MacRitchie Reservoir Park

Since we did our first hike at Bukit Timah we have been wanting to try another nature preserve on the island and finally got our chance last weekend.  It was one of the sunnier days we have had in recent weeks since we are in the rainy season and we wanted to take advantage of it so we headed over to MacRitchie Reservoir Park.

MacRitchie has the Tree Top Walk which we had heard was really nice so we walked the 6 km up  to see some great wooded views.

Walking on MacRitchie Nature Trail

The reservoir of the park

Made it to Tree Top Walk

Enjoying the views 

City in the distance

A few minutes after we got off the bridge the dark clouds were rolling in and the thunder and lightning began.  We were as far away as we could get from our car so the only way to go was back.  We were caught in the rain when we went to Bukit Timah and didn't want that to happen again so we walked as fast as we could back to the trail head.  A little ways down the trail I heard something rustling in the bushes.  I stopped in my tracks as a huge tusked boar went barreling across the path in front of us.  I had heard about the wild monkeys but had no idea there were wild boar, too!  Thankfully, that was the only boar we saw and we were able to outrun the rain.  We reached our car just as the rain started coming down.

The rains rolling in

Next time we go to MacRitchie we hope to rent some kayaks and go out on the reservoir.

Thanksgiving Chicken

As our family and friends are gathering back in the US to enjoy a day of food and fun, we are yearning to be with them.  Derek nor I have never missed a Thanksgiving dinner with either of our families so it isn't easy for us to miss this year.  Thanks to modern technology, we have been able to Facetime with them and share a little of the Thanksgiving spirit.

After an uncelebrated Halloween, we decided we would make a point to celebrate all of the US holidays in the future.  We just want to try to feel like we are still part of the celebration.  To do this for Thanksgiving, I baked a couple pumpkin flavored desserts to share at work.  Our coworkers weren't going to turn down cake or cookies and we got to feel like we shared a little holiday cheer.

Our big Thanksgiving dinner is going to be on Saturday with some of the other expats so Derek and I just did a small Thanksgiving of our own.  A whole turkey costs $45SGD and we could never finish one on our own so we ate Thanksgiving chicken instead.  I searched several grocery stores and was finally able to find some French's Fried Onions for our green bean casserole.  When you work that hard to find them and pay that much ($9.10SGD for fried onions!), your casserole tastes twice as good!  Or maybe it is just that taste of home.

Funny story of our Thanksgiving:

Last night I was preparing a whole chicken so it would be ready to go in the crockpot this morning before I left for work.  I was about to wash the chicken when I noticed a little paper tag. I pulled on this tag and suddenly a head popped out.  I let out a horrified scream and Derek came running.  When he asked me what was wrong I pouted "my chicken has a head."  I wasn't about to cook it with the head nor was I about to cut it off so Derek was kind enough to chop it for me.  Of course you can't have a chicken with feet so we had to chop those off too.  Needless to say, that is probably the last whole chicken I buy here.  It was delicious though!

"My chicken has a head..."

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Bangkok: Taxi Tales

Between Chatuchak Weekend Market, the Grand Palace, Temple of the Reclining Buddha, and the Cooking Class we had a wonderful time in Bangkok.  While we did enjoy ourselves, the trip was not stress free and we faced a few issues.  I think the story of our journey to the airport sums up how getting around in Bangkok can be for a tourist.

Cab drivers will try to hustle the tourists.  When they see blonde hair and blue eyes they see $$.  They try to make sure you pay more than you should for a taxi because they think you can afford it.  The worst experience was on our way back to the airport at the end of the trip.  The hotel called us a cab and explained to the driver where we were going and told us what we should pay for the ride.  Once we were out of the doorman's sight, the cab driver turned off the meter and said "Don Muong, 400 baht."  Because we had taken a cab with the meter on from the same airport to the hotel we knew it should only be 250 baht so we kept asking him to turn the meter on (keep in mind that language is quite a barrier) and he reluctantly agreed.  He then drove like a maniac all the way to the airport.  I caught him doing 140 km/h in an 80 km/h zone, swerving in and out of other cars.  I admit, I feared for my life a few times during the ride but we made it safely to the airport.  As the driver was dropping us off he told Derek that if we had just paid the 400 baht he wouldn't have driven like that.  Lesson learned, taxi driver.  It was not worth risking our lives for what amounts to $4USD.  It just bothered us that they treat the tourists that way.

Despite this experience we would definitely return to Bangkok.  There is a lot we didn't get the chance to see or do and could easily justify another trip.  For now, we will look forward to our next trip, Bali for Christmas!

Bangkok: Baipai Cooking Class

We always like to do a food related activity when we visit different places whether it be food tours or cooking classes.  We had signed up to do both of these things in Bangkok but the food tour fell through when one of the restaurants was closed the day we wanted to go.  Fortunately, we still had the cooking class.

The cooking class began with a market tour where we learned about several of the ingredients that  are commonly used in Thai cooking.

Lots of produce in the farmer's market

Our wonderful tour guide, Darin, teaching us
about the produce

Lots of fresh fruit! 

Pig parts! From left to right: ears, tongue, intestines. Yum.

Pots of curry 

When we finished at the farmers market we headed over to the cooking school.  We went through so many narrow backroads and were a little concerned where they were taking us until we pulled into the gates of the school into the little oasis they had created.

Dusting our chicken for the Chicken with Cashew Nut

Derek frying his chicken

Chef Puu showing us how to saute the vegetables
and chicken

Our turn to saute

Cooking my veggies in the wok

Delicious Chicken with Cashew Nut

Next we made Hot and Sour Prawn Soup

Making our Green Curry Paste

Green Curry with Chicken. Mine is on the right, Derek's
is on the left.

Green Curry with Chicken has to have rice! Time to enjoy!

The cooking class was fantastic!  The food was delicious and the best part is we didn't have to clean up!

Bangkok: Temple of the Reclining Buddha

After enjoying the beautiful temple and halls at the Grand Palace, we decided to go to one more temple before calling it a day.  We saw on Trip Advisor that Wat Pho, better known as Temple of the Reclining Buddha, was one of the top things to see in Bangkok.  It wasn't far from the Grand Palace so we walked on over.  We had no idea what the Reclining Buddha looked like before entering this temple so we were quite surprised when we saw it.

That is one big Buddha!

The Reclining Buddha is 50 ft tall and 141 ft long!  It was unbelievable!  The pictures just don't do this temple justice.  

A little persepective 

A place where you could pray in front of the Buddha 

A view from the feet. Notice the very small
people in the bottom left. 

The soles of Buddha's feet.  There are 108 panels that
represent the 108 characters of Buddha. 

There were 108 bronze bowls along this wall
and you could drop coins in each one
for good luck.

Fountain outside of the temple.

Golden Buddhas along some of the outside walls

Decorative doorways

We learned that the temples are a safe haven for cats so there are tons of them as you are walking around.  Buddhists, especially monks, do not kill animals and they have to have a solution for their mouse problem.  The mice will eat the monk's scrolls and ancient documents so they keep the cats around to eat the mice.

Cat sleeping on a chedi.

Long row of Buddhas

Buddha in another temple within the Wat Pho

A few of the chedis which contain the ashes of
royal family

I'm so glad we decided to see one more temple because this one was fantastic!  Highly recommend it!

Bangkok: Grand Palace

After a full morning of shopping at the Chatuchak Weekend Market we went for a little sight seeing at the Grand Palace.  The Grand Palace served as the residence of the Kings of Siam and then Thailand from 1782 until 1925.  Within the Palace walls are lots of beautiful halls, pavilions, and lawns.

Grand Palace from outside the wall

Elephant statues and tuktuks in a circle outside the Palace 

Everything is gold!

Phra Mondop 

Prasat Phra Dhepbidorn 

Statue in front of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

No photography was allowed inside this temple so
this is the best picture we could get of the Emerald
Buddha

Model of Angkor Wat

Beautiful gold details

All that glitters is gold 

Murals on some of the outside walls

Elaborate statues

Everything is so colorful and bright 

Finally found a nice Australian couple to take our picture

Silhouette of one of the halls

Chakri Maha Prasat Hall

We are so glad we were able to make it over to the Grand Palace.  We almost missed it because the Palace closes at 3:30 and we didn't decide to go until early that afternoon.  It was definitely worth the trip and the crazy taxi rides.