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.

Hello from Hanoi International Airport

For all my “followers” (aka my mom and grandmother), sorry that it’s been a while. As I’m sure my dad will make fun of me for saying, it’s very difficult to keep up with this when you have class twice a week (and travel the other five days). 

So backtracking a little, last weekend I left the heat of Singapore for the heat of Phuket Thailand. When I arrived there on Wednesday, my friend Talia and I decided to take a minibus to our hostel. It was only 200 baht a person (like $6) for a 1 hour drive so we figured it would make the most sense. Of course, between waiting for all the seats to be filled, the “reststop” at a tour agency so they could try to sell us day trips and boat tours, plus dropping everyone at their hotels, it was a few hour ordeal. It was definitely an experience, and we were happy to finally arrive at our hostel. We found a highly rated pad Thai place on TripAdvisor not too far away, so we decided to get lunch there. After braving the ten minute walk (there are no sidewalks, traffic lights, etc.) to the restaurant/shack on the side of the road, we had to wait about 40 minutes for our food, but it was definitely worth it. I’m going to be honest, I haven’t had a lot of pad Thai in my life, but this was by far the best. We then went to the beach, met up with some of our other friends who were on a later flight from Singapore, and walked around. 

On Thursday, Talia and I spent the morning at the beach, before heading on a tour. We booked the tour that morning at a random place on our street, because transportation is pretty difficult in Phuket, so we figured it would be the easiest way to get to the temple, the big buddha, and the viewpoint that we wanted to see. The lady said it would go to these places and to see a baby elephant, but that was it. However, after getting on the tour bus (which I was slightly surprised actually showed up), it was clear there were many more “destinations” on this tour. In addition to what we actually thought we were going to do, we went to a cashew factory, a bee factory, and had a “coffee break” which meant walking through a large gem store, and you could get a free coffee or soft drink when you reached the end. While all these extra stops were obviously scams to sell us stuff, the cashew factory was actually cool- they had free samples of over 30 different flavors and they were amazing. The rest of the tour was good, with the exception of 2 annoying guys who were late every time we were supposed to meet at the bus, causing us to miss most of the sunset at the viewpoint. Overall, a successful day, but they definitely have the tourist thing figured out in Phuket. 

Big Buddha 

On Friday Talia and I went to meet my parents (who had been traveling in Vietnam and Thailand for a few weeks) for a boat ride on the Andaman sea. We explored a cave, went kayaking, and went swimming on a private beach. It was really beautiful and relaxing. 

   

                                                     

We made a stop at Chabad on our way to the hotel to get food for Shabbat, and then had drinks on the beach at sunset before eating dinner. I got to pretend to be my sister for the weekend in order to reap her hotel benefits (including freee drinks), so thanks for that @rebecca. Saturday we enjoyed the hotel breakfast (also thanks @rebecca) and spent the whole day at the beach and pool. After Shabbat we went to a market, had some street corn, accidentally ventured onto a street with ping pong clubs (don't look up what that is), and finally made it to a quiet vegetarian restaraunt, before ending the night with Thai ice cream. 

Our ride home in a tuk tuk

Talia and I left for Singapore early Sunday morning (a few hours before my parents). We were one of two tables at breakfast at 6am, so the other people there asked if we wanted to share a cab to the airport. After talking for most of the cab ride, we realized we hadn’t exchanged names, which led to the classic questions about my name. “What’s the origin of Zimi? Is it short for something? What does it mean?” After I answered “Zimrat, it’s Hebrew” the guy said “So, are you going to be in Singapore for Passover?” All I can say is it’s a shame my mom wasn’t in the car because she would’ve had a field day. 

After a busy 2.5 days in Singapore spending time with my parents (thanks for visiting!) and going to class, I was back at the airport heading to Hanoi, Vietnam. I made a nice Vietnamese friend on the plane, got there in the evening on Wednesday, checked into the hostel, and found a good vegan restaurant for dinner. The lobby of our hostel basically turns into a club every night, but we went to bed early because the next day we were getting up early to go to Halong Bay. 

                                                      

After enjoying our free breakfast at the hostel (great value considering it cost $8 a night), we boarded the 4 hour bus to Halong Bay. Don’t worry, this trip also took a rest stop at a gem factory, in case we needed any more after our trip to Phuket. We arrived at around noon, boarded a boat, and had an interesting vegetarian lunch before exploring heaven cave. Pictures of the cave won’t do it justice, but it was really cool. After some more time on the boat we went kayaking, and then headed back to the port. In addition to the tour being beautiful, we also made some vegetarian friends from Taiwan and Finland, so we got dinner with them once we got back to Hanoi.    

                                                                

Friday I did another day trip with 2 friends, this time to Tam Loc in Ninh Binh province. This trip was also really cool- we got to see a more rural village and rice fields (which mostly look like mud at this time of year). We went on a bamboo boat ride and biked a little bit. The only downside was that Friday was very cold, and not at all sunny like it had been the day before. 

Tried to take a nice picture but this man in our tour group wasn't getting the hint

Bamboo boat on Tom Coc

                                                          

Saturday, I went on a walking tour of the old quarter in Hanoi, before going to the Women’s museum and the Hoa Lo prison- both very interesting. On the walk back to our hostel, many streets were closed off from cars for the weekend. Just for reference, on a normal day there are motorbikes coming at you from every direction. Our tour guides advice for crossing the street was to close your eyes and pray. Because there were no cars, there were lots of street performances going on around the river, which was fun to see. After resting a little and enjoying the free hour of beer that our hostel provides, Talia and I went to a vegetarian place that my parents had reccomended. We got a hot pot which was so good but so much food- the waitress kept coming over and serving us vegetables in our soup bowl to make room for more stuff in the pot, so I had to keep putting vegetables on my plate to make room for noodles. Priorities, right?

After a long dinner we walked through the night market and got some souvenirs. We ended the night with egg coffee, a Hanoi specialty. It’s unclear to me whether it actually has raw egg in it, but it was really good (it also came in a chocolate dipped ice cream cone so...). 

Now I’m on the plane waiting to go back to Singapore, where I need to catch up on sleep, schoolwork, and hopefully see some more of the city. I woke up at 6 am today for my flight so its nap time for me, and maybe for you too if you made it to the end of this!