Arrival of the Griswalds

Mom and Dad arrived on January 10th, stepping off of their 18 hour flight looking surprisingly fresh. Within a few hours they were in the pool! I have never seen Mom move so fast! Boy were they surprised though at the water temperature; they were expecting bath water and got a cold shock instead! Love the cooler rainy season!

It is soooooo good to have them here. Nobody has threatened to get back on a plane yet - or to put anyone else on a plane! We have been having a great time - eating a lot of course and taking in the sites of Singapore. In the last 3 weeks we have eaten Malaysian, Peranakan, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, Khmer (Cambodian), and home cooked meals. Among other things, Mom and Dad have eaten the local specialities such as:

Popiah (a thin crepe-like thing stuffed with steamed daikon radish, cilantro, peanuts, chopped egg and chile - Mom's favorite minus the chile)

Char Kway Teow (a noodle dish)

Laksa (coconut based broth with noodles, cockles, shrimp, and hard-boiled egg

Dim-Sum (lots of dim sum)

Beef Rendang

Pepper crabs

Banana flower salad

Jack fruit (yes, there is a fruit that dad had never tried before)

drank a lot of Tiger beer ...and the list goes on....

We had a fantastic dinner at an up-scale Korean bbq restaurant called Chang's at Dempsey Hill. Mom and Dad tried Wagyu beef for the first time and it was de-lish!

This is Peter - Now I am stepping in!!! Nothing has changed!!!! Yes, you say but it's only the location....
Lauren is still Lauren only Mo has to contend with it. Before we finish breakfast Lauren has made lunch plans. Before we have finished lunch, Lauren has us locked in for dinner at some exotic place.

Lauren again: We saw a great play called Eclipse at the Singapore Fringe Festival. Went to the Asian Civilizations Museum, explored Chinatown, the Mustafa Center (a giant store in Little India that sells everything from exotic spices to autoparts and gold jewelry), Arab Street, Robertson Quay, and East Coast Road. They have jumped right in joining me on my almost daily visits to the grocery store at the local mall called Parkway Parade (they can't believe go so often).

We also went to the zoo, which is probably the best zoo I have ever been to. Dad took a picture with the orangutans (which he told us about 52 times were Mom's relatives). And yes Doug - Dad did bring other shirts!

Oh yeah - and the amount of sweat that is coming out of these two people is enough to wonder if they have any water left in their bodies at all.

Next blog is about our trip to Penang...

Love,

L, M, M, and P