What a day!

This is from April 19.

What a packed day this was.
First we got up bright and early to catch the 8:30 ferry from Saladan to Phuket. Took the same pickup truck mode of transit that nearly all of our transit in Koh Lanta has been.
Then onto the ferry to Phi Phi. At Phi Phi we the transfer to the Phuket ferry. By transfer I mean walk to the other ship docked next to ours.

Upon arrival at Rasada pier (11:30) we were picked up by Noy for our sea kayaking tour.

Great tours of the hongs. Basically you get into ab inflatable kayak and your guide takes you around the shore a bit before entering into a cave in the island. At points you have to duck but you actually end up in a large open lagoon inside the island. Basically these hongs are donuts where the hole is made by years of rainwater eroding away at the limestone of the islands.

We did two of the hongs and also walked through some caves to get to another. At the end of the day our guide used our (minimal) help to make a kratong, or flower arrangement offering to the water god.

After this we got taken to perhaps one of the most amazing hotels I've stayed in. At 7 hours it was probably also my shortest ever hotel stay. It had a giant living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, Nd huge ensuite bathroom.

More Thailand!

Today was a very Thailand day for activities.

We started the morning by getting breakfast, and then getting picked to head over to do some elephant riding. I know that it's of questionable humane-ness, but we just did a short trip. The elephant ride is rather bumpy, and I felt like I was going to fall off much of the time. We didn't see much abuse of the elephants, so that's good.

After the elephant ride, we had a guide take us to a nearby waterfall and cave. It was an interesting and short hike, but made difficult by the slippery rocks and mud, and fording small creeks. 

After that adventure, we decided to go get mopeds to go somewhere for lunch. The lady at the neighboring hotel did moped rentals, but seemed pretty laid back. She told us how to turn it out, and that was about it. We asked for helmets though, and were off. We rode north for about 15-20 minutes before stopping at a restaurant on the corner of the road at a high point, over looking the beach and seas. Great views, and again good food, as we had pad thai and a curry. Again, both were delicious.

We rode northward a little more, before turning around to go home in time for pickup for our cooking class.

We left at 3pm for our cooking class further up the coast. The class at Time for Lime is hosted in a cool looking kitchen, with multiple stations. It also has tables and a bar on the beach overlooking the sea. It was interesting learning about the various flavors in Thai cuisine, and it was fun to make food. We made delicious tom gha gai soup, with rice and holy basil shrimp stirfry. It actually turned out quite delicious. We then also made some fishcakes and chicken stir fry. 

Now we're done for the night, and off to catch the ferry tomorrow to Phuket and a seacanoe tour!

Thailand!

Sawadee-krap!

Got up in the morning to get a cab to Singapore airport's budget terminal. Interestingly during checkin, my bag slipped away from the counter into that magical conveyor belt where checked in luggage goes earlier than the attendant expected. When she finished checking us in, she said "two bags?" when only Justin's was left, as mine had already been conveyed away. We assumed she had done it under her power, so we were a little surprised. She, too, seemed surprised, and then went off to walk down the conveyor belt to find it. It was already gone though, so they told me they'd take it to the gate for me to verify and tag.

After a quick meal of laksa (noodles), we boarded the plane (where we re-meet my bag), and off to Thailand.

Upon arrival (at 11:30), we were met by our hotel's shuttle driver, who took us on a 2 hour ride (including over two really short car ferries) to the hotel. We checked in, and then headed into "town" to look for food. I say "town" because it has about 4 places to eat, a 7-11, and maybe 3 other shops. We found a restaurant that had good, and mind-bogglingly cheap food. The pad thai, which was probably better than any other pad thai I've had was 60 THB, which is about $2. I also had a spicy papaya salad, which I don't love as much as everyone else does. After a quick stop at 7-11, and a few minutes in the room to cool down (boy was it hot), we got into the ocean, which is about 5 minutes away from our room door. The water was surprisingly warm, so we swam around for a bit, before swimming in the hotel pool to cool down.

Then, we decided to be adventurous... Lonely Planet speaks highly of a restaurant called "Beautiful Restaurant" (which I think is the English translation of its Thai name) in Old Town Lanta, on the other side of the island. The island sounded interesting to visit anyway, so we asked the hotel to send us there. They told us not to go over there (it was 8pm) if we were looking for shopping (presumably because it was all closed). For 600THB they sent us over in a car. We realized en route why it was so expensive -- it took about a half hour to get there. And then we got dropped off at what was probably a 3/4 mile stretch of shops and houses. We found the restaurant we were looking for on the far end. The tables are placed along multiple winding piers in the water. During the day, one would imagine the views of the ocean and distant islands are nice -- at night, it's just darkness with the occasional sounds of boats, fish, along with some distant lightning. 

The food was tasty - we had a steamed fish, along with some rice. Now the adventure -- despite the hotel telling us that we'd be able to find taxis back, there were no taxis to be had. When the restauranteur learned that we were planning on looking for a taxi, he knew there would be none, so offered to take us back for a fee. 500THB -- the payment for each ride for dinner way outstripped the price for dinner.

Adventure over, it was time for the end of the day.

Singapore - day 2

Jetlag mostly averted, day 2 on the trip started off at a reasonable time. 

Katie took us out to look for food, looking for traditional Singaporean breakfast of kopi (coffee condensed milk) and kaya toast (toast with sweet coconut and egg jam). After a bus ride to the complex it was in, we found that, unfortunately, the place seemed to be closed as the building was under construction. Resigned, we decided to look for Hainan chicken rice at Maxwell's, a hawker stall near Chinatown. Strike 3 for the trip! (Chili crab place from the hawker stall on Airport road that was closed for vacation, the breakfast place that was closed for construction were the first two). Maxwell's was closed for spring cleaning that very day!

So we called for a cab to go to another area to eat. Once we told the cabbie where we were going, he told us not to go there. He knew we were tourists and told us there was nothing to see there, and better, and cheaper food was to be had elsewhere. He essentially ended up taking us back to where we started and sent us off near Raffles Hotel for some places he thought were really good -- a Hainan chicken rice place he liked. Unfortunately, it wouldn't open until 11:30, and with a half hour to kill, we stopped at a corner cafe for kopi and kaya.

After the light breakfast, we moved right on into lunch, moving down 3 doors to the Hainan chicken place for Hainan chicken rice (the rice was quite flavorful), cabbage, and noodles. Pretty standard fare, but good stuff. Then we went back to Katie and Marcelo's apartment for a brief rest and dip in the pool.

After an hour of not-eating, it was time to eat again. We headed over to Raffles Hotel for our afternoon high tea. The building itself is very impressive, dating back to the colonial days. High tea was served in a grand room, and we were near a larger open area with double-height ceilings. The English snacks came on a three-tier platter, while there was a buffet of Chinese snacks (dumplings, siu mai, etc.), fruits, and desserts.

We then wandered over to the Marina Bay area and got to look around at the buildings down that way, including the Singapore Flyer, the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (which looks like a big ship placed on top of three nearby buildings), and the Merlion. Marcelo met up with us and we got drinks at a bar on the waterfront, where we got to watch the light show at the Marina Bay Sands hotel. It was an interesting show, with water fountains close to the hotel (and far from us), lasers pointing from the top of the building, and fires near the fountains.

After the show, it was time for -- guess what -- food! We went for Indian food at a place called Banana Leaf Apollo where we each got a banana leaf to put our curries, and grab with our naan. Good stuff, too.

Last day in Singapore, and then off to Thailand!

One more food thing...

A quick correction - when describing the fruits eaten, I said "dragonfruit" when I meant "mangosteen.

A bit more food details

I hit send before finishing up all the things we ate at the hawker stalls:

Rojak, popiah (kind of like a roti-burrito, or sandwich roll), chai tow kway (kind of a diced up turnip/carrot cake).

Singapore!

Kicking off the big trip of spring 2012 to Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong!

Starts off with a long, long 14 hour flight from SF to HK. I have to say, Cathay isn't quite as nice as Singapore Airlines. I didn't blog about my two recent trips to Seoul, but one was on Singapore Airlines, and the other on Asiana. Cathay doesn't have a few minor niceties like metal flatware, warm wet towel, and toothbrushes in the bathrooms, and the seats are a tad plastic-y, but the entertainment system is nice, and the movie selection quite extensive.

Anyway, 14 hours later, we're in HKG airport for about an hour before boarding the same plane to continue onto Singapore. Upon arrival in Singapore, we grab a taxi and head into town to Marcelo and Katie's. The flora being very tropical, the drive in kind of reminded me of Hawaii. As we wen in, we drive by views of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, the Singapore Flyer, and a few other interesting looking buildings.

After dropping stuff off at Marcelo and Katie's, and a little time to wash up after being cooped up on a plane for 18 hours, it was off to start exploring Singapore. As we were hungry from traveling, Marcelo and Katie first took us to the hawker stalls on Old Airport Road. Basically a big mall with rows of food stalls. We took a few minutes to look at all the options before picking up a few things. The food was very reasonably priced, and all quite tasting. We had stuff like rojak (a "salad" mix of fried, sauced, things), cheung fun, 

Since it was quite warm, we decided to take a cab to the next stop - Arab street. A very interesting set of blocks that kind of have an Arab look to it. Anchored by a large, gold-domed mosque, the streets were filled with rug shops, cloth shops, hookah cafes, and other stores. We wandered around a bit, before heading home for a quick nap.

Heading back out later, we went out for dinner for a traditional fare of chili crab. Marcelo and Katie's favorite place for it (a hawker stand at Old Airport Road) was closed on vacation until Thursday, so we went to No Sign Board seafood, near Aljunied station. We had a great meal of chili crab, cereal shrimp, and garlic broccoli. Afterwards - the durian course. We went to a fruit stall where we had some infamous durian. After the fruit market guy cut it open for us, we had the durian fruit - not all that bad. Kind of had a creamy consistency, and Justin thought it reminded him of onion dip, which Marcelo pointed out Dennis had said in that same place just a few weeks ago. I could see how, when not fresh, it would start to taste strongly bad, but it was pretty ok. We also had some fruit from the giant variety of tropical offerings - longan, dragonfruit (which, when opened kind of look like little garlic bulbs, and are quite tasty), and passionfruit. While we didn't have any, we admire how giant the jackfruits were.

A cab ride home, and then done for the day. Tomorrow will be hainan chicken for lunch, followed by high tea and wandering around the Marina Bay area, and then possibly Indian for dinner. Yes, lots of eating :) That's how I know I'm on vacation.

No surprise, it is quite warm and humid here. However, Singapore is less the sterile, super-clean city full of rule-abiding denizens than I expected. The streets are not super clean, and the sidewalks aren't all perfectly paved. There aren't throngs of pedestrians waiting at the sidewalk for the light to turn green to cross -- it's not quite Tokyo. Nonetheless, a very interesting city so far. We'll see what tomorrow has in store.