Chingay Parade 2010

There is no shortage of celebration here in Singapore during the weeks before, during and after Chinese New Year. After we came back from Sibu Island, we attended the annual Chingay parade that was right in the heart of Singapore in Marina Bay. A great description of the origins of this parade and how it became so important and elaborate can be found on this website:
http://www.chingay.org.sg/2010/about-chingay.asp

I will apologize for my photographs. There was so much more to see but so many pictures were junk. There are 2 things our camera is not good at.....night shots and motion. But hopefully this gives you some idea of the color, costume and flare of this very entertaining event.

 

 

 

 

Sibu Island, Malaysia

We had a few days off from school and decided to take the kids to this small and somewhat remote Island off of Malaysia. We drove from Singapore for about 2 1/2 hours to the East Coast of Malaysia to catch a "ferry ride" over to the Island. I put ferry ride in quotes because it was more like a small 2-motor boat that held about 15 people. We were asked to put our gear in plastic bags because it was certainly going to get wet.

We were at the end of monsoon season for this part of the world so the seas were still pretty rough, but the trip was worth it. The Island is serene and quiet. A stark contrast to the busy city life we're used to in Singapore. It was so nice to get away from construction noise and traffic.

We stayed at a resort called the "Sea Gypsy". The resort has been around for 18 years and has been owned and operated by a British woman the entire time. The resort was clean and well kept. The bathrooms were the cleanest I've seen in Malaysia and the beds were comfortable. The grounds were plentiful and there was even a kids club that was run by the owners' son. And he was funny and strict.....so he appealed to both children and parents. Everyday the beach was swept of litter, a common issues here in the south Asian Seas. The resort grounds has simple chalets, a lodge/restaurant where we gathered for our meals and a small dive shack for booking snorkeling and diving excursions. I was able to go diving for a few hours but the rough seas had stirred up the ocean so the visibility was poor. Nonetheless, it's always great to get out there and experience a dive.

Here are a few pictures of our trip. All we brought were our flip flops, swim suits, sunscreen and pajamas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posting pictures temporarily out of order!

My USB port on my PC is not working and wont recognize my memory card readers or my camera so I haven't been able to post any pictures for some time. As soon as I get this working I will be back in business. Stay tuned!

Gong xi fa cai!

Happy Chinese New Year everyone (lunar new year). Be happy and prosperous. And let's not forget Valentines day....the most affectionate holiday in American culture!

The kids have school off the entire week. We are heading off to Sibu Island, Malaysia tomorrow for 2 nights then coming back in time for the Chingay parade. A magnificent procession in Singapore to celebrate the lunar new year. We'll make sure to post pictures.

Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains were a great retreat away from the ghastly expenses of Sydney just before the New Year. We spent a few nights in this great hippie town called Katoomba. We visited Scenic World, home of the steepest incline railway in the world. Of course we had to take a ride. The railway dropped us down into the rain forest where we hiked to a waterfall and had a picnic amongst all the eucalyptus trees. A good place to spot koalas, most likely, except during the busy summer holiday when kids were out of school. However, we did see families of Cockatoos hanging out on the railings of Scenic World.








The waterfall we hiked to. Not bad for a point and shoot camera. Looks kind of dreamy.

Around Sydney

Our Australia trip had a central theme.....learning about the native animals and birds and trying to spot them in their native habitat. As an introduction, we visited the Featherdale wildlife park outside of Sydney on the way to the Blue Mountains. This was a great place for the girls to get up close with different kinds of wildlife as the park was cageless (except for the aviaries) and you can feed the animals. We met a tasmanian devil, a wombat, koalas, cassowary birds, kookaburras, kangaroos and many more. Later, when we got away from the city and into some National Parks we were able to spot some of these animals.



Sabrina pets this Wallaby trying to take an afternoon nap in the middle of a pathway.



This laughing kookaburra perched on a fence doesn't mind Parrish's gentle touch.


We can't resist petting the roos!

G-day!

We just returned from a glorious 3-week holiday to Southern Australia. I will try and spend the next few days updating the blog with highlights from the trip.

Rob and I have dreamed about visiting Australia for a long time and when we knew the kids would have a 3-week break around Christmas we started to think about Oz (only a 7-hour flight to Sydney).

Our travels began on Dec 23rd in Sydney and ended in Melbourne just last night on Jan 12th. We were able to spend Christmas and New Years in Sydney Harbor. We donned our swim suits (depending on which region you are in, Aussie's call them swimming costumes, bathers or togs) on Christmas day and ate BBQ roast chicken and ham with our good friends, the Swanson's. We ate our dinner on the back porch where we could hear the birds, most notably the kookaburras. They were so generous to have us over for this special day. We met them through the kids school as their daughter Aysha and Parrish are in the same class. The Swanson's are from Sydney so it was nice to join them and have a "family" gathering away from home.