Xray Vision and other nonsense
Ever since I saw Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” episode on Singapore I’ve been wanting to try tulang. It’s sort of a local halal version of osso bucco featuring delicious marrow sucked out of stewed bones with a straw.
My friend Stephen sent me an interesting article about the meaning of Democracy in Thailand and opinions on the current civil unrest. It’s a good read and puts things in a certain perspective. Westerners should stop expecting Asian democracies to function the same as Western democracies, though from looking at what’s going on in the U.S.A these days I’m not so sure that deomcracy is really functioning in the West either… but hey, it’s the best we’ve got and in Asia they are also working with the best they’ve got.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=130820
Last night YT picked me up in his cool Citroen. YT, Michael Lim and myself headed over to the Little India part of Singapore to dine at the Apolo Banana Leaf Curry restaurant. It was delicious, especially the big bowl of fish head curry! Yum. Afterwards we walked through Little India was was lit up beautifully for the Festival of Lights, Deepavali. (more…)
Some more intereting flavors from Indonesia:
Dunkin’ Donuts Durian filled donut
Dunkin’ Donuts Melon filled donut
Dunkin’ Donuts Taro donut
Durian Ice Cream
Corn Ice Cream (this, by the way, is excellent!)
The Indonesian word for “white guy” is “bule” pronounced “boo-leh”. Similar to the Japanese “gaijin” or Thai “farang”.
After my Natto breakfast I met up with Denny and headed over to the MediaBlitz building. I met Andez, an animator who owns his own studio and teaches at Digital Studios. I also met Udo who stage managed the event and Indah who MC’d. I interviewed for a podcast and went to lunch with Andi, the owner of Digital Studios as well as Paula and Mita from Koelnmesse, the producers for SIGGRAPH Asia.
This morning I went down for breakfast at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel,
where I’m staying in Jakarta. Of my own free will I chose to eat a bowl
of soba noodles with natto from the Japanese portion of the buffet. I
liked it. Rie must really be rubbing off on me.
After 20 some hours of flying I landed in Jakarta, Indonesia. I sped through immigration and customs with minimal imperial entanglement and met one of my sponsors, Denny. We met up with Romy when we got to the hotel where I freshened up quickly then hit up the food alley behind the hotel for a quick snack of spicy duck heart jerky over rice. There was a place next door that serves dog, cat and cobra meat as well. I’ve got to work up the nerve to try that one. We took a tour through old Batavia, checked out a puppet musuem and grabbed a coffee at the touristy Cafe Batavia. I told them I’d want to go somewhere a bit off the map for dinner so they took me to a locals only Indonesian place where I feasted on a bowl of fruit bats sauteed in very spicy chile sauce. 
This is the first picture I took in Jakarta. It’s Denny from Digital Studio College who picked me up at the airport and guided me around the city during my stay. Denny is a great guy and along with his friend Romy were wonderful goodwill ambassadors for Indonesia.
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