One Year - We Survived!

Suddenly we have lived in Singapore for a whole year! 

How did this happen so fast? 

Before we moved here I was worried about lots of things.

I had no idea what to expect. 

Late night snack in Hong Kong.

I worried about making friends. Nothing to worry about there! Lots of really nice friends.

Tea at Capella

I worried about the food, would it be good? Would I like it? There are the very best hole in the wall places here and the fanciest places. A foodies dream!

 Angor Thom, Cambodia

I was super worried about leaving half of our family in the states, but they came to see us and 

it was wonderful! And we have Skype!

 I wondered about the medical system, but Ike had 2 surgeries and was treated with world class care.

I worried that I would do things wrong, I wouldn't know how to function in a new culture. But it turns out that people here are quite helpful, if you ask. 

There are usually signs instructing you on the correct way to do things. 

Then I fell in love with Singapore. 

The rich diversity of culture, religion, and culture makes it an exciting and vibrant place to live.

Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

 Chinatown

 Cloud Dome

 Mr. Raffles

 Flower Dome

 Joss Stick Factory

 Vesak Day

 HDB Market

Little India

Now, after making the trip several times,

a 24 hour flight back home doesn't seem so far or so bad if you get to go back to the folks 

you've known and loved your whole life. 

And it's nice to know that Itaho is always there, waiting for us. 

How To Go To Johor Bahru And Back Home in Six Hours

1. Walk 8 minutes to bus stop with Idaho friend, Michele, and meet up with Singaporean friend,  Evelyn.
2. Take bus 10 minutes to the border.
3. Go through immigration - takes 20 minutes
4. Welcome to Malaysia!

Evelyn wants us to be able to do this ourselves so she is pointing and reading all the signs to us and probably thinks I will remember what she says but I'm having a hard time paying attention because of so many distractions. Besides, I like her so I'm hoping she'll take me next time I want to go. She points out how clean and nice it is, very safe and all protected from the sun. I thought the protection was from the rain, but even though it rains nearly everyday, sun is a bigger deal here.

The Toilet Bowl restaurant. Sit on toilets and look at urinals while you eat. We didn't eat here. 

We go up 2 escalators in a new air conditioned mall and into a restaurant called "Tea Garden" and meet 5 more Singaporean women who all start giggling and shaking our hands. They are kind and cheerful.

They order for us. Lots of Chinese food that tastes nothing like the Chinese food in the USA. I like it. We eat family style. They laugh about how much they love dessert. By American standards dessert isn't very sweet. I ask what their favorite American food is and they say Not Mexican! Their favorite American food is Dessert!

Then we shop for Chinese New Year. Lots of samples of prawn crackers, pineapple tarts, layered cake, love note cookies, fried seaweed, melon seeds, and shortbread cookies until they find the best quality. We pick out treats for Roland to take to the office. When I tell them him he is the boss they quickly put aside the ones we selected and decide he needs much nicer treats. All 6 women spend about 30 minutes picking out the very best Chinese New Year treats for Roland's office. They are very exact and discriminating about the quality of the Pineapple Tarts. We taste about 10 pineapple tarts and they all taste the same to me but they insist there is a difference and lament about how store bought is never as good as homemade. Ain't that the truth.

Treats are all purchased and I ask if we can leave the mall and see more of Malaysia. They are emphatic that it is very dangerous outside of the mall. Never! Never leave the mall! they say.

So we don't.

We head home. Back through immigration, two quick bus rides and a short walk home.

It was a great day!

Regretful Packing (Hong Kong)

Upper left hand is the hotel address, the writing is directions to the basketball tournament for taxi drivers. 

Everyplace else we took the subway.

Packing light is something I strive to do. I wear clothes over and over and bring teeny tiny containers of only the most necessary stuff. It's good to handle all your luggage with one hand so the other hand can show the passport, hang on to the escalator, pass around the hand sanitizer, point at the flight departure screen, pay for the water bottles once you get past security, and push people out of the way so you can board first.

I don't mind not looking like a fashion plate when I travel because 1) I'm done worrying about what strangers think and well, there are no other reasons. Pretty soon I'll be wearing black sandals with white socks and not give a fig what you think.

View from the hotel room (The Cosmopolitan in Wan Chai)

Packing light is satisfying. After a 2 or 12 hour flight, when you are slightly dehydrated, you can still lift your own luggage out of the overhead bin. It's empowering to get where you need to go without assistance (which brings me to the topic of sensible shoes). Traveling can be something of a sport with all that lifting, pulling, maneuvering and, if you are with Roland, speed walking to and from gates.

Stanley, Hong Kong, a delightful beach town. 

However, you can pack too light. In my efforts to keep travel easy peasy I decided not to bring the fancy camera on our recent trip to Hong Kong. Regret.

How many times did I say, "Oh, I wish I had the other camera!" ? Too many times. The iphone does fine as you can see by these photos but I wanted the other camera all week. In fact there were many photos I didn't even bother with because I knew they wouldn't work with the iphone.

This moled man has a thriving business making custom baby onesies in Stanley, his 

fingers on his right hand end at the knuckles, he used three different brushes while 

I took his picture.

So it is time to get a camera case that isn't bulky because the one I have now is so huge

you could change a diaper in it. Any ideas?

Also, Hong Kong! It was cool, about 70 degrees, and people were wearing fur coats, big boots, hats, and bulky sweaters. It was such a refreshing change from the constant heat and humidity of Singapore. Even with a population of 7,200,000 people the people I met were kind and gracious. 

I love Hong Kong, there is so much to explore! The city has an exciting vibe. 

I will be going back many times!

Krabi, Thailand

Sunrise at Railay Bay, Krabi

These are the tail boats that take people to and from the beach. 

There is no access by car and no motorized vehicles at Railay Bay.

We kayaked out around those cliffs to a beautiful beach where they sell fruit smoothies 

from tailboats. 

 Crab design patterns. Little crabs would create intricate designs on the beach 

before high tide. The tire mark is about 3" wide. I probably took 30 pictures of these. 

 Railay Bay at Sunset 

This might be my best picture. It hasn't been retouched or edited. The only picture I edited was the first one to playdown the early morning haze on the mountains. 

We went to Krabi to relax. Roland hasn't relaxed at all and has been working 20 hour 

days for months. It took us about 2 days to unwind and then we were 

relaxed.

We stayed at the Railay Bay Resort and Spa.

Bikes at Phi Phi Island

Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee) were completely knocked out by the tsunami and it was impressive to see how they have recovered. 

 Bird's nest mine (for bird's nest soup) Phi Phi islands

I should get a prize (a new lens for my camera perhaps?) for editing down from 253 photos to 8. 

 My favorite person.

A little video I made of our trip:

Ambidextrous Driving II

Driving on the left side of the road is getting easier.  I can shift with my left hand and turn on the blinker with my right hand without thinking. When I am within 2 miles of home I can turn off the GPS and get home safely. The British woman on the GPS is really getting on my nerves, especially that time on the way to scripture study when she had to recalculate 8 times. When she says "recalculating" there is an undertone of criticism and imposition that is obvious.

Tell me, how easy is it to take the 7th exit on a roundabout with 4 lanes? Not very easy. I had to do it 3 times one day before I got it right. Today I nailed it! But only because my friend, Constance, was coaching me.

I still get in the wrong side of the car. I actually get in and wonder why the steering wheel is on the wrong side. Sometimes if I think there are people watching me, because I am slightly paranoid that way, I act like I am looking for something in the glove box, like I got in the passenger side on purpose. Then, full of fake satisfaction at having found the (pretend) item from the glove box, I confidently stride around to the other side of the car, get in and act like I know what I am doing.

So far, I have only driven into oncoming traffic twice and, thanks to alert passengers, I haven't caused any accidents.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Stay tuned for pictures from our trip to Krabi.

When I get my chores done I will upload more.

3,200 Pieces of Candy

We live right near the Singapore American School and it is a tradition to invite people to trick or treat here. Our neighborhood is the only one on the island to do this. I was warned that there would be lots of people. I had no idea!

We, the Smith family, handed candy out to 3,200 people and that wasn't even close to how many people were in our neighborhood!

At times there were as many 15 bags shoved towards me with cheerful "trick or treats!" or "happy Halloween!" and everyone said "thank you" and seemed so excited to be there. Singaporeans are polite trick or treaters.

 Bryce, Nadeen, and Ike. Ike is throwing up a partial gang sign because he is really cool that way.

I had to bring in a special helper from California. Annette was delightful helping me hand out candy and I think we each said "Happy Halloween" 1,500 times.

In the states you just don't see little boys dressed like witches. 

Lots of adults go trick or treating. These "girls" were so giggly and happy and thrilled when I took their photo. They sang "Trick or Treat" all together and that made them laugh and laugh. I would say about 10% of my trick or treaters were full grown Singaporeans. They were happy to stop and visit a moment, and all seem sincerely appreciative of the little Tootsie Roll we gave them. Quite a few asked what kind of candy it was and if it was good.

There was such a feeling of happiness and joy, even parents dressed up to take their children. We saw great costumes and most of them were quite modest compared to what was happening in the states last year!

That's Ike (red shorts) climbing up our neighbor's house to get above the 

hordes of trick or treaters pictured below. Hoodlums.

 Really, pictures just don't do it justice. 

This is not a costume. You can see her Halloween wig at the side, that was what she was using as a trick or treat bag. She was flattered that I wanted her picture and tried to hide the wig/bag behind her but I talked her into letting it stay by her side. Her son was proud to tell me that it was her very first Halloween and they had come all the way from Tampines for this (about a 30 minute train ride).

Can't wait for next year! 

Feeling Normal

The other night Ike and I watched Empire of the Sun, we are watching movies of
things that happened in SE Asia, we've also seen 7 Years in Tibet because Ike
is going on a school trip to Tibetan India.

I get so engrossed in the movie that I forget where I am and then, when it is over,
I go out to the back porch to bring in the laundry and I see the palm trees and feel the humidity and suddenly I realize, "Oh! I live in Singapore!"

Sometimes I wake up thinking I am in Colorado. Once, before I was fully awake, when the air conditioner was set too low and it was raining hard, I thought the rain drops hitting the window might be snow and wondered if we would get a snow day!

What can I blame this on? Jet lag? Its been 3 months!

Besides that, it is starting to feel a bit normal to live here.

Marina Bay Sands

When we first found out we were moving here I googled Singapore Images and pictures of Marina Bay Sands popped up. I wondered if I would ever be so lucky to stay there or swim in that pool.  See that big boat on top of the sky scrapers? It has a long pool with an infinity edge, that over looks Singapore. It is consistently listed as one of the top pools in the world (get it? top pool!?...because, it is on top of the buildings! ).

View from our window in Tower 1 - Gardens By The Bay - afternoon

Night time - all those lights on the horizon are boats.

Morning

Last weekend Roland attended a conference at Marina Bay Sands and Ike and I joined in for one night. We explored the hotel and had dinner at Din Tai Fung, one of my favorite Singapore restaurant chains, and then we went to the laser show in front of the hotel.

Pictures by Ike:

 There were bubbles!

 And lasers with bubbles!

 It was too exciting for some of us.

After the big bubble laser show Roland and I found a romantic spot to sit and watch the city while listening to a Singaporean big band sing Frank Sinatra (actually quite good!) and Ike went long boarding around the bay. It took him about 40 minutes to go around the whole bay. This is what the bay looks like from the top of the hotel:

We ended the night with a refreshing swim in the pool on top of the hotel. It is one of the worlds largest infinity pools (Singapore has a thing for building stuff that breaks records) and the deck it is on, is longer than the Eiffel Tower! It is quite impressive to swim to the edge and look down over the whole city. Stunning is the word. Stunning.

You can only swim in the pool if you are a guest.

Ike says next time he wants to do this: