Wilderness Adventures

Despite the fact that it is popularly referred to as a "City" state and its reputation as a densely-populated urban center, Singapore has its fair share of densely green regions.  One such area is MacRitchie Park, located in the center of the island surrounding the MacRitchie Reservoir.

The reservoir was built over the course of the 19th century in a series of increasingly expensive public works debacles that finally culminated in a primary reservoir that was still insufficient to keep up with the demands of the growing commercial and residential needs of Singapore, so most of the water has actually been imported from Malaysia since 1927.  The reservoir (and more importantly, the old-growth forest surrounding it) have been turned into a nature preserve and hiking area that is substantially more wild than the Botanic Garden to its south.

The park's "trails" are more akin to maintenance roads, perfect for rambunctious children to stretch their legs for an afternoon.

An army marches on it's stomach.  Danger Monkey is eating a lightly frosted rice cake whose name transliterates to "Want-want".  We have not bothered to figure out if that actually translates to anything.

Armies of ants carried off any dropped crumbs or frosting flakes.  The bounty from a single snacking toddler is probably enough calories to keep a moderately sized ant colony fed for a month.

MacRitchie Park has MONKEYS.  Also pictured: Long-tailed macaques in the background.  They were playing in the road/trail, jumping overhead from tree to tree, chasing each other into the bushes, and eventually devolving into an actual nuisance.  I did not think I would get tired of wild monkeys, but when there are enough of anything they can become just another fact of life.

The actual stated mission of the day was to traverse the TreeTop walk - a suspension bridge that traverses a valley between the two highest ridges in the park.

The forest canopy was rich with birds and butterflies, and we were treated to a pleasant breeze on a hot afternoon and a decent view, by Singapore standards.

And then a very long hike down many many stairs.  Our legs were rubbery when we got to the bottom, but luckily we were on our way to our (late) lunch!

Afterwards we rewarded the troops with delicious indian food and cold sugary drinks.  Barely even a death-march, by Borchert standards!

Adventure wherever you are

Hello! Elizabeth here!

Adventure is one of my main motivations for...well, a lot of what I do (moving to Singapore, traveling, marrying a certain someone...). And yet, it takes energy and initiative, so sometimes gets forgotten.

We've been living in Singapore for over half a year now. Our nice little neighborhood is not a tourist hotspot or expatriate mecca, but it has easy access to everything we need: the kids' school, parks, food, and the MRT.

Part of that equation is the nearby food center. It's no Chinatown Food Center (which has over 200 stalls!) no, ours is more human scaled and comprehensible. And yet...and yet somehow I've patronized only about a dozen of them.

Well that doesn't seem right! I'm here for adventure, what am I doing picking just a few stalls? It is time to branch out and try something new for a couple weeks! I am a woman on a mission!

First up: Fatt Soon Kueh. It serves three types of kueh. What's kueh, you ask? What an excellent question...please hold on while I consult my friend Google.

Ah! Well, apparently kueh are bite sized snacks of a huge variety (that I shall have to hunt down and try), often being dessert-like. This is soon kueh, which is a steamed dumpling. There are three main types of soon kueh. Hey! this stall sells three types - what a coincidence! We're dealing with a choice between chive, jicama, or rice, each for $3 a plate. I chooooooose.....chive!

Oh look! they provided me with some sauces - I'll drizzle them on, because clearly that is how these things are done, right? It looks pretty good; and you can see my beloved teh (aka milk tea) in the background (sooo yummy....sooo much condensed milk). 

I cut into it, and woah! That's a lot of chive!

They weren't kidding about the chive - it's pretty much all cooked chives in there. Now I wonder what the other two types are like - this may require further investigation (oh drat ;) ).

Well, I can report that the chives are mild, and that the brown sauce is sweetish while the red one is a bit spicy, and it all together was a tasty combination. I ate it all, of course. I'm happy to go back, but there are still plenty of other options to explore!

So, back to you. Had any local adventures lately wherever you are? It really doesn't take traveling halfway across the world to have a mini-adventure.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Happy Lunar New Year!

While I had always been vaguely aware of Chinese New Year as a thing that exists, having lived through a CNY season in Singapore has given me a new appreciation for the holiday.  The primary event of Lunar New Year is the Reunion Dinner, a traditionally 8-course meal during which parents berate their children for not amounting to more and where children suffer the attention of aunties and uncles in exchange for red envelopes full of money.  Basically Thanksgiving dinner but without the food coma in front of a football game afterwards.  Other observations from our day-to-day lives here:

• A month before New Year, tents pop up in parking lots selling red decorations and paper-craft representations of luxury goods to be burned as offerings to your ancestors.  They remind me of the roadside Independence Day fireworks stands that used to sprout up just on the other side of the Wisconsin/Minnesota border.
• On New Year itself there is a nearly constant banging of drums, gongs, and cymbals being used to drive away evil spirits.  I watched/heard a flatbed utility truck drive by our condo streaming flags and filled with "musicians" in the back making an amazing racket.
• Red everywhere.  Stores are decorated, apartments are decorated, offices are decorated.  All of the ads in the MRT have red backgrounds.  People wear red.  Red red red.  Red pineapple lanterns seem to be a uniquely Singaporean decoration.  
• We went to Gardens By The Bay to take in their New Year events and got to see a lion dance on tall poles, acrobats and contortionists, and a blacklight dragon dance.  It was pretty sweet, and about on-par with the Christmas celebration they had.

  

  This was straight-up insane and somehow they did not die.

• Fewer firecrackers than I was expecting.  I assume it's because Singapore will fine you for the litter. (Elizabeth says they've been outlawed - but representations of firecrackers are still a popular CNY decoration)
• We also attended River Hongbao which was an elaborate lantern-and-parade based celebration that culminated in an over-the top parade and late night dance party.  There was a midway with expensive kiddy rides, temporary food stalls selling fried food and icees, and an array of edutainment exhibits.  Basically the State Fair, but minus the tractors.  And on a floating stage adjoining the Formula 1 grandstands.

  

  Babby is flying helicopter, how can this be?!

  
  

  

  Off-brand robot hovercraft something something?

  
  

  

  Monkey King just chilling at the party

  
  

  

  Gong xi Gong xi!

  
  
  
  

  

  They're harvesting a carrot.  What.

  
  

  

  The President of Singapore is on that lead float somewhere.

• Lion Dances are a thing.  In order to ensure prosperity for your family or business you need to have a Lion/Dragon dance performed at it.  I witnessed one in a hotel in Kuala Lumpur when I was there for work, one at our condo, and one in the elevator lobby of our floor at work in Singapore.  The drums and cymbals in a small, enclosed, hard-walled area like the interior of an office building is the loudest thing I have ever heard indoors in my life.

  

  Bonus points if you can prep a customer workshop while this is going on!

• Abalone are a traditional CNY dish.  Until CNY I had no idea what they were other than something sold in giant tin cans at the cash registers in Singapore grocery stores, where they are kept under lock and key because they're like $80 per can.  They are sea snails, and taste like a cross between a mussel and a lobster.

We had heard that Chinese New Year was not a good time to visit China since everyone's gone home to visit with family and everything's closed, and we weren't sure how that would translate to Singapore.  It turns out that as demographics have shifted to more city living across eastern Asia CNY has become a more and more urban holiday with events and celebrations.  Plenty of smaller shops and restaurants were certainly closed, but given how much awesome stuff was going on (and how mild the weather is this time of year!) I think it would make a great time to visit the region.  Mark your calendars for next year, and stop on by if you're in the neighborhood.

Thailand - Bangkok Part Two

The Thailand adventure continues!

We split up a little, with Elizabeth and Eldest heading out to get massages from the famous Wat Pho massage school, and Pat, Dave, Michael, and the littles taking a ferry across the river to see Wat Arun.  Also called "The Temple of the Dawn", Wat Arun dominates the old city skyline to the west and is surrounded by gardens.

The gate was open, so we came in.

Toddler for scale.

It's not obvious, but those are the steepest stairs.

Reunited back on the east bank, we explored the rest of the Wat Pho temple complex.  In addition to the massage school, this temple, also called "The Temple of the Reclining Buddha", houses a (wait for it) giant reclining Buddha!

I like this photo because it looks like a composite of other photos.

This photo may technically be illegal in Thailand.

We took a day trip to visit Ayutthaya, the old capital of the Kingdom of Siam.  It was a thriving metropolis until it was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 and the new capital was established across the river from modern-day Bangkok.  Today Ayutthaya is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with ancient Stupas sprouting out of the ground throughout the modern city like brick-and-mortar mushrooms.  The more complete and significant sites are fenced off with an admission fee, but there were also ruins in peoples' backyards and city parks.

Taken just before they started wrestling on a 500-year-old temple.

Obligatory they-grow-up-so-fast photo of Danger Monkey :

Cute kids are cute.

Peekaboo!

Thailand is pretty.

"Look upon my works ye mighty and despair!"

This picture does a pretty good job of illustrating the layers that have been stripped off of these structures.  Towards the bottom of the photo you can still see some of the original intricate white stucco decoration.  Beneath the decoration was a layer of smooth mortar and stucco, and underneath that fired bricks that made up the majority of the construction material.  The exterior stucco layer would also have been inlaid with mosaics of colored glass and Chinese porcelain.

All of these temples were really meant to be visited by boat, so we took a relatively quick boat tour around the island to get the intended experience.  It was a bit drizzly, but it turns out we'll never pass up an opportunity for a boat trip on a vacation.

More boats!

Back in Bangkok the next day it was still raining so Pat & Dave went off to explore some smaller museums, and the SingaBorcherts took a taxi to a ritzy mall to find an indoor play area.  After running the kids around for awhile we braved the legendarily bad Bangkok traffic to hit one last temple of the trip.   Wat Chakrawatrachawat Woramahawihan is a smaller, functioning temple that has two things going for it.  

Number One: A Crocodile.  The original crocodile was pulled out of the river and kept in the temple to keep it from harassing the people bathing in the river, but by the time it died of old age they had become famous as the temple with a crocodile, so they now keep one in residence.

Worst zoo ever?  Or best temple ever?

Number Two: The best Buddha relic ever.  Similar to Catholic saints, relics of Buddha and devout monks are enshrined in temples and serve as the focal point for veneration and pilgrimages.  And just like Catholic relics, Buddhist relics can also be a bit... suspect.  There was some controversy when a big Buddhist temple opened in Singapore's Chinatown in the 1980's that purported to have one of Buddha's teeth.  But that pales in comparison to this temple, which purports to be in possession of...

Buddha's Shadow.  Decorated with snippets of gold leaf by pilgrims come to pay their respects.  In a concrete grotto.  I love it.

Anyways!  After paying our respects, we strolled to the night market where agricultural products from the surrounding area (mostly flowers) are brought by wholesalers to find their way to restaurants and religious supply stores.  We also found a commercial ice store, where plastic bags were being filled with ice and sold to people that trucked them away in wheelbarrows.  It was a pretty strange operation.

This picture doesn't do justice to the amount of fog rolling out of this place.

After our last dinner overlooking the Chao Phraya river we Tuk-tuk'ed back to our Airbnb.  A fitting end to a great trip.

Tuk-tuks are BYOGPS.

Thailand - Bangkok Part One

After a short plane ride we were in Bangkok! We were staying in an AirBnB on the edge of Chinatown in what appeared to be a mix of working class neighborhoods and backpacker hostels.  We had a couple of corner stores to choose from for bottled water, eggs, and bread and a few restaurants, and a couple of people running deep fryers on portable carts with questionable cooking oil.  We patronized all of these establishments.

To get oriented on our first full day, we jumped on a hop-on/hop-off tourist boat that runs up and down the Chao Phraya river, the main waterway of the city.  It is very much still a working river, with warehouses, restaurants, and residences crowding the river's edge too closely to build any more bridges there are heavily-used commuter ferry lines and ferry crossings to get from one side to the other.  There was also nearly constant barge traffic being towed up and down the river.

The king is a big deal in Thailand.  Their old beloved king,  King Bhumibol the Great, Rama IX of the Chakri Dynasty, passed away a little over a year ago and the official mourning period had recently ended.  Which meant that everyone was putting up paintings/portraits/skyscrapers of the new presumptive king, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, although he has yet to be officially coronated.

Unlike previous modern monarchs, Rama X has secured the authority to amend the (interim) constitution, and seems to be aligning with the military junta that seized power in 2014 from the then-provisional government appointed by the prime minister after she dissolved the elected parliament that had been established by the Black May uprising in the 1990's...  It turns out Thailand does not have the most stable national government.  Despite that, people seem to get by, make a living, and raise families.

The next day, we took another boat ride.  I have developed a theory that the quality of a vacation can be measured in how long it takes before you get on a boat.  By that measure, the Boundary Waters is nearly the pinnacle of human experience, and Thailand ranks pretty highly as well.  This trip was out to the west of Chao Phraya exploring the canals and waterways that were heavily settled hundreds of years ago.

We stopped to visit Wat Paknam Phasi Chareon, a temple with a towering white stupa and a stunning interior.  Thailand was an independent buffer state, preserved by the colonial powers so that British Malaya and Burma and French Indochina didn't have to rub right against one another, and the number and grandeur of Buddhist temples is, I think, indicative of how much national wealth was invested in the religious institutions rather than being carted off to Europe.  There were temples and saffron-robed monks and novices literally everywhere we went.

Back in the boat!  We stopped off at a forest temple (not pictured) that was less grand and more contemplative where we got a lecture on Buddhist philosophy from our tour guide, and then went to visit the "floating" market.  Just like the floating village in Ao Phangnga, this is mostly on stilts now though there are some boat-based merchants.  

In the back-water canals there were quite a few legitimate working boats - we bought drinks from a coffee and tea boat, we saw the mailman delivering along the waterfront, and declined to partake in the grilled chicken satay boat.  As we got further from the city center the canals went from being back yards to front yards, with many of the houses and businesses only being reachable by water.

Our tour guide showing Maxwell and Amelia a snack being prepared.  It was a pile of aromatic vegetables and spices and was delicious.

Back at our apartment, we introduce Pat and Dave to WhatsApp...

...So Elizabeth and I can go on a date!  We had tasting portions of roughly 15 different dishes, plus live traditional music (kneeling in the background) and dancing (dancing not pictured).  For whatever reason, we heard or saw the story of the White Monkey that impregnates a mermaid at least three times on this trip.  It is a timeless classic.

Then we went to see Star Wars.  While we waited for the movie showtime, Elizabeth got a tarot reading at a Christmas village that was set up at the mall (this tarot deck included Hindu gods).  We are told she will be happy in 2018, since she will get a good job with her strong brain.

In Thailand, before movies (but after literally 30 minutes of advertisements) they play the King's Anthem and everyone needs to stand.  It was accompanied by one of the most rousing photo slideshows I have ever seen, mostly alternating between portraits of the ascendant king in his finery and images of praising, weeping schoolchildren.

Speaking of the king, we visited his house!  This is the royal palace, seat of both the religious center of Thailand (personified by the Emerald Buddha) and also the monarchy.  The architecture is a liberal mix of traditional Siamese chedi's (pointy towers), bell-shaped Sri Lankan stupas (other towers), and the more cucumber-shaped towers are borrowed from Cambodian temple designs.  It was pretty dang impressive.  

Not pictured is a scale model of Angkor Wat in Cambodia commissioned by king Rama IV in the mid-19th century, as if to say "You think this palace is great?  You should see Angkor Wat!"  Which really only deepens my interest in seeing it in person.

Oooh... Aaaah...

100% of Thailand is covered in tile mosaics

Baby Culture Exchange

This mural telling the story of the Ramakien - Thailand's version of the Ramayana.  It may have been Maxwell's favorite thing on the entire trip.

Changing of the guard.  Maxwell had many questions that were hard to answer without going into a lot of backstory about military etiquette.

Thailand has Tuk-tuks!  They are like the 7-11 hot dog warmer of urban transportation: very convenient, but more expensive and more dangerous than the alternatives!

Bangkok came alive after dark, especially on the main streets.  The sidewalks were lined with food vendors, zipping mopeds, and people selling lottery tickets

Christmas Eve at a Chinese restaurant!  We were nearly the only ones there, but probably just because we tend to eat dinner earlier than basically everyone in SE Asia.

Followed, of course, by Christmas Morning!  We decorated the houseplant with an ornament that Danger Monkey was given by the resort staff on Yao Yai, and Santa left presents in our sandals.  Much legos, duplos, and books were had by all.

Coming up next: More temples!  Some old, some very old.