another cliché
travel blog

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.

Shortest fourteen hour flight ever. Stayed up till close to three pacific time, then slept most of the way. Routinely woke up with a mouth that was bone dry (an awkward feeling) so took a sip of water from a bottle that magically appeared itself in my seat and went back to sleep.

Made some progress on the transcript for The Web Ahead episode 113, but evidently mostly slept.

The connection flight was easy. Finished out the transcript and started reviewing and correcting it.

It’s almost 90 degrees and humid as fuck in Singapore. What the shit.

Got off the plane, took a cab to the hotel, changed, and started exploring. Ended up on Duxton lane, found a cute little bookstore, then found a Spanish tapas place, that of all things, had Jamon Iberico. That was awesome.

Justin met up with us, then the three of us walked back to the hotel, met up with Katie, and all four of us got dinner at The Public Izakaya. Meh.

Made it out of Delhi no problem, it was an easy flight to Zurich. I slept most of the flight, though I didn’t realize it until I saw that we only had 1,100km left to fly. We got into Zurich at 6:30 as planned, then made it to the Google office there. Ate breakfast, got coffee, answered emails, took a shower, then back to the airport. Felt exactly like a Google office.

I’m beginning to think Marx had it right. I can go to basically any major city in the world, eat, sleep, shower, work out, play, or work without having to ask ANYONE. By being able to enter the building, it’s proof that I have been granted the rights to do so. It’s a head trip.

Upon Bethany’s urging, I checked my flight info again and found an off by one error in how google figures travel arrangements. I’M GOING HOME!!!

India’s been great, but I’m ready. This trip has made me realize that one thing I really value is potable tap water.

So, last day: we had brunch at the hotel, slowly got ready and answered work email, and left the hotel around 2:30. We walked over to Jantar Mantar, an observatory built in in the 18th century to tell time, now made unworkable by the surrounding buildings, then over to the India Gate, a arch built by the British to commemorate the young men they got killed fighting in wars on the other side of the world.

We got back to the hotel room, packed up, met up with Bethany’s friend Ajit for dinner and ice cream, then headed to the airport.

We got up early for yoga, had an ok session (The instructor tried to force me into a headstand, which is always a good maneuver), then breakfast. Bethany dashed to the airport, I packed up, then stashed my stuff with the front desk. Hung out at the Swiss cafe for a couple hours, went swimming, walked the strip, got lunch, then showered and headed to the airport. Got into Delhi around 11, hired an Uber to The Metropolitan, which turned out to be in a much nicer area than The Westin and overall more comfortable, if not quite as luxurious.