Pandas - Chengdu, China

April 4 - I was picked up at 7:30 and then we went to pick another person (Gordon) from Australia. And off we went to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding Center. The best time of day is the morning and it was awesome there were so many pandas all eating or walking or sleeping in trees. We saw many grown pandas.

2-3 year old pandas

Then we saw a bunch of 2-3 year old cubs eating bamboo. It was really cool to see so many all together as they are solitary animals. They looked just like stuffed animals. They eat about 8 times a day and of all the bamboo they eat they really only consume 20% of it and poop out the rest.  After they eat they drink water and the combination of the water and the bamboo basically results in making the pandas tired and this is why they then sleep!

Mei Lan is the panda born in the USA and is the national symbol of the WWF!  When he/she was brought to China he could not understand what the caregivers were saying because he only new English!

Qing He was a lucky panda as she was born a few days before Beijing was named host of the Olympics 2004.

We went to see the red pandas too. They are actually not even pandas they are part of the raccoon family. I didn't really care too much for them.

Since this place is the only place in the world to hold a baby panda that is exactly what I did for a small fee!!! Actually it was a set price donation so says the certificate I received!  I had to put these blue slippers over my shoes and put on a blue scrub thing and plastic gloves. The baby was about 9 months old. I just realized I did not find out its name, the whole process was quite rushed and you could only the panda for a minute!  But she was so soft and fluffy!  She was placed on my lap but didn't feel that much heavier than one and half year old baby. They gave the baby panda bamboo with honey on it.

I gave the people your own camera and they took pictures for me unfortunately Gordon nor Green could come in with me and no video allowed. It was really special and totally worth the price!  While others were getting their photos taken I got some great close up photos of the panda. I got a certificate, a video of pandas being born and a grey hoodie sweatshirt.

Afterwards we watched a movie which gave us more information about why pandas are decreasing in the wild and what the research center is doing. You know panda bears are an old animal they have been around for 8 million years!!!

Her paw was in my hand!!!!!  Ahhhhh!

And then we headed back to town. What a great first half of my day!

Yes that is a real panda!!!!!!

Sichuan Province highlights - China

I arrived in Chengdu, China west China in Sichuan Province early on April 3, 2012 and walked around the town for the day and did a Sichuan Cooking class in the evening.  My hotel was in this historical (tourist) spot.  And as it was the holiday, Sweeping of the Tombs it was quite crowded with Chinese tourists.

practicing my chopstick skills

Second half of the was exploring more of my neighborhood so past there place I had gone twice but not much further there was tons of stalls of merchandise and food. A lot of food I could not tell you what it was and scared to even guess but I finally found some food to eat. It was a good thing to as I was becoming quite hungry. This is a difficult nothing for me traveling by myself as I am so unsure of the food I go hungry. But after some careful watching and some signs written in English I was able to buy some food.

My driver picked me up at 7:30 and took me to a place to see the Sichuan opera which is actually not an opera but a collection of performers.  There was some dance performance which told about some ancient story, shadow hand presentation which was quite neat as the person also had sound effects for the animals, a hand puppet with sticks performance, a acrobat - a girl who lay back on this tilted cushion and spun things with her feet. She began with circular cloths and then went on to a large vase and a square table. Then there was this comedian duo and then this man who played a two stringed instrument with a bow. And the finale was the changing faces performance. I had seen this at the lantern festival in the Chinese gardens in September but even closer I still don't get how their faces change - quite cool!

February Favorites -Cultural traditions, birds and Bintan

Hmmm - I thought I posted something in February but I can see that I did not!  Sorry my fellow followers.

February was busy with seeing new cultural ceremonies, going to the Bird Park and going for a relaxing weekend trip to Bintan.

Just after Mom and Dad left I was invited over to a neighbor's place to celebrate Chinese New Year.  There was a lunch with many of their friends and they served the popular Lo Hei salad (which supposedly is really only celebrated by Chinese people in Singapore not China).  All the ingredients are added and everyone takes their chopsticks and tosses the salad.  The higher you toss the more luck you are going to have in this new year. (Mine are the pink beginner chopsticks!)

In early February, there was an Indian/Hindu celebration which I had read about called Thaipusam which is a Hindu festival associated with the full moon.

Wikipedia.org - "Kavadi Attam is a dance performed by the devotees during the ceremonial worship of Murugan, the Tamil God of War.^[5] It is often performed during the festival of Thaipusam and emphasizes debt bondage. The Kavadi itself is a physical burden through which the devotees implore for help from the God Murugan.^[6]
Generally, Hindus take a vow to offer a kavadi to idol for the purpose of tiding over or averting a great calamity. For instance, if the devotee's son is laid up with a fatal disease, he would pray to Shanmuga to grant the boy a lease of life in return for which the devotee would take a vow to dedicate a kavadi to Him.

Vel kavadi

Hindu Temple

Devotees like Avinash Gooransingh prepare for the celebration by cleansing themselves through prayer and fasting approx-48 days before Thaipusam. Kavadi-bearers have to perform elaborate ceremonies at the time of assuming the kavadi and at the time of offering it to Murugan. The kavadi-bearer observes celibacy and take only pure, Satvik food, once a day, while continuously thinking of God.
On the day of the festival, devotees will shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion, notably carrying various types of kavadi (burdens). At its simplest this may entail carrying a pot of milk, but mortification of the flesh by piercing the skin, tongue or cheeks with vel skewers is also common.
The simplest kavadi is a semicircular decorated canopy supported by a wooden rod that is carried on the shoulders, to the temple. In addition, some have a small spear through their tongue, or a spear through the cheeks. The spear pierced through his tongue or cheeks reminds him constantly of Lord Murugan. It also prevents him from speaking and gives great power of endurance. Other types of kavadi involve hooks stuck into the back and either pulled by another walking behind or being hung from a decorated bullock cart or more recently a tractor, with the point of incisions of the hooks varying the level of pain. The greater the pain the more god-earned merit."

This was one of those one in a lifetime festivals to attend, no need to see it twice.

Jurong Bird Park - Mom, Dad and I had tickets but didn't have a chance to go so my friend Andrea, her son Max and I went.  Singapore definitely has a large collection of interesting birds.  And like most things in Singapore, they have done a great job showcasing the birds in their natural environment.

During the bird show the birds swooped quite closely to all of us.

There were bird houses you could walk in and see birds flying all around or walking on your path.
There is also a great water play park for kids.





At the end of the month, my friend Dorthe and I hopped on a ferry and went over to Bintan, Indonesia for some R&R.  After the quick 55 minute ferry we then had to take an hour drive to the mid-east coast to our hotel.  It was very secluded (no internet) but the view and beach were breath-taking so we definitely relaxed!

view from me lying on the beach

Jill and Dorthe enjoying pina coladas

Parents Visit - Bali

I was great that I had the opportunity to get away with Mom and Dad.  All our first time, we went to Bali.  We stayed inland in Ubud.  Our hotel (Green Field Hotel - recommended by a friend  www.greenfieldubud.com ) was conveniently located just south of the town.  It was so quiet and peaceful.   We had a gorgeous view of the rice paddies.

Lake Batur

The first day we explored the town - great shopping!!!!  The second day we went on a bike tour (also recommend by many of my friends - and I also recommend it!)  The company Eco-tours - picked us up from our hotels - there were 14 of us in the group.  We were driven near the active volcano and the lake of  Batur.  We had breakfast up there and then toured a fruit and spice garden.  We learned about Lewak coffee and tasted 6 different coffee.  I enjoyed Ginseng coffee.  Lewak coffee is basically coffee that a civet (animal) eats ripe coffee beans and then poops them out and what he poops out is the bean that is used to make coffee!  It was really  strong!

Dad planting rice

We finally got on our bikes.  It was a downhill ride so we used our hand muscles (braking) way more than our leg muscles!  We went through small villages and even went into a compound where a family lives.  19 people lived in this very small, 3rd world environment, unsanitary area.  We also stopped along rice fields and learned how rice is harvested.  Some of us (Dad and I) ventured with trying to plant the rice while we waded in knee deep mud and planted one rice grain at a time!  What a difficult job - in that mud, in the direct sun and bending over all day long.  No thank you!

Dad and 3 other people from our group decided they wanted a more physical workout of cycling than the nice downhill route we had enjoyed and rode the last 10 km up almost all uphill to the restaurant where we enjoyed the lunch which was provided in our tour.  While they exerted themselves, the rest of us chose to take the van to the restaurant!  The ride was extremely tough.

Our last day we did another activity - we took a cooking class.  We met the group of 14 people at the local market and learned about different spices and produce then went to the woman's house who does the lessons.  We all had different jobs of chopping, slicing, cooking, grinding and mixing.  It was very well laid out and everyone had ample opportunities to participate.www.paon-bali.com  Paon means kitchen in Balinese.  We made clear mushroom and vegetable soup (Kuah Wong), the basic yellow sauce for curry (Base Gede), minced chicken grilled on bamboo sticks (Sate Siap), Vegetables in Peanut Sauce (Kacang Me Santok), Coconut and Snake Bean Salad (Jukut Urab), Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves 9Pepesan Be Pasih), Deep Fried Tempe in sweet soy sauce (Tempe Me Goreng) AND Boiled Banana in Palm Sugar Syrup (Kolak Biu)!

Parents Visit - Singapore

It's been a busy (yet relaxing) past 2 weeks.  Mom and Dad arrived Jan.12 and Dad quickly found my favorite spot on the balcony and Mom and I immediately started our Scrabble games.  Day 1 they quickly learned my bus #77 route to downtown!  On the weekend, we did a hop-on-and-off tour bus of the city stopping at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel to ride the elevator to floor 57 for a cocktail at the top and a great view of the city.  On Sunday afternoon we had a lovely time walking around in the orchid gardens. We had cocktails on the lawn in the Botanic Gardens as we listened to the Chinese Symphony Orchestra perform.  And then we had a lovely dinner at Helia in the Garden.

lawn of Botanic Gardens

While I worked, Mom and Dad did some more sightseeing, fixed some things in my apartment, discovered the wet market and therefore did some grocery shopping and found some new restaurants to try out.  We went to Chinatown a few days before Chinese New Year and tried about 10 different dishes of dim sum at a restaurant called Yum Cha Restaurant.  We had about 20 dim sum choices for dinner but at lunchtime, one can choose from 60 choices!

We also went to the Night Safari which was a perfect evening to go and we saw some really interesting animals!

As I had 3 days plus 2 days for the weekend off for Chinese New Year, Mom, Dad and I went to Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.  See next blog entry!

Visitors from Greece

Thanasis and Zacharias

Pavlina and Thanasis

No time to unpack as the very next morning I had my day pack and was heading to the bus to go downtown to meet a family I have known for 2 years in Greece.  I met them for breakfast at the Fullerton Bay Hotel.  Then Pavlina (mom) went shopping while Nicholas (dad), the boys and I went to Mount Faber.  We took a walk to the Henderson Waves Bridge then climbed aboard the cable car to take us to Sentosa Island.  After lunch we went to Underwater World (the aquarium).  They have pink dolphins here but what was really neat was the underwater tunnel you could walk through with all the fish, sting rays and sharks swimming above us!

The next day I headed back down to the island and we had a jammed pack day at Universal Studios and then took a swim under the stars (it sure didn't feel like the beginning of January!) With the location and the company, I didn't feel like I was in the country I lived in either so it was like a mini-vacation for me too!

It was great catching up with the family.  We had a great time!

Thailand - Last Day but first day of 2012

The first day of 2012 we drove 2 hours back to Bangkok.  After lunch, I took a water taxi down the river to the SkyLink (their metro) to go visit the famous Jim Thompson House.

Jim Thompson's House

Jim Thompson was an American from Delaware who volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army - he was sent to Europe and then Asia - though the war ended before he saw any action.  He fell in love with Thailand and after leaving the army moved to Bangkok.  The art of weaving silk caught Jim Thompson's attention and he devoted himself to reviving the craft.  He was gifted as a designer and textile colorist, he significantly contributed to the industry's growth of silk.

He also became well-known for the construction of this house combining six teak traditional houses together. (Before the war, he was a practicing architect).  Similar to western houses (but different than Thai house) he combined the buildings so he could walk from the bedroom to the living room to the dining room.  Also he had the staircase inside the house.

Grand Palace

On March 26, 1967 Jim Thompson disappeared while on vacation in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia.  He went for a walk in the woods (not telling anyone where he was going) and just disappeared.  Not a single valid clue has turned up on what happened to him.

For dinner we went on a river cruise and final dinner along the Chao Phraya River.  It was a nice way to see the buildings all lit up and it was another lovely evening!

Highlights of Thailand Group!

Jan. 2 - I had one of the best oil massages I have ever had, then got into a taxi to the airport and was home by 6:30pm!