Snowmageddon 2012

Seattle has had 3-6 inches of snow and it is officially Snowmageddon 2012 here. Everyone is working from home and posting pictures on Facebook from their backwards, en blanc.

Colin and I stayed home too and I took advantage in between conf calls to make roasted duck for lunch (yum!). I also have an oxtail stew going in the slow cooker all day. Should be delicious tomorrow.

Bubbles had lots of fun in the snow and didn't need anyone chasing him to put in a good run.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

While in Singapore, we visited the Botanic Gardens, which offered a lovely escape from the bustling city. It was particularly hot and humid that day (or perhaps that's every day in Singapore?) and even a stroll in the park was taxing on the body and mind. What made the visit unforgettable was the Orchid Garden and its 60,000 orchid plants. As tempting as it was to photograph each and every orchid in the garden and catalog them for you, I've edited myself to just a few:

PS. And while on the topic: an orchid Mom got me for my office 3+ years ago finally bloomed for the first time, just in time for my birthday! :-)

Patterns...

I loved all the visual patterns in Southeast Asia - clothes, architecture, decor all have intricate patterns with vibrant colors.  When layered, they look particularly hypnotic.

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

To escape from the heat and humidity of the Malay peninsula, we went to a hill station in Malaysia, called Cameron Highlands. Unlike the rest of the country, the mountain is cool, fresh and lush. The wet cool climate reminded me of Seattle.

During the colonial days, the British established the place as a vacation destination and an escape from the heat. To remind them of home, they built mock Tudor homes in the area (which, to me, seem like Hollywood props, completely out of place).

We spent a couple of days in the hill station, hiking around the tea plantations and the mountains. It was breath-taking. The tea plants have intensely green leaves, which seem fluorescent with the fog in the background. Sadly, the main area of Cameron highlands is over-developed and more large-scale condos and hotels are being constructed, but with a bit of effort one can get away from it all and truly appreciate the stunning surroundings.

In addition to tea, which is grown on the steep slopes of the mountain, we saw small-scale farms that grow cool weather vegetables and fruits. Strawberries, in particular, seem to be the pride of the region.

One of the more interesting trivia bits about Cameron Highlands is that in the '60s, American-born Jim Thompson, who is considered the founding father of the Thai silk industry (or at least the one responsible for revitalizing it) mysteriously disappeared. At that time, he was very rich and famous and his sudden disappearance ignited all sorts of hypotheses and conspiracy theories - he was kidnapped, eaten by a tiger, killed, committed suicide, etc. Despite extensive searches, his body was never found. The Jim Thompson story picked our curiosity too and inspired us to visit his beautiful home in Bangkok later in the trip.

Ayutthaya, Thailand

Colin signed us up for a biking trip while in Bangkok, which worked out great. It turned out we were the only people in the group, so we had the guide, driver and mini-van all to our disposal. We were picked up early in the morning from our hotel and dropped off at the Summer Palace in Ayutthaya, about 1.5 hrs away. We looked around the Palace and the grounds, got our bikes ready and spent the day cycling around the area - through villages, farms, temples (wats), towns, ancient ruins, etc. It was great to get off the main highway and into the villages.

On those backroads, we saw more snakes (dead and alive) than cars on the road. Without exaggeration. Some of the snakes were cobras, which - we were told - the farmers don't kill because they eat the rats in the fields. Great. I actually almost ran over some thin green snake, about 1.5 m long. The guide told me not to worry, as it wasn't deadly, but if I were to get bitten, it'd hurt like hell. The cobras, on the other hand, are deadly for sure.

Many of the villages we went through were still flooded and quite a few of the homes were destroyed or abandoned (we're guessing temporarily, but who knows). There was a ton of debris - in the villages, the roads, the fields.  At one point, we hit a dead end on the road and had to turn back because of debris and overall damage.

It was really sad to see the aftermath of the floods. The devastation is at such a large scale, it's hard to imagine how the farmers would move on with life...but inevitably, they will. In fact, we were very much impressed by the smiles on the faces we saw along the road. Children and adults wave, say hello, probably wonder what the hell we're doing there but generally seemed in good spirits.

A Buddha head in the roots of a bodhi tree.

One of the main ruins was closed, as the soil had become too soft from the floods and there's concern that the foundations may sink. At least in this area, the water is gone.

Chinese house in the Summer Palace

Some animal we saw everywhere...a cross between a giant lizard and a crocodile. It's harmless to humans; some eat it and others believe it brings good luck. When you see it in the middle of a swamp, though, it takes a few anxious moments to process what exactly it is before you consider yourself lucky...

Our guide, Ant

Many Buddha statues guarding the wat. Unfortunately, they're all damaged

Singapore

Both Colin and I loved Singapore. We'd heard about it being clean and modern and all, but had no idea as to just how clean and modern! Singapore became an independent country very recently - mid-60's and has since gone through an amazing boom. The infrastructure and architecture beat many, if not all American cities, in my opinion. And to think about where the country started from just a few decades ago (and compare it to other places on the Malay Peninsula) is even more mind boggling.

We were in Singapore for a few days and it didn't stop raining, but we had a wonderful time regardless.

Elephants (videos)

We went to an elephant sanctuary in Thailand, at the end of a long bike ride we did close to the country's old capital, Auytthaya. Colin took some videos of us feeding a mama elephant and playing with her adorable 20-day old baby!

Everybody loves monkeys

We went to an amazing Hindu temple, built inside an enormous cave, just outside of Kuala Lumpur. Despite the beautiful deities, the wild monkeys that had taken over the premises stole the show. They were just mesmerizing and endlessly entertaining. They are real trouble makers too: not shy to steal the offerings brought to the temple, they have a continuous supply of fresh bananas and coconuts. They can get aggressive at times and steal the goodies directly from the people, before they've even had the chance to deposit them in front of their favorite deity.

I got attacked by some baby monkeys, who thought my Keens were funny looking and kept pulling their elastic band and chewing on the rubber front.