Stubblefields in Singapore

Manila, Philippines

2011-12-13T16:44:00.000-08:00

After arriving back in Singapore from our trip to Chicago, it was off to Manila for three days in August.

I wasn't sure what to expect of Manila as all I ever really heard about was how poor it was and that it is generally an unsafe city.

What I found was that the Philippines is EXTREMELY Americanized! I had never known this before but after my time there I would absolutely say it is a country that most closely emulates American culture from food to clothing to television. Much of this I learned, comes from the historical American occupation of the Philippines after the Philippine-American War.

My stay in Manila was very busy with work, but I did get to sample some local Filipino food which was delicious. Their style appears to be quite simple in style but flavorful and aromatic. For example, lunch came served wrapped in a large banana leaf containing a portion of steamed rice, a chicken breast gently seasoned and then some sweetly fried bananas which they topped the chicken or rice with. I was told that it is quite common for them to mix a fruit with each meal to add flavor to the dish. I enjoyed its simplicity.

The hotel I stayed at was likely what I will most remember about Manila. It was beautiful and full of every amenity you could imagine, the Peninsula Manila.

While the hotel was absolutely lovely, I will most remember the hotel for it's History. You will notice in the picture that the hotel has two towers which you can see to the back left and right of the photo. The massive structure in the middle is actually the lobby which you are driven up to from the back after going through Security. The lobby area is relatively new and came to be after a Political situation. In 2007 right around Christmas, a political coup was staged in the former lobby of this hotel. It ended with tanks being driven into the lobby of the hotel to end the coup. I find it interesting that not a single shot was fired. It appears that the initial attempt to end the coup was to drive tanks in. An interesting way to begin resolving an issue!

And from that rubble the new lobby came to be.

Here is a link from the BBC reporting on the event at the time:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7118456.stm

Manila itself seemed to be an example of extremes, you either had money or had none, buildings were either new and modern or very old. I stayed in the "city" within Manila called Makati. It is their prime business section of Manila and relatively safe and clean. Within a few blocks of my hotel were all the major upscale Asian hotels that you would expect to see (Shangri-La, etc) and some very nice shopping malls.

Traffic is insanely bad there and they commonly employ persons to drive for them. It is inexpensive to have this service in the Philippines and allows them to get to and from their destination without worrying about parking or the safety of their car. It is hard for me to imagine being driven to work each day and knowing that the person who drove you is sitting outside my office all day waiting for me. They often are very loyal, the driver I used was the personal driver for our medical director for the past 15 years!

A Very Delayed Attempt at Getting Caught Up!

2011-12-13T16:20:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I let time get away from me and have not been updating the blog. Its comical to me now to look back and see that the last post I posted was all about how my new MacBook would improve my blogging abilities. Apparently, it destroyed my ability as its been 6 months since I posted!

On with the more important thing though which is to document our time in Singapore to preserve it not only for our memories but for our daughters.

I can't move forward without going back, so here it is....the blog version of our trip home to Chicago in July.

We were all so excited to come home for July! I know Dannette and I are similar and we spend months prior to any event we are really excited about and fantasize the whole thing in our heads. Usually this can be a recipe for disaster as real life is always hard to live up to our fantasies.

In this case, the real event was a mixed bag. I think Dannette would say she had the best month ever being home with her friends. And I would have to agree that from her perspective it was probably everything she dreamed of and more. All starting with a giant group of girls waiting at the foot of our driveway to shout and cheer with homemade Welcome signs as we pulled down the street. I knew in that moment exactly how much she and her friends mean to one another! It was a spectacle I won't soon forget. And that is where we leave Dannette for this post as that was pretty much the last we saw of her all month :)

Now for the remainder of us, the month proved to be less that optimal. At the same time though, I don't know that anyone else could have pulled together a month of this many misshaps:

taking the wrong bag at the airport for one of our bags and not discovering it until we arrived at the rental car place in Libertyville. John then drove back, jet lagged and all, to retrieve it
I developed a searing back pain on the flight home (only 2 hours into the 18 hours of flights), only to discover 5 days later that the back pain and fever was pneumonia. I wound up hospitalized and spent the vast majority of the month recovering
on the day I was released from the hospital, there was a minor accident with our rental car involving John and a parking lot pole
later in the month during an early morning trip out for breakfast I made the mistake of letting Halie play with the car keys while buckling her into the car seat. Not realizing that she might have hit the door lock key, I accidentally shut the door with the keys on the back floor mats (with Halie inside). Not having a spare key for that rental car, we had to phone the friendly Lake Bluff police who luckily were there in under 5 minutes and had the door popped in less than 2 minutes

All in all, it was great to see as many of our family and friends that we could but completely overwhelming. John and I both felt the strain of fitting in as much time with family and friends as possible and found ourselves exhausted and not getting a chance to relax. We were sad to leave everyone, but grateful for the respite that Singapore has become for us.

Improvements to My Blogging Abilities - Coming Soon!

2011-06-22T19:58:00.000-07:00

So this really has nothing to do with Singapore, or living abroad. However, it does have to do with my blog and traveling!
I am so excited to say that I will FINALLY be the owner of a MacBook!

So for those that know me, let me give you a bit of history. Yes, I have a laptop for work. Yes, I have a laptop for home. Yes, I have an Ipad. Yes, I have an iTouch. and finally, Yes, I have a Kindle.

However, the MacBook is something I have wanted for over 4 years now. It started with my previous laptop purchase. I really wanted a Mac, but landed on getting a very nice Dell with an extra large screen. The laptop is great, it meets our needs as a family and it is starting to show its age. No surprise really as it is 4 years old.

I was dissuaded last time from getting the Mac for various reasons, all valid. However, that has not stopped this nagging desire for my pretty, white, compact little MacBook.

Now that it has come time to replace and I truly know what I use my laptop for (mainly surfing and blogging, with desires to spend more time working on digital scrapbooking), I was confident that the Mac is exactly what I need.

The bonus is that the Dell is still perfectly useable. Thus making my laptop completely mine! No wandering around the house to find it. Having to plug a dead laptop in as it has wandered off and been left to die.

I even took the time to be sure to make it very recognizable! Should be rather difficult not to spot this baby being used without my knowledge : )

Well, that's all for now. We are officially 8 days in counting on our trip back to Chicago and truly cannot wait. I have been working my tail off this month to finish up all my mid-year goals knowing that it will all be worth it next month when I can relax and do nothing but enjoy my time!

Dubai - Visit Two

2011-06-21T23:58:00.000-07:00

I don't really have anything new to post about how much I loved my second trip to Dubai.
I did want to share a nice video I took from my Blackberry of the water show I described before. If you recall, this is at the base of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world.
Hope you enjoy!

Fun Summer Days

2011-06-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

So I just had to share these photos that Dannette sent to me. I laughed when I saw them as it's a fun look into the silliness that she and her friends have when out and about. Often, quite different than the serious, quiet Dannette that we often all see. Hope you enjoy!

My personal favorite!

Last Day of School!

2011-06-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come and Dannette is now completely done with 7th grade! What a year and three schools later!!
I think we all see the end of school this year as a big milestone as it marks the beginning of the one month countdown until we return home to Chicago for the month of July. We are all starting to get really excited. Ok, excited about Chicago, not excited about Halie and the 24 hours on the plane. You see Halie has taken to being a screamer.....a happy screamer that is. She does nothing quietly. So you can imagine that our anxiety levels are inching up every day as we contemplate being in business class in a dark cabin for at least 12 hours of the flight while people try to sleep and we have a screaming toddler near them preventing them from sleeping. I have heard good things about essential oils to help calm kids on planes so I plan to do some investigating!
In other news, Monday marks the last trip before our home leave that I know of. Its a 4 day return trip to Dubai. However, after being in London for a week and just getting home last evening I can tell you that another 7 hour plane trip and 5 hour time difference is not sounding so good at the moment. All things will come to an end though and we will be even closer to Chicago when I get home!

In final news, the mail arrived today and we learned that Dannette made honor roll for the second semester! Not bad for a kid who has been through three schools and two continents in the course of one school year! We are of course, very proud! She of course, thinks I am insane for photographing her with the honor roll certificate. We parents need to embarass them some days I figure :)

Dance Team

2011-06-03T07:01:00.000-07:00

We were thrilled to be able to see Dannette perform with the Singapore American School's Dance Team at the beginning of May! What a great showcase of talent. The Spring show is lighter and only includes the Middle School whereas the fall show is a huge showcase of middle through high school. Dannette wanted to try the Spring show to get her feet wet and she enjoyed it so much she plans to do the Fall 2011 show when they return to school.

The show concept this year was called 'iDance' and centered around the concept of your iPod being on shuffle so each song was only about 90 seconds long. This was a great way to explore lots of types of dance as well as to include almost 200 dancers!

Not only was the show excellent, John and I had a blast watching Halie watch the show. She clapped for every act and often was dancing along in our laps. She really got excited when Michael Jackson's |Smooth Criminal| was used! Apparently, she is an MJ fan in the making!

Enjoy the pics!

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam

2011-06-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

Once again I am dreadfully behind on my blogging, but I have vowed to catch up again so that I am current by the time we head home to Chicago in one month! We are all getting very excited.

Firstly though I have not yet blogged about my trip to Vietnam at the end of April. This was definitely a trip that will not be forgotten!

Vietnam was like what I imagined every Asian city to be......extremely crowded, the streets jammed with motorbikes and people peddling everything from food to souvenirs on the streets. In general, I tend to dislike all the crowds, but something about Vietnam made it feel special. I will never forget arriving and being driven to the hotel and being the only car I could see as far in front, behind or to the sides of me. There were no cars, only thousands of people on motorbikes weaving in and out of traffic without stopping. The motorbike is treated like a family SIV there! I saw small Vespa scooter sized bikes carrying two adults with a small child in front of the driver and a second child nestled between the two adults! It was an amazing site.

I didn't get a chance to do any site seeing while there but I did find a new love......Vietnamese food! I did not know that Vietnamese food holds the worldwide distinction of being some of the healthiest foods around. I can see why. The food is simple but what makes it so special is the amazing amount of flavor that can come from simple basic ingredients. My favorite dish has to be Pho (pronounced 'fir'), in English translates to a Noodle soup. I prefer the Beef Pho, but they also sell another one typically that contains beef, beef balls and other meats. The broth of the Pho is a delicate broth teaming with basil and lots of other fragrant and tasty spices. The beef is super thin slices of beef (think similar to what a slice of lamb for gyros looks like) that is tossed raw into the boiling hot Pho broth moments before you eat it so it is perfectly cooked. The proper way to eat it is to remove the beef as you go and dip it into one of the spicy chili sauces that they serve with it. Of course, you also enjoy the broth as you would any other noodle soup. I was first introduced to the dish in Taiwan where it was good, but nothing replaces having it done locally in Vietnam! A few other must-try's are the fresh spring roll (also known as a summer roll), which is a non fried egg roll containing mint, basil, rice and a few vegies in a delicious rice wonton wrapper and to top it off Vietnamese coffee! I am not a coffee person but the deliciously sweet (they used sweetened condensed milk) and extremely strong flavors over ice could not be missed!

I have since found a decent place in Singapore to enjoy the cuisine but look forward to trying it again in Vietnam again!

Help Dannette to Win!

2011-04-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

So as part of our life in Singapore, we still try to do the "normal" stuff. Part of Dannette's 13th bday was tickets to the Justin Bieber concert here in Singapore. Please vote. Voting will go until April 30th, the most likes wins the life size figure of him.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=o.159300480788770#!/photo.php?fbid=1694051475620&set=o.159300480788770&type=1&theater

Korea and Taiwan

2011-04-17T04:30:00.000-07:00

Taipei, Taiwan

I am once again behind on the blog and feeling the need to catch up. I honestly had not given the blog much thought as I have been enjoying my approximately 6 weeks without travel! So upon coming back from my Korea/Taiwan trip, the last thing I wanted to do was blog about it.
The time has come though for my travel to again begin. I will be leaving for a quick two day trip on Easter evening to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I am really looking forward to seeing Vietnam. After that it's the trip I am probably most excited about.....a week back in Chicago. This was a surprise trip as I have been asked to take on a new project which involves bringing our new medical directors to Chicago to introduce them to Headquarters. This is a project currently scheduled twice per year. It is a task that is handled by one of my colleagues from Germany but they decided to get a back-up person so that she doesn't have to make the trip each time. After that it's a trip to Marlow, England just outside of London near Windsor. A location that Dannette and I love. We visited Windsor nearly 8 years ago now. It will be one week after the Royal Wedding so I am excited to be part of the festivities.
Everything here is good. Weather is nice as always, John is really getting his bike rides in and Dannette is looking forward to her last 6 weeks of school. None of us can believe that summer is nearly here!
For those that don't know, we have made a critical decision to bring our beloved 4 year old German Shepherd to Singapore and he will be joining us on our return flight from Chicago at the end of July. Luckily, we were able to investigate the quarantine options and found a way for him to only be quarantined for 10 days upon his arrival instead of the 30 days originally planned.
I digress though, this post was about South Korea and Taiwan. I really enjoyed this trip. While it seemed a long 5 days to be away, both countries were among my favorite! South Korea was such an interesting place to go as it's the furthest north I have gone thus far in Asia. It was on the cool side compared to what I have become accustomed to as it was in the mid-50's, but it was the amazing views that got me. The city of Seoul is set in a way that you see great views of the ocean on your drive from the airport but have breathtaking views of some mountains in the distance. The city itself was similar to most Asian cities I have been too. I will say it was clean and did not seem near as crowded and frantic as Shanghai or even Hong Kong. My work colleagues went out of their way to have me sample some delicious Korean food. My favorite was a Korean BBQ dinner. Along with sampling 10 mini appetizers including several types of kimchee (think pickled cabbage), the highlight of the meal was the Korean BBQ beef. This is cooked on a charcoal grill set into the center of the table where the most deliciously marinated beef strips are grilled by your waitress in front of you. I would really like to find a Korean BBQ here in Singapore to take John and the girls to as I think they would fall in love with the food.

Waiting for my bubble tea order at a street stall in Taiwan

Taiwan, was the polar opposite of South Korea. A short flight of just under two hours from Seoul, Taiwan is an island off the coast of China. While it does have seasons, it was considerably warmer than Seoul as it was already well into their Spring season. I loved Taiwan. It was crowded and a bit hectic but in a way that I found very appealing. I found myself wandering the small streets between my office and the hotel and enjoyed watching the people. The streets were an interesting mix of people, motorbikes and tons of foot traffic. I took some pictures on a trip to a bubble tea stand near the office over lunch. They were only captured with my Blackberry but I think it did a good job of capturing the average street.

Shanghai, China

2011-03-13T05:46:00.000-07:00

Looking down Nanjing Road

I spent this past week in Shanghai for three days. I have to admit this is the very least favorite of the places I have seen thus far.
I was in a great location at the end of Nanjing Road, a world famous street known for shopping.
I found the area to be crowded and unfriendly.
I had realized shortly before leaving for my trip that it was going to be cold and did not have a winter coat. When I arrived I took a brief trip out to the shops to look for a winter coat. I quickly discovered that no English is almost non-existent and most of the signs are not readable. I did wander into a department type store at one point only to be shooed out by the women working there. Apparently, foreigners were not welcome.
The city itself is dirty and the city is so crowded there is literally no green anywhere. No trees, no grass. Just skyscraper after skyscraper.
To give you an idea of how overpopulated the city is, the lobby of my hotel was on the 38th floor! My room was on the 54th floor!
As usual though, it doesn't really matter what the city is like as I spent my time working.

Lotus Root Stuffed with Sticky Rice


Mandarin Fish

The office did take me out for a traditional Chinese meal one evening and it was an enjoyable experience. I am not the biggest fan of Chinese food, but I can say that I tried some dishes that I have never had before. My favorites were Mandarin Fish (served as a full fish with sweet and sour sauce, the cheeks were the most delicious part) and Lotus Root stuffed with sticky rice. The lotus root was interesting as it was slightly sweet but had a gummy texture as it is a root vegetable.
Off this week for a full week of travel with South Korea until Wednesday and then Taiwan on Thursday and Friday.

Ode to the Tablespoon

2011-02-27T04:50:00.000-08:00

It was bound to happen......one of the things we were told about moving to another country is that you will naturally go through a stage of hating where you are, the people there or things about the new culture. Its kind of like the stages of grief when someone dies, its the stages of adapting to expat life.
Like everyone else we have had our moments with lots of these types of things, I choose not to blog about them as I recognize this blog is out in the world for all to read and I don't want to spread negative thoughts.
In this case however, I have decided to break that rule and share my absolute HATRED for a common every day utensil. I admit it, I have developed an odd hatred for the common every day kitchen tablespoon!
Before my family all thinks I have gone off my rocker, let me explain.....
Turns out, Americans tend to have this incorrect view of most Asians eating with chopsticks. They don't. Chopsticks tend to be reserved for Japanese food only. Instead, most eat everything with a tablespoon!
This should have absolutely no impact on me as obviously it matters not what people do in their own homes. In my case however, we have a helper who delights in laying out a tablespoon with every meal. I mean every meal. In the morning with my waffles or pancakes or eggs, I find myself with a tablespoon! Aside from the wasted effort of putting out a piece of silverware none of us uses, it wouldn't normally matter..........................
AHA, that is where you are wrong ! What I didn't mention is that while there is a tablespoon set out it is missing the knife!!!! So I am expected to butter and cut my waffles or pancakes with what? A Spoon!
In all seriousness, I realize that life is nice if all I have to worry about in life is having to get up to grab a butter knife. At the same time, I find myself harboring a deep resentment for large spoons.
Thus this post serves as fair notice to all family that I will likely run screaming from the room should I encounter a tablespoon at any meal I am sharing with any of you while visiting in July :)

South Africa

2011-02-25T04:19:00.000-08:00

Palazzo Hotel - Johannesburg, South Africa

Returned from South Africa a week ago now. It was a quick trip but nice to say that I have been to Africa.
In truth, I saw very little of Africa aside from the airport, hotel and office. What I saw seemed nice enough but due to ever present safety concerns in Johannesburg I was not able to really do any sight seeing.

Montecasino adjacent to my hotel, this is indoors yet the sky looks real!

The hotel I stayed in was quite nice and had an entertainment complex adjacent to the hotel that had some great restaurants, shops and a casino. The hotel itself was beautiful and modeled after an Italian villa. As its really the only thing I saw, I took several pictures of it.
I would love to go back and have the time to take in a safari which the locals said is very nice.
All in all, just another business trip...... in a very nice hotel : )

This is the rear of the hotel that faces the pool. In the mornings I had breakfast out on the terrace you can see with the covered tables. Even dined with a peacock one morning. Of course, the only morning I left my Blackberry in the room to charge!

View from the pool level

One of the many gorgeous gardens on the property

Covered walkway that allows you access to the Montecasino next door

Dubai

2011-02-24T05:39:00.000-08:00

Burj Khalifa at night - tallest building in the world

Once again trying to catch up on the blog and find myself needing to write several entries.
First, my trip to Dubai which was amazing! I found myself mesmerized and absolutely in love with Dubai. I was there at a very interesting time as the crises in Egypt hit its peak while I was there! I became very aware of the events in Egypt as I was in Dubai to meet three of my Egyptian colleagues who all work in Saudi Arabia. They were understandably worried for their families and thus got many live on the ground updates as the days unfolded.

Water Show at the Base of the Burj Khalifa over dinner

Very top of the Burj Khalifa

Dubai itself though is simply stunning! I think the best way to describe it is Las Vegas picked up and set down in the middle of the desert. Everything is new and modern. They also seem try quite hard to mirror American hotels, buildings and shopping malls. My first evening there I went to see the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa. It is a very modern building that is so large you cannot even photograph the whole thing. At its base is a very large shopping mall and outdoor plaza with restaurants. In the midst of this plaza, at the base of the Burj Khalifa, is a very large lagoon. Every 30 minutes a water fountain show set to music runs.....sound like the Bellagio to anyone else? I have to say though that this water show far outdoes the one in Vegas! Its easily triple the size. It was an enjoyable evening!

Ski Dubai

My second evening my work companions took me to the Mall of the Emirates. This is easily the largest and most luxurious shopping mall I have ever been in. The mall is interestingly sectioned in a way that as you walk down the hall you move through "areas" kind of like one big department store. Meaning, if you want to shop for shoes you walk to the shoe area of the mall and have three floors of every shoe shop contained in the mall. Same with childrens clothes, toy stores, beauty shops, department stores or home interiors. The decor in the mall is again very similar to Vegas. The ceiling is made to look like the outdoor sky and changes from day to night. My favorite section of the mall is the entertainment area. Here you could choose to see a movie in a 60 theatre movie complex, bowl in a 50 lane bowling alley, roller blade, skate board, ice skate or even ski! Ski Dubai is an entirely indoor winter playground. Your admission ticket entitles you to use of sleds, skis, and ski lifts and even winter coats, snow pants and snow boots.

Enjoying Sheesha at the Lebanese Restaurant

My Egyptian colleagues from the Saudi office

After exploring the mall we dined at a delicious Lebanese restaurant. The food was delicious with options including lamb, couscous and turkish tea but the real attraction for the locals was their 40 different flavors of sheesha. Sheesha is a regional past time that involves smoking flavored tobacco through a large decorative water pipe. It was truly a different sight to walk into a restaurant and see everyone sitting with these giant sheesha pipes. Luckily, the smell tends not to be smoky but more sweet as the flavored sheesha is typically mint, lemon, apple and other sweet scents. Definitely not something I would want to endure while dining on a regular basis but it made for great people watching!
All in all I really enjoyed Dubai and would love to take everyone back to experience what Dubai has to offer. The architecture was so amazing it seemed futuristic. Enjoy a few photos of the amazing skyline.

Building currently under construction near the Marina, it appears to "twist" into the sky

I thought the juxtaposition of these modern metropolis skyscrapers against the relaxed atmosphere of the marina with its yachts, sailboats and palm trees was interesting

Children's Television in Singapore

2011-02-21T03:57:00.000-08:00

I try on occassion to blog about the mundane stuff in Singapore that we take for granted now so that our families get a flavor of how we live. I thought Children's television might interest some as Halie is now to that age where she likes to occassionally eye the tv. We have a wide variety of children's television here ranging from the normal Nickelodeon and Disney channels to Halie's favorite "CBeebies", a BBC channel dedicated to children's programming. Some of you might have heard of it over a decade ago as it is the channel that originally brought the Teletubbies to the screen in England. Just like Dannette, Halie seems to LOVE the teletubbies.
She does however have some other shows that she enjoys, all of which are on CBeebies and that I had never heard of before coming here. Maybe I was just out of the kid show loop. If you have heard of these shows before leave a comment :)

In the Night Garden - this is adorable with characters like Makka Pakka, Igle Piggle, Upsy Daisy, and the Tombliboos (starting from bottom left and then moving to back row)

The Waybuloos - still haven't quite figured this show out but it involves crystals and these characters float. I thought that was the whole concept but now I see there seems to be some yoga component to it as they have live children during a regular segment performing yoga poses. Halie loves it, I think its too complicated to understand.

Five Minutes More - this is absolutely my fave. Its a 5-7 minute show that airs between certain shows. The concept is the animals provide "just one more story" before bed. Each episode one of the animals gets to be the story teller and the story evolves from one of the squares you see on the bed quilt.

Everything's Rosie (with a little help from our friends) - I have only seen this a few times but I love watching Halie dance to the theme song!

Update from here

2011-01-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

I am catching up on blog posts this evening so if you don't always scroll down be sure you read down to catch the other posts I made this evening on Hong Kong and our recent visitors.
Things here are pretty normal right now. Dannette continues to enjoy her new school. Halie is getting more verbal every day.
We officially have booked our family leave trip! We will arrive back to Chicago on July 1st and won't return to Singapore until July 28th! We are all really looking forward to it. Our plans are to stay at the house in Lake Bluff so that we will be centrally located to all of our friends and family. I will need to work two days a week so that I don't use up all my vacation but I think it should be fine. With the time difference I will be able to work Sunday and Monday evenings (6pm - 2am) and then enjoy the rest of the week!
In other big news, I am excited to say that a last minute trip has been planned for me with work. I will be leaving Saturday night around midnight to hear for........................wait for it....................................................

DUBAI until Thursday! I am so excited as Dubai has been on my wish list of places to see for a very long time. I should have all day Sunday to myself so I hope to get a chance to explore and hopefully take a few pictures.

Hong Kong

2011-01-27T04:53:00.000-08:00

After our visitors left Saturday evening, it was off to Hong Kong for me on Sunday evening. I spent two days in the main city center. Hong Kong is a bustling metropolis that is so completely different than Singapore it takes a minute to adjust. Of course, no where is as clean as Singapore but its also far more crowded. The skyline is amazing as you come in at night!

For those interested in a little history, Hong Kong is one of two special administrative areas (SARs) of China. The second being Macau. Hong Kong technically only came into existence in 1997 when the transfer of sovereignty occurred from British rule.
I really would like to take the whole family back to Hong Kong to explore Disneyland Hong Kong, Ocean Park (a huge amusement park that houses the An An and Jia Jia two giant pandas!) and Macau (Las Vegas of Asia). Hopefully we will have the opportunity over our time here.

Our first visitors!

2011-01-27T04:40:00.000-08:00

Our first visitors have officially come and gone!
We had a great time with Dan and Anna. After spending nearly two weeks in the Philippines they took a quick two day trip over to visit Singapore.
I think we did a decent job of giving them a feel for the city:
a tour of Orchard Rd
the local favorite dish - chicken rice

Sup-Tulang a local Indian dish recommended by Anthony Bourdain's show. Its bones served in a spicy curry sauce. There is little food, you simply use a straw to suck the bone marrow from the bones and sop the sauce up on crusts of bread. John and I did not try it!

trying out some local delicacies at a hawker stand
the Night Safari at the zoo

and a trip to MacRitchie Reservoir to hike the Treetop Walk.
We all enjoyed having people come to visit. Its nice to share our new life with people in person instead of only via the blog and skype.
Always welcoming new visitors! If you are interested, just let us know.

First Trip of the New Year Complete - Malaysia

2011-01-14T18:18:00.000-08:00

No pictures today, just a quick update. I returned last night from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was a busy two days of work so I never got to see anything of interest and our offices are outside of KL in a suburb state called Subang. From what I saw Malaysia is more lush and green than Singapore which makes sense as they have far more land. Traffic is insanely bad at peak hours as they have almost no public transport in the suburbs. Everyone here at home did well.
Dannette seems to be enjoying her first week at the new school and is starting to get to know some of the girls. Halie is starting to mimic a few words and has expanded beyond the frequently used "DaDa" to saying "cat".
Our weekend plans are looking to be low key. We were supposed to have lunch with another American family that I met at work but there was a conflict in schedules so we will have to reschedule. Heading to the zoo for a bit today with Halie as it looks like its going to be a nice day. Other than that not much on the schedule.
It will be a shorter 4 day week for me as I will be on leave next Friday! So excited as Dan and Anna arrive from Manila on Thursday afternoon! I can't wait. We plan to take them to the Night Safari so it should be a good time.
Enjoy the weekend!

Happy 1st Birthday Halie!

2011-01-04T05:02:00.000-08:00

It's officially here, Halie has turned a year!
We celebrated in style with a small party of the four of us at home.
Originally, plans had been made for John and Dannette to go to Gymboree today with Halie to play as part of her birthday celebration but those plans fell through as Halie decided that today was not a day to nap. In order to prevent certain meltdown, they stuck closer to home.

Dannette in her balloon mound last night after her party prep

Once I got home from work we all celebrated with a brief party complete with more balloons than Halie had ever seen in her life, noise makers, gifts and cake. The balloons were a fun addition to the party. Dannette had come up with the idea and went out yesterday to get them and spent all last evening blowing them up. She kept them hidden all day until I came home and when we brought Halie our of her room for the party she was able to be besieged by balloons.

Princess Halie holding court while opening her gifts

We all were in a good mood and got in the act as well as you can see by the pics of John, the court jester photographer and the video of Dannette with the birthday cake!

A bit unconventional but Halie was so excited to see Tom on her cake!

Evolution of a 1 Year old with Cake

What a dainty bite this neat child took!


Hard to see but she has bits of cake on her forehead and in her hair.

This was just seconds before she tired of the whole cake thing and tossed it in one piece on the floor!

Birthday cake is more difficult to find here than you can imagine but I thought these mini cakes did the job for a first birthday. It was especially cute to me as John and Halie (ok, really just John) watches Tom and Jerry on Boomerang each morning. She immediately recognized Jerry and started pointing at him as soon as the cake got close to her.

John getting into the act as the court jester photographer. He even fancied himself a director as he would yell "Action" and "Cut" while he videoed her birthday!

Pictures and video are far better to express the day so I am keeping this brief in order for you to all enjoy the pics.

Bali, Indonesia

2011-01-04T04:22:00.000-08:00

We spent the week between Christmas and New Year's in Bali. It is definitely a trip that all of us took something away from and will remember.....for some of us, like Halie who is too young to remember, the only thing she took away was a bad case of "Bali Belly". Which is the Eastern Hemisphere's version of Montezuma's Revenge.
In all seriousness though, we all had a really nice time.

View from our pool out to the ocean

Bali is a beautiful island and we really liked the Indonesian people that we interacted with. After a brief 2.5 hour flight from Singapore and a 10 minute cab ride we were at our hotel, The Discovery Kartika Plaza, a large resort on South Kuta Beach. Kuta is the main beach community of Bali due to its large amount of hotels and wide span of beaches. It is also the main area for restaurants and shopping. As it was high season the area was extremely crowded and we all could have done with a bit fewer people but none the less it was enjoyable.
Bali is very similar to any small Mexican resort town with islanders at every step looking to sell you souvenirs, jewelry or other useless tourist items.

View from breakfast during our bike trek through Ubud villages

My favorite day by far was our second full day on the island when we took a 24km (15 mile) bike tour through the inner villages and rice fields of Bali in an area called Ubud. I had researched this company as it is owned by a local man. His company comes and collects you from your hotel first thing in the morning and drives you about 90 minutes inland to a beautiful restaurant set on a hillside where you can get breathtaking views of the terraced farming and mountains in the distance.

Terraced Farming of Rice fields

Halie's Initial reaction to the bike helmet

We ate a quick local breakfast of plantain pancakes and freshly squeezed juice before being driven another 15 minutes to start the bike tour. The benefit to this company is they have bikes with baby seats and small infant helmets

Halie cheered up for a few seconds with the helmet but shortly after this we gave up and let her ride without it.

as well as air conditioned vans that follow discreetly behind in the event that you need to take a break or can no longer ride. This came in quite handy with Halie who did not enjoy the wind in her hair as much as we thought she would. I was only able to complete the first 1/3 of the ride or so and spent the rest in the van with Halie but that was still a great way to see the villages. My favorite part was the initial portion of the ride where you get to visit a

Halie harvesting rice with the villagers

family compound. A family compound is where all family members return for holidays and important family moments. Many of the family live there year round and are called "active members". These individuals are responsible for everything in the compound from farming, religious ceremonies, caring for the animals, housekeeping, cooking, cleaning and minding the children. The "inactive members" are allowed to live away from the compound to earn money which is shared by all members of the compound but must still return for all holidays and important family times. Compounds house large numbers of people, some as high as 30! Everything is quite primitive but I admire their resourcefulness and complete reliance on themselves. They make only what they need and eat only what they can grow. The family compounds are passed down from generation to generation and can never be sold.

Touring a family compound

The goats were for meat, not milk.

This compound also has chocolate and nutmeg!

We also got to go into an actual rice field and see how they harvest rice. In addition to observing them harvest rice, we all got to try it ourselves. Dannette got an extra bonus as an elderly woman asked Dannette if she would be interested in meeting her grandson who would be needing a wife soon! We all got quite a chuckle out of that.

A village temple

Enjoying our Balinese lunch after the long ride

The ride continues through numerous villages where the children come running out to greet you and wave from the roadside. This is something I will always remember as they were so genuinely excited to see us it felt like being in a parade. The ride ends at the owners plantation home where his wife and several other members of the compound prepared a traditional Balinese feast for us to enjoy for lunch. The food was delicious. We all really enjoyed this one spicy noodle dish that they made and I fell in love with these toasted soya beans covered in a thick peanuty soy sauce. Yum!

Dannette enjoying her boogie board

The rest of the trip was very low key with lots of swimming and relaxing. Halie proves to be much like Dannette and enjoys the water. She especially enjoyed her time in the ocean when the waves would come and crash up against her. She didn't even seem to mind the saltwater in her face. Dannette received a boogie board for Xmas and tried that out as well.
All in all, a very nice vacation that we all will remember.

The beach at sunset on our last night

Dinner along the water at our hotel

Dannette lounging by the pool

Proving once again that Halie makes friends wherever we go! She befriended this Cambodian family from Darwin. Turns out the father lived in the States for a few years! Luckily, unlike them we were not stuck in the airport for 5 hours!!

Merry Christmas from our home to all of you!

2010-12-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

Dannette's first strapless dress! She was so excited to pick this out!

Halie on our new leather sofa

Christmas is winding down here. The excitement of the day has worn us all down and Halie is now tucked into bed for the night, or at least the next three hours until she is up again to eat!
We all had a nice relaxing day. Dannette even commented that it was nice and not as boring as she had imagined so John and I must have done something right!

Our Christmas Tree a real North Carolina Douglas Fir! You can also see a bit of our new dining table.

Halie looking at one of her many new books!

Dannette received a Manchester United Football(Soccer) Jersey from Santa

Halie enjoyed the gift wrap as much as the gifts. You can see her new Sand and Water Table that Santa brought.

We started the morning out with unwrapping gifts and emptying stockings to see what Santa had brought. Then onto a breakfast feast prepared by John. Of course, pancakes were included : ) The rest of the day was low key and really just spent playing with new toys, getting Halie down for naps and preparing our Christmas dinner. I prepared a Christmas dinner similar to what we would have had if we were back home with family....turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and my famous mac and cheese. We haven't yet had dessert but we plan to enjoy a pecan pie later on this evening. I was pretty happy with how dinner came out considering my oven is literally no larger than an American full sized microwave. This took quite a bit of planning to ensure I didn't make too much food and that all the baking dishes could be squeezed in at the same time. It came off quite well and we are all stuffed with just a little food left to spare.

Tomorrow will be an eventful day as we have yet to pack and head to Bali in the late afternoon. The weather is predicted to be similar to here mid to upper 80's for the week with the usual 30% chance of rain. We are all looking forward to an adventure!
Enjoy the pics. For those of you who may not realize, I included a Xmas gift for all of you in the blog today. This is the third in a series of three posts, so be sure to check out 'older posts' to read the rest of what I posted today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, WE MISS YOU MORE THAN YOU WILL EVER KNOW!

Halie has taken to making this hilarious face, I thought you would all enjoy seeing it. It cracks me up every time!


More Halie with the new face :)

Finally, even after the mad faces her sweet angel face always returns.......................................

Underwater World - Xmas Break Outing

2010-12-25T01:37:00.000-08:00

What a cool octopus! I had to put this pic first as I knew how much my mother would LOVE it :)

We have been pretty lazy this week. Dannette is off school for 3 weeks and I have two weeks of vacation. This past week we haven't done much as I think we are all tired of the crowds and there isn't that much to do in Singapore that does not involve shopping.
We did decide to try out Underwater World, Singapore's version of the Shedd Aquarium. It is very small and is only enough entertainment for about an hour but it is out on Sentosa Island and between the trip to get out there and visiting the aquarium we had a nice day out.

Splashing around in the sensory pool

Here are some pics of Dannette and Halie in the sensory area. You are able to touch stingray and starfish. It was actually quite nice. They also have a moving walkway that takes you underneath the tanks so that you can get a personal view of the underwater life like sharks!

Enjoying the jellyfish from Mommy's back

Halie touching a giant stingray after feeding him

Christmas Lights on Orchard

2010-12-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we took a double decker bus tour of Orchard Road all lit up. It was so much fun! Even Dannette and John who were making fun of me for wanting to take the bus tour enjoyed it. Dannette enjoyed it so much she asked to go again! They are similar to the double decker bus tours of London with the upper deck exposed so you get a great view and they played Xmas music during the tour.
The lights are amazing. Here's a peek:

Getting ready to board the bus

Ferrero Rocher Tree in front of the Heeren Mall

Say Chocolate!

A View from the bus

Tanglin Mall - the winner of the best decorated mall. The tree is made of 1000s of CDs! Below the tree they have a Winter Wonderland where each evening they release "snow" for a snowball fight. The snow is actually soap flakes.

A view of how insanely crowded Orchard Road is in the evening at this time of the year in front of the ION Orchard Shopping Center.

Paragon Mall decked out in Gold and glitter

Flash Mob - Singapore Style

2010-12-23T23:10:00.000-08:00

For anyone who doesn't already know what a flash mob is, it's when a large group of people gather and blend into a crowd. Suddenly, a single person starts by singing. Slowly the singing grows by adding people and typically includes a choreographed dance.
Dannette's school recently did one. Here is the YouTube video in case you are interested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvvQeaKQHH8