The DipNotes

Between every assignment we get a special kind of vacation called “Home Leave“.   Home leave amounts to about 30 days of paid leave, but is not charged against our regular annual leave balance.  While the State Department will pay to fly us to/from any single address in the USA for home leave, it will not pay for meals and hotels, so many people go to their own stateside homes.  Well, Megan and I do not have a home, so we drive around and visit relatives and take in some sight seeing in America.   This year was a no different, as the map in the previous post shows.  We rented a car in Washington DC and returned it 3 weeks later with over 9,000 new miles on it.

After leaving DC, we drove to Nashville, and stopped at Graceland.  Then we continued to New Mexico to visit our daughter Nova.  While in NM, we all went down to White Sands National Monument, and then over to Carlsbad Caverns.

Nova at White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Carlsbad Cavern is a great place to visit, and most nights in summer you can watch hundreds of thousands of bats fly out of the cave after sunset.  However we had a large thunderstorm approach, and the distant sound of thunder kept the bats in.

Thunderstorm over Carlsbad, New Mexico

But the next day, we went down into the cavern for about 3 hours.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

After New Mexico, Megan and I drove across Arizona to one of our favorite stops.  Best Friends!  One place we go back to every time is an amazing, little known place called “Best Friends Animal Sanctuary”.   It’s the largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the world, and we volunteer there by working with care givers and helping re-socialize traumatized animals.  If you need a place to boost your Karma, this is it.

Best Friends is located in the southern Utah border just north of the Grand Canyon.  It’s also about 45 minutes from Bryce and Zion National Parks.  This place is ideally located to visit some of the most stunning scenery in America, plus you can help a lot of furry or feathered animals.  This time we worked in “Cat Village” which is composed of many houses each holding dozens of cats.  I usually work in Dog Town, which is now a TV Show on Discovery, but this year I devoted my time to the cats.  We even took one to our hotel in town, something all the local hotels allow.

Here are a few photos of Best Friends.  If you are ever in the vicinity of south central Utah / Northern Arizona, I highly recommend a visit!

Best Friends is located in Angel Canyon, in Kenab Utah.

Inside one of the kitty houses at Cat World at Best friends.

Each room in a kitty house has it's own outdoor play area.

Megan brushing a Kitty in one cat house in "Cat World"

Two of the lovely kitties we took care of at Best Friend's Cat World.

Angel's Rest is where those animals at Best Friends are laid to rest.

After Best Friends, we drove through Zion National Park to Las Vegas, spent 4 nights, and then headed across Utah to Colorodo.   There is some stunning scenery along that route!

Zion National Park, Utah

Spectacular Utah!

Looking across central Utah

Up over the Rockies, and almost hit an Elk..  Unfortunately for the car in front of me, as he totaled his car.  Then down the other side, and across Nebraska to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan.

In the UP, we headed to Mackinac Island, one of our favorite spots in Michigan.  Mackinac is unique in that no vehicles are allowed on the island, only bicycles and horses.  The whole island looks like the very early 1900′s.

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Mackinac's 19th century homes and hotels are wonderful!

Mackinac Island public transportation - horse and buggies!

We took a tour in a horse drawn carriage, and then headed south to Megan’s relatives about half-way down the state.  After a wonderful afternoon with family, we headed across Ontario to Niagara Falls, and then on to Vermont.

Normally, I would stop in at my mother’s home and tell her about my travels.  However, we had a sad end to our journey.  My mother passed away a week ago, and her committal was scheduled at the end of the month, just as our trip would be ending.  My mother loved to hear about our travels, so this trip is dedicated to her.  I love you Mom, and will miss you dearly.

My mother’s committal was emotional, as she is buried alongside my father and sister who died almost one year ago.  They are all in a wonderful Veterans Cemetery in Vermont, with a gorgeous view.

Megan and I are back in DC attending some training and consultations.   In between overseas assignments we come back to Washington and can take career improvement courses and take care of any personal business we may have here in the USA.  This includes getting our visas, and any medical issues for our upcoming assignment.

Washington is very hot and humid right now, but coming from Singapore I am not too uncomfortable.  Speaking of Singapore – I miss the food

Megan finished her Anti-Terrorism Driving Course last week, and we both will be in our Iraq Familiarization course later in the month.  Right now I am taking come computer courses while Megan is taking some leadership training classes.

The packers came and crated up all my household items to be shipped (by sea) to Maryland and stored there until  I get to my follow-on assignment in Budapest in 2012.  I had already sorted out all the items that will be shipped by air to Baghdad so they will be there when I arrive in September.   I am entitled to ship 300 lbs to Baghdad by air, plus whatever I have in my two suitcases.  I’m tossing in my Mac, Apple TV, and Keurig coffee machine in the air freight.  They will pick that stuff up two days before I fly out.  Anything else that won’t fit in my suitcase at that time will have to be mailed.

I depart Singapore on 1 July, and fly to Washington DC, where Megan will be waiting for me.  She left her post in Fiji yesterday, as she has to attend the FACT course, like I did before I went to Pakistan.  I’m taking some classes at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) for a month, and then on August 02, Megan and I rent a car and drive around the U.S. to visit relatives and take some time to play in Las Vegas.

Map of our Home Leave Route

We’ll be in training (TDY) all of July, and on leave all of August driving around the country.  On our trip, in addition to all the family visits, we’ll visit our daughter in New Mexico (C), spend some time working with the dogs at Best Friends (D), seeing some shows in Las Vegas (E) and head up to Quebec to watch the Quebec International Military Tattoo (M).   August will be a busy, but fun month for Megan and I to catch up after being apart for three years!

Last January, I was thinking about an old hobby of mine, metal detecting.  I haven’t done this in years, and wanted to get back into the hobby, but Singapore’s laws are so struct that I figured it was most likely illegal.  I asked around the Embassy, and all the locally hired staff agreed that the equipment was probably illegal.  They had never seen metal detectors before, and they are not sold anywhere in Singapore.  But on a wild whim, I email the local police and asked abut using one anyway.  After numerous to and fro emails, consults with both Singapore Customs and even the licensing department, everyone finally agreed that the equipment, while virtually unheard of in Singapore, was not illegal.  However, I would be restricted to only using them on private property (with permission) of which there is very little of in Singapore.  I could, however, also dig on the beaches, as digging in the sand is what people do at the beach anyways.  At that very moment – I got a little excited because anyone who uses a metal detector understands that people loose jewelry on the beach often.  In the United States there are dozens of people searching the beaches for lost jewelry with metal detectors, so the odds of finding something valuable is a lot of luck.  But since no one here does this.. the odds must be much better!  Little did I know just how much better!

So I set off and bought a top of the line model, the White’s Spectra V3i.  This machine (left) is fully programmable, uses three separate electromagnetic frequencies, and is considered one of the  best metal detectors on the market.  I also found a used underwater detector that uses a different technology (pulse induction) on eBay for $350.  This machine is designed specifically to work better on salt water beaches.

The Whites V3i and the White's Surfmaster P.I.

With these two tools, I set out to search the sandy beaches, and specifically the wet sand just after the tide goes out.   People play in waist-deep water, and that is where they loose their jewelry and coins.  The cool water shrinks your skin, and a little suntan lotion helps ensure they come off quickly!  They drop in a few feet of water, and are quickly buried in sand.  Most people never realize their jewelry is gone, until they leave the water – and by then it is lost forever.

Well.. not quite.  When the tide goes out, I come back and search the now exposed sand and easily find their jewelry and pocket change.  In Singapore, the best beaches to search are those at the resort island of Sentosa.  Here, thousands of tourist visit daily and many go into the water to play.  These beaches are small too, thus the area to search is narrow and thus concentrated!

A little geeky perhaps, but having a great time!

Over the last 6 months, I have fine tuned my skill and can now average $500  over 4 hours of searching!  I can locate a coin every 45 seconds, and a valuable gold ring every hour or two.  I also uncover junk jewelry (children’s jewelry or steel rings) every 30 minutes or so.  Armed with a nice sand-scoop I can recover the lost treasures quickly, without wasting a lot of time digging.  I’ve recently been going out only in the early morning (6AM) and at night (7PM) where the air is cooler, and the beaches empty.  It’s a very relaxing hobby!

Here is a photo of some of the “junk” I have found in two months – searching just 6 times – four hours each.

2 months of treasure found on Singapore's Sentosa beaches.

While discolored, these coins clean up easily in a jewelry rock-tumbler – the ones used to tumble stones into polished round gems.  I add some dish detergent, and some sand, and in a few hours these coins look new again!  I have found over $700 in coins in just 6 months.

But the real treasure is all the silver, gold, platinum and diamonds I have found!  All together, I estimate I have $7,000 in jewelry in the last 6 months.  Not bad for a stroll on the beach 3 or 4 hours a week!  Here are a few photos of just some of my finds.

I only have a few more days when I can search here in Singapore, as I am packaging up my stuff now for my move.  I will certainly miss this opportunity – as there are few places left on Earth where you can find this much treasure on the beaches, and have virtually no competition!

UPDATE:  Once back in the USA I sent some of my gold jewelry to an on-line gold buyer.  I got the following check in the mail a few days later.

Check for some of the gold I found in Singapore

Sadly, I went on my last local dive trip to the Rimba resort, on the east coast of Malaysia.  I do not know if I’ll get any diving in until after I leave my follow-on assignment in Hungary, but I am pretty sure I won’t be back here again.  There’s just too many places left to explore on Earth!   Anyway, here’s a sample of my last dive shots taken with my old 1990′s Nikonos V underwater film camera.    Not bad for a $500 camera set that produces images rivaling a modern $3,000 digital setup.

On this trip, at about 45 feet down we came across this fish pot sitting on the bottom collecting all kinds of beautiful coral reef fish. This area is a protected reserve, and so technically fishing is illegal, however Malaysian fishermen still sneak in at night and drop these pots. Whenever we find them, we open them up and free the trapped fish, as we are doing here.

Rescuing tropical reef fish from an illegal fisherman's pot

The Eagles came to Singapore for their “Long Road out of Eden” tour 2011.  Their security manager contacted my office for some advice, so I took him out to dinner to discuss their concerns.  This manager brought his friend Mark Reis along, who was the guitar technician for Joe Walsh.  I didn’t know this at first, and just took him around for several hours at night showing him downtown Singapore and helping him do some shopping for his wife.  The next day Mark emailed me and I was invited to be in the pit with him during the sell-out concert, which lasted three hours and covered 31 songs from The Eagles and also a few songs from both Don Henley and Joe Walsh’s solo career. Here’s the list from the performance:

Seven Bridges Road, How Long, Busy Being Fabulous, I Don’t Want to Hear, Guilty of the Crime, Hotel California, Peaceful Easy Feeling, I Can’t Tell You Why, Witchy Woman, Lyin’ Eyes, Boys of Summer, In The City, The Long Run, No More Walks In the Woods, Waiting In the Weeds, No More Cloudy Days, Love Will Keep Us Alive, Best Of My Love, Take It To the Limit, Long Road Out Of Eden, Walk Away, One Of These Nights, Life’s Been good, Dirty Laundry, Funk 49, Heartache Tonight, Life In The Fast Lane, Take It easy, Rocky Mountain Way, All She Wants To Do Is Dance, and finally Desperado

What a fantastic concert!!!!

The first ever Youth Olympic Games are being held here in Singapore, and they end tomorrow (26 Aug, 2010).  There were 3,530 young athletes representing 204 countries that came to the first ever Olympic Event in Singapore.

This event was created by the International Olympic Committee and it is modeled after the normal Olympics except the participants must be between the ages 14-18.  Events include swimming, diving, archery, gymnastics, basketball, fencing, rowing, judo, tennis, wrestling and many others.  They will hold a summer Olympics every 4 years, and a winter Olympics every 4 years and stagger them just as the adult Olympics.   The 2012 Winter Youth Olympics will be held in Innsbruck, Austria and will include alpine and nordic skiing, skating, luge, snowboarding and many others.

The Unites States sent 80 proud young Americans to this inaugural 2010 Summer Youth Olympics, but virtually no one back in the USA even knew about it.  There has been a virtual black-out on U.S. news about the event.  CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS are not covering it, and I have not been able to find one link online to any press coverage by any of these American media networks.  The only article I found on CNN.com was one that was entitled “Iran bans girls’ football team from Youth Olympics over uniform”.  Oh, IRAN… of course!  But that’s it?  Not a mention about our own team, or those of 203 other countries?  These kids deserve a lot more!

USA Youth Olympians

So while American news has decided these young athletes do not deserve any attention, our Embassy staff came out in force to welcome the 2010 Olympic Torch runner, and our Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission visited Team USA to show our support.

Torch Runner by the American Embassy Singapore

US Ambassador visits Team USA

Last May I discovered how easy and inexpensive it is to go SCUBA diving here in Singapore.  While the diving within Singaporean waters is not good, we are close some pretty worthwhile diving locations, and within short flights to some fantastic sites.

Since I have weekends off, I looked for sites that were close by, and a colleague of mine introduced me to a site off the Eastern coast of Malaysia called Sibu.  It’s a tiny island with a couple of resorts, one of which is basically upscale camping.  Lodging is in thatched huts, no hot water, no boat dock, no vehicles (no roads!), pretty basic.  It’s called Rimba and was just what I was looking for!  And the best part is the price – $220 for a full weekend that includes all travel, lodging, and meals!

Beach at Rimba

The staff are fantastic, and we quickly became friends.  They have arranged a Malaysian driver to pick me up at the Embassy in Singapore on Friday night after work.  He drives me across the boarder to a small fishing village about 3 hours away.  From there a high-speed boat whisks me away to the island of Sibu where the staff are on the beach waiting for my arrival.  After being in the big crowded city, it’s like arriving in a small paradise!

Rimba has a house-reef that starts at the shore.  It is shallow algae covered rocks to a depth of 2 to 3 meters (tidal) until you go about 50 meters from shore.  Then the real corals appear and the diving is not bad at all.  There are loads of fish, hard corals, and even a few Black Tipped reef sharks that seem to stay in the area.

Nikonos V underwater 35mm film camera

I have wanted to get involved in photography, but I wanted nice hi-resolution images suitable for large wall hangings.  The cost to do that with modern digital equipment starts around $3,000 and easily rises to $5,000.  However, the best underwater photography from the 1980-1990s was done with a unique camera designed by Nikon using 35mm film.  The camera was the Nikonos V that came out in 1984 and was built like a tank, didn’t need an underwater housing, could go to depths of  55 meters, and could use the best underwater lens ever designed – the venerated Nikonos 15mm UW wide-angle lens.  Even today this lens can not be matched for image sharpness as it was designed solely for underwater use and uses a special curved front lens to correct for water refraction/distortion.    Fortunately, no one wants a “film” camera anymore, and so these gems are available on ebay for under a $100!  A full kit can be found for $250 – which can produce images that rival the new $3,000 digitals.

I started hanging out on ebay and and nailed a Nikonos V for $76 in near mint condition.  I then added a $125 strobe, and a 20mm wide angle lens for another $70.  I picked up a few odds and ends, and won a Nikonos hard-case for a wooping 99 cents!  So for about $375.99 I have a camera system that can make poster size images!

I went out two weeks ago and so here’s my very first attempts with this system.  I have a bunch to learn and will go back out next week.

UPDATE! Check out my latest photos here!

Flag of Budapest

We got Budapest!

After we got our Baghdad assignment confirmed, I aggressively worked on finding a “Linked Tandem Assignment”.  Megan really wanted to go back to Europe, so I concentrated on that part of the world.  Here’s the full story:

When we bid on our normal assignments (after our first two directed assignments, the job of finding a new assignment rests in our hands) we are given a list of available vacancies for the upcoming year (we bid 1 year out) and then compete with everyone else for those assignments.  The gaining post first selects us, and then we have to convince the Bureau back in DC to choose us as well.  They usually go with what the post wants, but they do have the last say, and they can choose another bidder if they feel it would be best for the Department of State to do so.

So, once both parties (post and bureau) decide that they want you, they send you an email “hand-shake”.  If you still want the job, you accept the hand-shake and then HR back in DC has one more process to go through before the assignment is final (paneling).  This is the point where HR makes absolutely certain that you can take the job based on a review of your records and other criteria.  It usually goes smoothly, but nothing happens until you get paneled.  Once you are paneled, the assignment is yours.  You can start the process of looking forward to your new home… in a year.

However, when you accept an assignment to a war zone (Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan) you can bid on a follow-on assignment a year earlier – just after you get your hand-shake for the war zone assignment.  This means you are bidding on an assignment TWO years out, way ahead of your peers.  In fact, the assignments are not even listed in the usual way.  Instead, you have contact each Bureau and review the projected vacancies for that year.  Notice I said “you”.  No one helps here, and you are expected to do all this legwork.  You have to find a projected vacancy, contact the post to verify that it is indeed accurate, and then start networking with that post to convince them to hire you.  This is where a good resume, and good references come in!

so..

For Megan and I it was a bit tougher.  We needed to find TWO vacancies at the same post, for the same assignment period, at the proper pay grades.  Since Megan and I are the same job specialty (OMS) we has to find a large enough post that had two projected OMS slots that were not in the same office, otherwise we would never be able to take breaks at the same time!

I did the research with the European Bureau, and found four possible choices:  Brussels, Belgium; Berlin, Germany; Budapest, Hungary and Istanbul, Turkey.

I sent emails out to all four, and Brussels was the first to reply.  The post liked our resumes!
Berlin wrote back, but they wanted more information and they where a bit slow to respond.
Brussels wrote back quickly, but said no decision could be made for two weeks until their boss came back from leave.
Istanbul never replied.  I emailed three times, and even to Ankara but never got a reply.

So I did some research now and started emailing co-workers around the world.  I also went on-line to my favorite research site for post research – Tales from a Small Planet, and read their “Real Post reports” which are reviews of postst all over the world written by people who have already been posted there.  I looked up Berlin, Brussels and Budapest.  I gave up on Turkey.

The “Real Post Reports” pages has one all-important critique field that users fill out about a post they had just lived in.  They are asked “knowing what you know now, would you go back to that same post again for a future assignment”?  That’s a very probing question, and it sums up a lot.  People will write in “yes”0 or “no”, and then they tell why.  When you read these statements, and vet them against other factors so that you dismiss posters who are not in a similar situation as you, or do not feel the same way about certain issues, then you get a very clear picture of what to expect about the post.

Brussels came in dead last.   Only about half of the people who have been there would ever go back.
Berlin was a bit higher, but Budapest was an overwhelming 90%.

When it came to housing, everyone in Budapest enjoyed their homes, and the distance to work.  Brussels did not fare well here.  Most posters did not like the long drive to work, and said the homes where not liked that much either.  They also ALL complained about the weather.

So we then decided on either Budapest or Berlin… and since we have lived in Germany for 3 years (my USAF days), we decided to go for Hungary.

I then contacted HR in Baghdad for help.  Since they had just went through a lengthy and thorough review of our resumes and had actually reached out and interviewed our references, I asked them if they would please send their results to Budapest.  They agreed, and that would speed up the whole process for Budapest and reduce a duplication of work on their part!

I then contacted Budapest and told them we really wanted to take that assignment, an informed that that Berlin was also looking at us.  They said they would tell Bureau that they wanted Megan and I right away!  The next day we had our Hand-shakes, and a day later we got paneled!  It was very quick!

So now we have an assignment in the summer of 2011 to Baghdad (at very interesting time!) and a year later we head to Budapest for 3 years.  I am now all set until the summer of 2015 when we move to some other place!

In the Foreign Service we encounter lots of strange things, but one annoying thing is how the world handles names.  This wouldn’t be a problem except when we have to enter them into Western databases designed for the typical Brady Bunch format – Last, First, Middle. 

I just got a notice that “clearly” states how I should enter foreign names, and how to enter them into the name fields:  Name1 is the western Last Name, Name2 is the First name, and so on.  Here’s the actual helpful instructions I got:

• Example:  Jason Alexander Chow:  “Chow” goes in Name 1; “Jason Alexander” goes in Name 2.
• Example:  Chow Yun Fat:  “Chow” goes in Name 1; “Yun Fat” goes in Name 2.
• Example:  Chow Yun Fat Jason:  “Chow” goes in Name 1; “Yun Fat” goes in Name 2; “Jason” goes in Name 3.
• Example:  Jason Chow Yun Fat:  “Chow” goes in Name 1; “Yun Fat” goes in Name 2; “Jason” goes in Name 3.
• Example:  Shanmugam s/o Subramaniam:  “Shanmugam” goes in Name 1; “s/o Subramaniam” goes in Name 2.  (This name contains no true surname.)
• Example:  Mohamad bin Maliki bin Osman:  “Mohamad” goes in Name 1; “bin Maliki” goes in Name 2; “bin Osman” goes in Name 3.  (Again, this name contains no true surname.)
• Example:  Mohamad bin Maliki Jones:  “Jones” goes in Name 1; “Mohamad” goes in Name 2; “bin Maliki” goes in Name 3.

Now thats as clear as mud!

After much discussion, Megan and I decided it would be a good idea to take an assignment to the sand box together. The chances of being assigned there as a tandem are really high, the extra R&R breaks and extra pay will be fun, and hazardous posts usually help our career progression.

Baghdad assignment opportunities came out this week, and I found two I really like – one in the INL (Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement) and IM (computer systems). I sent off my resume to both, and INL has shown a lot of interest. They’ve called and emailed my colleagues and told one that so far I am high up on their list. The POL/MIL (Political/Military) office in Baghdad also saw my resume and emailed that they are very interested as well. No word from the IM folks.

It appears in all likelihood I’ll get one of these jobs, so now I need to make sure Megan gets a job too. That will be the deal-breaker. It’s pretty cool to have the cards in my hands for a change!

Sorry for not updating this blog in such a long time. I’ve been quite busy at work lately, plus getting away on weekends as much as possible.

The Embassy is hosting the Secretary of Defense (Gates) this weekend, and participating in the Shangri-La Dialogue (http://www.iiss.org/conferences/the-shangri-la-dialogue), a few Congressional Delegates, we just got our new Ambassador two weeks ago, my office is hosting an OSAC (http://www.osac.gov) meeting next week, plus my office (Regional Security) is hosting a large reception at the Ambassador’s residence in two weeks. Add to this the preparations for the 4th of July Event, always a big thing at U.S. Embassies around the world. Then I am working towards my Dive Master SCUBA certification at a beautiful resort in Malaysia – about 4 hours from home!

I’ll try and get a posting up with some more photos soon!

Peter

I just got back from a week in Sydney, one of my favorite cities. I flew down from Singapore (a 7 hour flight) and met up with megan who flew in from Fiji.  We had a great time, took in a bunch of sights, and ate far too much good food!

But today I am going to stray from my normal Foreign Service topics and share a bit from my photography hobby.

During the week in Sydney I took a ton of photos, and learned a new photographic technique called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.    Here’s a sample of HDR photos I took last week:

The skyline of Sydney, Australia

The Sydney Observatory

The Blue Mountains, a few hours west of Sydney

The Entrance to the Jenolan Caves

Jenolan Caves

Government House - the oldest government building in Sydney

When you look at these photos, you may think they are painted, as the details and colors seem unnatural.  However, this is the result of HDR imaging techniques.  You start by taking multiple exposures (both over and underexposed shots) of the same subject at the same time and then use a computer to process the individual exposures into one final image.  This brings out color and details that would otherwise be washed out or too dark.

Three photos of the same subject with different exposure lengths

Here’s how it works.  I took three shots of the Sydney Observatory; the first was overexposed, the second was just right, and the third was underexposed.  If you examine the “normal” photo (middle) you see that the sky is washed out and almost colorless, the reflections in the windows are weak and dark, and the purple flowers on the ground are almost invisible.  This is what most people would have walked away with.  But the overexposed image (first)  was able to capture the window reflections and shows the purple flowers in the shade plus the trellis nicely, however the sky is totally washed out and the building and roof are too light.   The underexposed (third) captured the beautiful sky nicely, but everything else is way too dark.

Now I combine them with a program called Aperture (Macintosh application) and the result is stunning!

The Sydney Observatory

Ok, the weather here is monotonous.  Everyday is the same:

- Morning:  Warm, and humid.  Bright sunshine.
- Afternoon:  Hot, with heavy rain showers, perhaps two or three.
- Evening:  Hot and very humid.

This is the weather here every single day, all year long.   It’s like ground-hog day.  No wonder it’s so green and lush.  A couple of days ago I was walking home from work after an intense rain shower.  I looked down at a culvert were rain water from the street was pouring out into a gutter.  It looked odd.. until I realized that what was sop strange was how clean the water was.  It was like drinking water!  I’ve seen water that clean in fast moving brooks in New Hampshire, but never from a street culvert!  The huge rainfall here (8 feet per year), combined with how well the Singaporeans take care not to trash their city, makes the streets very clean indeed.

Anyways, if you visit here be prepared for walking in an open sauna.  Eye glasses will fog up as soon as you exit a bus, or any building in the city.  The dense hot air will punch you in chest.

I need a break.

I just booked a flight to Sydney Australia for a week.   I depart on the 9th of April after work.  A few days on Bondi Beach should help!

One of the things that I most enjoy about the Foreign Service is being able to witness unique cultural events that most tourist would miss – simply because many only occur one day a year.  The Hindu festival of Thaipusam.  This festival was not advertised very well, and I had no idea what it was, or when it was.  A local Singaporean staff member at the Embassy suggested that I should go see it as it was quite unique.  I couldn’t agree more.  In fact – I would say that was an understatement!

Thaipusam Banner

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival that commemorates both the birthday of Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of god Shiva and his wife Parvati, and also the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (spear) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. One of the largest celebrations of Thaipusam occurs in Singapore so I took this opportunity to capture some of the incredible devotion witnessed during this festival.

The most potent propitiatory rite that a devotee of Shanmukha (one of the many names of Murugan) undertakes to perform is the Kavadi (a burden). The Kavadi-bearer observes strict celibacy and only pure, Sattwic food is eaten. He abstains from all intoxicating drinks and drugs and thinks only of God.

The simplest form of Kavadi is the Paal Kudum, which may entail just carrying a pot of milk, usually upon one’s head. However, the benefits that the devotee gains from offering a Kavadi to the Lord are a million-fold greater than the pain that he inflicts upon himself. Thus mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with Vel skewers is also common. The simplest Kavadi is a semi circular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders. They are decoratedwith peacock feathers, as the peacock was a mode of transport for Lords Murugan/Skandan/Kumaran). In addition, many have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The piercing through the tongue or cheeks keeps one focused constantly of Lord Murugan/Velan. It also prevents the devotee from speaking and greatly enhances endurance.

Other types of Kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a highly decorated cart, with the incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The belief is that the greater the pain, the more god-earned merit.

In most cases, the Kavadi has many brass bells adorning it which announces the Kavadi-bearer as he walks along. Since the Kavadi-bearer very often observes total silence, the bells are the only signs of a Kavadi procession. Devotees and Kavadi bearers walk barefoot, on hot pavement along the journey – which can take several hours! One of the largest celebrations of Thaipusam occurs in Singapore. This years’s festival was held at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple. Devotees had to walk from this temple to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, a distance of 4 kilometers with the hot equatorial sun bearing down on them. Along the journey, family and friends offer drinks to keep the bearer hydrated and sing devotional songs and praises of Lord Murugan/Saravabavan.

By the time they reach the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple many are in a high state of religious fervor. They dance in ecstasy at the temple door, jubilant that they have accomplished the prayers without any hindrance, while a large crowd gathers and chants Murugan name. Music blares loudly through outside speakers and the whole event is awe-inspiring; there is divine radiance on their faces. It is claimed that devotees often experience the state of feeling united with the Lord.

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Here’s a photo of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple.  This is here the festival started.  The temple, located in Little India (a suburb of Singapore) is the cultural center for many ethnic Indians.  There are several Hindu temples, as well as ethnic Indian shopping stores and food markets.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Close up of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Inside the temple, amongst exotic incense and hindu music, the devout where praying and offering food to their Gods and preparing to take their Kavadi.  Throughout the temple offerings were also made to other Hindu Gods.

Offering within the temple

The Sacred Cow

Goddess

The following Kavadi carts are pulled by the Hindu devotees as a burden. They must pull these carts four kilometers from the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple to the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple.  The carts are made of heavy wood or metal with lots of decorations and statues.  Pulling these in the high temperatures and humidity of Singapore must be brutal.

Kavadi carts

The following photo shows a devotee adorned with small milk pots on his chest and upper arms.  Each brass pot is filled with milk and then hung on the man using metal hooks pierced into his skin.

Man with milk pots

This man is looking away (above) probably as a distraction to what is going on behind him, where three men are attaching ropes to a Kavado cart for him to pull.  The ropes are attached attached to the devotee with large hooks deep into his back!

Men tie ropes to a kavadi cart

To stand there and watch this man get pierced like this… was the most intense thing I have seen in years – probably ever. This was not a magic trick like you see on the streets of Vegas! With a loud chant, and quick stabbing, members of his own family stuck the hooks into the lower back. Then they added some smaller hooks at the top, and weighted them down with coconuts just to increase the pain.

close-up of hooks into the back

The ropes are almost ready.  Once the slack is taken up he will be off on his 4 km journey. The outside air-temperature is 88F with about 80% humidity. The pavement is scorching hot, so of course he’s barefoot.

Devotee about to pull his cart

This man was all pierced, and was about to have his ropes attached to his back.  All the jewelry on his face is attached with hooks, and there is a large hook pierced through his cheek and tongue.  Of course he had to have some milk-pots adorning his chest, attached with fish hooks which jingled when he walked.

Another man showing his burden

Here is the same man pulling his cart, some three km already. Note the shadow of the ropes. The little lollypop looking things on his arms are small face sculptures. I saw another man getting those pierced earlier.. it took about 15 seconds to do each arm.

Second man pulling his cart

Here’s another form of Kavadi. Many men had these elaborate aluminum frames that they had fastened to their waist. Then spears are slid down and pierced into the chest and back. Some then had their tongues and cheeks pierced in such a way that talking would not be possible.

Man getting pierced with long skewers

Here’s a nice action shot… Too bad you can’t hear the chanting, music and smell the incense!

close-up of man being skewered

Here’s another look at him, almost ready to head out.   The whole frame set with skewers weights about 15 kg (33 lbs) and will be carried the whole 4 km to the temple.  But wait.. what’s that guy doing to his thigh?

Man with his own kavadi of skewers

Oh yah.. he needs his milk pots too.    So we’ll just hook them to a tender spot!

Milk pots hooked to the upper thighs

Here’s a photo of another devotee, all set to start his journey.

Man with spears ready to begin his journey

The following devotee was a man I came across some 3 km away from the starting temple.  He has only 1 more km to go, but he’s hurting! It’s not such much the spear through his cheeks… but see those tiny brass milk pots hooked to his back?

Agony with just one kilometer to go

Oh yah.., that’s got to smart!

milk pots en-mass on this devotees back

And if that’s not bad enough…

Bed of nail shoes

Ok, so he’s now within earshot of the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple, and the Hindu music is giving him a boost of much needed energy. In about 20 minutes he reaches the temple and his suffering will end. Hopefully he has endured enough of a burden to protect his family for the next year when he and thousands of others will do this again.

This year they claim just over 10,000 Hindus took part. Most did not endure this type of agony, but hundreds did. If you are ever in Singapore in April, 2011 be sure to stop by the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple and witness this incredible show of religious faith.

I’ll be there!

Almost there!

I took a stroll down along the Sinapore river at night and came across the Cavenagh Bridge, all lit up.  This bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore and is the only suspension bridge here.   It spans the lower reaches of the Singapore River in the downtown/marina area.  The bridge opened in 1870 to commemorate Singapore’s new Crown colony of the Straits Settlements status in 1867, and it is now the oldest bridge in Singapore that exists in its original form.   By 1910 the bridge was found to be unable to cope with increasing traffic, and it was restricted to just pedestrians, as it is today.  By the 1990′s colored lights were added, and now the bridge is a main tourist focal point within the riverside area.  This photo was captured with 7 second exposure to capture the colorful night lights.

(for a larger version click here)

Over the last two weeks I have been having an increasing backache, that was steadily getting worse. By wednesday the 30th of October the pain was getting aggravating and I had occasional spasms that shot down into my right leg. I still went to work, but in the afternoon I called an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in in the spine – Dr. Tan Chong Tien.  He  agreed to see me that afternoon and I took a taxi to his clinic, which was located in a large hospital not far from the Embassy.

He examined me thoroughly and diagnosed a herniated lumbar disk. At the time I could still move well enough to walk, and so the decision was made to place me on muscle relaxers, an anti-inflammatory drug, and a medication that helps with nerve irritation. I was also scheduled for physical therapy to start the following week. I did some research online and discovered this was the normal routine. On the 30th (Friday), I was at work, and not feeling any better. I had to stay seated to hand out candy to our staff’s children who came door to door within the Embassy for a mini Trick or Treat event. I felt like crap! When I went home that night I was in much more pain, so I took my meds and crawled off into bed.

Friday night was not fun. I couldn’t find a comfortable way to stop the pain, and by Saturday morning I was in severe pain and virtually unable to move without shooting pain down my right leg. I called Dr Tang and he wanted me to get to his clinic immediately. I called a taxi and when we got there the taxi driver went to get a wheel chair and help. A hospital orderly wheeled me up to Dr. Tan’s office were he quickly examined me. A shot of demerol for pain and I was rushed up to the ward to await an MRI.

Herniated Disk

About an hour later I was wheeled to radiology and an MRi was done. By then the demerol had reduced much of pain, but my right leg knee was numb. When I got back to the ward an IV was started and Dr. Tan came up with the news. My ruptured disk was now much worse, and a lot of disk material has squeezed up between two vertebrae and was pressing on the nerve that controls my right leg. He said I needed surgery, and with my permission he would schedule it for the next day. We talked for a bit and he described what he would do. He needed to cut a small window through the bone in my spine, and use micro instruments to remove the disk material that was causing the pain.

That evening I was started on an IV drip of morphine and I sleep quite well! The next day I the usual lab work and chest x-rays as I was going to go under general anesthesia. I have asthma, so the anesthesiologist ordered me a nebulizer treatment to reduce the risk of me having an bronchial-spasm (asthma attack) during the surgery. I was wheeled down to the operating room and when I saw my surgeon I begged him to please not screw up the nerves to my right leg as I wanted to ski again! With that, I saw the anesthesiologist push some drugs into my IV.

Suddenly I couldn’t breathe. I felt like my lungs had no air, and I I was very disoriented. I heard my anesthetist tell me to breath slowly and that I was going to be OK. I tried to sit up but but he held me down and told be that everything was ok, and that my oxygen saturation was 100%. I didn’t understand why I was having this reaction or feeling and then slowly I realized that the operation was over and I was feeling the effects of waking up, and having the endotracheal tube removed. That was a terrifying feeling, but I do remember that as soon as I heard that my O2 sats were normal I calmed down and even though I had a hard time breathing I trusted completely in the crew that were taking care of me. I worked for over 20 years in the medical field (sort of a cross between a nurse practitioner and a paramedic) when I was in the Air Force and learned to trust my colleagues completely. This helped me remain calm while they continued to work on my recovery. I was also amazed that I had no memory of going to sleep, and was surprised to learn the surgery lated 3 hours.

Dr Tan told me that the rupture was worse than he had thought, and the disk material had worked its way around the nerve root and quite a ways away from the original damage site. My back was stitched up and I was left with a 2″ scar. Within a few hours I was more awake and had absolutely no pain or notable soreness. I could move me legs easily, and wanted to get up, but was asked to remain in bed all day and night.

The nurses were first rate, and checked on me all night. All I wanted to do was go home, but Dr. tan insisted I stay in the hospital for two days so he could watch for bleeding and any other complications. I refused all my pain meds, as I didn’t need any. I felt zero pain, over the next two days became quite restless and wanted to go home so bad. I am not a good patient, probably the result of being on the other side of the bed for so many years.

When I checked out I got the bill. In Singapore, everyone has health insurance – and foreigners are also expected to pay. I signed the bill which came to about $15,000 in U.S. dollars. That covered the inpatient care on the ward for 2 days, ICU care for 1 day, the operating room suit, the surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the lab work, and the MRI. I have the Foreign Service benefits Plan health insurance, which is a U.S. Government sponsored health care system much like what our members of congress get but with additional features for Foreign Service members serving overseas.  The Embassy picks up any costs that the insurance doesn’t which in this case was my deductible and co-pay. I paid absolutely nothing out of pocket, plus the Embassy agreed to pay for any care that I receive relating to this incident for the next 12 months. This is one of the benefits we get when we are admitted to a hospital overseas.

I took the rest of the week off, and had time to think about this whole situation.  The medical care in Singapore is so good that the U.S. State Department sends its members here for care from posts all around the Pacific.  I had called a leading orthopedic surgeon, a specialist in spinal care, without a referral and got in to see him that same day.  When I needed an operation, I was admitted to a first rate hospital within hours of calling and had high-tech micro surgery done within 24 hours.  Singapore healthcare is first rate – and is definitely Government sponsored.   Yet I never saw or heard from a single bureaucrat during this whole incident.  All my care was worked out between my doctor and I.   There was no government and no insurance company people involved at any time.

I also felt pretty good that I worked for an organization that helped me when I was down, and gave me the time to recover. And not having to pay a medical bill is the best part of all! I hope someday all Americans can enjoy the same access to quality health care every other industrial democracy in the world has – with the sole exception of the United States. I think its hypercritical for our members of Government to deny our citizens the same access to healthcare they enjoy themselves.

I went for a short stroll behind my house, which just happens to be the Singapore Botanic Garden.   It’s A wonderfully beautiful place, just a few minutes walk from my door.  This free park is about 1.5 miles long and is only botanic garden in the world that is open from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every single day of the year.  The gardens, now over 150 years old have over 10,000 types of plants and trees, including over 1000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.  The Singapore Botanic Garden also includes access to the National Orchid Garden, a visual spectacle of over 60,000 dazzling orchid-plants set against contrasting textures and shapes of tropical foliage, creating a feast for the senses.  Additionally, this is one of only two city parks in the world with tropical lowland rainforest within the city boundaries (Rio De Janeiro has the other).  The Garden also offers lots of courses from bonsai tree growing to a Nature Photography course which I signed up for in June/July.

While I was visiting the Garden, the weather suddenly turned and dumped a few inches of rain within a very short time , and then it cleared up just as fast.  It’s no wonder Singapore has an average precipitation of 7.5 feet of rain per year!

I got in to Singapore last evening, and was greeted by my boss and my co-worker.  The three of us make up the office, and it was a nice gesture to see them at the airport!  My sponsor (a Foreign Service Officer in Public Affairs) was also there, and he took me to my new apartment.  I was told I may have to spend a few days in a hotel upon arrival, but the Embassy was able to have my condo ready for my arrival so I got to go straight home.

The weather was quite warm, probably low ’80s at midnight, with the humidity around 80%.  I spent about a 1/2 hour chatting with my sponsor, and he showed me around the apartment.  I have a lot to read, with a large packet of material on both the condo, appliances, Embassy guidelines for Singapore, and lots of brochures from the Singapore tourism office.   My sponsor is picking me up at 10 AM to take me to the Embassy so I can start in-processing, so I crawled off into bed and left everything in the suitcases.  The next morning I awoke to the sounds of unique bird calls, as my apartment is right next to the Singapore National Botanical Gardens.  I had a look around the condo grounds, and then got ready for my first day at the office.

U.S. Embassy, Singapore

The Embassy looks brand new, but that’s just because it was very well built, and well taken care of.  I have never been in a building with so much marble, except in DC.  It’s quite a beautiful place to work.

My office is (as it was in Pakistan) the Regional Security Office (RSO) and seems like a nice work environment.  We have a computer dedicated to playing music and a good sound system – something that is quite rare in the more secure areas of an Embassy – and I think the only such system in the whole building.  My boss told me to bring in as much music as I wanted and we’ll blast the place with tunes!  I like this place already!

I had shipped a bunch of boxes ahead of me, and they are all stacked up in a corner here.  Some have office junk from Pakistan, and then there’s a few boxes of dry goods from the USA that I shipped while in New England.  I also packed 2 large boxes of clothes so my suitcases would be lighter – but clothes that I wanted to be here before my normal airfreight from Pakistan arrives.  In theory, airfreight should get to our next destination long before e do, but the reality is that they often hold on to it until we actually show up at post, and then arrange to send it out.  It can take a few weeks to arrive, so I mail a bunch of items too, which always seems to work well.

Korean Chicken Noodle Soup

At lunch, I was taken to the nearest mall (3 minute walk) and introduced to the #1 method that Singaporeans eat out – the Hawker center.  These are an assortment of food stands inside “food courts” where a single family cooks specialty dishes, all from scratch.  Unlike the USA where mall food is pretty much the same from mall to mall all across the country, in Singapore there are thousands of hawker stands and each one if different.  The individual shop owners cook family recipes handed down from generation to generation, all cooked to order.  Prices are quite inexpensive  and my first taste of Singapore was Korean chicken noodle soup, which also had crab, beef, tofu, and an egg in it.  The cost, with rice and some kimchi was $4.50.  I’ll try more adventurous dishes later.

To drink, I enjoyed a fresh juice made from fresh mango’s, bananas, and pineapple.  The Singaporeans love fresh fruit, and fruit stands seem to be everywhere.  While they certainly serve cut up fruit (with many varieties I have never seen), they also all will be happy to turn them into juices or even smoothies.  I think for every person I saw drinking a soft drink, there was probably 30 to 40 who where drinking fresh juices.

I stayed at work all day, and only left when my boss left.  First impressions are important, and jet-lag was not too bad – I think a new office, new co-workers, and a new building were exciting enough to keep me awake.  Tomorrow may a bit tougher!

I decided to walk home, as it was a straight shot from home to the Embassy, and didn’t seem too far, plus, I had not yet bought a bus pass, nor do I have any idea yet how to use them.  In the Foreign Service, when we first arrive at a new post and have no clue where we are, what to eat, how to get around, etc… these first days are the most exciting for me!  Within a few days I will settle in to the rhythm here, and quickly get used to my surroundings.  The mystery will be gone.  I can’t peak for all Foreign Service members, but I LIVE for this feeling!  I feel so alive, and full of wonder, like a child on his first day to a zoo or amusement park.

My walk home

The walk home was an easy 20 minutes.  It took me past the Botanical gardens, and along a straight road to my apartment.  One nice thing here is that you don’t see any trash on the streets and sidewalks, not a cigarette butt, bottle cap, or anything except a few leaves.  The air is clean, and the amount of green has certainly surprised me!  I will admit though, the humidity here is nasty!  I walked just 20 minutes and was covered in sweat.  I hope I can acclimatize to this!

The next morning (Saturday), one of the first things I did was dig out my bathing suit from my suitcase and jump in the pool.  The outside temperature was about 88F an so this felt so good!  In the afternoon I’ll head downtown to learn how to use the bus and metro system and start to explore my new city.

The pool

Typhoon Melor

I landed in Tokyo for a one-night rest-stop before continuing on to Singapore. My arrival here is my first time in Japan, and I must admit I am very impressed with the efficiency of the airport, public transportation and hotels. As I walked towards the airport’s bus/taxi stand some of the dozens of airport staff noticed a very slight hesitation in my step. Someone came up, asked me where I was going, and pointed me to the bus ticket counter. As soon as I got my ticket, another airport staff member explained the system to me, and led me to the correct bus stop. When the busses arrive, they are greeted again by airport staff who help passengers off, and other staff who load the bus’s cargo bay and assist passengers on. With a polite bow to the bus driver and passengers, the staff wish us all a safe journey and then proceed to help the next group. This same level of attention was seen at each bus stop, and each hotel entrance.

I arrived the evening before Typhoon Melor came to shore, which by morning had wind gusts to about 50 mph. I saw many Japanese employees, shoulders shrugged against the wind walking to work, struggling with bent umbrellas and wind blown hair.  Needless to stay, the rain and wind kept me at the hotel much of the day.  I headed back to the airport in the afternoon to board my flight to Singapore.

PS:  The hotel was my very first experience with a Japanese bidet-style toilet.  More homes in Japan have one of these toilets than personal computers.  They wash your undersides with warm water, and the user can control the temperature and water pressure.  Other features can include water oscillation, noise-blocking background sound, foul odor remover, heated air dryer, MP3 player, internet ports, and more.  When I first walked into the bathroom I just stared at the toilet, not sure if I needed money.  I immediately thought of Captain Kirk, and then sat down to explore my new world (insert your favorite Uranus joke here).

Bidet-style toilet