another cliché
travel blog

I woke up well before my alarm went off at 7 and just laid about listening to the ocean and enjoying the sky getting bright.

Around 7, I got up and helped Wade with breakfast. Around 8:30, Six horses and two guides showed up in the back yard to take us on horseback to a waterfall for rappelling. It was my first time on a horse in probably twenty years, but the horses were probably so well trained (broken?) it probably wouldn’t matter f I had never rode before.

Rode out to the waterfall, rappelled down it, then headed back to the ranch where Carlos’s wife Rita had some fruit waiting for us. Papaya, something, and something called guavanaba. It was similar to durian, but sour, smelled normal and was milky white and somewhere between a paste and mucous. Getting past the texture was a bit rough, but after that, I kinda liked it!

We rode back along the beach, where the horse I was riding , Maravilla (Wanderer, evidently) decided to gallop. Couldn’t blame her for that, so I just did my best to hold on. Made it back to the house safely, took a quick dip, and had lunch.

Wade, Amy, and I went to town for supplies (and Wade needed a new pair of sunglasses for tomorrow), then we laid low for the afternoon and nursed our saddle sores.

After landing, we got our rental car (where the dude made a big stink that we were waving the insurance because Wade’s travel card covers it), hit the grocery store, then did the half hour drive on the “highway” to the house.

Holy. Crap. When I imagine a tropical getaway, this is it. It’s open air, woven roof, and thirty steps to the beach. We spent the day napping and lounging about, checked out the ocean. The beach is interesting: nice fine sand at the waterline, but a hard rock shelf that extends wayyy out to the break at maybe a meter deep.

After passing out for four hours, I woke up and helped finish up dinner: tostadas con carne adobado. Following dinner, we cleaned up and made a fun discovery:

We were surrounded by these guys. Hundreds of them ranging in size from smaller than a quarter to dungeness size. So we spent some time playing with them, before clearing the pool of them and hopping in for a quick soak. Occasionally we’d hear a “plop” signaling it was time to turn on our headlamps, grab the net, and remove the crab that had just joined us.

After that got old, we got out, showered off, played a few hands of five crown, and called it a night.

Drove to work in the morning to hopefully ease getting to and from the team’s offsite in Santa Cruz, but instead missed the morning activities (hanging out and hiking at Natural Bridges). Instead, I got pulled into a few different meetings, then drove down and hit up Verve for a cup of cold brew and monkey bread (their version uses croissant dough. Good, but I like ours better), which conveniently was two blocks away.

After lunch/saying goodbye to Jen with the group at Assembly, I drove up to meet Tiffany and Wade. True to form, I was a half our late and met them at 4, rather than 3:30, but we still had plenty of time. The flight to Denver, where we met Amy was uneventful. In DIA, Wade and I screwed around until Tiffany scolded us into behaving.

The flight to San Jose from DIA was easy, though I didn’t sleep much. Immigration and customs were about as efficient as in the US, so it took us a bit to clear them. Once through, we got our boarding passes for our flight to Puerto Jimenez, then some yogurt and pastries for breakfast.

The plane for Puerto Jimenez was tiny! Three seats to a row, maybe ten rows. The airport in Puerto Jimenez was even smaller!

Sunday

Cafe Ronin in the morning (iced latte and the dirty ronin sandwich, bread, emmentaler, “chorizo”, more like linguica, hard boiled egg, and lettuce)

Cab ride to Changi airport.

They have a butterfly garden, crayon rubbing station for kids, a koi pond.

Flight to TPE was uneventful.

Got mediocre veggie ramen. Boarded flight to SFO. Was happy to be home.

Saturday

Breakfast at Ronin, my new favorite cafe. Full stop. Had the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had, and French toast with whipped honey butter, pistachio crumbles, and blue berry compote.

After breakfast, walked around little India and Arab street. Sat out and had a couple beers and talked with Mitch

Grabbed the big bear burger (house-made bun, beef patty, egg, onion ring, sauce) at I Am. Damn good burger.

Went to the Gardens by the Bay, huge botanical gardens/arboretum thing. Quite pleasant. Realized once again how spoiled we are living in California. Half or more of the plants there grow like weeds back home. The California section itself was pretty amusing: mostly oranges with some grapes and thyme. Huh.

Dinner at Lagnaa (Justin had the fish curry, Mitch had the chicken tikka masala, and like four mango lassie, I had the palak paneer). Good, but not really remarkable.

2018 edit: Looking back from, Ronin is still my favorite cafe in the world.

Friday

Checked out of hotel and into an incredible Airbnb, rented out by a nice young brit headed to a hen party in Thailand for the weekend. Got settled, then went to Forty Hands for coffee.

Got pseudo lost walking and wandered through the hospital campus. Holy crap it’s sparkly clean.

Had some coffee (passable) and a fairly tasty eggs Benedict with steak and curry spices (very good) at Forty Hands.

Met up with Mitch and Justin at Tian Tian, a stall in a hawker center known for having the best chicken rice (local dish that is exactly that). Simple, but great flavor.

Hiking in the treetops, chili crab at Jumbo’s for dinner, night market at the red dot design museum.

Thursday

Work in the morning, finished around lunch time. Checked out Arab street while everyone else worked. Poked my head into supermama, a cute little Japanese shop with amazing pottery and stuff, but they hadn’t opened yet. Told me to come back tomorrow at 7 for their opening party.

Very good dinner at Ding Dong.

Me:

• Duck dumplings in shiitake broth
• Carbon battered shrimp
• Duck tacos
• Scotch quail eggs

Katie:

• Chicken Cole slaw

Mitch:

• Mango 6 ways for dessert
• Main of some sort

Justin:

• Shrimp and broth
• Hamachi sashimi
• Chocolate madness

Wednesday

Sarnies cafe for breakfast, then worked in the morning, then checked out the Merlion statue, walked around the bay, then grabbed satay from the night market thing at the base of the Google office. Talked about basic income, socialism, life, the universe, and everything with Mitch.

Tuesday

Sarnies for breakfast, work. Got positively drenched on the walk back from the office to the hotel. Managed to borrow an umbrella from reception, but it was nearly useless.

Got changed, went to Blue Ginger for dinner. Not a crowd pleaser. Not bad, but not good.

Monday

Went to Sarnies cafe for breakfast/coffee, then worked.

Got dinner at that Indian chain Bethany and I had for lunch our last day in Delhi. Still quite good, but not quite as good. Will have to try the location in Sunnyvale.