Project Runaway

Research shows that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Experience shows that eating the free breakfast included in most establishments saves you money.  As I like to be healthy and cheap this arrangement works well for me.

From Europe to Asia the breakfasts have been diverse. In Italy: a cappuccino and a cornetto; Turkey: cay tea, a boiled egg, feta cheese, and cucumber; London: eggs, beans, and bangers; Malaysia: nasi lemak (rice cooked in coconut milk served with tiny fried anchovies in hot chili paste); Laos: melt in your mouth French bread and good good coffee; and Vietnam, home to phở (pronounced “fur”).

Pho Ga

Phở is a noodle soup that is clear chicken or beef broth flavoured with ginger and coriander, which has rice noodles, fresh cilantro, green onions and slivers of chicken, pork, or beef. I never feel too full or not full enough. It is not too rich nor too bland. It is the perfect blend of carbs and protein. Without a doubt it is the perfect breakfast.

Vietnamese food has always been among my favorites. I thought, naively, that I knew what Vietnamese food covered. I mean, I have had Bún thịt nướng (#18 at Saigon Nights) and Gỏi cuốn (salad rolls) more times than I can remember.

But the food here is much more diverse and there are dishes that are specific to regions and even cities. Our start to the culinary goodies of Vietnam was in the city of Hoi An. This is a charming city near the infamous China Beach, where the United States had a large base during the Vietnam War. It consists of old French-influenced buildings and is known for the many tailor shops. It is also known for 2 dishes, white rose and cao lau. White rose is a translucent shrimp dumpling, and cao lau is a ‘dry’ dish of noodles topped with pork and fresh greens and a crunchy crouton/wonton thingy. Like all Vietnamese cuisine these dishes consist of fresh fresh ingredients and amazing flavour.

White Rose

Cao Lau, Yummy!

Hue a few hours north of Hoi An was home to the Nguyen Emperors. It has the walled Citadel area and within in it the walled Imperial Palace. Here we had banh khoai. I really liked this simple but savory dish. It is a crunchy crepe or cake made from grated cassava or taro and it is folded in half and filled with shrimp and bean sprouts. Chased down by a nice cold Huda beer there is nothing better. It was really hard to just eat one of these in a sitting as they were so good.

Hanoi is our last stop in Vietnam. It is home to over 3 million people and is my favorite SE Asia city. The Old Quarter and the French Quarter have lovely buildings and scenic green spaces. You can stroll around Hoan Kiem Lake then stop for a cafe and a sandwich on a soft fresh baquette, or you can try bun cha. Bun cha is basically a combination vermicelli plate with grilled pork meatballs (usually) and vermicelli noodles are served over a bed of greens (salad and sliced cucumber), herbs and bean sprouts. It is fairly close to my #18 in Canada. I even had it served with the pork in a broth type liquid in which you added the noodles and herbs to it.

Bun Cha and Beer

My memories of Vietnam will consist more than just great food. It will be of insane traffic, drivers with nerves of steel, incessant horns squawking, communist pep talks blaring over loud speakers at the crack of dawn, sleeper buses, beautiful beaches without a soul on them, charming cities and towns, and many warm and friendly people. If you weigh the good and bad of this chaotic country of 84 million, I would say that there are far more reasons to come here than stay away. You should at least come for breakfast and try one of them.

When we left on our travels, time seemed to stretch far ahead of us. Now it is 2010 and we are already nearly 8 months into our 10 month trip. SE Asia has been exhilarating and exhausting, and I have just not had time to keep up with my blog as well. So this is an update on the last few weeks.

After sunning ourselves on Koh Lanta, we headed to Bangkok for a few days where we were able to meet up with Gillian and Jason (www.one-giant-step.com) for more beers and general light-hearted debauchery. Then it was our first overnight train to Northern Thailand  and Chiang Mai. This ended up being the train ride from hell for Dwayne as he spent most of it getting sick in a bathroom you would not want to answer Nature’s call in.

Christmas in Chiang Mai

We spent Christmas week in Chiang Mai, where Luc and I also succumbed to the mystery illness. But with all this projectile vomiting we did manage to get in a cooking class, ziplining in the jungle, and the boys even went  mountain biking.

Next was a bus trip to the Thailand border where we crossed into Laos and took a slow boat down the Mekong River for  2 days to Luang Prabang. The slow boat is a long wooden boat with teeny tiny wooden benches that looked like they were constructed in a junior high shop class. Apparently the boats hold 70 but to make it interesting over 100 travelers are packed on board. This means every teeny tiny bench has two, sometimes not so small, derrieres trying to find the elusive comfortable position. And imagine doing this for ~ 6 hr on day 1 and 9 hr on day 2! To be honest I was very nervous about this stage of our travels as I could not find any good information regarding crossing the border here, nor the process and cost of booking the slow boat. We managed to bungle through and while I do not think I would do it again, I think it was definitely worth the hassle. There was a camaraderie that grew between fellow passengers over the 2 days and we met some interesting people, many whom we continued to meet up with over the following weeks.

Slow Boat on the Mekong

Laos is a poor country and we saw people living in the most humblest of circumstances. It seems every minute we are in Asia we learn to value what we take for granted back home. Simple things like clean running water, a soft bed, a good pair of shoes, an education. But yet Laos is stunningly beautiful and so are its people.

Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage city and so far one of my favorite places to visit. It is charming and scenic and there is just the right combination of things to do versus just chilling at a cafe. From there it was down to Vang Vieng for tubing the river  for Luc’s 16 birthday, then to Vientiane to catch a flight to Cambodia.

Cambodia was not on the original plan as we thought there would not be enough time, but when we decided to fly instead of bus to Vietnam, we saved enough travel days to squeeze it in. For me Cambodia was perhaps the most complicated country to understand. It is a country struggling to find an identity and gain an economic footing. It has a rich past and yet one of the darkest pasts in history also.

To see both sides we first went to Siem Reap to visit the temples of Angkor. The temples were beyond words. You think of Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones and ancient treasure and lost civilizations. You wonder which came first the jungle or the temples. Seeing the temples gives Cambodia and even SE Asia more perspective. Put it on your Bucket List!!

Sunrise over Angkor Wat

We rounded out Cambodia in Phnom Penh were we went to the Killing Fields and the infamous S21 prison. If this trip has been a life education for our children, the day we spent at these 2 horrible places was a shocking revelation and an in-your-face education for all of us. The horror and extent of what we saw and felt seems like it would be trivialized by my writing about it, Suffice to say that it was a hard and haunting day and the suffering of the Cambodian people will never be forgotten by us.

So where are we now? Vietnam, baby! So now we are all on the same page.

Our dear friends and fellow travelers, one-giant-step.com, tagged us in a blog challenge to reveal our Three Travel Secrets. After 7 months and 2 weeks these are the tips that I would like to share.

Rent Serviced apartments when staying for longer periods in a location. This is the one tip that I can’t stress enough. Traveling is hard work and there are times when sleeping in one more dorm or mediocre guesthouse may cause you to attempt to chew your arm off.There is something comforting and grounding about having an apartment in a strange city. You get to know the neighbourhood and markets. Eating at restaurants and hawker stalls can get old so to be able to cook a home cooked meal with fabulous local ingredients is like chicken soup to the soul. We rented apartments in Italy, Turkey, and Spain. All were stylish and comfortable and fully stocked. They all had a washing machine (Hallelujah!!) and *gasp* one even had a dryer! And the best part, if you take for a week or more you can negotiate for a price and we have had some amazing deals.

These are some sites we used to find apartments:

http://www.homeaway.com/

http://www.homelidays.com/

Don’t be afraid to rent a car even if it is in Italy. The process is easy and believe it or not most countries are better drivers than North Americans. Yes, they do drive fast but as it was pointed out to me drivers in many countries drive cooperatively where in North America it appears to be competitively. Often the usual train, taxi, bus, mini-bus, or tuk tuk is just not an option for some areas you may want to explore. We have driven in Italy and Asia, and what I learned was to keep a steady pace and not to panic. Italy has many roundabouts which I am comfortable with and I had no problems driving from Lucca to the beach one day and another day up into the mountains.

Often the cost is much cheaper than public transportation. For example, for 4 us to take the train from Lucca to Rome, then from Rome–>Naples–>Sorrento, then Sorrento–>Naples–>Bari worked out to over $900 cdn. The car rental, with one way drop off and unlimited mileage was under $600 cdn. It was a no-brainer.

Here is the company I used exclusively in Europe:

http://www.vroomvroomvroom.com/

The Boy Scout motto is Be Prepared. For the Scouts this means in body and in mind. In body means to make yourself strong and active and for traveling, healthy.  In mind means having thought out potential situations and and being prepared for it. When you are traveling for a great length of time you are bound to get sick or hurt, the law of averages is just there. As there are 4 of us and we tend to like adventure and adventurous food. This is the contents of our emergency supply kit:

• Charcoal tablets – charcoal tablets can relieve flatulence, gassy bloating, heartburn and upset stomachs
• Buscopan – relaxes the cramped muscles of the digestive tract, and therefore relieves the spasms that cause abdominal pain.
• Dramamine- used to prevent nausea and motion sickness
• Claritin – allergies
• Electrolyte  drink powder
• Penicillin
• Throat Lozenges
• Ibuprofen
• Baby Wipes – bathrooms in Asia can be shocking always handy to have
• Toilet Paper – see above!
• Hand Sanitizer – also part of above!
• Most importantly – a bottle of spirits ‘XXX’, research shows that it helps fight food poisoning and boredom

It is December, but as there has been no change of seasons to mark time, I feel as if it is July. Malaysia is a long ways back now. We had worked our way up the coast and then crossed into Thailand. I am hungover and on an overnight train to Bangkok. We decide to order beer, hair of the dog and all that, and the attendant slyly convinces us to buy her one also.

We have just left the island of Koh Lanta where our 1 week stretched into a little over 2. We stayed in little beach bungalows with thatched roofs and hammocks swing out front. Fisherman’s Cottage is run by Kun and his Merry band of men. There is ‘O’ the gentle charmer, and Lab, laid back and good-humoured.  They all have pet birds that are scattered around the property in pretty wooden cages. The birds are Red Whisker Bulbuls and they are the guy’s babies. The birds compete in singing contests,  and Luc was able to with Lab to a local one where Lab’s bird came in 4th. He won a case of Fanta and bananas. First place won a rice cooker, fan, and chinese noodles.

Home Sweet Home

Nicole left her teens and became twenty while we there. She happens to share her birthday with the King of Thailand, so it was a public holiday. The crew threw her a great party. They had someone bake a cake, and the baker seemed to use everything in her pantry, from chocolate chips, oreo cookies, and jellied candy. Nicole got to put a wish on a large white paper lantern that was lit and floated away over the ocean as we watched from the beach.  The boys had even got her gifts, sparklers, and fireworks. I wondered if the King was having as much fun.

Birthday Girl

It was so easy to settle on Koh Lanta and we met so many wonderful people. We spent our days swimming, snorkeling, and scootering to other beautiful beaches. There was usually a football match between staff and guests (some from other resorts) and it was fun to watch the good-natured rivalry. In the evenings there would be parties at the bar and sometimes ‘O’ would do the traditional Thai fire dance down on the beach.

Then there were the Thai massages. I can’t forget to mention the massages, the ones you get on a raised platform on the beach for less than $8 CDN. The ones we were getting every few days. No, must rub in, er, mention those.

The Beach

So that brings us back to why I am on a train horribly hungover. I know better to do this before a ‘travel’ day, but the guys threw a party and it just sort of rolled from there. It was a helluva party though. Earlier in the day, Dwayne, Luc, and a chap named Ron, had hung out on Long Beach where apparently 2 young hot Italian girls were hanging out (I think literally). The story goes that Luc came out of the water, probably in slow motion, shook the water out of his hair, still in slow mo, as the Italian girls watched his every move. After careful coaching/egging on, by Dwayne and Ron, he approached them. Things went well. He came away with a date to meet them at a bar near where they were staying. They are 20 and 22. Apparently he is 19.

Back at the ranch, this story created a buzz of activity. Everyone got involved in what he should wear, people searched their huts for, yes, condoms. Multiple offers flooded in to take him over there, no doubt to check out the perfect creatures themselves. He was the conquering hero, he left in a hail of confetti with a marching band playing ‘Long Live the King’, o.k., not really, but practically.

Long story short? He was late. They waited 45 minutes, then left. He raced to their hotel but the office would not give out their room number.

When he returned too quickly, the entire restaurant and bar let out a collective groan of disappointment. The star player had missed the goal on a crucial shot. But then they reminded Luc of a key piece of the story, something to cheer him up. They were there. And they waited 45 minutes. For him.

Merry Christmas to our family and all our friends, those at home and all the new ones we have met from around the world.

British novelist Anthony Burgess writes that eating durian is “like eating sweet raspberry blancmange in the lavatory.”

definition of blancmange: sweet almond-flavored milk pudding thickened with gelatin or cornstarch; usually molded

Chef Andrew Zimmern compares the taste to “completely rotten, mushy onions.”

Anthony Bourdain, while a lover of durian, relates his encounter with the fruit as thus: “Its taste can only be described as…indescribable, something you will either love or despise. …Your breath will smell as if you’d been French-kissing your dead grandmother.”

(All these quotes blatantly cut and pasted from Wikipedia)

Durian

So why the hell would we ever taste it you may ask yourselves? I myself had hoped to stay one step ahead of it and never have to prove my mettle by trying it. Trial by stink and all that. But here we were on the island of Pangkor and our Malay hosts had set themselves upon the task of ensuring we were culturally enriched by feeding us every Malay dish out there.

We were called out to the pool the second day we were there to see the owner’s wife at the picnic table cutting open what appeared to be big prickly fruit. Christ, pardon my French, it was Durian. There was no where to run and hide. The boys were immediately gung-ho. The stuff those two are willing to eat always boggles my mind.

The Initiation

I may be squeamish, and you all know what my sense of smell is like, but my sense of honour and not wanting to insult the hosts prevailed. We all tried it and we all experienced something different so here are all our perspectives:

Luc  – On the smell: “sweet and garlicky, doesn’t smell that bad it is just a weird smell” On the taste: ” rotten garlic mixed with a pound of sugar”

Nicole – On the smell: “like a dead animal”  On the taste: “sweet and garlicky, nasty, taste worse than it smells, can taste it all day, disgusting”

Dwayne -On the smell: “Smells like roadkill” On the taste: “Creamy caramel custard with garlic”

Me – On the smell: “sickeningly sweet and putrid at the same time, like something slowly decomposing, takes your breath away” On the taste: “it was creamy and gooey like over moist bread dough, the taste to me much like its smell, sort of rancid with a hint of almond extract, truly disgusting”

Sick Puppy

And yes, you do taste it all day as even the smallest amount causes lovely durian belches. Oh so pleasant.

But you think the tale ends there, don’t you? Well, on our last day the owner, Captain Shari, volunteers to drive me into the village to the ATM. He says to bring the whole gang as he is going to take us to the Chinese Temple to see the huge Dragonfish they have in the pond.

What he doesn’t tell us is that he has a surprise. You see, Dwayne was a bit too willing and enthusiastic about the Durian and next to the temple is a, you guessed it, durian plantation. We stroll to 2 men in deck chairs sleepily eating durian. There is a huge mound of empty shells next to them. They seemed drugged on it, and for a moment I had to check myself that we were not at an opium den. The Captain says this is where the best durian is and buys Dwayne his own entire durian. As Luc, Nicole, and I were not so enthusiastic we were able to gratefully be exempt.

That's what you get for being a keener

I look into Dwayne’s eyes and see he is resigned to his fate. There is no graceful way to escape the durian sitting in front of him. As his faithful and loyal wife, I can’t help but giggle and smirk and take pictures a safe distance away.

We were back on the road again and this time headed for the Cameron Highlands. The highlands are the highest area in mainland Malaysia. The area is known for its tea plantations and rolling green hills reminiscent of the English countryside. After another grueling multi-bus ride, we arrived at Father’s Guesthouse feeling like we had just spent a day inside a clothes dryer with a load of rocks. I truly wanted to kiss the ground when we arrived.

Father’s Guesthouse is on a small hill in the town of Tanah Rata and this situation makes it quiet and removed from the town below. It used to be a mission for French priests thus the name ‘Fathers’. It is a friendly and organized place and boasted its own cafe where the 2 cooks prepared excellent curries. After our sketchy and dirty accommodations in Taman Negara, our scrupulously clean rooms made us giddy. It truly is the simple things after a while. Like toilets that work, clean sheets, cold beer, and kind hosts.

We decided to book a guided tour for the first time. It was a half day tour to a tea plantation, a trip to the top of Mount Brinchang, and a hike in the Mossy Forest. Our guide was a young Indian guy who knew his stuff inside out. He made learning about the cultivation and production of tea interesting. Really.

BOH Tea Plantation

So here are some ‘Did you knows’:

• The tea bush is actually the camellia sinensis bush
• All tea comes from the same bush, it depends on how it is processed
• To make Black tea the leaves are fermented fully, then dried, Green Tea is unfermented, it is withered then dried
• Fermentation is what makes the tea leaves dark, if you skip it then the leaves stay green. Are you following me?

Our guide also knew the famous Mossy forest inside and out, it was like an interactive National Geographic documentary.

Every inch of the trees here are literally covered in moss. It grows in huge, squishy clumps, as wet as unsqueezed out sponges. There are even huge clumps of moss near the tops of the trees which make it look like it is growing upside down. Moss hangs among the trees and long tendrils of it sway in the breeze.

See any Hobbits?

The moss is always wet and feels like you are walking on cushions. If it is not moss you are sinking in, then it is red slippery mud. The trail was narrow and the branches hung low so you had to bend over the entire time. It was like being in Boot Camp and doing a muddy assault course.

When Malaysia was a British Colony, the Brits would come to the highlands to do some hiking and refresh themselves in the cooler climate. This was exactly why 4 Canadians went there and I would say ‘mission accomplished’.

How many people can say they have actually been in a tropical rainforest? A jungle that is over 130 million years old. That has been untouched by any natural or unnatural disaster and has been around since the time of the dinosaurs? When you try and imagine the jungle, images from every movie you had ever seen flash through your mind. But nothing can prepare you for the raw primeval beauty of it. It draws you in, shows you its ancient secrets and then thrusts you out, humbled. Of everything I have done in the last 6 months and everything I am still to do, our trip into the Taman Negara will still be the highlight.

We almost didn’t go originally. As SE Asia was not on our radar when we left Canada, it was not like we had jungle trek wear. No high sided trek boots, or long sleeve shirts, no leech socks, or flashlights, or anything that remotely resembled appropriate jungle wear.  When locals said that we should go, and that it would be something we would regret, we decided to go for it.

The trip from Kuala Lumpur (nothing all that positive to say about this city so I will just skip over our days there) consisted of a bumpy over air-conditioned bus ride to a non-descript town called Jeranut, where we took a shuttle to a jetty and then onto a long wooden boat for 3 hours up the river to the village in the jungle. The boat ride was fabulous. Relaxing and comfortable as we saw water buffalo, otters, and monkeys. Already we felt the chaos of KL and the horrible bus ride fading quickly into the past.

Mama Chop Taxi Service

We arrived in the village and were taken past the floating restaurants to our rooms. They sucked. I know, I know, it is the jungle, but we were shown photos of the rooms and these were not those rooms. As there did not seem to be any better option we decided to grin and bear. I mean, who needs a working toilet?

We had heard to be wary of booking a tour as you end up paying too much for not much. We decided to do one of the hikes up the hill ourselves, along with a new Venezualan friend, Jacky, and then pay the 5 ringitt ($1.57 cdn) for the canopy walk. Others paid 40 ringitts to have an indifferent guide take them there. We felt smug in our savings. So, there we were in our regular clothes, with our absent gear, just a camera and some 100 Plus drinks. Jacky even had on flipflops. We looked like the relatives who showed up at the family reunion in the Hamptons in new KMart duds. We sailed past the other trekkers in their fancy gear like they were standing still. 6 months of travelling and trekking does tend to make one quite fit. We were smug in our fitness. That did not mean we were not sweating and gasping when we got to the top, just that we got there first, and that was what counts.

Welcome to the jungle, baby!

The Taman Negara is also know for its leeches so most hikers had the leech socks or their pants tucked in. You hear many stories about the leeches and we were prepared to have a few bites. We vowed we would be steely and not try to pluck them off (big no no, leaves teeth in your flesh). We saw locals with fresh bites and other travellers with fresh bites. We had our loins girded, we were ready. Long story short, we didn’t end up with one bite. Not any of us. I felt strangely disappointed.

After our hike and canopy walk and fortifying lunch we hired 2 boats to take the 5 of us (we still had our buddy Jacky) to take us up a river into the park where you can swim near some small falls or a cascade. The boat ride up this river was the ultimate highlight of the trip. The rainforest seemed to be trying to swallow the river and it was so breathtaking. When I looked back at the faces of my family I saw such pure joy. The boats drop you off as close as they can get and then you hike up a trail to where you can swim.

Boat Ride to Lata Berkoh

Jacky had an underwater camera and everyone swam and goofed around, washing away the jungle stink and sweat in the water. I realised that sometimes you just have to wing it and if we didn’t we would have missed out on this experience and yes, we would have regretted it.

We started our Malaysia travels with a bus ride from Singapore to Melaka. I decided that along the way there should have been towns where the rules and regulations of strict Singapore slowly disappeared one by one, and the bus would stop at each one, allowing you some time to adjust.  Whereas in Singapore you feel as if you are being watched over by a strict but benign parent, in Malaysia, you feel as you are being grudingly babysat by the neighbours indifferent teenager.

As soon as we got off the bus the impact was felt. We were back  to the noise and chaos of Istanbul. To even cross the street here is a lot like being a gopher and trying to dodge across Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton. There are no doubts that we are in Asia now, not some squeaky clean amusement park city.  Our advice, take a big breath and just plunge in.

Melaka was our first stop. It was a Dutch town for many years and has been declared a UNESCO heritage site. It was charming and elegantly decayed/rundown and we loved it. We stayed in a guesthouse on the river in Chinatown. The building was once a shop or warehouse and is long and narrow with high ceilings and a terrace where you can watch boats go by and monitor lizards lounge. Our hosts Mani and Ray were exceptional and thoughtful and told us all the dishes we needed to try and where the best place to get them was.

Malaysia is a country that has Malay, Chinese and Indian people. The country is Muslim but there are many different religions here also and all seem to live in harmony with each other. Where in Turkey you did not see the women in the workforce, here Muslim women hold all manner of jobs. As a result of this diversity, the food is diverse. You can have Indian, Malay, or Chinese. So we did! Indian for breakfast (banana rotis, yum), Malay for lunch (Baba Laksa, double yum), and Chinese for dinner. We ate and ate in Melaka. And then… we ate some more!

One of the most interesting places we ate was Capitol Satay. There are huge boiling pots of spicy peanut sauce in the middle of the tables attached to propane tanks under the table. (Definitely would not fly in Canada!) Then you get a plate and fill it with skewers of raw meat, seafood, veggies, and (for the brave) all sorts of weird unidentifiable mystery foods. Then you cook your skewers in the peanut sauce. It is messy but very delicious and you can’t go to Melaka and not try this twist on fondue.

We wandered the streets soaking the smells and sights, getting our bearings on a place so different from our last. Now for those of you with a keen sense of smell this can be a good and bad experience. I have the nose of a bloodhound. I think many women have this blessing/curse. So for me it was like overload at times. The scent of a spice, then the hit of  raw sewage, a few more steps and the scent is mouthwatering, a few more and then a bizarre and horrible and unidentifiable reek. God lord what was that? It takes many days before I realize that the disgusting toe curling scent is durian fruit, the ‘king of fruits’.  I will not be able to avoid this smell, and even worse, yes, I will not be able to avoid trying it. But we will get to that later…

Sorry for the delay! Hard to post a blog from the middle of the jungle!

The streets are spotless. There is no graffiti on bridges, sides of buildings, fences, anywhere. Modern glass and steel buildings with spotless and hushed courtyards abound. People wait patiently and quietly to cross streets. Banners proclaim ‘Low Crime Doesn’t Mean No Crime’. In sleek modern underground stations people patiently wait to get on the MRT. Signs remind you to be gracious to others. Television monitors show videos asking that we all remain vigilant and look at our fellow passengers for suspicious behaviour and bulky bags. A soft female voice tells passengers to ‘Alight’ at stations, and ‘Mind the Gap’ between the train and platform. Public washrooms have signs depicting the proper and sanitary way to use the toilet. Food courts have signs reminding people of proper hygiene when working around food. Don’t pick your nose while cooking, do not double dip in shared dishes, do not spit on the floor. There are fines for littering, spitting, jaywalking, chewing gum, not flushing the toilet, farting ($50 small/$100 large), or voicing an opinion. Sound like a plot from a Sci-Fi movie? Expecting Harrison Ford and Sean Young to be running past you? Guess again, you are in Singapore.

But as sterile and as unappealing as that sounds, if you try hard enough you can find Singapore’s soul. And that would be their food. Singaporeans love to eat. Where football is the topic in Europe, food is the main topic here.

To find the best of the best you need to go to the hawker stalls. Large covered buildings which contain small individual stalls, each one specializing in specific dishes. The regulations for cleanliness are stringent here (no surprise there), and you will see ratings on the stall of A, B, C.  It is noisy and busy and the food rocks. The Maxwell Center has the best Hainanese chicken rice. The Newton Circus has the best chili crab and bbq sting ray. It is here where we got to know Singapore and see the best of her.

• 30+ trains
• 6 long haul bus rides
• 5 plane rides
• 3 ferries
• 2 car rentals
• 1 long ass taxi ride
• 15 Hotels/Pensions
• 6 Self Service Apartments

It is the halfway point in our journey. We have battled homesickness, language barriers, food poisoning, hair frustrations, the dreaded budget, and even each other. We have had to wrap our heads around 3 different currencies and navigate through 5 different ways of life. Along the way we have to understand and accept (sometimes grudingly) our strengths and weaknesses. We love, laugh, and fight with all we got, and when the dust settles we are always still standing.

We are in  London, Westminster to be exact, smack dab in the heart of it all. Our distinguished old hotel is next door to New Scotland Yard. Buckingham Palace is a 5 minute walk. Big Ben, the Thames, and the London Eye are a 10 minute stroll. Pubs abound everywhere, filled to overflowing with dark suited business persons discussing their work, football, and politics.

We have had several days of crisp clear fall weather, and we have walked through St James park kicking up leaves and laughing at its most famous resident, a large (and I mean LARGE) pink pelican. London is lovely in the fall and we have found that we have liked the city more than anticipated. We had given ourselves a strict daily budget while here and it has been fun watching the kids plot and budget their meals and split costs when they can.

Nicole’s eclectic fashion sense finally has a home and a name. It is pure London style. She fits in here like a glove and I think she has fallen for this city the hardest. She went out with a friend from Canada, Greer, who is going to school here. She had been under budget and used her allotment to go out partying London-style on Halloween.

The next morning Dwayne and I swung by their room to get the computer, and this is how it went:

I knock. Nic says ‘We are watching T.V.’ ‘So, I want the computer’ I respond. There is giggling and shuffling and then Luc opens the door a crack and slips me the laptop. I wedge a toe in. ‘I need the cord’, I say, getting suspicious. As he turns to get the cord, I manage to get my head in the door to have a look at what is going on. There are 2 heads popping from under the covers in Nicole’s bed, and one is not Luc. ‘There are two people in Nic’s bed.’ I say to Dwayne. He now thrusts his head through the door. Nic squeaks ‘This is Simon, he needed a place to go last night.’ Oh, well, of course. She is just being a good Samaritan. Dwayne asks Simon, who is still covered up to the neck in bed, in fact all 3 are like this now mainly because the room is as cold as a meat locker for some reason, where he is from. Simon tells us he is a good Victoria boy here visiting Greer. “Well, then that’s a relief’, Dwayne comments dryly, ‘I was worried you were from London.’

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