Chingay Parade

Last night Clark and I headed to the Singapore Chingay Parade with our friends Kate, Lehi, Jeremy, Sarah, and Daisy the doggie. The Chingay Parade is supposedly the best parade in Asia...however I think it would have been better if it wasn't five hours long! The parade happens after the Chinese New Year and is supposed to be equivalent to the Mardi Gras Parade...without the boobies! haha!

Clark got us really good seats by the performing area (so we didn't even have to pay the regular $55 to sit in the bleachers) and we were able to see people from all over Asia show us their dance moves! Along with the performances were huge floats that passed by. Before the parade started they fired up some fireworks! Check out the videos and pictures!

A little fun...

I was reading my friend Juliana's blog and decided I wanted to steal her post and fill in my own answers!

How long have you been together? We've been married for 2 years and 5 months

How long did you know each other before you started dating? Probably a month...

Who asked who out? Clark asked me out

Who' s siblings do you see the most? I think we see each others siblings about the same

Do you have any children together? No not yet

If not, when do you want kids? We said once we hit around the 2 year mark...then the Singapore move happened...

What about pets? Clark said we will never have any pets but I think we have softened him up a bit...THANKS SARAH, JEREMY, and DAISY! Hopefully we will get a puppy when we get home!

Did you go to the same school? Same college... yes!

Are you from the same home town? Nope

Who is the most sensitive? ME!

Where do you eat out most as a couple? Since being here in Singapore we like to hit up the VivoCity mall at eat at the food court...

Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple? SINGAPORE! Well actually since we have been traveling so much while we've been here I think Korea is the furthest...?

Who does the cooking? I did most of the cooking in Florida but Clark and I split the cooking in Singapore...whoever gets home first sometimes

Who is more social? I think we both are about the same

Who is the neat freak? I thought Clark was when I dated him but it soon died off because he has a WIFEY to take care of things now! So that makes me the NEAT FREAK!

Who is the most stubborn? I think I am but Clark comes close!

Who wakes up earlier? Me...by 15 minutes!

Where was your first date? Bajio, the Mexican Restaurant and then we went to play lacrosse!

Who has the bigger family? Clark

Do you get flowers often? No :(

How do you spend the holidays? TRAVELING!! haha! When we lived in the states we switched off everyother holiday

Who eats more? Clark!

Who is the better singer? Um I have no clue...

Who does the laundry? Me but Clark will help sometimes

Who’s better with the computer? Clark

Who drives when you are together? Usually Clark but we dont have a car in Singapore so we get to enjoy riding the MRT together!

Who eats more sweets? Clark!

Who cries more? haha that is an easy one...ME!

Guilty

Clark caught red handed eating my Burger King fries (okay well you can't see the fries but he ate them)! Look at his face! He knows he got caught! For those of you who don't know, Clark's dad has worked for McDonald's for over 30 years...so yeah, you don't eat BK...but whats a girl to do when she is REALLY hungry!?I think Clark secretly liked the fries... its been 15 years (supposedly) since he has last eatin BK...looks like I finally broke him in!

A Pineapple dirty diaper!

Have you ever wondered what a diaper would taste like if you fed the baby a lot of pineapple? Well, if you haven't then you are missing out! Anyway, there is a fruit here in Singapore that the locals LOVE. It is called Durian and it STINKS. They actually won't let you carry it on public transportation because it is so poignant. Even if you buy it and bring it home, they will cut it up and double wrap it in plastic wrap to try to diminish some of the smell. When we first moved here, we went into a grocery market and I just thought the market had loads of moldy food because the whole place smelled rotten...turns out it is just the Durian and I have since gotten a bit more use to it.

Most Western people don't like durian but most Asians grow up loving it. Asians relate it to cheese. A lot of Asians don't like cheese and think it stinks. However, most Western people agree that cheese smells bad but love it anyway!

So, we hung out with the Mela (Sar-bear and Jer-bear) and Aussie-land (Laman and Naughty Kate) kids tonight. Jer-bear and Laman got the urge to try this hideous fruit at about 11 pm after dinner and dessert. So after 15 minutes of trying to flag down 2 taxis we were off to China town. We went into a little HDB community and found a local stall that sells this "King Fruit". Now, it's not a cheap fruit. They cost anywhere from $10 to $50 a piece depending on the quality. Jer-bear took charge and picked out a good durian, had the guy cut it and Jenna got her camera out. I had already tried Durian when we went scuba diving in Malaysia. I dry heaved 5 times over the boat and thought I was going to throw up a lung -- so ya, I didn't fancy it too much. Jer-Bear and Laman ate it like champs. They didn't mind it too much. Jenna had to try it because she hadn't done it yet. Below is the video of her eating it and not liking it too much. Since all 5 people tried it (even the pregnant Sar-bear) I decided to give it another shot.

I only dry heaved 4 times this time. Perhaps next time I'll only do it 3 times. Sorry for the videos being sideways. We couldn't edit it.

So ya...the title of the post is the exact description of what it taste like.

While we were in China town, they were getting ready for Chinese New Years so they have a lot of different items such as "wax duck" on the wall.

WARNING: Department for Appropriate Behavior

Jenna and I have begun to truly enjoy Singapore. It is a great place and we love how you get gourmet meals for 2 bucks that are cooked in front of you and don't come out of the freezer. Often times when you mention Singapore, people think of the city-states conservative government that doens't allow its' people to do much. It doesn't bother us as we are a bit conservative ourselves. It's kinda funny...Singapore feels like a set of Utah parents are running the country: no sex, no drugs, no drinking, no smoking and no immoral behavior.

No drugs: they kill you if you caught with them.

No smoking/drinking: I say this because the tax the heck out of it.

No sex: They actually edit all the TV shows and movies in Singapore. They will edit anything that they don't like or feel is immoral.

...lastly

No immoral behavior.

Recently, FX has come out with a few shows that the government didn't like too much. They decided to take out some ads againest it. The ad above is from a 2 PAGE AD they took out in the major paper to show their displeasure for the shows. I also saw this ad PASTED OVER banners for the TV ads at bus stops. I thougth it was quite funny. It doesn't really bother us cause the shows didn't look good anyway.

And a Happy New Year...!

Clark and I decided we are going off to Bangkok, Thailand for the Chinese New Year this month! We're lucky we go t tickets because this is a bumpin' time to travel! Lets just hope we don't get held up at an airport rally!! yikes!

...Christmas Letter

Before Jenna and I left, we made it a point to get out our Christmas Letter so that it is actually a Christmas Letter not a 'middle of January' letter. We had sent it to people that were already in our contact list as we were trying to rush out of the dungeon (our wonderful 400 sq ft apt) and catch our flight to Bali. This didn't get to some and we apoligize but we thought we would post it so all can see.




Right now, Jenna and I are trying to decided whether or not to fly out to Bangkok for Chinese New Year. Alot of stuff has happend recently there...perhaps that is why is it still cheap and has open availability. We shall see....

A white sandy Christmas

This year Clark and I decided we were going to go to Bali for Christmas and New Years. We are so close to all these Asian countries that we would be stupid if we didn't travel on this side of the world while we are here!

We arrived in the city of Kuta and had beautiful weather all week until the last day when it seriously rained cats and dogs but then we headed over to another city called Ubud for the rest of the time. We stayed in the Matahari Bungalows during our Kuta visit and enjoyed the beach-surfing, massages every night, white water rafting, pool, haggling with the locals for souvenirs, eating- seriously the best steak and Mexican food we have EVER had, and scuba diving-yes I blew chunks 5 times on board but maybe that is because there was 12 foot waves (and yes I never get sea sick-EVER)!



I was a little nervous being in Bali around the holidays because a few years ago there were Bali bombings in Kuta itself, however, we were safe the whole week- except when Clark couldn't hold on to the surf board and it knocked me in the thigh leaving a HUGE bruise...



Next we headed to Ubud (Tepi Sawah Villas) where we enjoyed our wonderful villa overlooking the rice paddies and volcano. yet again the great food-mmm suckling pig, visited the monkey forest, got massages, layed out at the pool, drove around with our tour guide to a clothing factory, a silver and gold jewelry store (yes I got some stuff) wood carving facility, art shop, a spice and herb garden, a volcano, the pure water temple, and the rice paddy fields.





The great thing about Bali is that its so cheap and you can haggle with everyone. The sad part is the people over there do not have a lot- so if you ever have a good tour guide, driver, or waiter service, tips are always nice to give.

If you ever head to Bali check out these great places to eat-

Kuta:
TJ's- California-Mexican
Havana Club- Cuban-the best steak EVER
Mama's-German
Rosso Vivo- Italian (pizza and pasta) and its overlooking the beach which was beautiful
Bamboo Corner- cheap local food
McDonald's- sorry no breakfast menu in Bali- also there main dishes are fried chicken! still good!!

Ubud:
Ibu Oka- suckling pig-mmm
Cinta
Pizza Bagus
Cafe Warung- enojoyed our wonderful new years dinner here



All in all we had a wonderful time in Bali and highly recommend it to everyone! I'll post some pictures on here but the rest can be found on my Facebook

page.