Tracy – Page 19 – Tracy Tran

Travel

Singapore: Straight Edge Fun

Note: So, I’m back from Asia. I had spotty wi-fi all through out, but managed to write a few posts on my many 6 hour bus rides. I thought I had published this, but oops! It was still in draft form. Well, here we go.

I didn’t know what to expect from Singapore. What’s a depressive yet fun loving San Franciscan to do when visiting the world’s most famous nanny state? A lot, apparently.

“Just don’t get any spankings” as my mom says.

We started the trip off by rolling into Singapore for 3 nights. Any more and my Asia budget would have been shot. Everything here is American prices or worse. 8-14 dollar beers at the bar my friends. Singapore does not want you to drink. 9 dollar tiny tubes of sunblock. Help!

Here are a few things I enjoyed during my short time in SG.

-Stayed in up and coming Little India. Not a great night life, but a good buzz down here. Some pretty cool temples too.

-Visited the National Museum and learned about Singapore’s insane history. The exhibits here are interactive and totally engrossing. The one on Singapore rock and roll is pretty cool. If you flew in on Singapore Air flash your boarding pass and get 20 percent off the entry fee.

-Splurged on a Singapore Sling at the gorgeous world heritage site and operating hotel Raffles Hotel. Drinks are 30 bucks a pop so have one and then move along….

-Wandered Haji Lane, the hipster part of town. Except don’t go there before 1pm because nothing is open. Learned that the hard way. Twice. Sigh.

-Visited the Four Barrel of the Far East. Stumbled upon Chye Seng Huat Hardware when walking around my neighborhood on the last day. From the Japanese pour over to the tasting classes, bamboo bikes, custom aprons and Lana Del Ray on the speakers I thought I had stepped through a portal back to San Francisco. The prices were worse if you could believe it. Five bucks for a tiny cup! Not even 8 oz.

-Ate my money sorrows away at the hawker centers. There was a trip to Maxwells for chicken rice and oyster cakes of course.

Also ate so much laksa. It’s this seafood curry noodle soup that has such a rich broth. Not for the faint of heart.

-Had vegetarian Indian food for breakfast. HEAVY.

Other memorable breakfasts: toast sets at ToastBox or chicken and egg sandwiches at McDonald’s.

-Took a bus to the Night Safari and got up close with elephants tigers and giant flying squirrels. A bat even pooped right at me. 🙁 The cages are really more conceptual open air enclosures. Interesting.

-I met up with a few ancestors.

I had a fun time in Singapore. Really blown away by the deep mix of Malaysian, Indian and Chinese cultures here. Still, it wasn’t a place to stay forever. Too pricey!

Life, Travel

Asia, Again/ The Happy Place

It’s hard to believe, but in less than 48 hours, I’ll be headed off to Southeast Asia again.

This is my third time over there, and while I’m visiting a few new spots, I am mostly trodding well loved territory, although this time not with my family, or alone. Ryan is coming, which should be a treat. More for him, I think.

The pragmatist in me thinks “Why are you going back there? Shouldn’t you spend your money on new experiences? What about India? What about Burma? What about Nepal?”

For a while I didn’t know how to explain it, but it occurred to me the other night as I was doing a test pack: Southeast Asia is my happy place. Â I’ve worked through major breakups, death and a number of other issues there. It’s a place of intense healing for me. It’s just something about the tone of life. You can’t help but be moved by being there. I may have mentioned it before, but when I meditate or do thought exercises in therapy, the Mekong River in Luang Prabang is the #1 thing I think about to calm myself down. I mean, come on, look at this shit.

DOPE.

This trip was precipitated because last year I didn’t go to Vietnam, and I felt like I had made a mistake. For a year I’ve told myself that I have to get back to Vietnam.

**************************************************************************************

When I visited Vietnam seven years ago I met my family that was left behind in Saigon. I learned more about life and war by looking into their hard worn faces than I’d gathered from 22 years of books and stories.

Most notably, I’d been Chinese all my life, but once I went to Vietnam, I started feeling Vietnamese as well.Â (Unfortunately, this “Vietnamese feeling” does not qualify you for a visa discount at the SF Consulate). I left Vietnam changed, with two little sunspots on either side of my cheeks to prove it. I was there, it really happened. See, here’s the sun damage to prove it.

**************************************************************************************

So anyways, on the housekeeping front this longwinded, winding Â and maudlin post is all to say that I’m going back to Asia again for a couple weeks. We’ll be hitting Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam (oh, and South Korea too, sort of). I’m pretty excited, and hope to post a little bit here and there.

Since we’re talking about it anyways, I guess I want to mention that if you don’t already have a happy place in your heart, you need one. Think about it. Sit still for a second, and conjure up the last place where you truly felt free and happy. Think about what it felt like to be there. Try to think of a specific moment that actually happened to you. Maybe you were riding motorcycles somewhere 3,000 miles away, or maybe you were on the couch with the cat, drinking chocolate milk and basking in the late afternoon sunlight. Think about all the little details, like the burn of the sunscreen in your eyes, or the grit of the rocks in your shoes. Even if this place doesn’t exist anymore, hold on to this feeling. The more you practice remembering the moment the easier it is to conjure up in times of stress and pain.

If you do try this, tell me where your happy place is. I’m curious.

Art, San Francisco

Opera in the Park

Opera in the park > Symphony in the park.

Longer, stronger, and there were food vendors!

Bicycles, San Francisco

Bay Bike Share- It’s here! It’s here!

When I went to Montreal a million years ago (ok, four years ago), I was enthralled with their “Bixi” city bicycle share. The bright red bikes were tantalizing, and I wanted so badly to rent one and pedal down the physically separated bicycle lanes, pretending that I was French Canadian.

Alas, it was my first solo trip for pleasure. Also my first solo trip abroad. I didn’t have the nerves yet to risk biking in another country when I didn’t even know the local word for “HOSPITAL”. The years passed and I’ve changed my tune. I love traveling alone, and I love biking while traveling, whether I’m in DC or Cambodia. I haven’t had an international accident yet, fingers crossed.

So needless to say I’m pretty psyched about the new Bay Area Bicycle Share, which launched today! The stations in San Francisco are in tourist hotspots (downtown, Chinatown, along the water), which makes sense, since the bikes are intended for short trips- 30 min or so. I’m honestly not sure how these bikes help with the “last mile” problem, since all of this area is covered by public transport, but whatever.

I took the above photo the other day. I think it explains San Francisco pretty well. All the walks of life are represented 🙂 . The Asian businessman with an open container of beer, the Civic Center rabblerousers, European tourists, random teenagers, commuters. We’re all here, and we all want to poke and prod the gorgeous new bikes.

Prices seem pretty reasonable- 9$ for a day membership, 22$ for 3 days, and then you can also do a full year’s membership for 88$. Having a membership offers you unlimited 30 min rides during your time period. I have a bike but I have to admit I would love to try BABS out. Good for those nights I don’t want to drag my bike out, but need to get around fast.

Life

Impromptu Family Lunch

I posted this photo on my Instagram last week, but thought it might make sense to post it here too for my mom to see.

My aunt Jean lives in New Jersey. I’d heard my mom mention that my cousins Devin and Andrew were in LA visiting for a few weeks. And yet when I got an 8:40 am call from my aunt asking if I wanted to get lunch I was still shocked. My family just doesn’t make it to San Francisco very often. Like… what? Lunch? Ok!

My aunt and cousins were on some weird asian tour where they only had a few hours of free time before getting back on the bus. So, I shuffled things around to see them. We went to the Ferry building, sat by the water and talked business, which is probably the one thing that my family as a whole is most passionate about. CASH CASH MONEY. $$$. Well, family, then money. We talked the whole way back, realizing by the time I’d walked up to my office that we’d forgotten to take a picture together. And so- we took a photo next to my crazy desk at work. Totally more scenic than the Embarcadero, hahah.

It was good seeing them, especially since I never make it out to Jersey. Talking to my aunt about her latest business success definitely inspired me to keep messing around with side business ideas. Or rather, it’s giving me a swift kick in the ass to actually DO something. “Just try it, do a little bit, and see how it goes. You have to be willing to try” she says. When she said it, it made total sense to me. I’ve been in my head overanalyzing all the different things that I could do. My problem is that I really Â just need to DO Â something, anything. Then I can analyze and see if it’s working. I’m still thinking, but I’ve got some plans brewing.