Serendipity!

Yes, I am finally posting after a few busy weeks.  So much to tell and not nearly enough time!  I started a post earlier today and was telling everyone the detail of our most recent trip to Thailand and as I thought about it I just wasn't into to the process.  Then I remembered why I am doing this blog.  To have an outlet to write.  Yeah, I know, you want to know what it's like here.  Well, I hope I do that too, but today it is about the thought and the feeling that go along with all that.  I promise, I'll post lots of photos, but for the written word I think today I will write from my heart and soul.  

It has been a wonderful few weeks here.  My hubby's Mom, "Grandmommy", has been visiting.  I have explored more of the city and gotten to see things that I haven't seen yet thanks to being a tourist with my Mother-in-law.  Thanks Grandmommy!  Not only that, the hubby and I have gotten to explore a bit as a couple.  Oh how I wish we could do more of that.  It brings back memories of our early days, romance, thoughtful conversations, and just time spent alone!  I really miss that sometimes.  By the way, if you didn't know, we celebrated our 10th Wedding anniversary last Thursday, Oct. 20th!    For me, I need to get out of my box to be able to relax and "let go".  That equals being on vacation and a very different me.  I get the feeling that there are no rules, no agendas and just plain life without boundaries.  Ah, such is the life!  I think that also gives me a bit more desire to explore.  To be honest, I haven't been feeling the urge to explore here.  I'm not sure if it is the fact that I was settling in or that I was focusing on making friends and a life for myself.  I can't say that I want to explore all the time, but I know some downtime has helped.


So, this takes me to my latest and most profound musing.  Serendipity!
I first began giving this word thought when the movie "Serendipity" came out.  Yep, one of my favorites.  So, what does it mean, Serendipity?  Dictionary.com defines it as:


Serendipity - "an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident."

Ah how I wish I could always live my life via Serendipity!  I would be a much better person for it.  Not always trying to plan, think ahead, make so many decisions.  For someone who is good at all of those things you would think that Serendipity would be hard for me to embrace, but let me tell you, it is the greatest joy I have.  It's the times when E and I discover something while we are at the park, the shop that I find when I was looking for something else, the friend I made just by going somewhere I have never been.


These past few weeks have been full of Serendipity.  On my exploration of Chinatown with Grandmommy,  I was looking for a particular temple.  I kept following my instincts that I thought I remembered where is was, as I had been there before.  As we looked we didn't find it, but found the Buddha Tooth Relic temple.  As we entered the building, it began to rain and then began to pour!  It was perfect timing!  We entered the temple and I was in awe.  Not only was it beautiful, but we entered right before the monks began their chant.  Their chant made me want to close my eyes and let the sound run through my veins and calm every part of me.  What a great find!


Another serendipitous event was when the hubby and I were riding through the mountains on a motorbike looking for waterfalls in Koh Samui, Thailand.  We started following signs for Tartain Waterfall, the "wonder of nature".  We rode and rode!  Keep in mind the weather was kind of yucky and I was wearing a skirt.  (it was the only thing I had that would dry fast if it got wet)  As we rode we came upon a Durian farm and we happened to be riding through on harvest day.  I have never seen anything like it.  If you remember my photos of Durian they are large like a football or bigger and are kind of prickly like.  They grow on trees and hang from the limbs by a long stem.  They men were up in the trees in their bare feet, climbing and climbing to reach the fruit.  They would clip the fruit and it would fall fast!  As it neared the ground a man at the bottom would catch it in a piece of burlap.  They made it look so easy and boy were there fast!  As we rode that road in search of the Tartain waterfall we saw more Durian that you can imagine!  I bet we saw thousands.  You would think that with Durian being so smelly that it would be overpowering, but to be honest, we didn't even smell it.  There was a very faint sweet smell in the air, but I think because it was so fresh and they weren't cut open there wasn't a smell.  So we did get to Tartain waterfall after an hour motorbike ride and a 30 minute hike into the forest.  To be honest, I wouldn't even call it a waterfall.  It was a large creek with lots of rocks.  Not at all what we expected.  As the hubby went further into the forest to see if he could find "the actual" waterfall I decided to stay put.  I sat on a rock and thought about that Durian farm and how amazing it was.  That's when it hit me - "Serendipity"!  On the way out there was a sign that said Singha beer for sale.  When we asked the only person that was there if we could get one, he looked at us like we had just asked if we knew where God was.  We decided that it just wasn't worth trying.  To end our journey we saw a sign for the Peak Restaurant touting that it had "the best view".  Ok, maybe we are suckers, but we went.  Not to mention we were thirsty for more than water and hungry.  I will say that the Peak restaurant was just what the doctor ordered.  They handed us a beer in a coozie and we had the best Thai meal!  I had my favorite Tom Kah soup and it was divine!  Oh yeah and it did have the best view!  Even with the clouds and rain!  Ah, to another serendipitous day!


Hope you enjoy the photos!

Buddah Tooth Relic Temple

(Singapore)

The temple I meant to find

Sri Mariamman Temple 

(Singapore's oldest hindu temple)

Shoes lined up outside of the temple

Wat Plai Laem 
(Koh Samui, Thailand)

 18 Arm strong Buddha

Laughing Buddha (aka Big White Buddha)

 Funky mermaid coming out of the water (not quite Ariel)

 The "Big Buddha"

 The Monk that gave us a blessing.  Did you know that monks can't touch women?  The monk gave each of us a braided bracelet.  Scott had to put mine on me.

 Nothing like keeping your cleavers on the back of your scooter!

Gas!

The gas pump!

 Gassing up!

Durian and more Durian!

Durian Fruit on the tree

The Durian harvest

 On our way to the "falls"

 The beautiful falls?

Taxi?  Really?

 The walk to the "Peak Restaurant"

 Havin' a beer on top of the world!

Yummy, yummy Tom Kah!

On the way back to civilization - guess the floods in Thailand have taken their toll.  Good thing it didn't happen while we were driving on it!

 Grandfather Rock (yep, looks just like what you are thinking)

Happy 10th Anniversary Baby!

Mystery fruit revealed, Settling in

Well, I know you all have been wondering what the mystery fruit I posted was.  I could tell by the overwhelming response.  (really, only 1 person responded - LOL!)  At first I thought it was a Longan and had posted that and even had some good facts about Longans, but alas, it was not. It took me a while to figure it out, but the mystery fruit is a:

Langsat Fruit

http://www.fruitipedia.com/langsat%20Lansium%20domesticum.htm

With my research i discovered Fruitipedia!  Great thing to have around here.  Check out the link for more information than you ever thought you might want!


Unfortunately, I have no new fruit this week.  I have become a bit less adventurous these past few weeks.  I have noticed that my weeks focus either on creating my social network or exploring our new city.  This past week we have focused on settling in and make new friends.  


So, we have finally moved all of our stuff into the house and we think we have found a place for everything.  One thing that is very important with living in a small space is that everything must have a home.  I have even managed to organize my craft room.  I still have a few things that need a "better" home, but all in all it is coming along.  I can't wait to start some projects and have already started one for E's birthday party which is coming up at the end of the month.  We have decided to make it a Halloween party since we weren't sure if anyone celebrated Halloween here.  Can't wait to show you all of the fun goodies that we are planning for that.  Oh yeah, big news, I bought a new sewing machine.  Yes, I broke down and did it.  I had been in withdrawls and saw one for sale and bit the bullet.  Funny, I had a machine for years back in the states and didn't use it half as often as I had planned.  Then when I didn't have one, all I could think about were the projects that I couldn't do without one. Interestingly, I have met more people here who sew than I had ever met in Charlotte.  Some are even experts at sewing and creating.  Humm, is that a sign?  Maybe I will finally have the time and the creativity to get going on some things!


So besides getting our home in order we have been exploring the East Coast of Singapore.  The beach has been great and we have tried out several of the restaurants that are within biking distance.  That makes living on this side of Singapore worth it.  E has become quite proficient at riding her big girl bike and has amazed both my hubby and I.  On longer distances we still use the trail-a-bike so that she doesn't get too tired.


This past week was full of lots of fun social activities.  We had playdates with friends and I had some of the neighbor ladies over for tea, coffee and snacks.  We are so fortunate to have met the people that we have.  The ladies and I had a lovely time.  When a group of expats get together there are a lot of things to be discussed.  Where to shop, what to look for where, how to get around, and many other things.  Not to mention getting to know one another.  Saturday night we were invited to cocktails at a neighbors home.  Our first real adult social outing.  What a great time!  E went with us and entertained everyone with her drawings.  Later she fell asleep on the couch and the hubby and I ended up staying out way to late!  We had a great time and enjoyed the company very much.  


The one topic of conversation this week was about how different countries use different words in different ways.  For example, did you know that only the US has jelly?  Australians and Scots don't have jelly and for them jelly is like our jello in the US.  So funny!  They couldn't figure out why we would put jello on our bread.   Another was the use of the word "pants".  I had mentioned wearing pants to my Scottish friend and she got this big smile on her face.  Pants in the Scot culture are the same as underwear here in the US.  Guess I will have to be more specific next time.  So, why is it that we don't use the word trouser in the US?  How is it that different countries have different meanings for the same word.  


We ended the weekend with a visit from our friends from Australia.  An old friend and his family came to Singapore for holiday.  We got to spend the day with them Sunday and enjoyed showing them the East Coast as well as the Marina Bay area.  They probably ended up seeing more of Singapore in the 6 days they were here than we have seen in the 8 weeks that we have been here.  Oh well, we still have 3 years!

So this week is another big week for us.  E is out of school on term break and we have been enjoying late mornings and a more relaxed schedule.  Thursday my Mother-in-law comes for 2 weeks.  We are all very excited to have her visit!  This coming weekend we head to Bintan for a weekend at the beach and then the following weekend the hubby and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, hopefully in Bali.


So, to another great week and looking forward to more.  BTW, we booked our trip back to the US for December.  Another thing to look forward to!

Freedom in the form of 2 (actually 3) wheels / Mystery Fruit of the week

Ah, our shipment has arrived and it is starting to feel like home!
It came last Friday and I still seem to be putting stuff away.  It is great to have all the comforts of home; now we just need to find somewhere to put everything!  E's room looks great and the craft room/guest room is coming along.  Unfortunately, we can't get the sofa that came with the apartment out.  It is currently up on its end in the corner of the living room.  I think we are going to have to cut it apart.  (Pain in the you know what!)


The best part of getting our stuff (besides all of my kitchen stuff) is getting our bikes.  We shipped 5 bikes.  Since getting our bikes, an entirely new world has opened to us!  One of the reasons that we picked our location was that we were right next to the Underpass to the beach.  Here on the East coast of Singapore next to the beach is a walking path, then a bike and rollerblade path, a big highway called the ECP, and then rows and rows of high rises.  We knew that we couldn't step right out to the beach from our place, but the next best thing was hopping on the bikes and riding via the underpass to the beach on a bike path.  


Last weekend the hubby had a friend in for the F1 races.  We all rode down the bike path to a restaurant called Brussel Sprouts and had lunch.  Nice ride and E rode her big girl bike (without training wheels!) all of the way!  When we got there we saw that Kids eat free on the weekends at lunch (Yeah!); unfortunately E fell asleep at the restaurant and missed the whole meal.  Guess we wore her out.  She did wake up enough to ride back (with several stops along the way).


This week E and I decided to go for a ride.  We connected up the trail-a-bike so that we could go farther.  What a great way to get around.  

Bike path along the beach

We rode for good while and found a strip of restaurants and one that even serves and American type breakfast and opens at 9am on the weekends.  Score!!  Found our new weekend breakfast spot.  

Restaurants along the bike path

We also decided to stop and play in the sand for a while. 

 Beach Left

Beach Right

 E digging a hole in the sand

We had a great day and decided that we need to make this a weekly aftershool trip.  Not to mention it is great exercise.  Next I need to learn how to use the other underpasses to get to other parts of town.  I know there is a Wet Market somewhere just off the bike path and I also heard that there is a good Hawker center just a bit further up from where we stopped.  We can't wait to explore along the coast.

E riding behind me on the trail-a-bike

Bikes are pretty popular here and there haven't been any bike slots for us to lock up our bikes. With all of our bikes; things were a bit crowded on our balcony.  Not to mention trying to get a bike with a trail-a-bike in an elevator and down 14 floors was quite challenging.  When I saw the management I asked if they had any slots open up.  I think it was a combination of the sight of us with that huge bike contraption and E's cute smile that scored us a prime lock spot. Way to go E!

Our transportation all locked up

You know, I might actually be starting to like it here.  (Ask me that again in a month) Either way, it was a great week and the freedom of being able to get around helped for sure.

Fruit of the week

This week I also experienced a fruit that I'm not sure what it is.  I'm going to need your help here!  At first I thought it was a Longan fruit, but then I did some research and I'm not sure. Longans don't appear to come in sections and I think they are sweeter and taste more like a grape than a grapefruit.


So, I bought some of these at the wet market not far from our house.  They weren't very pretty and I wasn't sure if I would like them but the store owner let me try some and I figured it would be a good fruit adventure.

Mystery fruit

This fruit opens by squeezing the fruit from both sides so that the top cracks open.

 Once the top is cracked open you pull each side apart and the fruit is exposed.

 Then you peel off the shell.

Inside you will find a juicy fruit that has sections of different shapes.

The texture is like that of a grape and the flavor is very much like grapefruit.  It tastes a lot like the fruit I did called the Pomelo.  There are some seeds in this fruit in the bigger sections.  The seeds are about the size of a pea and they don't really come out very easily as you kind of have to bite the fruit off around the seed.  (like you do with an olive)

Now it's your turn!  What is the mystery fruit that I have shown above?  

Grocery shopping and Wistful thoughts

Well, I think the homesick stage has officially set in for me.  I started to feel it last week and now am really feeling it.  From what I understand this is one of the stages every expat goes through.  They call it the "culture shock" phase.  Not sure that is exactly it, but I will say, my attitude is a bit off these days.  Probably not the best time to be writing about grocery shopping, but I needed to write and this is what I have been thinking about.


Just a quick update, E is better and no more asthma symptoms!  Yeah!  Although, we do have meds that we will continue and the Dr. says no cows milk for a while. (want to see if that is a trigger)  It doesn't help that while at the Dr. yesterday I forgot to grab the bag of meds.  So now I need to take another shuttle over to the mall, go up 5 floors, then back down and either wait on the bus or take a cab home.  All in all about a $10 trip just because I forgot the meds.  I guess there are some things that I just might not get used to!


Good thing is that I can run by the grocery again since I forgot to get eggs yesterday.  


So, grocery shopping:  It has most definitely been an adventure!  I finally took my time yesterday and did a full exploration and that took me almost 2 hours.  It takes a while to find what you are looking for here.  Especially if you are looking for something specific, which I usually am.  There are 4 main places that you can shop for groceries.  Carrefour (like a Super Walmart), Giant (Super Kmart), Cold Storage (HT like), and Fairprice (BiLo esc).  I have done all of them and several times.  We have spent a good deal of money just stocking up and replenishing what we know we will need regularly.  Oils, spices, sauces, butter, flour, sugar etc.  Everyone has been asking me, "how are the prices?".  Well, everything is much more expensive.  Remember that mostly everything is imported.  Somethings aren't as bad as you would think and others are outrageous!  Fruit and veggies are reasonable, but meat, cereal, alcohol, and anything american are crazy!


Just to give you an example - I decided to make my own playdough for E.  That required food coloring.  Each regular size bottle was about $1.50 each, which wasn't bad, but they didn't have any primary colors (only orange and purple).  I could spend about $8 to get a variety of colors or I could just spend $10 on the 4 pack box from McCormick.  So, yes, I spent $10 on food coloring.  I know that sounds insane, but when playdough itself costs about $5 for a single can I figured I was not only being green, but saving $.  I have also decided to go ahead and treat myself now and then for a beer that I actually like to drink.  Yep, spent $17 on a 4 pack!!  (they don't have blue moon here or much like that, so I bought the next best thing) And a fifth of vodka runs about $60 for something that isn't going to give you a headache.  The kind we usually get was about $115.  Just couldn't justify that.

So, I have decided I will just need to get over the sticker shock and go with it.  That's hard for me as I have been a penny pincher for a long time.  Although, I will say there are some good things about shopping here, like the amazing fruits and vegetables and the interesting things that you can get that you can't get at home.


So, let's talk vegetables.  Green is good here and the options are endless!  I need to learn more about the selections and how you prepare them.  To be honest, I really don't know much about greens like I thought.  In the US is it lettuce types and the few greens that you buy in the south, but this is a whole other world!

They still have most of the veggies that we normally eat; broccoli, zucchini, carrots, cucumber, corn etc.  But there are so many other things that I have never heard of.  One day I will add these to my Fruit /Veg of the week, but I haven't ventured out much on the veggie side of things.

This one is called an "old cucumber", not sure what makes it old, but it feels like a regular cuke.  It is just yellow-green-brown in color.  (I'll need to research this one)

I will say that the selection of mushrooms is amazing!  And the prices are great!  I buy mushrooms pretty much every week now.  I just wish E would like them.  She hates the things.  Funny, when I was a kid I hated them too and wouldn't touch anything with a mushroom on it.


Like I said the fruit selection is amazing as well.  And things you have never heard of.  Many I am not afraid to try.  (like the Pomelo and the dragon fruit) But, there are some that are more intimidating.  Like this one, the Longan.  I have read about them and recently the blogger for "100 days of real food" went Asia and had these.  I think they might be next for me.  They are very plentiful right now as they are "in season".  

Another adjustment has been understanding the weights.  Everything here is in grams or kgs. I know metric pretty well, but when you order deli meats it can get a little confusing.  Yesterday I decided to get some ham and ordered a pound.  The lady looked at me confused.  So, I remember that it was in grams.  So I ordered a 1/2 of a kilo.  (which she repeated 500 grams)  So I ended up with just over a pound of thin sliced ham.  (probably more than I needed, but I could freeze half)  That ran me about $19.  (crazy again!)  


Oh yeah, and btw, they don't have pepperoni here.  I never thought that would be an issue for me, but it is a mission for me now.  To find pepperoni!  I bought some yesterday that was called "pepperoni" from the deli section and so far it is the closest I have come, but still not the real deal.  It was much more spicy.  What they call pepperoni is more like salami.  Even on the pizza here.  No American pepperoni!  I will find it, somewhere!


So, back to fruits and veggies.  One other thing is that everything must be weighed before you take it up to the checkout.  Typically there is a queue (line) to wait in.  I have only found one store that weighs at the checkout.  A couple of times I forgot to get my weighing done; if you forget, they put your items aside and unless you want to go back, weigh them and check out again you are out of luck!  Now I look and make sure if it needs weighed or I buy items that are already weighed or select things that are priced by the item.  Took some getting used to!


There are many things that are distinctly Asian here.  Like the plethora of dried fish.  They are usually in the bulk or fresh area.  So many kinds!  They are kept in bins and you just scoop out the dried up fish (or fish parts) and put them in a bag/container to be weighed.  Not sure how they use them.  I'm not sure I will venture that far in my cooking skills, but never say never!

Dried up fish (tiny white fish, you eat the whole thing)

Of course it wouldn't be Asia if you didn't have your many choices of soy sauce and rice.  Pretty much anything you want and in many flavors.  I am amazed!  How do you know what kind to get?  We just buy white rice or jasmine rice in the US, here there are 50 different kinds!  I bet there is some major culture shock for asians that come to the US.  I bet they say, "What, only one kind of rice?"  I guess you need to look at it from both sides.

 Soy sauce anyone?

What's your rice?

The last thing I'll write about is the coffee. Not as expensive as some of the other things, but still more than the US.  Interestingly, they do a lot of instant coffee here.  They have what they call 3 in one or 2 in one.  That is where it already has cream or cream and sugar in the packet.  They also call it Kopi.  Little tea bags with coffee in them.

I also thought this was interesting.  Coffee mixture.  Take a look at the label.  50% coffee and 50% maize.  Maize?  Why would you put corn in coffee?  Is that so that you don't need to buy as much coffee and makes it cost less?  Humm, not sure about that one either.  

Well, that's about it for today.  For those of you reading, Please send pepperoni and coffee!  (just kidding!)  I guess my homesickness will wear off.  They say it takes 6 to 8 weeks to get over the hump.  We get our shipment on Friday, so I am guessing that will take my mind off things.  Honestly, I can't wait!  E will have her own bed, we'll have bikes to get around and my kitchen will be stocked with all of my cooking items!

And, one thing about the Asian culture, they are extremely positive.  Thank goodness!  As I left the store yesterday this sign was just above the checkout lines.  I really needed that and to be honest, it made me smile!