Mekong Road Trip (and end of computer saga)

The mini-computer that was blessed with milk is now out of the workshop with a new motherboard and reformatted hard-disk. To be honest, the engineers at the service center tried really hard to salvage the files and did actually manage to start-up the computer so I could retrieve my files. I brought the computer home and with good intentions, started transferring all the files to my Lacie hard drive. We had friends over that day though and I was so distracted that I thought I had transferred everything, but I had not. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I did not copy over my journal from the trip nor any of the photos! Fortunately, I had uploaded some photos onto facebook so at least we have a few low-res photos to look at........... SINGLE MOMENT SINGLE ACTIVITY. When will I learn?

We flew from Singapore to Bangkok and started our journey from here through Thailand, Laos, back to Thailand, to malaysia then Singapore. Trains, buses, pick-ups, taxis, boats....

The trains were by far the best mode of transportation. Clean and safe. We took 2nd class sleeper trains whenever possible and they were fabulous. The lower berths (marginally more expensive) are so huge that all 3 boys could sit and play cards on the bed! Trains in Thailand are definitely cleaner than in Malaysia. We could smell Malaysia once we crossed the border!

VIP buses in Thailand and Malaysia are pretty good too. (Try out the Green Coach from ChiangMai to ChiangRai!)

Buses in Laos are however a different story. They have VIP buses which are double decker buses and air-con buses which are slightly cheaper. We were going to do the 2 day slow boat down the mekong from HuayXai to LuangPrabaeng but were dissuaded by a tour agent who wanted to sell us VIP bus tickets instead. The bus ride was horrific. The VIP bus was NOT a VIP bus and was filled with village people puking away and spitting everywhere. The bus broke down after 1/2hr and it felt like the driver was on some sort of death mission to run us off the mountain. The bus from Luangprabaeng to Vientiane was not much better except this time we did it in the dark so we could not see the edges of the mountain..........

Crossing over from ChiangKong to HuayXai by sampan

Riding at the back of pick-ups and in jeeps....... much to the joy of the boys!

The most beautiful sunset I have ever seen. (LuangPrabang)

Temples galore........ I would normally be able to give you the names of all the temples we visited but they were in the journal; ya, the one that was erased! Well, the temple on the extreme left is a pretty famous one in Vientiane. I think there are 50,000 buddhas in the temple.

Our favourite past-time. Massages @ USD4/- were so irresistable; we had one everyday!

New found passion : Go-karting! "Almost as good as ski-ing"

Boys went to cooking class in Chiangmai and made the best curry I ever tasted!

Catfish in Nongkhe
Boys doing their bit for the environment by picking up rubbish along the streets in LuangPrabaeng! The "game" (who can pick up the most rubbish!) was introduced by Philippe from ThongBay and the boys quickly got into it!

Favourite places to stay : Baan Hannibah in ChiangMai. Beautiful teak house with gorgeous beds and fluffy duvets!

ThongBay in LuangPrabaeng with amazing views of the river and gorgeous gardens for the children to play.

Golden Triangle Thai-Laos Border

Remote villages in the mountains of Lao Akha Woman in Hilltribes of Thailand

LoyKrateong Water Festival in ChianRai (We released floats into the mekong and balloons into the air to wash away our sins and to ask for blessings.........)

Playing with tigers @ Tiger Kingdom in Chiangmai. (Don't go. It was very expensive and not worth the trip!)

We climbed up some hill in LuangPrabaeng (it was written in my journal.........) and saw Buddha's footprint. "Was Buddha a man? Why is his foot so big?" exclaimed the boys. haha

Waking up at 5.30am to see the monks collect alms in LuangPrabaeng. (It was horrific how the street vendors were hawking food and making the tourist buy stuff to "feed the monks". )

Our favourite cafe : Joma in Luangprabaeng. (Cinnamon buns, de-caff cappucino, warm sandwiches.......... yummy)

We visited our old house 138 Lor Maarof in KL and got the tour..... They built a pond in the front yard and turned the house into an office!

But the best part about the trip was all the people we met up with. old friends and new friends.............

PENANG- Jasmin (knight in shining armor), Shannon, Johan and Farrah visiting the site of the Tsunami!

BANGKOK-Having breakfast with Olivier (Shanghai) after yoga

KL - Michelin friends

LUANGPRABAENG - Pascal from ThongBay

NONGKHAE - Richard & Pum who picked us up off the streets and welcomed us into their home.

Train trip - Laotian American uncle with stories of war, prison and fleeing the communist!

Singapore Marathon - 1st Half-Marathon

I ran my firt half marathon on Sunday and am very proud to say that I completed it; running all the way! Slow, but still running.........

I woke up at 4.30am to chow down a piece of peanut butter bread before heading off to get a ride from sister Peng and BIL Paul. My darling sister had bought me much needed equipment: body glide, gu-gel and a super thick pair of socks to protect my blistering feet!

We got to Raffles City before 5.30am and I still managed to be late for the 6.30am flag-off! I met up with galfriends; Chin, San and Lynette and we mucked about going to the toilet, eating bananas, drinking red bull and were 10mins late starting. The girls were so super-lapak about the race that we ran at snail's pace and chatted non-stop for the 1st hr. I have only run with Chin once before and found the chatting quite disconcerting since I normally need to be quite focused when I run! I am however very relieved that I ran with the girls this time because the chatting helped me pace myself and made the whole run go by so quickly!

I ran with my pedometer but the distance per the distance markers and per my pod were so different that it confused me. (At the end of the run, my pod read 24km!!! Think it is time to get it calibrated!) The 12km mark was probably the most difficult. Chin had been up since 2am recce-ing the site for work so was not taking the run seriously and Lynette had a bad knee and wasn't really allowed to run. Both girls dropped off at about the 10km mark and I pretty much ran with San all the way except for the last 2km. I was starting to hit the ceiling and needed to pick up speed to stay focused so I "abandoned" ship and went ahead.

I finished the race at 2hrs33mins (chip time), 11mins behind my alpha-sis Peng (that gave birth 4 months ago!) I could probably have done it quicker, but I didn't kill myself over the run and actually had fun! (995th place out of 3,000 people is within the 50th Percentile so Nic won't give me an ear-full this time!)

The champ of the day was Stephan though. He ran the 750m kids dash like his life depended on it. He kept telling me that he wanted to get the Gold Medal. I told him that everybody was gonig to get a Gold Medal anyway but I guess he didn't believe me! Honestly, I had difficulty keeping up with him!
Steph collecting everyone's race kits!

All in all, it was a great day. I felt so good after the race that I was ready to head-off to Hawaii to do the Marathon with the girls this weekend. I was all psyched up to go but could not get a flight! sigh.

Mathieu is 10 going on 40!

Mathieu turned 10 on the 3rd December and had a week long of festivities!

1. Joint birthday celebration with cousin Ysabelle organised by Nana.
2. Sleep-overs and get-togethers with God-Bro Tzen Wei and the Wong Kids!
3. Massive playdays with the Fus & Mas.....

Mat had super-duper bday presents; i-touch, polar watch & heart-rate moniter, mission mars lego, electronic building sets..... I was kindda envious of his presents!

Everything seemed a little too grown-up for me though. He had a grown-up birthday cake at Nana's (with 1 big candle instead of 10 little candles!), decided not to have a cake at home but wanted durian ice-cream instead, requested to have sushi for his birthday lunch. What happened to the boy who wanted Power Rangers Birthday cakes and remote control cars? The kids are growing up so quickly!

WHY I HAVE NOT BEEN BLOGGING + Summary of Mekong trip

We have been back from our Thailand/Laos/Malaysia roadtrip for a week now and some of you must be wondering why I have not written anything about our wonderful experience!

I actually kept a little journal whilst on the trip (on the super-duper small Kojinsha mini-computer that mum got me), but Stephan spilled a glass of milk onto the computer at Starbucks in KL and the computer is pretty much fried! Photos and journal with it! Computer is now in the repair shop and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will manage to resurrect the computer from the dead!

In summary, the trip was great, but we went a little too quickly through the countries and did not really have time to settle down into a routine anywhere. It was therefore quite tiring in the end. The boys were really great on the treacherous bus and train rides but were not terribly enthusiastic over the temple visits.

LuangPrabaeng was of course the highlight of the trip and we stayed there for 5 days. Everywhere else was pretty much a blur...... chiangmai, chiangrai, chiangsen, goldentriangle, huayxai, vientiane, Nongkhe, penang, KL!

The 2nd highlight was Penang where we stayed with Jasmin (my knight in shining armor from the tsunami) and his beautiful family. Kids had a whale of a time with Johan and Farah! We went to the Penang Club for dinner (site of the big accident). It was a pretty windy day and Nic kindda freaked out and made a fuss about having dinner on the patio. :) LOL

We met tons of people on the trip. Old friends that we had planned to meet (Olivier in Bangkok; Joe in Chiangmai, Jasmin in Penang; David, Veron & Michelin gang in KL..........), old friends that we did not plan to meet (running into Molly & Rodriguez from Crete on the streets of Luangprabaeng was quite the surprise!), new friends that we made (the taiwanese-thai couple that are migrating to brazil, little pascal from ThongBay, Pom & Richard from Nongkhe, the American-Laotian and his war stories, the Thai boy that spoke chinese, Sheila and Neils from Holland and the countless people that welcomed us into their homes, gave us food, shared stories with us and played with us. I think the people that we met along the way was what made the trip so special!

Anyway, I hope that the computer man will be able to salvage some photos from the computer and I will be able to post them later. :)

The Virgin Sprint Triathlon

Me with Tri-buddy YenYen

The afternoon before the race, I decided to take part in the Osim Corporate Traithlon, using the alias, Grace Ong (Bib #3130). Grace, Chin's cousin, was ill so she gave-up her slot, and me, crazy woman that I am, thought I'd just go and wing it with zero preparation and training.

In all honesty, it didn't turn out that badly. Firstly, they cut down the swim from 750m to 200m because the weather was bad. This helped tremendously as I really cannot swim and the plan was to do the breast-stroke all the way anyway. Chin and San had this great idea that we should find some fast ang-mohs so we could draft behind them (this is supposed to conserve energy). Anyway, it was a bad call because I ended up being pushed really close to the rope behind a very erratic swimmer and ended up tangled in the rope! Since it was only 200m, it really didn't make much difference with the time.

The 2nd leg was the 20km cycle. I have only taken my bike out seriously twice since I got it and I ride at a snail's pace of 25km/hr . I was also a little apprehensive since the roads were still wet from the heavy rains. Well, this was the tougest part. The 3 laps just went on and on FOREVER..... people were passing me right, left and center; including the handicapped who were just amazing with their stamina and guts. Boy was I relievedwhen it was over! My butt was hurting, my back was aching, my thighs were burning from rubbing against the bloody saddle!

After that, things could only get better! The 5km run was a little difficult to get into since I was still reeling from the torture of the bike, but once I got into it, it was actually the best part of the race. All my joyful running training helped! yeah!

Well, I (aka Grace Ong), finished 47th out of 73 with a time of 1hr and 31min (6.06m swim, 54min bike, 31min run). Not great, but respectable in my opinion. Mat, on the other hand, was a little harsh with "But mum, you didn't even make it to the 50th percentile!". Guess he gets that from me (sheepish look).

So that's it, my virgin sprint tri! Technically, I am still a virgin though as a sprint (and this is a cut-down sprint at that!) only qualifies as 2nd base........ the home-run will come when I do the Olympic Distance. The target is to do the OD before I turn 40 so I have some years left.....

SHIT! Flaws in Man-list........

Oh no, Pei just informed me that we know someone that meets all the criteria on Man-List! The fact that he is unavailable is besides the point; the real issue is that I never once considered him as Dream-man material....... How can that be? Is there something missing from the list? Charisma? Attraction? Now I am completely baffled and am very worried. We have after all encircled the list in stones and burnt it. Better SMS God asap and put the man-hunt on hold until further thought!



PS : Mr "Dream-man" has to stay anonymous so that he does not get hounded by you crazy women and his girlfriend does not slaughter me! :)

If you kill it, you eat it!!

The kids went fishing off the Asean lady yesterday and surprisingly caught a number of fish. (Less than the maids, but it was a decent catch!) Juven & I were a little upset at seeing the little fishies swimming in the blue bucket and resolved that if we are going to allow our children to kill, they are going to have to clean, cook & eat the fish. The crew looked a little horrified when we mentioned that we wanted to eat the fish. At first we thought it was because the waters off Raffles Marina weren't too clean, so they were afraid that we'd get sick, but nah....... it was having to put up with all of us messing up the galley that terrorised them!

My boys were completely useless in the kitchen, but Charlotte was amazing. She held the fish in one hand, a fork in the other and de-scaled the fish! My boys were squirming like girls...... Cleaned and gutted, the fish were steamed and served for dinner! Delicious!

Since we were at the Marina, we took the opportunity to visit some boats...... I told the boys we were going to sail around the world in a boat like this and they were unanimous with the "NOOOOOO"! Gosh they are spoilt! There were some really gorgeous catamarans there though........ Will have to look into this.

Sunset on the Asean lady. Boys wanted to go around the world on the Asean Lady instead! Ya, right! :)

The Man-List

There was an abundance of single women at the circus; all beautiful, intelligent and amazing. Most yogis I know are however single and seem to be quite happy that way. Anyway, we did loads of girlie-talk and there were quite a number of theories about getting the “RIGHT” man. Since coming home, I have been giving this some thought and figured, hey, what’s the harm in trying this out. Don't get be wrong, I am perfectly happy being single (not that I don't miss Tim, cos I do), but there is a certain freedom in single hood, that I am just starting to enjoy!

STEP- BY-STEP GUIDE
1. Write down all the qualities you want in a man. (Don’t be shy; be as specific as possible)
2. Ensure that you have all the qualities first (This gets tough….)
3. Put down the name of a man you know that already possess each quality (Sabine feels that knowing that the qualities already exist in people we know will make us feel less incomplete. I think it may be depressing….)
4. Put the paper in a circle of stones and offer it as a burning sacrifice to God.
5. Wait patiently for man in question will manifest himself...

I told Rachel about my THE LIST the other day and she scoffed at me! Told me to try internet dating instead! Now, where is the romance in that? Anyway, 1 bottle of Raki, 1 bottle of port and 1/2 a bottle of sherry later, I convinced her otherwise! We went to the park at the witch's hour, encircled our list in stones and burnt it ceremoniously........ So, all there is to do now is wait patiently!!!

By the way, if anyone fits the bill, we will be holding interviews in major cities around the world with a global jury (filled with very hot women!). And if you know of someone, there is a Referral Fee plus we promise to name our 1st born after you!

Elaine's MAN-LIST

1. Yogi – meditates and does not kill flies!
2. Gives amazing massages
3. Artistically inclined in some way or other (I wanted a painter or sculptor but Rachel edited it out .....)
4. Sportive – Triathlete or an athlete of some sort; Runs, cycles, climbs, skis or is passionate about some sport (bowling & golf do not count)
5. Loves children – adores my boys and wants a gazillion children
6. Is financially able to support the gazillion children (but not rich!)
7. Loves and adores me; but isn’t going to put up with any of my crap (and definitely not for 13yrs before blowing up!)
8. Spiritual – loves God but not necessarily into organised religion
9. Has rhythm and likes to dance (especially the salsa! Or tango!)
10. Anti-consumerism (has no clue who Paul Smith is and thinks Ferragamo is a type of cheese. OK, does not have to be completely swaku la!)
11. Completely Apolitical
12. Musical – can sing or at least play the guitar, drums or piano
13. Loves food – can cook, eats healthy (vegetarian but feels that rules are made to be broken so is happy to indulge in a succulent wagyu steak once in a while!)
14. Easy on the Environment– sorts his rubbish, walks rather than uses the car (but owns a car!)
15. Adventurous and loves to travel – as comfortable at the Four Seasons as camping in the jungle!
16. Well read – We can have different taste in books but he must love Gibran at least half as much as I do and be boy enough to appreciate the Alchemist!
17. Is a family man – or at least understands that I need to be close to my family
18. Exceptionally good in bed
19. Has a strong value system – I know what they say about men not able to be monogamous, but still, I think fidelity is quite important!
20. Has a beautiful voice, good conversationalist but not full of himself and does not talk incessantly.
21. Preferably not Ang Moh, but I am not really racist, so I do not know why this is coming on the list ??
22. Somewhat good-looking would be nice but must have a hot bod! (6 pack)
23. A nice guy.
    

FYI, no one I have ever been out with comes remotely close to this!!

LIFE AFTER THE CIRCUS

I have been back 10 days and Greece feels like a lifetime ago. It was difficult the first couple of days; I missed my friends at the circus, the quiet and peace, the hours of bodywork….. and of course, I was going through caffeine withdrawal!(*) (Yes, I am almost completely weaned off coffee now.)

On the other hand, I am back with my boys, mum, family and friends. And it’s wonderful! The boys are having exams now so it has been a little stressful. My math isn’t really up to scratch and I have spent the last week struggling through Primary 4 and 5 maths problems….. I eventually had to call in help from friends. Yep, I am hopeless! Like Aunty SuLi said, can someone remind me how we use calculas and algebra in everyday life?
Friends helping Kids with Maths night before exam!

Other than that, we have been un-packing and getting settled into the “new” flat! Ya, a little renovation, and we get tricked into thinking it’s all new! Great! The boys love their new room. The skylight leaked during the heavy rains the other day but uncle Clement has come to fix it! And me, I am enjoying having a gigantic Princess & the Pea bed! I have slept on the floor for the past 3years so this really is a nice change!

Nic, Mat & Steph in their new room and beds!

Me on my Princess & the Pea Bed!

I have gotten into quite a nice routine. I am up before sunrise whether there is class or not! I give a yoga class several mornings a week then I do 1-2hrs of self practise; Meditation or yoga dance, which is my new thing; thanks to Sabine! Unfortunately, in my over-zealous enthusiasm, I sprained my right wrist doing a back-bend fall-back whilst gyrating to the rhythms of Krishna Das! Ya, and my right hamstring still hasn’t recovered from all the yoga-dancing in Crete! I don’t know if my body can take much more of this!

A couple of times a week, I try to squeeze in a run in between meditation and yoga. The ½ marathon is a month away and I have no idea how to get from 8km to 21km!! With my new running philosophy: Mindful running focusing on the present, my runs are now joyful runs. In the past, I found running hell. I enjoyed the post-run; the cleansing of the pores, the sweat, the tingling sensations, but I hated the run itself! I think this is because my runs were always riddled with disappointment. I was always targeting to reach the end of some hill or some road, but in the end, there is always some more hill and some more road…. Now, I just enjoy the moment of the run until I don’t anymore, then I stop. Which is where the problem lies; how to break the 8km ceiling whilst maintaining the joyful run?

Well, by the time I finish all the yoga & running, it is 9.30am and I start doing some real work; going through the countless bills, checking on the shares, working on ID Band… I lost all our living money in the stock market this past month so I hope God gives me some kind of quick get rich plan soon or I will have to look for work

There is some income coming in from the Yoga and the massage work but it is hardly enough to live with and I am reluctant to start too many new classes as we are off to Laos then India in a month.

I started working at the Orchard Residences Spa with Dolphin Network last week. It’s a lot of hassle and it doesn’t pay very well to work outside of home but the experience was nice. They have a gorgeous massage platform by the pool to work on! I think my massage has improved; there has been quite a number of repeat clients (within a short 2 week time frame) and patients are asking to extend their sessions to 2 and 2 1/2hrs.

I did a Chinese Meridien Stretching Class with Mum and her friends Uncle Suresh and Aunty May the other day. I pretty much followed David’s instructions and it seemed easy enough, but there were loads of cries of aches and pains the next day. Guess their Meridians have not been stretched in a while!

Belinda & Myra

3 generations of friends & family! Uncle Suresh & Aunty May (from Canada), Aunty Maggie (the boy's god-ma) and half the TAY gang.

I have been trying to practise “Single Moment Single Activity”, and it is very difficult indeed! Whoever came up with that is obviously not a mum. We, mums, multi-task and it’s our forte; the ability to prepare dinner, check on the kids homework, teach a yoga class and design a website all in one afternoon’s work!

(*) Note : I may be off the coffee, but I have now developed a much worse addiction! SUGAR; Ice-cream and cakes after each meal.... It is awful! I am at Daily Scoop, the ice cream shop down the road, everyday, so much so that the waiters know me! And for those of you who have not been initiated to the best home-made ice-cream in Spore, you have to come and try Daily Scoop @ Sunset Way. The Durian and Cempadak flavors are to die for!

We celebrated my grandma's 3rd death anniversary. (It's only been 2 yrs but they add 1 more yr to confuse the spirits I think!) Ah Mah has been speaking to various members of the family requesting that we buy her a bigger house because she has to share a room and for some strange reason, she requested for a handphone (not that she ever used one when she was alive!) Anyway, good filial children that we are, we bought her a mansion and 6 handphones (but with only 1 SIM card so that she does not get mixed-up! LOL) There was a little ceremony with a priest, loads of chanting in cantonese that no one understood then we burnt everything up so that she can enjoy it in the Afterworld.

It has been 2 weeks of birthdays (and loads of cakes)... Emma's 7th bday (I lost the photos so will need to get them off Peng. Tim, you would have been so proud of Ems. She had her party at BakerzInn and was all decked out in a chef's uniform.).... Myra's 3rd Birthday..... Tzen Wei's 11th bday.... Oliver Khye's 1 month (That is Craig & Sharon's new baby & the boy's new god-brother! We had some super pictures of the handsome baby but I can't find em! Anyway, the proud parents decided not to celebrate his one month but celebrate his 2nd month instead. So original!)