Kampong Glam

Ben had to go into work for a little while on Saturday so we decided to join him so we could see his new office. To make the long ride into the city worth it we thought we'd check out a beautiful little ethnic enclave beforehand. Unfortunately, the camera battery died by the time we got to his new office so I'll have him take some pictures at work tomorrow and do a post about Duke-NUS later in the week.

Kampong Glam is a neighborhood that was once the seat of Malay royalty and has been designated as the Malay-Muslim enclave since the early 1800s. The original "kampong" or village grew into a bustling hub of Muslim commerce as traders and immigrants from Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and the Middle East settled here. The "glam" refers to a variety of eucalyptus that grew in the area. They used the bark of the plants to make boats and the oil for medicinal purposes.

We always grab the free tourist brochures whenever we are at the airport and most of these ethic enclaves have little self-guided walking tours. Perhaps we are nerdy, but Ben and I love doing walking tours. It's a great way to see the interesting architecture and learn some history too. Shop houses are amazingly beautiful to me. If I had to be a building, I'd be a shop house. I really have no clue what I am doing when I take pictures of buildings but hopefully by the time we leave I'll figure it out and maybe even find a way to get up in one to get a different view/ angle. How do I take a picture without the triangle of sky in the corner?

Or get one like this without having to crop it to get just the shophouses? Seriously, photographers out there leave some comments and fill me in.

This picture is for Grandma Sheila. :)

Back side of the shophouses and view of the Sultan Mosque

Bussorah Pedestrian Mall with another view of the mosque. The Sultan Mosque is one of the largest in Singapore, was completed in 1925, and marked as a national monument in 1975. It was a very hot/bright afternoon so we didn't stay too long but we will definitely go back.

This was probably my favorite. I love the green and white together and all the detail.

I never thought a 7-11 store could be so pretty.

Thank you that we can feed the kangaroos

Have I ever mentioned how much we love the zoo here? In almost every prayer, Samara says, "Thanks for (to)day. Thanks that we can feed the kangaroos and ride on the elephant".  We met up with friends last week and timed it just right to feed the Giraffes. You donate $5 to the zoo foundation and get a basket of food. Samara loved it. She was in heaven. She was not afraid at all and wanted to feed him 'more' when all her carrots were gone. She started taking carrots from the big basket so they gave her some pellets to feed the giraffe. Giraffes take the food with their tongues, which are insanely long.

Jami, Bam, and Danai came for a visit the weekend after we came back from Thailand and she and I took the kids to the zoo and were able to feed the Elephants. We also watched the polar bear feeding and learned some interesting stuff. They weigh less than a kilogram at birth but the average adult male weighs 900 kg. This amazing growth is aided by the fact that polar bear breastmilk has 48% fat compared to 4% in human milk.

The two little trouble makers at the Chinese Gardens.

Phuket Town

Phuket Town  originally derived its wealth from being on the trading route between China and India.  The French, English, and Dutch all competed for trading with the island.  It was especially known for its rich supply of rubber, and its unique architecture (due to so many cultures intermingling there).  It's especially well-known for it's Sino-Portuguese Architecture. Currently, Phuket is the wealthiest province in Thailand due to all the tourism.

Unfortunately, it was raining while we were there so we didn't get very many pictures...and now all of you can breathe a sigh of relief like when I ran out of film at girls camp and couldn't take pictures of the pot guts anymore.   We wish we could have seen more of it but rain, kids, time, etc. limited what we saw.  Definitely worth a visit for anyone traveling to the Phuket area.

Making the world's best spring rolls.  He had quite a system down.

Bam's friend took us to a great little place for lunch.   We loved trying new things but Samara subsisted mainly on rice and snacks we brought the whole trip.  Just think of the killer immune system she is going to have when we move back home.

The oldest hotel in Phuket.  'The beach' (haven't actually seen or even heard of it) was filmed here.

View of Phuket 

This looks like a quaint little street, doesn't it?  Perhaps a great place to eat dinner our last night on the trip?   I'm glad we are in agreement.   ...that is until the ladies of the evening started making cat calls out to Ben and Jami, who were both walking with their wives and pushing/carrying their kids.  The highlight was the one we saw double dipping--she knitted while she waited for clients.  

 

One of the many street vendors.  Portable and pretty!

Amazing Race here she comes!  Who wants to partner up with her?  

Karon Beach--Phuket

aIt rained both mornings we were in Phuket, but the weather in the afternoons couldn't have been better. We had a glorious time playing on the beach. We are planning a trip back in two years for our 10th anniversary to visit some of those dreamy islands off Phuket with the crystal clear water, white sand beaches, rock climbing, snorkeling, kayaking, etc.

Hard at work

Hard at Play

Passing their skills onto the next generation

Samara can be quite timid when it comes to strangers so you can imagine our surprise when she took her sassy (as they say in NC) little hip-swingin' walk over to make some friends.

'Cousin Danaika' and Samara had a great time together. We miss you guys already! It was so nice to spend time with family.

This was our hotel room, which was quite across the street from the beach.   It was remodeled after the tsunami hit and was quite nice especially considering it only cost $53.99 USD for two nights including breakfast and two bottles of water!!! (I only know the exact amount because our Singapore card would not work, of course.)

Buddhist sites

Spirit house in Phang Nga. These are very common in Thailand. It's apparently a remnant of an older religion, predating Buddhism, that worshipped spirits (and is now intertwined with Buddhism). Among them are the guardian spirits, specific to, for example, the garden or the home. These little houses are built to provide shelter for these spirits, who repay the favor by offering protection on the site. We've seen spirit houses to a limited degree here in Singapore, but they were very prevalent throughout our trip in Thailand. It was neat to learn more about Buddhism and see all the interesting sites and again have someone to ask our questions to.

This is a Buddhist Temple in Phang Nga just up the street from her folks' house.

Wat ("temple") Chalong is in a temple complex just north of Phuket. There are 29 Budhhist monasteries in Phuket and this is the largest and most magnificent. I think there were four wats in this complex.

Lighting a prayer candle. There was a chimney fireplace structure across the street where you can come back and light firecrackers once your prayer is answered. It was built specifically to resonate the sound. Who knew gratitude could be so loud!?!



Seeing food and water placed around religious statues was very common. From what we gathered, it serves to provide sustenance for the spirits.


We spent Monday morning exploring Phuket with Bam's friend who lives there. Our first stop was at the 'Big Buddha', which is built atop Nakkerd hills--Phuket's favorite sunset viewpoint. The builder intends it to be an icon like the statue of Christ in Rio, the Statue of Liberty, and the Colossus of Rhodes. Below are pictures from that site.

(Notice the water)

It is a work in progress and should be completed in another year.

At 45 M tall, Big Buddha will be the tallest Buddha in Thailand. I wonder if that Fox13 newscaster is mad they stole his name (this is a Utah-specific reference).

Here is what it will look like when it is completed.

Thailand--Krabi Emerald Pools

On Saturday morning, all of us set off for the Krabi emerald pool, which is situated in Khao Phra Bang Khram Nature Reserve.  We drove to Krabi, the province north of Phang Nga.  The drive took about 2.5 hours, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but for Ben and Jami who were crammed in the back of the CRV, it was a bit long.  The drive actually reminded us of the drive from Greenville to the outer banks--beautiful scenery with little towns popping up on the way.  After walking up a trail for about fifteen minutes, we reached the emerald pool.   It is also known as 'crystal pool' or 'Sra Morakot' in Thai.  This is an rich-hued natural pool at the center of the forest, filled with glistening clear spring water.  It was so clear and beautiful.  There was also a 'blue pool', waterfall and many other trails.  You could really spend a couple full days exploring the area.

Danai taught Samara how to say 'Swatdee' or hello in Thai.  We got a lot of mileage out of this and I have to admit it was pretty darn cute.   I'm pretty sure this is why they let the extra kilos in our luggage on the way home slide.

Speaking of sliding, we found this little shoot/water slide above the pool.  It was quite slippery on the rocks.  I wish I could have captured the gleeful look of terror on Samara's face as she slid down it. 

We had flashbacks of our hike in Borneo and this is our little makeshift sling.  Although, Samara still has her cute baby chubbiness she only weighs 25 pounds, which makes it pretty easy to tote her around.

As they say in Thailand, 'Bon Vo Yage'!