The Weekend and school

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Delaney's first week at school went well. She really likes it. She's learned words for Chinese food (although she never remembers them when we ask her). She doesn't know her friends' names yet. She is the only American in her class. They go to gym twice a week, which is when she wears her sports attire. They also have music class once a week, which she really enjoyed! So all is well there!

Our Slingbox is up and working! So we are finally keeping up on some American TV! For those of you who don't know what it is....it's a system that allows us to watch tv on our computer. It's hooked up at Brian and Heather's house in Michigan, so we essentially get to watch their tv! Thanks guys!!! If you want more info on this, go to www.slingmedia.com

We went to the Arab district in Singapore on Saturday. We wandered around and took some pictures. Lots of shophouses were selling fabrics. Too bad I can't sew! We saw a couple of mosques on our walk. We wandered through Bugis Street, which used to be where the trans genders hung out. It's now a huge street market. There were tons of people there. I don't know if it's always that busy or if it was so busy because Chinese New Year starts this weekend. We then headed to a mall with a Toys R Us. Delaney lost her princess purse on Thursday and was devastated, so we wanted to get another one. We ended up walking forever to get there. There was a sign at the MRT (the subway) station directing us to the mall, so we figured it would be right there. Instead we walked through several different shopping areas (all inside and connected) to get there. After, we headed to dinner at an Italian restaurant (our weekly "American" food). We were starving, so we ordered too much (we ate it all, but it was pricier than we'd planned!)

Sunday we headed to a park called East Coast Park and just kind of wandered. We wanted to check out the water park there for future visits, but it was closed for renovation. There were lots of people, mainly locals, barbecuing. It smelled yummy. Delaney ended up getting McDonald's and playing on their playground. When we got home we went swimming, which leads to great news.....Delaney can "swim" on her own. She's able to go a short distance and not have her head go under water! She even will jump in the pool, have no one catch her, turn around and swim back to the edge! Derek and I are both amazed at the progress she's made since we've gotten here. I'm sure the swimming lessons she took in the fall really helped!

Pictures

1st day of school!!!

Derek and Delaney at Clarke Quay

The aquarium at Underwater World

Southernmost point of Asia continent, duh!

Gettin' ready to luge, dude!

Delaney and her favorite fruit

A picture of the city from the cable car we took to Sentosa Island

The Past Weekend

We tried a new restaurant Friday night called Thai Express. My friend Tracey's family eats there a lot. It was quite yummy. Derek got something that was very, very spicy. He had a very hard time eating it. The menu warned that the only way to get rid of the spiciness was to have a beer. Derek wasn't quite that desparate! I had stir-fried beef kway teow (essentially beef with noodles), which I loved! Delaney had a noodles in chicken broth with chicken and eggs. She really liked hers too! She's never wanted to eat or even try soup before, so we were quite proud!

Saturday we set out to an island just south of here called Sentosa Island. It's a part of Singapore that has lots of different attractions and beaches. We've heard not to swim in the water since the quality is not great. That fact was reinforced when we saw all of the ocean tankers just off of the beaches! We took a cable car to get over to the island, which was fun. Delaney really enjoyed it. We went to a 4D pirate movie. We got to wear the 3D glasses...the 4D came in with wind being blown in our faces, our chairs moved, and water was squirted on us. Delaney got a kick out of the whole thing. She has a slight fascination with pirates so it was right up her alley! We then ate pizza at Sarpino's, which is a US chain. It was good, of course, there really isn't a bad pizza, especially when you rarely get to eat it. We then went to a luge course. The luge was "part go-cart, part-toboggan, and pure excitement – the luge is a fun-filled gravity ride". (that's the descrition from the website) I think the trip down the hill was about 500 meters. You could control how fast you wanted to go. Derek took Delaney down with him, and she LOVED it! We bought a package, so we all got to go twice. To get back up the hill, we took the skyride, which essentially was a ski lift. Delaney really like this too. I wasn't a big fan because at that time it was getting windy and we were pretty high. We went to a dolphin show. Delaney was a tourist attraction here, too. As we were walking, Delaney had slowed down behind me. When I stopped to turn around to make sure she was still right there, I noticed that a man was trying to get her picture (with a really nice camera with a really big lens!) and she wasn't cooperating. I had her stop, and he was incredibly grateful. We went to the beach which claims to be the southernmost point of continental Asia and took a few pictures and then headed to the aquarium. It was nothing like the Shedd, but it was still fun. They had a moving walkway that went through an acrylic tunnel, so basically there were fish all around you - to the sides and above you. We then took the cable car back over to the "mainland" (hahahaha) and went to a shopping/entertainment/restaurant venue called Clarke Quay and ate a fantastic burger. Delaney had fish and chips! We've never given her fish, but we figured at some point she had probably eaten it at school. She liked it! She said that it kind of tasted like chicken nuggets.

We didn't do anything on Sunday...just the grocery store and Derek and Delaney went down to the pool. Every day when Derek gets home from work, the first thing Delaney tells him is "we went to the pool without you AGAIN Daddy!" So, I figured they could use some time to themselves at the pool.

Delaney and I had breakfast with the women that I've met yesterday (Monday). After, we headed down to Orchard Road (the major shopping area here). We got some goodies from the Gap. She also got a pair of Crocs (the plastic looking shoes). She's been after us for awhile to get her a pair, so I finally broke down when I saw them on sale. They're, well you can probably guess what color my girly girl would choose....pink! Surprise!

Derek and I dropped her off at school this morning for the first time. She was really excited to go, but seemed a little nervous as we were leaving. When Derek peeked in, she was talking away to the teacher, Miss Chen. We will fill you in on how her first day went!


Later!

Kuala Lumpur 1/26-1/30/07

Above are some of the pictures from our trip to Kuala Lumpur. If you'd like to see more, click on the link below, then click the yellow button ("VIEW SLIDESHOW")....you do NOT need to sign in.



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We took a bus to get there after work on Friday. Derek thought it would be super nice with a tv and an attendant who serves drinks and snacks. No such luck. The bus wasn't bad, but none of the workers (bus driver and travel agency worker) spoke great English. The bus was FREEZING! There were thin little blankets, but they didn't do much to keep us warm. Luckily Delaney didn't have to go potty, since there wasn't a restroom on the bus. We had her go when we stopped at customs. We stopped at some roadside restaurant/store about halfway there. Derek took Delaney to the bathroom and most of the toilets were of the squatter variety which she didn't like one bit. When we got to KL, we were dropped off in the middle of a street with tons of other buses and were instantly accosted by a taxi driver wanting to take us to our hotel. We needed one anyway, so we took him up on his offer to drive us for 30 ringettes (about $10 American---it wasn't till we went to the water park on Monday that we realized we'd been had. The 30km trip there only cost about 40 ringettes! Oh well, live and learn.) The area where we were dropped off (we found out by our cabbie we were close to the bus terminal, but Fridays are very busy with lots of bus traffic) was full of litter, so we were pretty nervous about the weekend. We got to our hotel around 1 am. Derek's Visa wouldn't work when he tried to check in. Luckily he had another card with him. We got to our room and were impressed...things were finally looking up. It was huge, with windows on two wall, a great bathroom, and mandarin oranges (it was, after all, the Mandarin Oriental...get it???) You'll see the view from the room in the pictures.

We weren't quite sure what to do Saturday. We ate an incredible buffet breakfast - choice included everything from pancakes to fresh fruit to eggs made to order to steaks to rice and beyond. In honor of Brett, I tried chocolate chip pancakes and now love them (Thanks Brett!). I think Derek tried everything and Delaney ate a great breakfast. We headed over to the Petronas Towers (see description from Wikpedia below), which were practically next to our hotel, to get tickets for the skybridge which connects the two towers. Our tickets weren't until 4, so we set out. We went to a park near the hotel and towers. We took photos and had photos taken of us by complete strangers. Well, Delaney was the main attraction. One lady stopped us and asked if she could take a picture of Delaney. They absolutely love her blond hair and blue eyes here. Lots of people stopped to say hi and talk to her throughout our trip. Delaney played at the park. We then headed to a mall in the same vicinity for water, as it was quite hot outside. We went back for a nap and then headed to the towers. The view was great. The skybridge is between levels 41 & 42. We could see our hotel and the KL Tower (which is used for communication purposes). We then swam in the pool and ate dinner at the nearby mall. The whole meal cost around 45 ringettes...we had lasagna, chicken cordon bleu, cheese fries and cheesecake. This equals about $15! Needless to say, Derek was really happy with that bill. After dinner, we walked around the area. We found the busy nightclub strip. It wasn't too crazy, but then again it was only about 9 when we walked through.

We decided to do the "country tour" on Sunday. On our way to the destinations, the foreign embassies were pointed out (the US and Iraq are next door neighbors!) as well as the sultans' palaces. We headed to Royal Selangor (a world-renowned pewter manufactuer and icon of Malaysia), the Orang Asli Museum (dedicated to the aboriginal people of Malaysia), a leather company, a batik company, and the Batu Caves (wikipedia description below). The pewter factory was fun. They had us try to "design" one of the beer steins...none of us were successful. They had the largest beer stein in the world made of pewter. There are pics of us there. The trip to the museum was pretty, and we got to see how the suburban or "country" people live as we were riding. The museum itself was fine, but there weren't enough English translations to make it worthwhile. The leather company was not that exciting. At the batik company we got to see how the painting is placed on the fabric. The word batik refers to a wax-resistant dyeing technique. Batu Caves were definitely the highlight of the trip. It was incredibly busy, as Hindus were preparing for the Thaipuism festival which was to take place February 1st. In a nutshell, for Thaipuism, devotees are doing self-sacrifices to earn favors from the gods. By looking at our pics, you'll see some of these. We made it up all 272 steps. Not an easy feat with a 3 year old, but we were all troopers. We saw lots of monkeys on the way up, which Delaney really enjoyed. The monkeys liked all of the food that they were given. Thankfully, they sold water at the top.

When we were done with the tour, we went to the hotel and swam and then headed to dinner. Not very exciting, I know.

Monday we went to a water park/theme park and stayed at a hotel there. We all had fun there. It was really strange because there weren't many people there. Maybe I'm just used to Cedar Point, but still..... Delaney loved the little roller coaster that we rode on. She really got into the screaming and actually put her hands in the air. It was quite cute!

There are no pics from that portion of the trip due to the fact that neither of us wanted to be responsible for the camera all day, so we apologize. For dinner that night, Derek had a $14 filet, which again, made him happy! Laney was soo tired that she fell asleep at the restaurant when we were done eating.

Phew, that's about it! Will post more later!




Petronas Towers:
The Petronas Twin Towers (also known as the Petronas Towers), in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, were once the world's tallest buildings when measured from the level of the main entrance to the structural or architectural top.
The Petronas Twin Towers are the tallest twin towers in the world, and they lay claim to being the world's tallest high rise of the 20th century. Critics point out that this applies to only one of four height categories defined by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat - although the three additional height categories were only introduced as the tower neared completion in 1996, as opposed to the original category which had been in use since 1969. [1]

Batu Caves:

Batu Caves is a limestone hill in the Gombak district about 13 kilometres north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which has a series of caves and cave temples. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill. Batu Caves is also the name of the nearby village.

The first cave temple was established in 1891, and wooden steps up to the Temple Cave were built in 1920. Of the various cave temples that comprise the site, the largest and best known is the Temple or Cathedral Cave, so named because it houses several Hindu shrines beneath its 100 m vaulted ceiling. A 42.7m high statue of Lord Murugan was unveiled in Jan 2006, having taken 3 years to construct. There are 272 steps that a visitor has to climb in order to access the temple at the summit of the hill. Many of the shrines relate the story of Lord Murugan's victory over Soorapadam. An audio tour is available to visitors. At the base of the hill are two more cave temples, Art Gallery Cave and Museum Cave, both of which are full of Hindu statues and paintings. The site serves as the focus of the Hindu community's yearly Thaipusam festival. A procession begins at the Sri Mahamariamman Temple, KL and lasts eight hours. In 2006, the festival attracted more than 1.5 million pilgrims, making it one of the largest gatherings in history

Thaipuism:

Thaipusam is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month of Thai (Jan/Feb). Pusam refers to a star that is at its highest point during the festival. The festival commemorates both the birthday of Lord Murugan (also Subramaniam), the youngest son of Shiva and Parvati, and the occasion when Parvati gave Murugan a vel (lance) so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. Devotees prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting. On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common. The most spectacular practice is the vel kavadi, essentially a portable altar up to two meters tall, decorated with peacock feathers and attached to the devotee through 108 vels pierced into the skin on the chest and back. Fire walking and flagellation may also be practiced. It is claimed that devotees are able to enter a trance, feel no pain, do not bleed from their wounds and have no scars left behind. However, some of the more extreme masochistic practices have been criticized as dangerous and contrary to the spirit and intention of Hinduism.