Borneo

We took our first little trip a couple weeks ago.  We found tickets for $60 SGD per person so we couldn't pass up the chance to get away.  The place where we stayed was right on the beach and was very affordable too--$275 SGD for accommodations, food and the shuttle there and back.  We went on the trip with some friends who moved here the same time as us--they are mac, canon, and chaco people so we knew we'd get along very well.  We had a fabulous time!  They have 3 little kids who were all so sweet to Samara and included her in everything.  In fact, the highlight of the trip according to Samara was "riding the shuttle bus with my friends at Borneo".

In was a sort of a last minute trip but we did some research before going.  We wanted to go on a snorkeling trip and the following sounded great:

Satang Island consisting of two islands Pulau Satang Besar and Pulau Satang Kecil is located in the South China Sea and its surrounding pristine waters are protected as a sanctuary for the turtles. Take time to visit the turtle conservation and hatchery area and learn about the conservation programme on the island. Then proceed to Satang Island's beautiful white sand beach for snorkeling amidst the wide variety of soft corals, spotting an abundance of colourful marine life.  You should be able to spot the elusive and rare schools of Irawaddy dolphins which are quite common in this area.  

This was the view from the beach of Satang Island so we thought how could we go wrong? Well, I should have known there was something fishy about the trip when the crook travel agent initially told me kids were free but when he found out we had four said he'd give me a deal four kids for the price of one adult.  A boat did come and get us.  We did look for the dolphins.  There was a turtle conservation program but we didn't stop because according to the quacks guides the turtles only come out at night and you have to pay the workers on the island to see the hatchery.  We did stop to snorkel amid the wide variety of soft corals.

The coral was pretty and the murky clear water was just like the travel agent promised. It hasn't rained for days, he said.  The guides said the water was somewhat murky because of the rain they'd received the day before.  We did see nine fish an abundance of colorful marine life.

Even Samara who is quite timid about wanting to do new things jumped right in to 'see the fishies'.  We made sure she wore a life boat vest.


We even got an extra that wasn't in the trip description--Jelly Fish!  This is one washed up on the beach of our hotel.  The ones on the snorkeling trip were quite small.  We all kept feeling little stings but no one said anything until Deborah saw one and got a sting on her leg. Thankfully, we were all fine and even though the snorkel trip wasn't exactly on par with the description we still had a great time. 


The boat ride there and back was beautiful and the company fabulous!  The guides almost made us believe we'd see those Irawaddy dolphins on the way back.


Can we really complain though when this was the view where we ate lunch...
and this is how we spent our evening?

Never trust a map in a jungle

On day two of the trip, we went on a jungle hike that Ben's boss had been on with his family.  The guidebook said it was a moderate 2 KM hike passing a pretty waterfall on the way and ending at the cultural village.

It started out beautiful.  It is fascinating how much life there is in a rainforest. 

We kept marching along with the ants but then we got to a fork in the trail--one way to the jungle trek (our planned hike) and one way to the summit.  The map had a lovely depiction of a waterfall but it was on the summit trail (the mountain in the view where we ate lunch in the Borneo post).  We all wanted to see the waterfall so we wisely decided to follow the map.  After all, we only had to make it to Marker E.  The top of the summit was about Marker V so we thought it couldn't be that far.  Why would some old map be less accurate than someone who had just been there and a guidebook?  


WRONG!  After about 45 minutes, some frustration, some serious steepness, and much loss of bodily fluids (ewww--I meant sweat!)  we determined that since we'd only made it to "B", we'd better turn back.

I wish I would have taken more pictures just to show how "summit like" it was in places.  I'm not sure why the summit trail didn't throw us off having seen the summit.  Neither of us had backpacks for the kids.  The Smiths forever gained our respect.  We traded off carrying Samara during the hike.  They each carried one of their kids, who are both older than Samara and their 6-year did the whole hike herself.  Impressive!

When we got back to the map, we saw a guide taking others on the hike so we asked if there was a waterfall the trek way (the easier path).  He confirmed there was and that it was in fact bigger than the one on the summit trail.  You know the one actually pictured on the map?

We reached the waterfall about 5 minutes later.  Notice how Ben did not break a sweat on the hike?  And the...uh...wetness on his bottom half, well that was just an accident.


After the waterfall, we got to walk along this fabulous tree-top bridge.  And that is the story of why we will never trust a map in a jungle again.

Samarak Cultural Village

The first afternoon we went to the Samarak Cultural Village , which is a living museum that depicts the heritage of the major racial groups in Saramak (the state we visited in Borneo) and portrays their way of life.  I believe there were 10 different longhouses to visit each depicting a different group from the area.

The Entrance

The bridge of death.  Notice how my hair is always looking a lot like Hermione's?  If I had an outlet in my bathroom maybe I would use my flat iron and do my hair.

A demonstration in one of the houses showing how to make dart guns.

An individual family's apartment

The common area

They also have performances twice a day.

Wowee!

Observing

Performing

Mad she can't go up this wacky latter by herself

Playing music with the girls

Doing the sign for scared

Kuching

We were glad we had a couple hours to spend in Kuching before flying out.  It was fun to see another place so different from Singapore.  The teenagers on the street were dressed so trendy.  In some ways it seemed so old but modern and hip at the same time.   

Kuching means "cat" in Malay.  Word on the street is that James Brooke, an early settler, pointed towards the settlement across the river and asked what it was called.  Whoever he asked, mistakenly thought he was pointing to a cat, and that's how it got it's name.  There are several cat statues around the city.  Meow.....now this is my kind of city. 

Ben pulls off the serious sexy look so well

Bourne hiding is Borneo

The river walk.  Samara slept on the way from the resort to the city.  Can you tell she just woke up? 

We had seen intricate woodworking when we went to the cultural village and wanted to get a souveneir.  We found this great shop right before we needed to head to the airport.  We got quite a bit of stuff for 120 ringgits, which is like $30 USD.

"I am from Russian"

The past few weeks a woman and her son have been visiting from Russia.  They come here and to China to get medical treatment for Sasha.  They are LDS and have been here before so we were put in touch with them by other members of the ward who got to know them the last time they were here.   We've really missed Russia since coming here so it was such a treat to be able to speak Russian again and get to know them.  Sasha is such a sweet little guy and quite a miracle. He got a staph infection as a newborn and was pronounced clinically dead several times.  He wasn't supposed to come out of the coma and certainly was never expected to function on any level.  He is making great progress.  Tanya, like so many Russian women, is very resilient and faces challenges and difficulties without asking "why me?" or feeling bad for herself.  Tanya wanted to keep busy and see as much as possible while Sasha wasn't at doctors' appointments so we had a fabulous time going all around Singapore together.  Apparently, we told people often about them and that they were Russian or from Russia because Samara said to someone the other day, "nice to meet you, I am from Russian".

Bonsai Garden.  You can see how thrilled Samara is to be in the picture.  Tanya loved taking pictures every where we went.  She put me and the stereotype of a camera-happy Japanese tourist to shame.

 

We visited the turtle museum again.  We went there when April and George were visiting and Samara has been asking to go back ever since.  This place boasts the world's largest collection of turtles and holds the Guinness Book of World Records for it.

We feel it is important to build a child's self esteem and boy does Samara ever feel good when she is up against a turtle.  She wins every time.

I had no idea turtles could be so freaky.  This is only one of the many bizarre turtle species they had there.

4 Months Along already....

…nope no announcement, unfortunately.  We’ve just been in Singapore four months now and thought we’d make a post about some of our favorite things and some of the things we are still adjusting to.   Like most things in life, it seems like we just got here but also feels like we’ve lived here forever.    We are loving....

Fresh-squeezed juices.  We go and get one every Monday for FHE after swimming.  You even get a punch-card— a ½ price after 6 juices and a free one after 12.  Love those punch-cards and, unlike Elaine, (subtle reference--who gets it?) we actually LIKE the product we are buying to get the punch.

Wearing Chacos everyday!

Having a trash shoot (the silver thing).  It's the best invention ever.   Frees the husband up to do other chores.  This is off our kitchen looking into the laundry area.  The door does not completely shut out the apartment to the outside.   It's so strange.  Good thing it's a safe country, we live on the 11th floor, and global cooling isn't supposed to peak until 2020 when we are long gone. The bad thing is we smell what our neighbors are having for dinner, which can be both good and bad. We occasionally get a nasty smoke smell, which isn't so pleasant. 

Our pools & facilities.  Honestly, I don’t think we’d be half as happy here without having a pool.  It’s so muggy and is often just too hot to do anything else outside.  We really like where we live.  We may move closer in to the city after our lease runs out but for now we are very content here.  

As way of advice for those who are planning a move here and reading the blog, we often hear from others that they don't like where they live and are stuck in a 2-year lease because their companies' realtor only showed them a few places and pushed them into a particular place.  Do research on your own and engage other realtors if you need to.  Once you get here the paper has tons of listings and that's how we found our place.  Also, we'd totally recommend doing a year lease because you can always renew it.  Most people who didn't tell us they wish they would have.  Also, get a local bank account once you get here.  There are five non-local banks and we chose HSBC because we have online accounts with them and thought we'd be able to transfer money back and forth but that's not the case.  A good amount of places won't even take our card and it's hard to get money from ATM because you can only use it at the 5 non-local banks.  It has been quite inconveniet.  It's so strange.  We can use our debit cards from our bank accounts back home to get money out of any ATM but they won't take the HSBC.  Citibank is also a non-local bank but seems to have more ATMs and you can transfer online to citibank accounts in the states so if you are going to go with a non-local bank pick them.

We do get this nighty little device we have to use when logging into our bank account online.   You push it and it gives you a code that you type in after your password.  It makes us feel important.

Some things we don't love:

These darned lizards!  People claim they eat all the bugs in your house but really they just leave poops all over the walls.  Because of the aforementioned inability to close ourselves off to the outside we can do nothing to keep them out.  Not to mention they are fast and make me jump whenever they dart out in front of me.

We wouldn't mind a little bigger kitchen.  Counter space would be nice.  Electrical outlets in the bathrooms would be great.  Kitchens and bathrooms just don't get the attention they do in the states.

Being asked 4-5 times a week what school Samara goes to.  To which I reply, "She's not in school.  She just turned two".  Then they say, "Oh, so which school's waiting list is she on?"  I was out waiting for someone and this was at 7:00 at night folks.  That's what time some of these kids get home from school.  We'd heard local school are so competitive and that's why expats don't send their kids to them.  It sure seems to stifle creativity--one thing we've definitely noticed is that there is an order and way of doing everything and you don't mess with it.  They just memorize a lot of stuff, take tests, and then move on to more material, memorize, test, repeat.

A friend told me in Beijing some people send their 2-year olds off to boarding school.  Yikes!  I can't imagine sending Samara away like that.

Transportation.  We never thought we’d miss not having a car  so much.  The MRT really is clean and safe.   Taxis are pretty affordable except when you really need them like in the evening or when we are downtown and then there are surcharges and they cost 35% more, etc.  A few weeks ago, we went downtown to meet up with Tanya and Sasha at their hospital.  We opted for the hour plus train ride home because we didn't have$30 to fork out for the taxi.  I hadn’t had a chance to change Samara’s diaper all afternoon.  So you can imagine my delight when I saw a puddle forming on the floor between her legs and she announced to all aboard, “Mom, I go potty.  I’m leaking out of my diaper”.  Thankfully, our stop was only two away and we were able to get home without the authorities finding us.  I’m not sure how many strikes of the cane you get for urinating on public transport, but I’m sure glad we didn’t find out.  It thrills Ben when she grabs the poll on the train and announces "I'm dancing!"

It is so hard to get used to driving being on the left side of the road.  I still look the wrong way when I cross the street.  Anytime I get a ride with someone I go to get in the driver’s spot.

People everywhere!  Even at 8:30 in the morning when the grocery store opens there is a decent crowd of people.  Weekends and evening are like shopping black-friday.  I wish they made the aisles just a little bit bigger then maybe I wouldn't run over people's toes so often.

In the end, there are challenges anywhere you live.  We are grateful that we can live in a such a neat place and are trying to make the most of our time here.  Being able to travel around the area so cheaply and see places we never imagined we'd see makes any of the hassles well worth it.  Now if we could just get a travel grant for when our current one (2008 US tax return) runs out, we'd really be set.

Made in America

We totally expected to come over here and be able to buy all sorts of cheap stuff.  After all, Singapore should have way more ties to China, right?  Not to mention that we are so close to all those countries like Malaysia, Cambodia, and Vietnam where all those cute and affordable clothes we buy are made.  Not the case.  We've probably used more stuff that was made in the US since we got here.  Moreover, it is always advertised that it is a product from the states.  When we've bought stuff second hand people love to tell us that it's from the states.  No matter that it was first made in China and then sent to be sold by a US company then brought back over to Singapore.  Somehow being purchased in the states makes it more appealing to potential buyers.  Go figure.  What a strange world we live in.  Seriously, why are Sunkist oranges from Florida some of the cheapest and best ones at the grocery store?  I think they cost me less here than they did when we lived in NC.

Playground equipment

Some health product, which I think I lost 5 KG just by perusing or so the product claims

Not a snack we indulge in

Mexican dinner night has sure gone south!

I took all the pictures above with my camera phone.  I don't normally lug the camera around grocery shopping--not on Wednesdays anyway.  I really dig having a camera phone.  We've never had them before because we always opted for the super-basic free phone but here the free phone for our $25/month plan was a sweet walkman phone.  Funny story about this wheat. It's really hard to find wheat flour here (maybe the US Gov should stop paying those farmers in Idaho to not grow it so I can bake more affordably here in Singapore) and I just came across this today while at the grocery store and muttered to myself,  "hum, that's a really good price". The only other wheat flour I've found is from England and is a couple dollars more for a smaller bag.  Anyway, I put the bag on Samara's lap (she was riding in the stroller) and heard her say quietly as she looked it over, "hum, that's a really good price".  I'm glad it wasn't the opposite scenario...I'd hate to hear her cuss. 

This is some random pet store at the bottom of an apartment building near us.  We took the picture for Jonathan.  We know how badly he wants their cat to eat only organic vegan products.

This is Samara newly acquired Pottery Barn came from the US doll house.  I scored it on Craigslist yesterday for $25!  I also got a huge bag of educational & musical toys and games for $50.  It seriously made my whole month.  You can't get a deal on ANYTHING here except cheap stuff in Chinatown and Hawker-stall food.  This is especially true when buying stuff second hand.  She has wanted a doll house ever since she played with her cousin Sariah's. We got her a little super el cheapo one for $7 for her b-day that broke the first day she opened it.  I think it was a model recalled from all-a-dollar in the states.  Anyway, you go to people's garage sales and THEY totally nickel and dime YOU and try to sell you everything you aren't looking at.  Honestly, it's despicable.  I went to one in a wealthy area near the American school and this family who lived in a house that easily costs $10K/month was totally over charging all the domestic helpers in the neighborhood who came to look.  Mind you these ladies make $400/month.  People will always advertise something as new because it's not it awful condition and want like 80% of the normal price for it.  One woman wouldn't sell her $75 blender for less than $80 because she was really attached to it.  What?? It's not the garage sales we are used to that's for sure.   But this...this was my best Craigslist find yet.