A shoulder to lean on

This was just too funny not to post.



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Impromptu Haiku

Rain falls quietly
Sun gazes through cloudy eyes
Time for reflection

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32 hours in Kuala Lumpur

Kingsley and Simone had an overnight work trip to Kula Lumpur so his girlfriend (perhaps soon to be fiance?) Lisa and I decided to tag along and check out KL together.

Kuala Lumpur literally means "muddy confluence" which in many ways is a perfect metaphor for the city. East and West, Muslim and Christian, traditional and modern, a little bit of everything.
Non-metaphorically the name fits as well. KL is fairly chaotic and not quite as clean as Singapore. That being said, I sometimes wonder if I will ever find a country that will compete with Singapore in the "organized and clean" category...

Typical street in the city. Shop houses on the ground floor, apartments above.

laundry on the clothes line + pigeons = disaster waiting to happen

Durian Fruit stall which sold the biggest Durian fruit I have ever seen, at least I think that's what they were...

Of course being in a Muslim country, we saw lots of Mosques. Traditional Islamic dress is visible on the street as is the latest western designer labels.

Petaling Street is the heart of Chinatown in KL. It's bustling market that never sleeps and sharp bargaining skills are a must. Lisa is a much better bargainer but I was able to pick up a few tips from her and I think I improved as we shopped our way through the market.
Shopping till we almost dropped left us famished so we found an Arabic rooftop cafe for a merenda (Italian word for afternoon snack). The Arabic Restroran served such wonderful food we couldn't help but go back the next day and order the exact same thing... I would highly recommend this place if you are ever in KL.
The Arabic Coffee House and Restoran located on Jalan Bukit Bintang road

Petronas towers- which use to be the tallest towers in the world until 2004 when it was surpassed by the Taipei 101. The towers are 1482.9 feet tall.

After only 32 hours in the "muddy confluence" I am aware that I really only scratched the surface of this fascinating city. But my excitement at returning to the structure and safety of Singapore made me think perhaps this is one of those destinations best explored in small doses.

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SPG decoy



Today marked the second official meet-up for the newly formed SPG, Singapore Paragliding Gang. Kingsley and his new friend Barun are the founding members. I was nominated and voted in to be the official photographer for the gang before I even knew SPG exsisted. I am also unofficially the decoy for the gang as paragliding in Singapore is actually somewhat illegal. It's my job to sweet-talk the security guards into allowing the members to kite at various locations around Singapore. This requires some slight stretching of the truth on occasion.



Today we met at at the Marina Barrage, which is a beautiful park by the ocean with views of the Singapore Flyer and the new Marina Bay casino. This park is a well known spot for kite flying. When the boys arrrived, put on their gear, and pulled up their wings the entire park stopped and stared. The security guard immediatly started walking quickly across the park heading for the guys so I dutifully intercepted him.



Security Guard (with hand on walkie talkie): "excuse me miss are those kites...or parachutes?"

Decoy Lynn: "oh, those are kites" (said out loud) and parachutes (said in my head)

Security Guard: "do they use these kites to jump off things or just for playing in the park?"

Decoy Lynn: "they could be used to jump off something...but mostly they just like to play with them in the park"

Security Guard (hand is now relaxed by his side): "if they are only kites why do they have such big backpacks on their backs?"

Decoy Lynn: "oh that is used for storing the kite when they are not using it" (as well as back protection and the reserve parachute)

The guard then walked away and returned a while later with a second guard for an additional round of interrogation. I had to manage both of them while fullfilling my duty as the SPG photographer. No easy task but it was well worth the trouble to get a chance to see Kingsley with his glider again. He was so happy, best of all we were not arrested or fined! Cant wait till the next SPG event!



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The race that stops a nation

Last night Kingsley and I attended a very formal event at the St. Regis hotel. This event was called "the race that stops a nation" and was all about the Melbourne Cup, the biggest horse racing event in the world. Evidently this event makes the Kentucky derby look like a joke.

This is the 150th year of the Melbourne Cup and to celebrate they are taking the Cup around the world to each major city, kind of like the Olympic torch except the Cup contains 1.65kg of 18K gold and worth $150,000.


We were lucky enough to have our photo taken with the Cup, Kingsley had to wear a white glove and there was a team of people around devoted to caring for the Cup.
It was actually really interesting to learn more about the history of horse racing. And, my favorite part of the evening, was the live fashion show which gave the history of the ladies hats at racing events! There were some very strange and amazing hats back in the day!
This event was perfect timing as we are planning to go to the Singapore Turf Club tonight to watch the races with some friends. This will be my very first horse racing experience. I know it wont be quite as glamourous as the Melbourne Cup, the dress code for the Singapore race track is "no singlets or jogging shorts allowed" but I am still excited to place my bets at the track...I may even wear a hat!

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Cookery Magic

My new friend Lisa from Italy invited me to go to a SE Asian cooking class with her at a place called Cookery Magic. The class which normally has between 6-8 people in it, is held in the owners home. The owner of Cookery Magic was this wonderful woman, Ruqxana. Her parents are Indian, but she was born and raised in Singapore. Her cooking skills are self taught and she has traveled the world exploring her culinary passion. We were very lucky to be the only 2 people in the class that day so we were involved in everything. I knew I was going to like Ruqxana from the first moment I laid eyes on her fridge and saw this:
The theme for the day was Thai
Menu
Tum Yum Kung (Prawn Soup)
Som Tham (Papaya Salad)
Gaeng Phed Kai (Red Chicken Curry)

These are all items I have ordered at a Thai restaurant before and LOVED eating but had no idea how to attempt to prepare these things at home. I had a lot to learn...

First thing we made was the prawn stock for the prawn soup.
Main ingredients:
prawn heads with shells
lemon grass- freshly bruised- you do this by pounding it with a pestle
Galangal- blue ginger
Coriander root- (bruised)- this is the same as cilantro (took me 4 months to finally figure that out!)
Kaffir lime leaves -(torn and bruised) these smell amazing!
Lemon rind, small onion
8-10 whole chili pads (bruised)
water
We brought the stock to boil and let it simmer for about and hour and a half.

Next we made the red curry paste to use in the chicken curry.

We did everything from scratch and everything was cooked the same was it would be done in a traditional Thai village. No modern day equipment (like a blender) to speed up the process!
We had to crush, grind and pound all of the ingredients together for what felt like forever. Here Lisa is taking her turn, it was actually very theraputic once you got a rhythm going.
Next step we heated up coconut cream in a saucepan and added our red curry paste, cooked it until "oil starts to separate and it is fragrant", translation wait till Ruqxana tells you its ready.

We then added chicken and a bunch of other ingredients and put that on low heat for about 20 minutes.
Last thing to make was the Papaya salad which again required lots of pounding with the mortar and pestle. I am learning this is something I need to add to my kitchen supplies.

Final product:


We all sat in the garden to eat our wonderful lunch. Not to brag, but this was some of the best Thai food I have ever tasted.
Ruqxana was wonderful and made everything seem so simple which lead Lisa and I to make a promise to each other than we would make this again for our men in a few weeks time. Lisa, I hope you were taking good notes!

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July 4th and the epic water balloon toss

Today marked our first 4th of July celebration together in another country. What exactly does one do to celebrate America's independence while living abroad? I decided to make this 4th a tribute to my past memories of living in Japan as a child and traveling to lake Nojiri every summer.

Lake Nojiri is a magical place in the mountains of Japan where I happily spent many childhood summers. Nojiri is a melting pot for local and expat families in Japan, everyone comes to relax and enjoy the summer months together. I have many special memories from my summers there, the 4th of July was always a special day. We did the very popular three legged race, most popular pet contest (my rabbit "bunzie" won the prettiest eyes award!) but my all time favorite was the water ballon toss.

Seeing as I am now back in Asia we decided to host a "lake nojiri style" 4th of July BBQ at our place for 8 of our new American friends.

As part of my tribute to my childhood we even did an official water balloon toss. I got a few strange looks as I explained the rules of the game but, for the most part it was a huge success. I say for the most part only because I ended up completely soaked at the end of the game. Best of all were the prizes for the winner, GUM! Only in Singapore would a few packs of "black-market" gum be considered an awesome prize! All in all it was a great evening... fun games, a few fireworks, and a great BBQ.


Summer Grilling by the Koi pond
The girls...before the water balloon toss so we are still dry


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