Presidential Experience

A couple days before Christmas, our family had the opportunity to go with my husband on a quick business trip to Jakarta, Indonesia.   A US ship was pulling into port there and hosting a reception for the Indonesian leadership in our country's effort to engage an important regional partner.

Jakarta is usually not on the list of "must visit" places in SE Asia.  It's a big, sprawling city known for very congested traffic, but this trip offered us an opportunity to spend time with Fred and enjoy an opportunity to stay in a nice hotel.

We made reservations at the Ritz Carlton and enjoyed the club level with free food from 6AM until 11PM.  The hotel was lovely and the Indonesians we met were wonderful people but a real highlight of the trip was feeling like this was that it gave us a glimpse into how the President of the US and other dignitaries travel on international trips.

We arrived and were greeted by an embassy employee who quickly took care of getting our visas and hustled us through customs and immigrations.  He skillfully transferred us into a van that was accompanied by a police escort, a necessity for getting to official visits on time. It was quite an experience watching traffic magically part to allow us through - all the while knowing that it was just a handful of regular American families in van!

Spending time as a family during the holidays was the goal of the trip but seeing what it must be like to be important enough to have a police escort was an interesting experience.  So, even though Jakarta wasn't on our travel "bucket list," it ended up being a memorable trip.  Here's a photo from the reception on the ship - still hot and sweaty in Jakarta- no escape from that.

                                    And a family photo from inside our hotel lobby.  Merry Christmas

Haw Par Villa- What?

We have a free exhibit in Singapore called Haw Par Villa that depicts Chinese folklore.  It was originally built in 1937 and in 1985 it was given a face lift and since 1996 the park has been free to visit.  This exhibit is often referred to as a theme park by locals, however, there are no rides, just statues to look at.  These statues represent various ancient Chinese stories.  There is one area called The Courts of Hell.  Here you can view depictions of statues in various tortuous deaths as the repent the consequences of living a sinful life.

I ventured out to see this place with a few spouses and got a glimpse of The Courts of Hell and many other fancifully done statues (note some of the photos are a little gruesome).

Park Entrance

Entrance to the Courts of Hell

Reflecting on your life sins

Punishment being burned in a pit of lava

Sample of crime and punishment

Punishment for wasting food- sawed in half

There also are lots of amazing statues depicting scenes from folklore stories.  Unfortunately, not all have stories to read and learn about which would have been really helpful.  Below is one story for your enjoyment and a few photos of various statues.  Should you like to read a little more about Haw Par Villa check out this link http://www.yoursingapore.com/editorials/five-things-you-didnt-know-about-haw-par-villa.html

The Tale of Madam White Snake

Bali- What's all the fuss about?

Bali has been known as the Indonesian place to visit even before Eat Pray Love came out on 2010, but afterwards Bali's allure skyrocketed.  Bali is part of the Republic of Indonesia and was originally under Dutch law.  The island is located just south of the Equator and is only a 2 1/2 hr flight from Singapore. Being so close, most families we know have ventured there to check it out.  There are so many beautiful beaches and temples all throughout Southeast Asia, what makes Bali so wonderful?

Bali has pleasant weather all year long.  It's average temperature is 85 degrees with cooler evening temperatures and a breeze that keeps the daytime comfortable.  Coming from Singapore the weather alone is a big draw.  Our evenings never cool off, so it's just hot and muggy everyday.

Bali has many distinct tourist areas.  The northern Island is less densely populated and not touristy, but those who want to dive head here for some terrific offshore diving.  The center of the island is where you go for the arts or to do yoga or meditate.  It's higher elevation offers great weather conditions and the green views maintain a relaxed atmosphere.  The east and west coasts are populated with many beach towns.  We chose to stay on the west coast near the airport mainly because long car rides after flying and going through customs and immigrations in never high on our list of activities.

Many of our friends stayed at the Hard Rock Bali where there is easy beach access and an enormous pool with multiple slides (for kids under 12- unfortunately Jen and Katie are 13 and really look it). The pool offered an evening fire show, which is fairly common at most large hotels in the area.

The beach was directly across the street, so we got a quick photo of the girls and I as we headed out to explore the town.

The town we were in is Kuta, it is a high tourist area with lots of hotels and shopping.  However, being a tourist trap area there were no real bargains to be had and many of the trinkets and clothes are exactly the same as everywhere else we've traveled.  We ended up buying very little even though I had paid for extra baggage weight thinking we would be loading up on the great deals.  After quickly realizing shopping was not worth it, we decided to just enjoy the amazing beach.  Many people come to Bali to surf.  The beach is long an relatively flat with decent enough waves to surf.  We offered Jen and Katie surfing lessons, but they preferred to just boogie board. They hadn't had the opportunity to do this since being back in the U.S.

We spent an entire evening watching the girls boogie board and a beautiful sunset.  As the evening progressed we looked around and realized the beached was packed with locals and tourists enjoying this perfect night too.

Here's my attempt at an artsy photo with a piece of coral I found on the beach, that may have also ended up in my luggage- the best souvenirs can be those found in nature.  

So our quick trip to check out Bali was relaxing and enjoyable.  Come to enjoy the beach, not the shopping, and we heard and saw some friends photos of beautiful temples and rice terraces to see. However, sightseeing wasn't what we needed this time, maybe we'll have to make a trip back again. By the way- the airport was so beautiful I included a photo below.  

 Selamat Tinggal-- Goodbye 

Ho Chi Minh Vietnam

I had heard lots of amazing things about Vietnam, many people who live in our community feel it's the best place to see, so visiting there kept creeping higher on the places to see list.  

Fred was going to be in Bangladesh and the girls had 2 days off from school.  I decided this was a great weekend to go somewhere.  We zoned in on Ho Chi Minh since it was only a 2 hour flight, a city (Fred likes beach vacations), and has lots of shopping. 

The Majestic Saigon Hotel, built in 1925, has an old colonial feel.  It's been through many renovations and is now getting ready to add a glass high rise addition, but to me the historic look of the hotel was really appealing, it will be sad to see it someday turned into a more modern hotel.  

Venturing out the first time, I wanted to see the Saigon river right across the street, but we needed to cross the street you see in the photo above.  There are very few lights in the city but lots of Vespas and cars that seem to continually move even if there is traffic. Isn't that what sidewalks are for- to get around traffic?  A friend gave us some advice before heading to Ho Chi Minh- just cross the street don't look and definitely don't stop, the vespas and cars will work around you.  This street looks harmless, but let me tell you stepping out and walking was incredibly scary.  We decided after that we'd find less busy streets to venture across.  Within 3 days we were quite comfortable stepping out and throwing caution to the wind.

We made our way to Ben Thanh Market.  Lots of shopping and good prices, but really HOT- which eventually ended even the most dedicated shoppers adventure.

As I mentioned there are Vespas everywhere, below are a few photos to get the gist.  They park them on the sidewalks.  People ride in the evenings and just meet up with friends to hang out by their Vespas.  Many tourists opt for a ride on one of them to see the city.  We opted not.  Another interesting thing we came across was people just bringing out plastic stools and making a meal on the sidewalk then eating with your friends.  The best, cheapest, and most exclusive way of eating out.  

Manicures and pedicures were really inexpensive here, $10.50 for both per person. WOW.  So off to the salon we went.  Another day Katie and Jen hit the fish spa and got all their dead skin eaten away by the tiny fish.  I had this experience in Bangkok and felt once in a lifetime was enough so, my friend,  Kate and I enjoyed a relaxing foot massage instead.  

The highlight of the trip was taking a Vietnamese cooking class at the Saigon Cooking School.  We picked a good day and made Summer Rolls, Beef Salad, and Squid Vegetable soup.  The food was fantastic, fairly simple ingredients that I think I can even get in the U.S.  Can't wait to make these dishes for family and friends.  

My overall impression of the city was really nice, the touristy area was safe- there were security or police on most corners.  It's pretty clean- hard to compare to Singapore and Tokyo, but I never thought it was dirty.  The pollution was quite bad and most Vespa riders wore surgical masks to keep out the pollution.  Stores even sold these in many fancy designs- Hello Kitty or even Burberry print. The people were nice and most spoke English.  The food was terrific- some great steaks and French food from earlier influences. The city is developing and is transforming into a modern city.  There were a few high rise buildings and some remodeled colonial style building. It is a nice comparison of old and new- both buildings and even the people there.  I'm glad I went and hope to visit some of the other areas in Vietnam also.   Below are some more photos to give you more a sense of the city.

   

Sembawang Singapore Historical Overview

I've been wanting to do some writing about where we live in Singapore.  Many of you have asked what it is like here, so I'm going to try to do a few entries that give you a feel for my community.

Recently, I went on a historical tour around my neighborhood.  Most of the homes in our community were built in the 1930's by the British Military.  At that time Singapore was under British rule and this was a great place to have a Royal British Naval Base.

In World War II, some of the homes were destroyed by bombs and then in 1942, Singapore was invaded by Japan.  The schools and base community were taken over by the Japanese but many areas were destroyed when the British knew they were loosing the battle.  In 1945 when the war ended the military base was once again transferred back to the British Navy.

In 1971 after Singapore became it's own country and separated from British rule many of the homes and facilities in Sembawang were rented out to New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and the United States military.  Most of the piers were converted to shipyard work areas.  An area along the Straits of Johor, that was mostly destroyed during the war was made into Sembawang Park in the 1970's. This park has one of the remaining natural beaches in Singapore. This area is about a mile away from our home and makes a wonderful walk to and from.  This a a photo of the park today.

Recently a playground was added with a climbing structure that replicates a broken battleship.

Below is a link to a video that you can watch that shows the community of Sembawang.  Enjoy.-- if you want more on Singapore just wait- there will be more entries about my community.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnFOpt8RbcU

Top 5 Restaurants to eat at in Virginia

In about a week we will be coming back to Virginia for a long visit.  We often talk about some of the things we miss most.  For me the biggest thing is simply parking right in front of the store/restaurant you want to go into.  Because Singapore is a small densely populated area, ever place has a parking garage that you must pay for.  Going out to eat becomes more involved when you have to park in a garage and walk around a mall to get to the restaurant.  We end up eating at home more than we have ever have.

So the big conversation is where we want to eat.  What food have we missed.

Number 1 Sweet Ginger.  This is a Japanese restaurant so you are probably wondering why I am missing Japanese when I'm in an Asian country.  US Asian food is sooo much better- at least to my taste buds.  We all love sushi and Sweet Ginger has some of the best.  In Singapore they must love mayonnaise because it's in globs on their sushi- YUCK.  Even when we were in Japan the sushi was weird- lots of raw chewy octopus- no thank you.  Give me my americanized California roll with avocado (here they use scrambled egg- avocados' are too expensive).  Sweet Ginger better get ready for repeat Kacher visit for their yummy bento boxes and for dessert asian donuts with ice cream (not a true Asian dessert).

Number 2 is Chipotle, or really any good mexican food.  My home cooked mexican is the best we've had here and honestly it's not that great.  At one "mexican" restaurant we had burritos and they looked mexican but tasted indian.  My meal had stewed tomatoes over it - I think maybe it was supposed to be the salsa?

Number 3 Church Street Pizza.  YUM is all I can say for New York style thin crust floppy cheese pizza that takes two hands to hold or you have to fold it in half.  Definitely not getting that in Singapore.  Our best pizza place is a gourmet place from Australia.  Good high end pizza topped with all sorts of creative combinations for the bargain price of $25 or more each.

Number 4 Italian Gourmet or Potbelly's actually any good sandwich shop other than Subway.  If your idea of a good sandwich is at Subway- fine there are plenty of them here in Singapore.  But having grown up with a brother who owns a deli and has perfected sandwich making, Subway doesn't make the cut.  In fact, I may need to drive to Leesburg just for one of his Deli South sandwiches.

Number 5 Tied between Clydes and Costal Flats. Both of these restaurants have good food and for our family they seem to be our celebratory go to places.  I have fond memories of birthday or holiday get togethers when no one wanted to cook and it would just be so much more fun to eat out.

Family, Friends, & Food- looking forward to some good time in Virginia.

Mother's Day in Bangkok

I was given the ultimate Mother's Day gift this year- a trip to Bangkok with some moms.  Finding a time where husbands are all home and can watch kids for 3 days isn't easy to come across in the military.  So when this opportunity came up I jumped on it.  If you read Traveling with Kids you know my girls are little pooped out from airplane trips (great places are close to Singapore- but you must fly). Fred travels a lot for work, so girls weekends are my golden opportunity to see another place.

Bangkok was on my list of places to see- a major city, amazing statues and temples but also there is great shopping in Thailand.  Stuff that would cost US$8 in Singapore is US$3 or less in Thailand. You can get beautiful blue and white Chinese pottery for US$1.  With all this great shopping to be had all 5 ladies each packed an extra duffle bag.

This time of year is very hot in Bangkok.  Being used to the hot temperatures in Singapore, we thought we'd be ok, however we were mistaken.  Singapore is usually overcast and fairly cloudy.  Thailand has clear skies and is sunny.  That sunshine shinning through with temps in the upper 90's gets you really sweaty.

Our tour of Bangkok stated off with a beer to take on a long-boat ride through the city canals.  This was a great way to get a quick view of canal living.  Some homes were rickety and should basically be condemned while others we beautiful wood vacation homes.  Like many areas there is a big disparity in wealth and it seems when you own something you keep it forever.  The main canal that runs through the city is also used as a way to get from one end of town to the other quickly. You are able to see temples and even the Grand Palace from the boat ride.   

Along the boat ride we had a one man floating market saddle up to our boat.  His boat was filled with little trinkets and souvenirs to bring home. a couple little elephants were purchased and will be added to our ever growing collections. Our long-boat dropped us off at Chinatown for our shopping outing.  We came across a great jewelry shop where nothing was over US$3!  YAY.

We thought it might be fun to ride a tuk tuk back to the hotel a driver claimed all 5 of us could smooch in.  Sitting on a hump or the floor would have been ok for 10-15 minutes but with Friday evening traffic it got quite cramped for the 40 minute ride.  Lesson learned, but it was fun- kind of, well at least memorable.

The next day we headed to the floating markets near Bangkok.  It was about 1 1/2 hour van ride away, and we passed tons of sea salt fields.  Did you know that Thailand farms sea salt?  - Now you do!

The floating market was really unusual.  People live all along the canals and have long-boats to go up and down to canal front shops to do buy things.  Our tour guide told us now the floating market is basically for tourists now, but in the old days this is how they would shop and barter.  Along the canal people have shops either on the cement or actually in a boat.  You pull your boat up alongside and make your purchases.  The most surprising thing was seeing food being cooked and sold right on a boat.  An older lady would have her propane tank on her boat, fired up a gas flame, cooking some famous Thai meal and selling it for a $1.  I kept wondering how many boats have burned down with an open flame on a wooden boat.  

After shopping off the boat, we headed inside to the store fronts.  Here's a picture of me working a deal for some Adidas gym bags for Katie and Jen.  With language and accent barriers you basically pass a calculator back and forth say, yes, no, or too high until you reach an agreement.  My friend, Rose, had her currency converter handy so I could get my quick currency conversions helping me get the price I wanted.  I'm not a great bargainer, but our tour guide told us pay 50-60% less than whatever they first offered.  The thing I like most about shopping in Thailand verse some other Asian areas, is they are nice.  You say no, not interested, they leave you alone.  They seem to almost enjoy the bargaining and hey if the price you want is too low they won't sell.  

After a long day of shopping we stopped in a fish spa.  This has been something I thought I should try someday, so why not now while it's super inexpensive.  If I didn't like it (and guess from that photo) I only wasted US$6.  What did I really think- here's the deal- having little fish nibble on your skin is very ticklish and feels mildly disturbing since you know what is happening.  I got a little wigged out when the 5 inch fish started nibbling (biting) on my feet.  I decided I must have a lot of dead skin since it basically looked like I had black boots on.  About every 2 minutes I couldn't handle it and had to pull my feet out for a break.  Eventually, I got smart and decided to only put my heals in.  I'm not ticklish there and need the most dead skin removed there (desperately in need of a pedicure- which is more my speed).  In the end my feet were very soft and lots of dead skin was gone, but once in my life is enough.

 Our last day was temple sight seeing day.  I think we hit almost all the major places on this 100 degree day and then had planned to head straight to an airport.  Yup, we will smell great!  Our tour guide took us to see the Reclining Buddha.  This statue was huge- probably 40 feet high and 150 feet long.  Originally it was outside and then they built a temple around it to preserve it better.

Another buddha we saw was the solid 18 karat Golden Buddha.  I believe our tour guide told us there are 400 buddha statues in Bangkok- obviously some more famous than others.  This one was discovered to be solid gold when while they were moving it, it dropped, cracked, and they could see it simply wasn't gold flake covering metal, it was solid gold through.

Our tour continued with visits to Wat Pho and the Grand Palace.  There were so many beautiful temples and structures all around.  The ornate designs were covered in gold and colored glass.  

The end of a sweaty touristy day and terrific trip shopping and sight seeing in Bangkok had concluded in a nice air-conditioned airport.   Good thing, there were duty free stores with perfume counters.