Singapore

Mom and I headed down to Singapore for the weekend at the end of April. We had a nice time and were able to meet up with our friends Terry and Kamila as their two girls - Lauren and Alana - were running in a triathalon.

We took a bus down (4 hours south) and I caused no end of problems. I covered mom in my lunch and then got in big trouble at the Singapore border as they accused me of trying to smuggle wine into the country (I couldn't find a place to declare it).

Another item was crossed off my bucket list - I thoroughly enjoyed two Singapore Slings at the Raffles hotel. Super yummy!

Shanghai

The first leg of our Easter vacation took us to China. We flew into Hongzhou outside of Shanghai and took a train into the city. It was an elevated high speed train and quite a nice trip through the countryside.

Shanghai was great. Mom attended the EARCOS conference (stands for a fancy conference for international teachers in SE Asia) and I checked out the city. As luck would have it, my 'mate' Terry was in town for the same conference. Terry and his wife Kamila were my very best of friends when I lived in Shanghai. We taught at the same school and thought alike. They were great. I couldn't believe how lucky I was on this trip to hang out with Terry (in Shanghai) again. I was a real highlight of my trip to SE Asia and one of the things I wanted to be sure to do. As luck would also have it, Terry and Kamila live in KL now so we will be getting together again. FYI, they live near monitor lizards, so those pictures will be coming along soon.

I zipped around on the subways to get to several markets - The Fabric Market, The Glasses Market, and The Pearl Market. The trip was excellent.

Because I have lived in Shanghai before, I didn't take as many pictures. Sorry!

Smog and the City

The last time I was in Shanghai was 5 years ago. The smog was thick then, and this time it was almost unbearable. It was shocking.

Mom's friend Gustov is leaving China after two years because his hands have turned a gross shade of red and have huge cracks from the levels of heavy metals in the water. Another friend of hers, Xavier, was surprised when recently asked by a doctor how long he has had asthma (he too has only been in the city for two years and has never had asthma). My friend Kamila moved away from the city after two years because she had had pneumonia twice in the same spot on her lungs (she's a runner and extremely healthy).

The smog was incredible. Even on "sunny" days, the smog is easily visible from the ground looking up at a 10 story building. I was totally taken aback. I don't know what the city will do in another 5 or 10 years.

In my tours around the city, there was lots to see and do.

I see clothing styles haven't changed since I left

At the Knock Off Market

From Left: The Pearl Tower, The New Tower, The Jin Mao, and the Bottle Opener

On the Nanpu Bridge overlooking the city

The subway wasn't busy around 11:00 in the morning.

Pearls

I had several requests for pearls. No probs (FYI, individual emails about the pearls are coming soon). I went to my favourite pearl sellers - Jane and John at the Hongqiao Pearl Market - and got several strands. For whatever reason, I don't own my own strand of white pearls. It will be a relief for everyone to know that I corrected that issue asap in Shanghai.

The pictures show Jane stringing pearls for a couple different necklaces. I don't know why I didn't get a picture of her face. She is gorgeous and so lovely. My mistake!

She kept the odds and ends pearls in a bag. She used this for Christine's graduated set.

I told her how much I wanted to pay and she pulled out the right set of strands. She was a wizard.

While Jane strung them, John tied knots

She split all of the thread into its three strands. Eventually, only one strand remained which was knotted

Fabric Market

Absolutely, bar none, my very favourite place in town.

I can already hear people saying, "I wouldn't know where to start." Not to worry, each shop has examples of the styles they make outside the stall. Generally, tailors specialize in one type of fabric or another - silks, wools, jerseys, cottons, etc. etc. etc..

Leather Coats

Coats and Scarves.

Water Resistant Trench Coats

Wool Coats (sorry it's fuzzy!)

Elastic Cottons

Mostly silks

Embroidered Silks

Welcome to Thailand

I love cats.

I have loved (LOVED) them since I was a little girl. I don't know how young I was when I declared I would be getting a cat. According to mom, dad was dead set against this as he didn't like cats. That didn't work out too well for him!

I grew up just north of a barn. Cats were plentiful down there and by three I could catch the slow ones. I had this cute black cat one morning that DID NOT want to be held. He got away and zipped up a tree. So I made dad get a ladder, go up the tree, and catch him. Dad dutifully helped his daughter. Not more than 10 seconds in my hands and that cat got away and went back up the tree. Dad drew the line. It makes it obvious to me why I would want my own cat so I wouldn't have to go and catch them.

Needless to say, our first stop in Thailand was the tigers.

One

Two

Three

12 Month Old Sleepy Tiger (They're nocturnal)

This guy is also 12 months old

8 Months Old

How cute is this?

We got super close to this HUGE tiger. That would come back to bite mom...

Brothers and sisters are kept in the same cages. They were all very playful, well... at least the tigers who were awake. In this case, the male tiger is in the pool and his sister is "hiding" in the back right corner behind a tree.

He crouched down and got ready to pounce on his sister.

She chased him back and they bounded into the water with a huge splash of water. Mom got SOAKED and I got wet because we were only a couple feet away (so I missed the shot). In the video, he tries to pin her down and bite her ear (brothers are so mean to sisters!). They'd been pouncing on each other for several minutes while we were in the other cages, so she may have been putting on a bit of an indignation act. Check out the size difference in the two animals.

Afterwards he seemed dejected. What a sad tiger face!

I think he wanted to play

Then he came over for a photo op

He's about four years old. They also had two brothers in the cage asleep. One had huge claw marks on his rump. Apparently, play can turn a little frisky at times.

WHAT is this big cat doing here???????

Four months old

He was really soft

This one is much bigger than Mackie but so much better behaved.

He was hungry

So we fed him

Teeny two month old