Absentee Ballot Around the World!

Here is a brief outline on the process of my voting in this year's presidential election.  The hardest part for me was that I didn't know where I was going to be when the absentee ballots were mailed out so I had to play it by ear.

Hong Kong----- September 17, 2008
I printed the absentee ballot application and filled it out.  My attempts to scan it and e-mail it to the East Lansing City Clerk did not work so I needed to find a fax machine.  I made two attempts to fax it from a nearby hotel but it didn't go through.  It was not meant to be.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia---September 22, 2008
I reached the city and I needed to find a fax machine.  During a training run, I saw a sign for an internet cafe that had international fax services.  I went over after the run and the fax went through to the city of East Lansing. It cost me $3 US.  A few days later, I sent a confirmation e-mail to the East Lansing City Clerk and she responded back that the city had received the application.

Livonia, Michigan, USA- October 9, 2008
My parents received my absentee ballot at their home.  My mom was meeting me in India anyway at the end of the month and so we decided that she was going to hand deliver the ballot to me.

Detroit Metro-USA/ Amsterdam-Holland/ New Delhi-India--October 23, 2008

Pictured: My mom and I at my going away party in the Bahamas.

My mom and my absentee ballot traveled to India.

New Delhi, India- October 25, 2008
I filled out my ballot but wasn't able to find a Fed Ex or DHL Office so I decided that I would wait until I made it to Bangalore, India.

Bangalore, India-- October 29, 2008
I went to Bangalore, India to work with Habitat for Humanity.  On our third day of work during lunch, I left the village via auto rickshaw to the closest DHL office.  It was 20 km away and I dropped off my ballot.  They said it would take 48 hours to be delivered and it cost me $50 US for the service.

DHL Service--October 29-31, 2008

Date		Time		Location Service Area		Checkpoint Details
October 29, 2008		13:16		Bangalore - India		Shipment picked up
October 30, 2008		00:22		Bangalore - India		Arrived at DHL facility in Bangalore - India
October 30, 2008		01:48		Bangalore - India		Departed from DHL facility in Bangalore - India
October 30, 2008		22:31		New York City Gateway, NY - USA		Arrived at DHL facility in New York City Gateway - USA
October 30, 2008		22:40		New York City Gateway, NY - USA		Departed from DHL facility in New York City Gateway - USA
October 31, 2008		02:18		DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA		Transferred through DHL Wilmington Airpark - USA
October 31, 2008		05:11		DHL Wilmington Airpark, OH - USA		Departed from DHL facility in DHL Wilmington Airpark - USA
October 31, 2008		06:18		Flint, MI - USA		Arrived at DHL facility in Flint - USA
October 31, 2008		06:34		Flint, MI - USA		Departed from DHL facility in Flint - USA
October 31, 2008		08:29		Dimondale, MI - USA		Scheduled for delivery
October 31, 2008		08:31		Dimondale, MI - USA		With delivery courier
October 31, 2008		10:08		East Lansing, MI - USA		Shipment delivered

Democracy In Action
The process took over six weeks through four different countries.  My ballot traveled thousands of miles but eventually made its way to the East Lansing City Clerk.  It ended up costing me a total of $53.  A small price to pay to do my part in rectifying the past eight years of horrible foreign and economic policy.  I am hopeful and confident that the results will be something that our country and world will remember as turning point for our nation.

To my American Readers:
If I can go through this to vote- it shouldn't be to hard for you to wake up and go to your polling place tomorrow.  Make your voice be heard!

Hong Kong Wrap Up

MSU Football on the Road

I have pretty much ignored US sports since I have been on the road.  It is just too difficult to find it showing in other countries or the time zone differences don’t make it feasible.  The only thing I was able to watch was a few of the MSU Basketball team’s games during the NCAA tournament.  With the exceptions of missing the Superbowl and the Red Wing’s Stanley Cup run, I have been content with being without access to live American Sports.

With the onset of college football, I have been missing MSU Football.  No matter how much I have been abused by the past few years of mediocre play, I still miss being there to watch it in person.  On the morning of the MSU first home game, I put a call into my roommate Patti Dolan to see how things were going.  For many of our friends, we start the day at Crunchy’s restaurant before we head to our tailgate.  I don’t remember when it started but it has become our tradition.  Patti was holding down the tradition with our friend, Molly.  After we talked, she passed the phone to a number of people who were there. It was good to talk to Viv Milligan, the owner, to see how the start of the year was going in East Lansing.  It was almost like I was there.  Because of the time difference, I went to bed as everyone else went to the tailgate and the game. 

The next week was a different story.  After reading on the internet about Notre Dame’s beat down of the University of Michigan, I knew I needed to find the MSU/Notre Dame game.  I woke at 4 am and began scouring the web.  Walt Sorg, who hosts the morning news show that I occasionally do an interview on, saw that I was online through Skype.  He gave me an update on the score and then reminded me that WJR Detroit has live radio feed on the internet.  The guys didn’t let me down.  Now, I just need to find out where I will be for the U/M game.

Meeting New and Lifelong friends
Though I found Hong Kong to be more westernized than what I expected, I still had a good experience.  Once again, my friends and family connected me to a number of great people who make Hong Kong their home. 

Meet Doug and Kathy Dean

My friend, Rachel Hoke, told me that I should look up her sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Doug Dean, when I made it to Hong Kong.  Rachel is a hard core Spartan Fan.  She joined our tailgating madness in Honolulu during the MSU/Hawaii Football debacle in 2005.  Her football fandom intensified recently when she married Tommy Hoke, an MSU strength and conditioning coach.

Kathy, Doug and their daughter were great hosts.  They had me over for a few days.  It was fun and I thought I stepped into the Democratic Party War Room.  The TV was on CNN and NPR played via the internet.  Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience and John McCain’s selling out his long term belief’s to cozy up to far right of his party was common banter during the dinners I shared with them and their friends.

Every morning we hiked up to Hong Kong’s Victoria’s Peak, though I didn’t get see much of the famed views because of the pollution.  They were very gracious when I knocked down their wi-fi system.  I thought it would be no problem to help them make the changes they wanted to their system.  I forgot a simple fact---I don’t know anything about wi-fi systems.  Luckily, I had it up and running the next morning.  If you need any help with you wi-fi port let me know because I am now a pro.

Meet Darin and Sarah Baur

My friend, Annette Coffee, let me know her brother lived in Hong Kong and that I should look up him and his wife up when I was in town.  We met up one day for lunch at their favorite dim sum restaurant.  The two of them are originally from Lansing and were Waverly High School grads.  After lunch, we toured parts of Hong Kong as they did their weekend errands.  At one point, we stopped for slurpees at a 7-11.  I hadn’t had one in years so it was a great treat. 

They became the first beneficiary from a gift from my friend, Vivian Milligan, from Crunchy’s.  Vivian had made a generous gift to the Singh Around the World paypal account and asked that I buy a beer for Spartans that I meet on the road, especially, if they had been to her restaurant.   Sarah, an MSU grad, worked at the first Beaner’s Coffee shop when it opened in 1995 and therefore knew their neighbors at Crunchy’s very well.  We figured out we must have been at Crunchy’s at the same time during a football Saturday at one point or another.

Meet Ajay and Priya Singh
The last people I caught up with in Hong Kong were long time family friends.  My mother and Priya’s mother went to boarding school in India together and remain close to this day.  We would see each other every few years when we were growing up when they would visit the US or when we went to India. It had been a few years since we last saw each other.

We didn’t see each other until the end of time in Hong Kong because Priya was dropping her eldest son off to boarding school in Canada when I first arrived.  Their youngest son was still in Hong Kong and was impressed with his bachelor globe-trotting “uncle.”  As with any Indian family, I was quickly questioned about when I was going to settle down and start a family. It was good to be around family again all technicalities aside.

Ajay is in investment banking and it was very interesting to get his perspective on the emerging American economic crisis.  I was at their place on the first day the Hong Kong markets opened after the Lehman Brothers announcement.  He was still fielding calls from clients at 10 pm that night as we finished dinner.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures before I left.

 

Hong Kong Nights

I made it to Hong Kong after four plus weeks in China and it was a culture shock.  It was very western.  More than I anticipated. I wonder what will happen when I head back to the states.  At least I have a six months to worry about that issue.  After spending so much time in China and struggling with the language this was a walk in the park.  Everywhere I went people spoke English.  There were American chain restaurants on every street.  The store, 7-11, is on very third corner.  There are more 7-11s in Hong Kong per capita than anywhere else in the world.  I assume it is mandated by law.

I describe Hong Kong as "China Light."  A friend, who works there, says it reminds him of a large China Town in the US because it feels like an American city with a Chinese influence.  I needed to be there because I was getting my visa for India and it would take a week.  I didn't have any choice so I made the best of it.

I ended up living a very western lifestyle while I was there.  I joined a health club that had daily passes.  At least, the club was endorsed by Jackie Chan and it was helpful to get into my routine for my marathon training.

I saw two American movies over the ten days that I was there (The Strangers and Bangkok Dangerous).   Neither of them were good but it still was a movie in a theater.  Seeing a movie in a theater is one of the few things that I do miss while I am on the road.

I frequented an Irish pub that was near my hostel and made friends with the bartender and few other travelers. I had a place to go to where people knew my name.  I quickly made friends with Vanessa, one of the bartenders, and she took out a crew of us to an all night karaoke joint after one of her shifts.

Every morning, I would have a western omelet and read the Hong Kong papers.  Little did I know the short story on the economic woes of the company Lehman Brothers was going to spiral out of control over the upcoming weekend.  The crisis began to play out over the weekend of Hong Kong's Mid-Autumn Festival.  The Hong Kong stock market was closed for the festival that Monday so they delayed their crash by one day.  It was torture for those in the investment banking market as they watched the drama play out across the world.  They knew their pound of flesh was coming but they had to wait out the festival. The big treat during the festival is moon cakes but they did not bring any solace to those waiting for their financial ruin.  It was informative to be in Hong Kong as the economic meltdown happened because, as one of the business hubs of Asia, I was given first hand view of its scale and impact.It is now one week later and it is amazing that this American made crisis is wrecking such havoc all over the world.  We are living in interesting times.