Raffles Singapore

The small island of Singapore is an assortment of contrasting cultures. It's easy to be overwhelmed by Orchard Road's wall-to-wall shopping malls, but you also can take a break at Chinatown's immense Buddha Tooth Temple or Hindu shrines draped with marigold garlands in little India.

Raffles Grill for Holiday Dinner

A great place to stay if one is lucky enough to be in Singapore is the Raffles Hotel. It’s a colonial-style hotel and is one of the world's most famous. Opened in 1899, it was named after Singapore's founder Sir Stamford Raffles. It is a hotel that is loaded with history and is more legend than hotel after having been immortalized in the novels of Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling.

Long Bar

After going through hard times in world war II, Raffles was closed in 1989 and with careful repair, reopened in 1991. Raffles was restored to the grand style of its heyday and all rooms were converted to suites with teakwood floors, handmade carpets, and 14-foot ceilings. The storied Long Bar, where the Singapore Sling cocktail drink was invented was reopened at the same time. It was patronized over the decades by a host of VIP’s, including Ernest Hemingway and Jackie Kennedy among others.

Boat Quay

A great place to go is Boat Quay a historical quay that is situated upstream from the mouth of the Singapore River. It once was the busiest part of the old Port of Singapore, handling three quarters of all shipping business during the 1860s. Though serving maritime trade is no longer Boat Quay's main role, the shophouses and go-downs have been carefully preserved and now house various bars, pubs and restaurants. It’s a good place to have some fun.

Singapore is one of the most enjoyable cities in Southeast Asia. It's a fascinating place that will draw you back time and again to experience the divergent cultures, a wonderful metro system, Sentosa Island, wonderful food- hawker’s stalls and so much more.

Romani Tinsmith in Rajasthan

The Rom people (Gypsies) originated in the Northwestern region of India and have since moved around the world. They were called "Gypsies" because they were mistakenly believed to have come from Egypt. Many Rom people traditionally work as craftsmen and are blacksmiths, cobblers, and tinsmiths. They are all over the world now but are genetically related to tribes in the Himalayas, Pakistan and India.

A Japanese Holiday

We were in Tokyo for the holidays and the experience was wonderful. The Japanese people totally grab onto the Christmas tradition. Santas, reindeer, sleighs, lights and happiness is everywhere. Look one way and it’s Italian social groups doing a wonderful job in lighting and designing thousands of colored bulbs. Look the other and it's the Ginza.

Swarming Crowd

Colored lights are everywhere with swarming groups of young people flooding the streets in wild holiday costumes. The costumed groups are looking for and finding fun and excitement on the Ginza.

As we surged with the crowds we were eagerly anticipating our Christmas Dinner that night at the New York Grill in Shinjuku. The restaurant is in the Park Hyatt Hotel that Lost in Translation with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson was filmed in a few years ago.

Australian Singers

Walking in the steps of Bill Murray, we arrived that night at the NY Grill all set for a special holiday feast. They had a five-course Christmas menu that started off with Seared Prime Ahi with Snow Crab and Ossetra Caviar. We proceeded to Goose Liver Confit, Steamed Rock Lobster, Yamagata Tenderloin and finally finished with Hazelnut Caramel Mousse with five spice Ice cream. That was one fine meal. A special treat afterward was a group of Australian singers that serenaded us with holiday greats well into the night. We made our way back to the Maronouchi hotel using a cab whose automatic doors opened for us to get in. We called it a night with visions of sugarplums dancing in our heads.

The Great Tohoku Earthquake

Let’s help Japan with her Earthquake and Tsunami. Would ordinarily say let’s travel there and spend some of our tourist dollars to help the people but it seems like it will be quite a long time until Japan is receiving guests again. Thankfully, the world is coming to the aid of the resilient Japanese people.

 Click here to help: http://is.gd/Rbxn7X

In 1989 I experienced the 6.9 Loma Prieta quake in SF California. It was so powerful my Victorian wooden house swayed like a palm tree and I couldn’t stay on my feet. It was brutal, but compared to the 9.1 in Japan the Bay Area was relatively lucky. Even though we lost the Bay Bridge, the Cypress Structure, with 63 killed, 3,757 injured and 3,000 to 12,000 homeless, Loma Prieta was dwarfed by the Japanese quake. The Japanese quake was 30 times stronger with 100 times the ground motion and 900 times the energy release. The Japanese Prime Minister said that the quake catastrophe is second only to the damage done to the nation in World War Two.

I’ll end my post on a bittersweet note remembering some beautiful Japanese places we’ve seen. Serene Fuji San and Takayama calm my mind. Japanese people have the will and durability to bring their country back from the ravages of the tectonic plates. We must do all we can do to help them. It will take time but Japan will return to Serenity.

Mumbai, My City, My Family- Thanksgiving 2008

Gateway of India, Taj Palace and Tower

I had just returned from a three month volunteer position in Cambodia and I was on top of the world. I loved the work I had done and the people I met, I was looking forward to a big family gathering at my sister’s house for Thanksgiving and my experiences of the last year had been the ultimate natural high.

We drove from our home in the San Francisco Bay Area on Nov 26^th, 2008 to Los Angeles and checked in to a lovely hotel near Rodeo Drive. (We try to savor the Hollywood life occasionally!) Had a lovely Thanksgiving eve dinner and went to bed early on preparation for the festivities with our family the next day.

We awoke on Thanksgiving, ordered room service coffee and turned on CNN. The news of the attacks on Mumbai hit us like a block of concrete. We watched in horror as we saw video of the attack and burning of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, the railway station covered in blood and heard other accounts of attacks around the city. On the happiest family day of the year, we watched this unbelievable juxtaposition.

Elephanta Island

We had been in Mumbai at the Taj Palace in the very rooms that were being attacked less than a year before. We were there for a close friends wedding. Mumbai welcomed us with open arms. We made friends and added many people to or extended family. The staff at the Taj hotel were warm and genuine. They gave us excellent site-seeing advice and were always ready to help us with our every need. When I asked for help dressing in a saree for the wedding a female staff member gladly came to our room and taught me the secret of wrapping the garment including quite a bit of flattery about how I looked beautiful and very Indian!

As I left the hotel for the wedding every staff member I met, including the doorman complemented me on my adopted dress with genuine delight and flattery.
  

Every day in Mumbai was an adventure and no matter where we were, we reveled in the culture, warmth and even the culture shock of many of the sights. We love Mumbai, so alive and so full of potential. So, when we woke that morning to the horrifying news I felt as if my own city and home were being attacked. I thought “How can they do that to my city and my family?”

Later that day we had a wonderful visit with our family for Thanksgiving, but the thoughts of Mumbai were always there. When we were toasting at dinner I added my own, “Let us remember and send love to the people of Mumbai.”

Mahatma Ghandi's House- Mani Bhavan

I know my family appreciated the toast but I sensed that the impact of the day had not affected them as it had my husband and me. I was thoughtful and realized that because I had traveled and explored Mumbai I had an attachment to the city that I could not expect of others.

All of this reinforced my strong belief that travel is so important. It is harder to think of people as “the other” once you have been part of there country and culture. This is my mission. I hope others will make it theirs too.

I want everyone to know what a wonderful country Cambodia is. The citizens are friendly, the history is fantastic and the culture is warm and mesmerizing.

I lived there in 2008 and 2009 and worked as a volunteer in Battamambang and could not have had a better experience as an ex-pat anywhere. The friends I made will be life long. I know that when I return, how many years it will be, I will be welcomed and loved as if it was yesterday.

I met a wonderful young man who works as a guide there. He invited me to his wedding and at one point when he was speaking to his guests on stage at the reception I was standing witin his sight of vision. He looked at me and in front of the entire crowd of Cambodians said, " I want to thank my Auntie Tami for being here, she has always supported me and told me to follow my heart, I am so happy today because she is here." Wow what a wonderful thing to say.

He later told me that he was nervous addressing the crowd but when he looked up and saw me standing there and smiling it gave him confidence to speak and he felt the love that I was sending to him and his new life.

Yes it all sounds corny but as Americans we are full of love. Let's spread it around the world. Let us show that we are excepting of all cultures, races and religions. We thrive on learning new things, changing ideas, and evolution of our society.

America is truly the melting pot and it is every Americans obligation to hold up this ideal!