Home Sweet Home

Well, sort of . . . It is nice to be home; however, reality came a little too fast as we found the fridge not working, the front porch light broken, the trunk of the Mitsubishi flooded, a ton of mail, and bills that needed to be paid. In addition we didn't even notice until we got home that we missed a bag at the airport. Luckily it is still in Chicago and United will bring it out--rather than us forgetting it.

Today is my first day back to work. I think I need another vacation.

Swimming with Dolphins

A wish item Emily had was to swim with dolphins. Well, I don't know that you call it swimming; however, Emily was able to get into the water with the pink dolphins found in the South China sea. Big thanks to Bryan and Laurie for making our dreams come true!

Conservation efforts in Asia

One of the most popular dishes in Asia is shark fin soup. While I never felt the urge to try it, and am glad I did not, many people find it enjoyable. While visiting the zoo I found the methods for obtaining the fins for the sharks deplorable. Sharks are captured and then the fins(dorsal and tail) are cut off and kept, while the shark is dumped back in the ocean to bleed to death. I do not know how many bowls of soup is made from one fin; however, I am sure it not too many as the shark population has decreased dramatically from the practice.
Governments have taken steps to abolish the practice; however, there are so many 'local' fisherman it is virtually impossible to stop all of it. Public relations campaigns have pushed for individuals to avoid consuming the dish to help stop the killing of sharks.
Please consider your choices of food when visiting Asia.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Chacon family. May the spirit of the Lord enter into your homes as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Durian--Asia's fruit gem

There are a handful of fruits found in Asia that are not found in the USA. Durian is probably the most popular and as I mentioned it has such a strong smell you are not permitted to eat it inside. It is large and shelled like a pineapple, but has a much harder shell and has spikes. The fruit sellers actually wear gloves while opening it up. Once open the fruit is almost a slimy goo with a seed around each section. In a large fruit there can be as many as 12 or 14 seeds. There are several different kinds of fruit, but I can hardly taste the difference.

Miriam is eating a Mangosteen and the fruit on the bottom right is an opened Durian. You can actually eat them right at the stand where they are sold.

Henrico County School Board

Because we are leaving next week, I decided to think about my 'real' life this evening and remembered a conversation I had in November with Hugh Palmer, the Varina area (my area) representative to the Henrico County school board. It has been rumored that he will not seek another term and I have considered seeking the office. After meeting with him about several pressing issues facing the school, he told me he had not made a decision regarding the election next year.
While I have not decided to run should Hugh decide to retire, I would be interested to get your feedback on public school systems--especially Henrico county.

Singapore Science Center

Miriam and I had some daddy daughter time yesterday afternoon and we ended up at the science center. Everything was kid enabled and Miriam enjoyed pushing all the buttons. The science didn't interest her that much, but we did talk about a few things.
It was fun to see her decide what stations she wanted to visit and we did learn quite a bit in our short trip.

Singapore Zoo

Yesterday we ventured to the Singapore ZOO. As you can tell by the pictures, the elephant was a big piece of our experience. Miriam enjoyed the penguins, the zebras and the polar bears. Elaine enjoyed the elephants--her favorite animal. She is quite the daredevil and helped feed the elephants, pet the kangaroos, wanted to pet the snakes, and even wanted to play with the monkies. My favorite animal was the white tiger.


In coming to Singapore, Emily really wanted to ride an elephant and we thought we would need to go to another country to do so; however, we were delighted to find out the zoo had a short elephant ride. Miriam did not want to ride; however, after standing in line for about 15 minutes she decided it was ok for her to ride. I had a runny nose and there was a sign asking 'me' not to ride.

Only 1 in 10,000 tiger is white. We almost did not get to see them as it had been raining and the waters were high in the morning; however, by the afternoon they were out.

Melacca Malaysia

Ana Requested some pictures from Melacca, and here my attempt to fulfill that request. We took the bus there--Singapore is connected to Malaysia via a bridge. Asian has an interesting definition for continent. Because Singapore and the islands above it are connected via a bridge they are deemed part of the Asian Continent; thus Singapore is literally the southern most point of the Asian continent even though it is an island.

The highways are roads were in great condition. For some reason I had thought Malaysia would be poorer than it is. I should have guessed by the exchange rate (1USD = 3.5 Malaysian Ringgit), which is the second highest of the countries we have been too. ADVISORY: When traveling to Malaysia, make sure you have small coinage and bring lots of your own toilet paper. It costs money to use the 'toilet' as they are labeled and TP is extra. You may consider practicing using the 'toilet' without your fanny actually hitting the toilet, because there are actually not any toilets in the 'toilet'. We call the squatty potty (official term). I can't speak for the hotels--just the places we visited--tourist centric places and customs/border patrol location. You have been advised.

We only had about 5 hours to look around and 1 of those we spent eating and 1 shopping. Luckily the historical sites are are centrally located and we hit the big items--Several churches, the fort, and a Portuguese Man of War. This picture was taken in front of the oldest church in Melacca with the Man of War in the background. Miriam was very happy we were taking another picture--I just love my kids.

We did do the touristy attraction of the trishaws--cousins of the rickshaws, but with a bicycle. They were decorated very nicely and our driver thought he was king as he honked at everything in his path. I rode with Miriam and she loved it. We also bought Miriam and Emily some leather shoes for about $8USD, but I managed to step on her foot yesterday and now she claims they are 'broken'. c`est la vie

oh, more pictures of Melacca can be found here. Sorry there are no captions--all this recording takes a lot of effort and I am on VACATION!! Again I would encourage anyone traveling this far to make it a two day affair. :)

Singapore Update

I did not do as much blogging as I thought I would do today; however, I did finish up some old ones, so be sure to scroll down.

I, Miriam, and Elaine tried fried baby squid today. Unlike Calamari, these were not breaded and had a sweet and sour sauce on them. Miriam liked them, Elaine did not, Bryan loves them, and while I thought they were enjoyable I did not feel the need to eat every last one of them--but that is why Bryan is there. :)

We also had Durian, an Asian fruit with an extremely strong smell. So strong in fact they do not allow you to take it inside buildings. You have to eat it outside. Elaine did not even try it, Miriam took her no thank you bite and said no thanks. I actually started to enjoy it the more I had it; however, it won't be replacing ice cream or brownies as my dessert of choice any time soon. I will have to get the pictures we took. Emily still needs to try it. Another interesting fruit was the Mangotines. They have a thick skin with a white fruit. They are wonderful and everyone liked them--even Elaine.

Yesterday we went to Malacca Malaysia. It was a 4 hour bus ride and we went there and back in one day. History buffs would really love it as they have remains from the Portuguese (1700s), the Dutch (1800s), the English and Japanese (1900s). It was nice to see, but definitely stay the night if you are going to go all that way.

Time is going so fast. Only one more week and we are going back home!!

oh, I allow comments for a reason!! I would like to hear from some of you!! (Congrats on your bathroom Ana--looks good.)

Rainy Day

It started raining heavily last night and has not stopped. Today's forecast is for nothing but rain. Brian, my father-in-law, took the day off so I feel bad we won't be able to do more. Singapore is a very outdoor kind of place.

Perhaps I can catch up on some of my blog postings . . . .

Manila Temple

We visited the temple on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday. They have their Christmas lights on so we wanted to see them at night. We did an endowment session on Wednesday. We met a couple being sealed that same day; they were so wonderful!

The temple grounds are quite large and there is a fence around the premises. A distribution center is across the street and a LDS craft store is a block down the road.

I just wish we had our day pictures (See LOST entry). :( Photo below courtesy of LDS Church temples.com

LOST

I lost our camera--at least we think we lost it. We can't remember where or why we lost it--it was around my neck. We just know it is gone. I was so upset! We had a days worth of pictures on their--our temple pictures, sights around Manila, and our dinner on the ocean. Now we only have the memories.

So go ahead, give your camera a hug.

La Corona Hotel

While in the Philippines we stayed at La Corona Hotel--affiliated with the best western network. The hotel itself was great. The staff were friendly enough and the room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the AC unit was working. They also provided 3 bottles of water per day, which we enjoyed.

In other reviews, I saw there were issues of construction and the elevator. We heard no construction noises and the elevator worked; however, it was a bit slow. It is one of the old school ones with the metal doors and the outer door pulls open like a room door. I agree with the location complaint. It was fairly near the historical area; however, it was almost 10 blocks from the metro and the area has both housing and businesses on the same street. While Manila is almost all poor and dirty, there are a few better areas to stay in. Most of the shopping/entertainment locations are on the east side of the city.

When you get to the airport--do not use the hotel car!!! It is about 3 or 4 times what you would pay a taxi. (Just remember to ask the taxi driver to start his meter) Every time you walk out the hotel, they offer you a ride. Now, I am a Lonely Planet fan and like to do things on the cheap so take that into consideration. I did get worn out from the taxi drivers trying to get more money than the standard fare--they always wanted "meter plus 30" or 30 pesos over the meter reading. We would always tip, but were not that generous. Still it was ALWAYS cheaper to use the local taxi.

The breakfast buffet was perhaps the most bizarre array of food--at least for an American. There were things like Teriyaki chicken, rice, beef tips with some bread and butter. They did have Corn Flakes. So while most of the food was what I would be looking for in a dinner, the Filipino eats for breakfast. They did have an 'egg station' that would cook you eggs, so I stuck to that and toast. There was no juice--but there was all the Tang you could drink!

Jeepneys

A different twist to your public transportation. The Jeepney first came to existence after world war two with surplus military Jeeps. While there are a few other varieties, they mostly resemble what you see. Each one is decorated by the driver/owner.

It costs 7 pesos for a short ride(in town) and 19 pesos for a long ride (between towns), so they are the cheapest ticket in town. They are loud and the drivers like to sardine as many people as they can into the back.

These things are everywhere and it was fun to use them a couple of times; however, I am unsure I would like to ride to work in them everyday . . .

The Filipino

I love the Filipino people. They are as nice and as warm a people as you can find. In almost every case, someone would get up and allow Emily to have there Metro seat if none were available. More later . . . .

Off to Manila

We are off to Manilla untill Thursday. We are unsure how much blogging we will do there. See you at the end of the week.

Singapore Night Safari

The Singapore Night Safari was by far one of the coolest nature reserves I have ever been too. Being that it is at night, you see animals you don't see other places. The extra $8 SD for the tram was worth it; there are animals on that track you can't see on foot and some of the animals are literately no more than a foot from you. Ironically enough, my favorite animal to see has the hippo--don't ask me why.

There was a fire dance in the main entrance that was very cool--those guys must have put a gallon of gas in there mouths. They kept blowing fire out of their mouths like it was normal. They would also put out the torches with their mouths.

There several areas where you could enter with flying animals--a bat just about got me when it relieved itself and one of the flying squirrels came what felt like about 2 feet from landing on my head. It was impressive to be that close to the animals. The walking portion has paved paths, but because it is at night and you are in the jungle and can hear all the bug noises it has an eerie sort of feeling--like a wild hyena could sneak up behind you and have your for dinner. It is all very safe, but the way you can interact with the animals is different from anywhere I have been.

If you are in Singapore and have time to do nothing else, I recommend the world's first Night Safari. It is by far the most unique thing you will do in the country.

More Pictures

We are not blogging about all the pictures we take--at least I am not. Here are some of the ones that didn't make the cut.

Singapore
Hong Kong

Ok, pictures should work now.

Anne Black Guest House (YWCA)

We stayed in the Anne Black Guest House during our stay in Hong Kong on Dec 5 to Dec 7. We waited a little too long to find a room and as this week all the locals were out of school, the hotels were booked and we had a hard time finding a place that wasn't $300 a night. Luckily we found this one and to save even more money we choose the communal bath option. We stayed on the 11th floor.

The hotel is about 8 blocks from the metro and you have to walk at least 2 to the main road to find a taxi, so the location was not the greatest. They were doing some remodeling in the lobby so it looked like it wasn't finished. The area around the hotel was nice and it was 3 MTR stops (maybe 4) away from the LDS temple. There is a nice bakery right on the main road--we had breakfast there both mornings. They give you business cards in English and Chinese, so the taxi drivers can read them. We never have a problem getting there.

Towels are provided; however, bottled water is not so you will need to buy some. The bathrooms are clean; however, just for sanity's sake take your shower sandals. There is a sink in the room. If you are traveling with someone, you will have to share a single bed or sleep separately--there is nothing larger than a single bed. There are individual window AC units and a color TV--but only 1 channel in English. We were high enough (and tired enough) that the busyness of the street never bothered us.

I hope that helps if you are considering staying there.

Fishing with Papa

Miriam and Elaine went on their first fishing trip today. Papa, I, and the girls set out to catch some fish. The girls were a bit hesitant; however, soon joined in the fun. We used prawns as bait, but luckily for me there was someone there to assist. Papa caught the first fish, I caught one a little later but it got away, Miriam caught the third fish and I caught (got out the water) the last. We had a good time. Papa and I caught a "Taiwan fish"--we are not really sure what it was. Miriam caught a sea bass. She actually pulled her fish out the water. It is so cute; however, it is a rather large file. Enjoy

Octopus Balls

Not my favorite. Laurie told me they were good. Maybe it was this guy did not know how to make them. Anyway, I do not recommend them. Even if they are 7 for $10 HKD (about $1.5USD).

I warned you.

Sick

I am under the weather--I have a cold. Even though I am on vacation, do you think I should ask for a sick day at work? Just curious.

Hong Kong

Emily and I spent 1 full day in Hong Kong--what a day!! Our first and the major reason we visited Hong Kong was the temple. It is beautiful. It is on a very small lot, but maintains the quiet reverence of a temple. The people were very friendly and courteous. I saw enough Buddas to last a lifetime. It was a whirlwind trip; however, it was well worth it.

See if you can identify what is making the sound in this video--we heard it alot. I think my ears are still ringing.

MacRitchie Reservoir

One of the first places we went to see in Singapore was MacRitchie Reservoir.
As the name implies, this is a water reservoir for Singapore. They currently have to buy water from Malaysia and clean the water. This is one of the attempts for Singapore to become self sufficient.

Singapore does an excellent job blending the natural world with the modern world. There is a wood plank around the edge of the reservoir--about 10 km long. Surrounding the resevoir is a tropical rain forest--with all its wild animals!! Emily thought we were getting a little too close, but it was amazing to see the monkeys up close.
We also saw several schools of fish, some turtles, and the largest ant I have ever scene. The ant probably would have covered a quarter from head to toe.

All that danger, and we managed to come out unscathed; however, Miriam did get a bloody nose. But all's well that ends well.

Flying to Singapore

Our trip to Singapore started with a drive to Norfolk. Rose-Marie slept in the back of the van as we drove down in the dark. We flew from Norfolk to Chicago.

We ran into snow/bad weather headed to Chicago, so we landed a little late. We had to run to gate and made it with about 5 minutes till takeoff. Elaine had fallen asleep during our descent and Emily was carrying her as we made our way through the airport. Miriam however, was delighted to find the plane played music--and that she got to have her own headphones.

We never thought we get to Hong Kong. We just kept flying and flying. We did fly over the north pole--I guess that is cool.

After almost 15 hours of flying we finally landed in China. Continent number 4 for me. Only 3 more to go!!