A Brief Layover in Singapore

After our adventures in Cambodia, we headed off for our super-layover in Singapore. The airport was amazing and we got through immigration and customs very easily. We also found out that you definitely don't want to be a drug trafficker and be caught in Singapore. It was clearly posted in numerous places that the punishment for that is death. Whoa.

Our taxi ride to the hotel was great, if you’re okay with your driver belching at a pace of about two times per minute...for a twenty minute ride. So...it was actually pretty terrible. Each belch reduced the tip amount he was going to get. By the end he technically earned a negative tip, so he just got the regular fare. Gross.

We decided to spend our first day there by going to the huge Gardens by the Bay complex. There are a series of gardens within the sprawling area and it is very kid friendly...and hot. After drying off from our sweaty journey, we got some food and found the kids play area. There were a few playgrounds and a big splash pad. Amanda and Annabelle both cooled off as we all listed to the Disney-themed soundtrack play in the background. After sufficiently embarrassing our child by singing along to our favorite Disney songs, we headed back home for an early night.

The next day we headed to Jurong Bird Park. We saw a show with a bunch of birds, rode a trolley through the entire park, and then of course played at the splash pad there, too. We also spent some time in a huge enclosed area they have for their Lories, which we directly fed out of plastic cups full of nectar. Not only does this park have a vast array of birds, they also have a strong focus on conservation of all wildlife and their habitats. It was very well done.

After the bird park we went straight back to the airport and headed "home" to Hyderabad.

Cambodia: The land of temples…and numerous types of massages

or Wat, among other temples in the area. The easiest way to get to Cambodia from Hyderabad is via Singapore. Easy enough. Unless the only flight from Cambodia to Singapore gets in AFTER the only flight from Singapore to Hyderabad leaves.  So, we shifted our plans to basically spend a day in Singapore. Then that flight got cancelled and moved to the next day. So our layover turned into a two day stay!  But back to this post…

Getting to Siem Riep, Cambodia was pretty easy; especially since we applied for our visas online before the trip. That allowed us to bypass about 95% of the other passengers and get through immigration lickety split! Then we had to decide whether or not to exchange dollars for the local currency (Riel). We passed...and it’s a good thing we did. The exchange rate is about 4,000:1...and everyone accepts US Dollars; some exclusively.

Because of the overnight flight we had to take, we decided to "relax" at the hotel for the day. But when Annabelle's definition of relaxing is to swim for almost two hours, it ended up being a pretty tiring day.

We decided to spend the next day touring the main temples in the area: Angkor Wat, Bayan (main temple in Angkor Thom), and Ta Prohm. Each of the temples is approximately 800 to 1,000 years old and in various states of restoration.

Angkor Wat is the most popular temple in the area and surrounded by a huge man-made moat. This protected the temple from too much encroachment from the forest for hundreds of years. It was initially built as a Hindu temple to the god Vishnu; which was uncommon as most Hindu temples were/are for Shiva. The main legend of this temple was about the struggle between the gods and demons. In order to remain immortal, the gods needed holy water. To obtain this they had to move a mountain into the sea. They then wrapped a snake/serpent around the mountain; which the gods and demons struggled against each other to pull. The pulling of the snake made the mountain spin...thereby creating the holy water. This story was carved into one on the walls of the temple. Over the years, the temple eventually converted into a Buddhist temple, again into a Hindu temple, and finally back into a Buddhist temple as it remains today.

There are five large towers and three levels to Angkor Wat, with the third level being the most holy where there are several shrines to Buddha. In order to get to them you have to climb a very steep set of stairs...not made any easier by the high heat and humidity; by our standards at least. And due to how sacred the space is there are no kids are allowed (neither are "sexy ladies", which we heard more than a few times from the security guys there). Annabelle was actually perfectly fine staying back with our guide, Chai, so we headed up for about 15 minutes. The craftsmanship and architecture are incredible, as are the shrines.

When we got back down we were all a little steamy, but luckily Chai knew of an ice cream shop which helped Annabelle press on to get out of the complex.

Our next stop was Bayan temple within the ancient city of Angkor Thom. This one started as Buddhist, but also went through the ol’ Hindu-back-to-Buddhist conversion. This temple was quite different than Angkor Wat, with many more towers that had several faces circling each one. There were a number of shrines there: a handful are Hindu, but the rest Buddhist. There was also quite a bit of restoration being done in a joint effort between UNESCO, The Kingdom of Cambodia, and Japan.

Next stop was an awesome lunch with some very good Khmer curry. (“Khmer” is an encompassing term in the area for the region, people, language, food, you name it.) We got an air conditioned room and recharged for the afternoon.

Our last planned stop was to the so-called "Tree Temple": Ta Prohm. This was also going through some serious restoration, thanks to help from India. As opposed to the other temples we visited, this is a long and relatively flat complex. Over the years, trees were able to take root and grow through the crevices in the stones used to construct the temple. This resulted in many trees actually growing over the walls of the temple. Very cool.

After exiting Ta Prohm, Annabelle and Griff had to get a coconut to share. With that refreshing jolt, we had one more temple left in us. This was one of the first temples in the area, over 1,000 years old and actually made out of brick. A lot of it had to be restored (with help from Germany), but the main shrine to Vishnu had been very well maintained.

We spent the entire next day in Siem Reap. A short tuk-tuk ride into town got us to the main tourist areas and we could walk everywhere we needed to once we got there. (The tuk-tuks here are motorbikes with carriages attached.)

 The first crazy thing we saw were foot massages...by fish. "Please feed our hungry fish your dead skin." Yup...you put your feet in and the fish eat the dead skin off. Lovely, right? We passed on that. Then it was into the old market; a large indoor market where you can buy produce, fresh fish and other meat, and myriad souvenirs.  We were apparently too inquisitive with prices in one of the first shops. When Amanda asked the woman a price of maybe the fourth or fifth item...the woman paused for a moment, started folding up a dress and said, "Don't ask if you not going to buy."  Burn. Other than that we had a good time bartering.

After lunch, we wanted to check out the Night Market area, but it wasn't open yet...at 3:00 in the afternoon...go figure. So instead the girls decided to get pedicures at a local shop. I got a little bored and decided to go for a walk. Bad idea. Very. Bad. Idea.

It turns out that the vigor with which people offer massages increases quite a bit as a lone male. In no less than two minutes I got four offers. The first woman almost smacked me with her massage menu when I said "no, thank you"...I knew at that point something was a little different. The second woman simply asked me "why not" as I walked by; a little better...what a nice lady (maybe not...see below). The third offer came from a lovely gentleman lounging in a chair and in the form of several loud kissing gestures. The fourth is what really got to me (so far).  She didn't want to give me a chance to say no and keep walking, as evidenced by her pressing her entire body against mine and literally pushing me (hey, watch those hands, lady!) several times toward her shop.

Whoa. Okay. So, at the end of the block I realized I now had to turn around and walk the gauntlet again. The Aggressor ignored me this time, but my guy friend had to ask me a few times "why not" as I kept walking. I was able to muster a smile and a laugh for him, at least. But then...that nice little lady from before came up again, closer. This time it was, "You want massage? ... I put inside." Now, I can ONLY assume she meant she'd put my bag inside the massage parlor for safekeeping..............right?  C'mon, you know better than that. And so did I.

I got back to nail place and was shell-shocked. Amanda knew something was up immediately, but I decided it best to wait to give her the details until our child was out of earshot. Wowee zowee. That was quite the experience.

To calm down a bit we went on a shopping spree and got some pretty good deals, including a nice backpack for our Europe trip and a new suitcase to hold all the other stuff we had to buy.  We also found a catholic church hidden in a corner of town, which was an interesting experience.  They definitely adapted to local culture as they had everyone remove shoes and sit on the floor during mass (no standing and very limited kneeling).  They also had a very interesting sculpture of Mary and some great music to rock out to.  Even though we were hot and tired, we were very glad we went.  Very cool experience.

On our last day we found a vegetarian restaurant that had a bunch of fair-trade items, as well as a yoga class. There was also a bonus swing in the mix for Annabelle.  This whole complex was amazing. It was remarkably difficult to find vegetarian food in Cambodia, so the fact that this place had yoga, swings, fair trade products, and it was exclusively vegetarian meant that we needed to spend the whole day there!

So, we got to experience some amazing ruins, lots of bartering, great food, yoga, pedicures for the girls, and I even got propositioned for the first time in my life. SUCCESS! Thanks Cambodia!

Do they do the Chikan dance at weddings in Lucknow?

Our next trip ended up being to Lucknow; which is in the North/East part of India. One of my coworkers, Astika, was getting married and invited us to the various ceremonies. We flew through Delhi, which of course meant a stop at the glorious Starbucks at the airport there. Hooray! A long layover also meant Annabelle (and Amanda) got to shop for accessories for the wedding.

We arrived in Lucknow in the early evening and it was quite different than the other cities in India we've been to. It's less of a big city (although it is of course still quite big, all things considered). The traffic was very heavy, but always seemed to be moving along; which was a welcome change.  We arrived at our hotel with an extremely tired girl and a close-to-very-sick mom. A bed and some NyQuil (just for Amanda...promise) did the trick for them.

With the girls solidly passed out, I decided to head to a pre-wedding get-together that Astika and Abhi were hosting. It was at a local restaurant and just a small event for friends. Aside from great food (as always), I also tried a water pipe for the first time and caught up with an old colleague who now works in Dubai (Simon). After few drinks, Simon and I got one last drink. But, when that was done we decided we'd have just one more. That happened two more times...thanks Simon.

When the party was over Simon told me he was sure his auto driver was still there because he gave him a good tip on the way there. Here's some advice...promise your driver a really good tip at the END of the night IF he sticks around for you... Don’t front the good tip. After it settled in that we didn’t have anyone waiting for up, our next great decision was to start walking around Lucknow at midnight for a new auto. After about 15 minutes we were lost. Luckily, Astika and her brother were driving home and randomly found us. After bartering a bit on price, they gave us a good deal and we were headed home! Just kidding on the bartering, of course. They gave us a great deal to start with.

The next day we spent some time exploring the city. The first part of the day included a quick trip to the Chikan markets (a type of handmade stitched clothing) and a park visit for some serious swinging. We found a massive swing about 15-20 feet long and proceeded to make Amanda quite nervous.

We then headed over to a shopping area where Amanda came REALLY close to getting a lehenga for the wedding, but it would have been extreme right timing since the wedding was that night at 8:00*.  We then met our friend Kavita (also there for the wedding) for some good local food before heading back to get ready for the wedding.

* 8:00 was listed in the invite, so we should have known to add at least 90 minutes to that...but didn't.

For the wedding, Annabelle wore a new lehenga, I wore a kurta and vest, and Amanda busted out her sari from our last trip. We were able to enlist the help of someone at the front desk to help Amanda dress herself in the sari. After half an hour and a phone call to her mother for advice...she got the sari on Amanda and we were off!

We arrived right "on time", but were greeted only by Astika's parents and everyone preparing food for the wedding. We were perfectly fine with it, but someone actually called Astika and she talked to Amanda and apologized for not being there. We felt terrible, but it does go to show how amazing the people we got to know while here are.

While Annabelle watched some guys prepping paratha for about 15 minutes, we checked out the rest of the venue. It was a big open area with chairs and a huge decorated stage set up. Around the perimeter were a lot of various food and drink stations for guests. There was also a small dance floor that kept all the kids entertained for a while. And no…they don’t do the Chikan dance at weddings.  It was just a bad pun used for a creative title to the blog.

Eventually more and more people showed up, including Astika. She was quickly shuffled away to prepare more, but was absolutely gorgeous in her wedding attire (a red lehenga and a LOT of jewelry). Then we heard some commotion, music, and fireworks. This was Abhi's entrance - a lot of fanfare. We didn't see it, but I imagine he came riding up to the venue of a white horse, which is very common (at least up North). After that, people went back to eating and visiting as if nothing was really going on. They continued to do so even when Astika started processing down the aisle. We almost didn't notice it and people had to actually be asked to love out of the way for her. Crazy.

There was a brief garland ceremony and then a loooong series of pictures, including some with us in them. Then came dinner which was incredible. The paratha that Annabelle watched being prepped earlier was fantastic. And they cooked it inside a huge heated pot by slapping the rolled out dough on the inside of the pot. We ate and chatted with others for a while and it was 11:30 before we knew it. Annabelle was going strong, but we knew we had to leave before a meltdown. Ice cream was the perfect bribe, as usual, but not before saying thank you and goodbye to Astika and Abhi. We missed the main ceremony that was a couple of hours later in the wee morning hours, but it was quite the experience overall. And Annabelle fell asleep with a cone in her mouth on the ride home...

 The next day we had a late start in order to sleep in, but then headed out to the Kukrail Reserve Forest Northeast of town. It was a huge park area where they had a bunch of playgrounds, a crocodile hatchery, and some other open space with wild animals. After walking through most of the park we headed back for some swing time. There were a lot of school groups there at that time and we ended up being the main attraction for them. Annabelle usually attracts small groups, but this ended up being a huge crowd. Since Lucknow is smaller the residents probably don't see as many tourists, explaining the crowd we got. But the park was huge and we were able to find a secluded swing for a while.

When we left, a troop of monkeys crossed our path, which was pretty cool to see. One of the last monkeys stole someone's lunchbox from his bicycle and scooted up on a fence. The man decided to buy some popcorn to bribe the monkey...which almost worked. The monkey politely dropped half the lunchbox when the man approached, then took the popcorn, and proceeded to drop the other half of the lunchbox...on the other side of the fence. Well played. Our last stop was at the Bara Imambara (literally “big shrine”), which is a Muslim shrine dedicated to the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussain ibn Ali (and others), in 680 AD. This event is observed annually as the Mourning of Muharram.

And that was Lucknow! It was great to get to experience an Indian wedding and see another part of the country.