T-10 Days ....

...all-in-all, hard to believe that our time in Singapore is coming to an end. Although it feels like Seattle was an eon ago - and I'm not bashful about confirming that there were moments here that felt like any eternity in length - in reality it's been a blink of the eye.

What may you ask, do we have on tap for our last week+? Well, in another world it would likely be centered around places to visit and activities to do. Here in Singapore, it's centered around FOOD. A novel concept to me in some ways, but it makes sense (those who have been, understand). So, without further adieu, the 'food must do's' before we bid adieu to SE Asia:

• German wine bistro - Magma. Yes, seems odd to have one in Singapore, and German nosh is not for the every day. But it's authentic, unpretentious, and has DELICIOUS wine.
• Fabulous, affordable Indian food. Lived near Little India, so got used to it. Bananna Leaf was one of the local haunts (but by no means, the only).
  
• Soup Tulang. If you caught the Anthony Bourdain episode on Singapore, you've had an introduction. To me - disgusting. Dave and a couple of our 'dude' friends will be partaking. Myself and Clarie's participation will be limited to capturing the moment.
  
• Sunday Campagne Brunch - Equinox @ the Swiss Hotel. A Singapore tradition for the expat. Drinking copious amounts of champagne with a few of the cool friends we've met here. An amazing spread of food to soak it up. Enjoying the best view of Singapore in the city.
• Chili string ray (and misc. other Asian dishes) at the Newton Hawker station. Maybe a Tiger beer for posterity sake.
  
• Our mainstay, lazy food - thai lemongrass beef; and Char siew - at our local Kopitiam.
  
• Another surprise - Egytption eats at Altazzag in the Arab quarter.
  
• For the atmosphere and ambience (and a reminder of spending a lazy sunday, in the sun, with good beer, ok wine, but great people) - Pump Room at Clark Quay.
  

In addition to the food, the day's ahead will be spent sorting out loose ends (it's impossible to predict the random complexities that can occur in SG), packing, cleaning, planning. If we're not in a food coma, I'm sure we will post again before we take of from the island for Oz.

Looking forward to seeing you all -- and drinking red wine that is actually good ... and affordable ;-)

Yes, it's been another month....

We're bad, we know. I've put a few more pictures up on the Flickr thing from the recent excursion to Sydney and Melbourne - enjoy those. We're busy getting all ready to pack up and get out of here and this could be a challenge as talking to shipping companies over here over the phone is difficult to say the least.

We'll post more when the countdown to the last Tiger beer is ready to commence (PS I won't miss the Tiger beer...)

... a beautiful place on this planet

Yes, it's been a month since our last post. Let's just pretend that's not the case and move on ... :) Most exciting thing to happen in our lives in last 30 days: a 4-day trip to Thailand - specifically Island of Phi Phi via Phuket. Now, I think most of you are aware of our love affair with Thailand ... which started when Dave/I jumped on a plane to travel the country, only 3 months into dating. Not only did our relationship survive the trip, but we came back truly believing Thailand to be the best vacation destination, possible.

So, 4.5 years later - we were itching to return and wondering if it could fill those huge shoes from the past.
To answer the question in two words: absolutely, yes!

No words can explain the breathtaking beauty of Phi Phi (this was our first time to visit). We'd heard about it (the location for the movie 'The Beach'), seen photos, read blogs - but nothing could prepare us for the truly stunning, natural landscape - untouched limestone islands, white sand, crystal clear turquoise water, cloudless sky. Yes, I've been to many a beach location that offers some of these elements. But, never all wrapped into one PLUS the added luxury of the gracious thai people, fabulous and cheap food & beer, and $10 thai massages in a beach cabana. Hard to believe the entire island was wiped out in the Tsunami. Reconstruction is still happening. Don't go expecting it to have the mass market resorts of Hawaii. Or finely crafted tourism of Mexico or the Mediterranean. Expect it to so much better. Expect to pinch yourself to believe that such a place really does exist ... and you really are there...

P.S. our 1-night stop-over stay in Phuket is not to ignore. We stayed at a small guest house of sorts, run by the loveliest man, Manit. Educated in Cambridge, his marketing and business savvy was strongly shaped (in good way) by western culture. But he maintained the Thai spirit in his exceptional service and demeanor. The Summer Breeze Inn provided us with a view into the simple, but seemingly full life of the Thai people and culture: tucked into a tiny neighborhood of the beaten path. A dinner of thai seafood, caught to order, at the one and only restaurant. Sitting on the porch by candlelight with Manit, when the electricity went out across the village. Drinking coke slushy's delivered as a surprise, by a long term lodger. Watching the neighborhood kids play together and adults converse, in the street, into the evening.

You can sail the seven seas!

Village People - In The Navy - The best video clips are here

Well, guess who was in town this weekend... the Navy! Haven't seen so many Americans since I left Seatac. Roving groups of buzz cut & tattooed young guys terrorizing Singapore... Well maybe not terrorizing, but certainly somewhat obnoxious and definitely out on the piss. I kept thinking, wow, my Dad was one of these guys like 35 years ago, probably drinking in the same places as well. Too bad they don't have the snake show anymore- hopefully my Dad can respond with what exactly the snake show was? Also made me think 'jeezus, I'm getting old' as none of these guys looked like they we're old enough to drink.

Monkey Troop!

Malaysia! So the best thing about our Malaysian getaway was the wildlife, specifically the awesome Monkey Troop and the super cool 3 foot long monitor lizard that I didn't get a picture of. Once I saw the Monkeys (these guys are sitting on our porch eating bags of goodies from one of our neighbors) I couldn't help but sing Homer's Spider Pig song with Monkey Troop in place of Spider Pig - I must be going insane because I'm singing it right now (and laughing hysterically).

Seriously though Desaru, Malaysia was cool, super nice beach, literally miles of open sandy beautiful beach surrounded by Casuarina pine trees, and some other unknown foliage, and few palm trees, warm, clean-ish shallow water and blue skies. Really can't figure out why it hasn't been super hyped and made into an international destination - maybe it's the Muslim bent towards no alcohol - it was difficult to get a beer and a glass of (sugary) wine. Maybe it's the lack of international investment as the place was run down (think 70's grandeur) and generally full of locals and the odd European family. Maybe it's just that they don't want the rest of us there!

One sad thing - or not depending on your perspective (if you're Dick Cheney), was once you left the beach it seems the whole of southern Malaysia has had its lush rain forest stripped bare and replaced with Palm Oil plantations, which are being planted as fast as possible to supply the worlds need for biofuels. Seems like a shortsighted mistake to raid our food supply for the needs of industry and moving our butts around- and remove untold square kilometers of virgin rainforest in the process. A bit hypocritical to say anything as America certainly got where we are by using our (and others') resources to the fullest extent -but hard to see lessons learned elsewhere not make their way to places like this. -Dave

Migraine!

Today I got to experience my very first migraine - what a strange sensation. Started out my day same as normal, roll out of bed, brush teeth, make coffee, turn on the computer, yadda yadda. So I'm sitting here reading the latest drama on the pathetic Sonics when I realize that everything I focus on kinda disappears, or blends into the background- I'm thinking this is weird, maybe I have some sleep in my eyes or something - go wash my face - come back and it's still happening. Not quite at freakout mode yet, but am thinking WTF? So I move away from the computer and go to the window to try something else, and while I'm trying to focus on roof across the street I fail to focus on any specific details for any length of time and I'm also visualizing these weird zig-zag stair step artifacts in my peripheral vision... very eerie, and very disconcerting (especially as no drugs are involved -this is Singapore!). At this point I start checking my motor skills and speech and whatnot thinking this can't be good - head back to the computer and start typing in symptoms into Google, reading what I can, and about this point in time I start feeling a headache come on from the back of my head, and I'm really weirded out, start thinking to myself "what is the emergency # in Singapore anyway?" (999 by the way) -when I happen upon the Mayo clinics site and it turns out I'm having a Classic Migraine with Auras - and a really typical one at that. So as I discover this the headache spreads from the back through to the front of my head then settles over my right hemisphere - where it stays for the next 4 hours, and my vision promptly returns to normal.

The headache was not excruciatingly painful, more annoying and a bit much to work - definitely once the mild nausea set in I was stuck on the couch for the duration. Once it was over it everything was good again- very weird, I feel for everyone who has to deal with those on a regular basis... A happy Wednesday to you all, -Dave

Laid Back

Had ourselves a nice laid back weekend enjoying our chair/chaise lounges (mentioned in the previous post) and it was really lovely sitting next to the pool enjoying the sun until the sewer cleaners came by and let us know that sewer isn't full of distilled water...

Enjoyed a nice walk around Fort Canning park, which is a sort of Greenlake-esque park which would be great to exercise around if it weren't 30 C and 80% humidity....

Added a few pictures to the flickr thing, hopefully there'll be more when we get out of dodge and into Malaysia next weekend.

Cheers!

What do you do in Singapore?

I know everyone's been dying to know, what the eff do you DO in Singapore when it's a random Saturday and you're not vacationing off this little island and you've seen the sights.... Well, I'm sure you'll be shocked, but you join the Singaporean herd and SHOP! But you don't just go the mall, wander around for an hour or two; no, no, no- you go down to the MRT station pack yourself (and your stuff) into a shiny metal tube filled with hundreds of your best friends and zip off to the gloriously sterile, air-conditioned, horrendously packed MALL. There's many to choose from and if you're lucky you'll even be able to walk between them without the need to actually go outside and experience 'fresh air'. You'll also get the wonderful experience of negotiating throngs of slow walking people with apparently no sense of each other or where they are going; perfect Brownian motion on a macro scale.

It doesn't end here, after you've spent a good few hours wandering for something that no one seems to carry (cheap plastic chaise lounges - because that would mean that you would be sitting outside and why in god's name would you want to do that???), you get back on the aforementioned metal tube and zip off to mall #3 or maybe it's #4, and begin the slog through the masses again - and since it's Singapore we've not had to actually leave an air-conditioned space to do this. We finally make it to the Giant Hypermarket - yes, it's beyond Super, it's HYPER! And yes they have something that will sort of work, not a chaise lounge and not a chair, sort of an odd mix between the two - it'll have to work- we're both tired, hungry, annoyed and ready for a nice relaxing trip away from people (I hear a beach calling my name)- thankfully we found a brewery that has a very decent IPA, and by the time I had finished that I was back in my happy place and all was again right with the world. -Dave

Realize it's been a bit since our last post...

... overall the last few weeks have been filled with the normalcies of life: work + food + sleeping + daily tasks. Yes, it's not a 'vacation' simply because you're on the other side of the world :) For most part, it's the same 'ol thing, interspersed with interesting "non-Seattle" moments.

A few of the highlights include:

• A piece of home via a visit from our friends Greg & Rachel. Good sports who dealt with the monsoon-ing, embraced the Mustafa shopping center, and were generally up for anything we/Singapore threw their way. And, they delivered duty-free liquor to our door ;)
• A harbor cruise, on a beautiful sunny day, with only good company (see 'above') and a questionable boat.
  
• Seeing the entire population of Singapore out at 10pm on Sunday night to watch a Liverpool/ManU soccer game. Restaurants & hawker centers on every block, setting up big screens, people crowded around. Expats were in the minority. Would give the George & Dragon a run for it's $$.
  
• A Northwest moment, renting bikes to ride around Pulau Ubin Island a stone's throw away from Singapore. AND getting back to the mainland 3 min. before a 3 hour rain shower like I've never seen.
  
• Hearing of new babies, jobs, adventures, engagements and birthday celebrations from friends & family all over the globe.
  

More soon ...

Monsoon!

Will it ever end???? Feel Bad for our guests, Greg and Rachel who've been troupers and dealt extremely well with the downpours and lack of sun. Luckily for them they are enjoying beautiful weather in Thailand right now....

The only good thing that comes with the monsoon is the spectacular lightning and thunder shows that bring me back to my childhood vacations in AZ, especially the rim country, during the summer desert SW monsoon . Today I got to experience seeing a bolt reflected in the window across the street, while simultaneously hearing an electric sizzle and then a blink of the eye later a clap that made me jump and the windows shake. Absolutely wonderful. We just don't get weather like that in Seattle....