediately since it was so bad), and then did a tour of a floating village at sunset. It was really sad to see the village as it was really poor, and the standard of living there was so low. The person steering our boat looked about 15, and we passed many people bathing in the river (which was very dirty) along the way. The sunset was beautiful, but overall it was sad to see, and I feel like poor peoples lives shouldn’t be a tourist attraction. 

Once we got back to the hostel, me and Talia grabbed our luggage and went to the airport to fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand. Our flight consisted of a 40 minute leg to Bangkok, 7 hours in the Bangkok airport, and a 40 minute flight to Chiang Mai. We slept at a hotel called sleepbox (inside the airport terminal). Definitely wasn't the best sleep of my life since you could hear the flight announcements through the wall, but it was certainly better than nothing.  

Our first day in Chiang Mai we relaxed in the morning, before taking a vegetarian cooking class in the afternoon. I learned how to make some really good stuff, so hit me up if you want pad thai! That night we went to chabad for megillah reading. It basically felt like we were in Israel. The next day we went to an elephant sanctuary, where we fed, bathed, and hung out with elephants. As most people know, I'm not the biggest animal person, but they were actually so cool. After that, we showered, relaxed a little, and went back to chabad for the purim seudah. On the walk there, I ran into my roommate from my gap year in Israel, and a few other Israeli's from my program. After Chabad we went to a traditional Thai dance show, which I had to see for my dance class in Singapore. 

                                  

The next day, we got Shakshuka for breakfast at chabad, dropped out bags at our new hotel (we figured it would be nice to stay at a hotel as opposed to a shared dorm in a hostel for shabbat, so we stayed at Lanna Palace 2004 hotel- pro tip: don't include the year that the hotel was last updated in the hotel name), and hired a red van to drive us to waterfalls an hour and a half away. The waterfalls are called sticky waterfalls, I think because they are not slippery and you're able to climb them which was a lot of fun. At one point, I asked an English speaking couple to take a picture of me and Talia, and then offered to take one for them. The guy responded "Thanks, she actually just said yes to marrying me!" He had proposed to her on this hike, and I was their engagement photographer (which was a lot of pressure). 

That night we went to chabad, and then walked around the night market even though we couldn't buy anything. The next day we overslept a little and were late to Shabbat lunch (and had to sit with old people). After lunch we walked around the old city of Chiang Mai, and then rested at our hotel since the heat is so tiring. Saturday night we tried a vegetarian restaurant and got cocktails at a cool bar recommended by someone I met at the hostel. Then we went to check out the first of two night markets, but they were already packing up  when we got there. We went to the next one and the same thing happened. I was able to grab some quick gifts from the stands that were still open, but it was pretty sad considering we had seen how many options there were the night before.

On Sunday I got a Thai Massage at a really nice place for $11. I have had other Swedish massages before, but the Thai one was definitely interesting and different. We got falafel for lunch at Sababa, before heading to the airport to go back to Singapore. The trip as a whole was really amazing. Travelling is definitely tiring and it's been nice to be back in Singapore this week. At this point my Sunshine Plaza apartment really feels like home. I have a few more trips planned, but the semester feels like it's almost over, which is really crazy. That's all for now- sorry to bore you but thanks for reading if you made it this far!

Hello from the Year of the Dog

The past two weeks would have been relaxing and rather uneventful, except for the fact that I lost my passport. For those of you who know me well, you know that I do not typically lose things. My room might be messy, but my parents are always surprised that no matter how big the pile of clothes on my floor gets, I always know exactly where each item is.

So, to backtrack a little, when I returned to Singapore from Hanoi two weeks ago on a Sunday, I scanned my passport at the Singapore airport. Then on Wednesday (3 days later), when preparing to go out for ladies night, I went to get my Singapore ID from my travel backpack, which I had yet to unpack. I keep my Singapore ID and passport together, in a small bag within my backpack. I was surprised not to find the bag in my backpack, but was sure it was somewhere in my room. If it wasn’t in my room, the only other places I could have left it were the airport, the uber from the airport, or somewhere on the street near my building. I filled out a lost item report for the airport, asked my building security about it, and followed the uber procedures for a lost item (first having them connect me to the driver’s phone number- which he didn’t answer and did not have a voicemail option, and then messaging uber support describing the lost item and letting them know I was unable to reach my driver). After spending all day Thursday tearing apart my apartment, I couldn’t find it. The airport didn’t have it, the building hadn’t seen it, and the only response I had received from uber was a generic message outlining the instructions to follow which I was already doing. I made an appointment at the U.S. embassy for Friday morning, and waited to see if uber would respond to my multiple requests for help contacting the driver.

I woke up Friday morning and had a message from uber asking if it would be okay for them to release my phone number to the driver. Obviously I would not have messaged them ten times telling them I lost my passport and asking them to put me in touch with the driver if I was not okay with them releasing my number, but whatever. I decided to go to the U.S. embassy anyway, because as my friends pointed out, it probably wasn’t in the uber since it had been almost a week and no one contacted me. Also, I needed to have a passport to travel over my spring break which was getting closer and closer. I must say I was relatively calm throughout this whole process, but when I arrived at the embassy, they took my phone (which I guess makes sense but I wasn’t expecting it) and I wasn’t sure I had all the information I needed to fill out the application. At this point, I was near tears, but I held it together while I spoke to an agent for the first of 4 times that day. After a small passport photo incident (the machine only took bills under 10 and I only had a 50 and the embassy can’t give you change- thank you to the very nice lady trying to get a visa for the U.S. who gave me change), I spoke to another agent, who told me I could not apply for the passport until I filed a police report. He also said that because of the Chinese New Year and president’s day (causing the embassy to be closed for 3 consecutive business days), he wasn’t sure the passport would be ready for pickup before my Feb. 21^st trip, so I should probably fill out another application for an emergency passport, which takes 1 day and has 1 year validity. Then, after sending me back to the waiting area, him and the other agent stared and spoke about me for a few minutes, before calling me back over. They said that if I could get a police report and return after their lunch break but before they leave at 3:30, then my passport would be ready for the trip. So, two police stations later, I returned to the embassy with all the necessary paperwork. This time I spoke to a new agent, and when I told him about my Feb. 21^st travel plans he told me to cross my fingers.

On Saturday night, I had a missed call from a Singapore number. When I called back, it was my uber driver, telling me he had returned my passport to the uber hub in Singapore. He was very nice and gave me detailed instructions on how to get there. After a quick google search, I found out that you cannot cancel a passport application, and as soon as you report one missing to the embassy it can no longer be used. So, while the fact that I would soon have my lost passport back did not do me much good, it still brought to question when it was returned to the uber hub, and why they had not contacted me (despite my repeated inquiries about the item). When I retrieved my item on Monday morning, I got the answer to this question. They had had the item since the day after my trip (so since the previous Monday). When I asked why they hadn’t contacted me, the guy responded that the driver did not remember what trip it was from. When I reminded them that the lost item was a passport (which for anyone who doesn’t know- has my name in it), so they easily could’ve connected that to my account, the guy didn’t know what to say. And even if this was their excuse for the first two days the item was in their possession, there is really no explanation for how they could not make the connection on Wednesday when I contacted uber with an exact description of the lost item. The lack of communication was truly astonishing, and personally I expected more from a technology company like uber. I guess to get me to shut up, another person came over and apologized and took my phone number for someone higher up to call me. Not surprisingly, it’s been a week and that still hasn’t happened. I also contacted uber’s support again, and received a generic response saying they heard my complaint and are striving to be better, but changes take time.

Since then, I’ve had some time to relax, study, and attend group meetings for the 2 projects I had due this week. I also celebrated the Chinese New Year on Thursday night, which was just slightly more fun than how I spent regular new years (on a china southern plane following my 10-hour delay).  We went to china town, then to a festival that was happening next to marina bay, and then to Ce La VI, a club at the top of marina bay sands hotel, where we saw the fireworks. For the next two days I’m busy with projects and midterms, and then I have 10 days off. I’m leaving for Cambodia and Thailand on Wednesday (passport permitting), which I’m really excited about!

Just to wrap up the passport saga- I’ll be going to the embassy first thing Tuesday morning whether I hear from them or not. Hopefully they have my passport, but if not I’ll apply for the emergency one, pick it up on Wednesday morning, and my flight leaves Wednesday night. Feels like everything is under control, but only time will tell. Hopefully next time you hear from me I'll be the proud owner of 2 U.S. Passports.