THE OLYMPICS

As I write this, the Closing Ceremonies for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are happening. This ceremony takes place just after Canada defeated the US for Men's Hockey Gold for a harrowing 3-2 Overtime win. The goal was score by non-other than "the kid" Sydney Crosby... it's a good day for Canada, it's a good time to be Canadian.

I have to admit, when the idea of a Winter Olympics in Vancouver was being bandied about all those years ago, I was one who voted "no", I didn't want them in our city. Too much chaos, too much debt, too small a city! Now watching the Winter Olympics from my "home away from home" in Singapore and listening to all my friends and family talking about how awesome it is, the pride, the positivity, the energy in the city... I really wish I was there to take part in all this amazingness.

Michelle has always been a bigger "Olympics fan" than me, she's into both summer and winter, me? I prefer winter cause that's the one that has mens & womens hockey... and curling (closet-curling fan here)! But we both realized being across the planet while this monumental party was happening in our city was tough on us. Not at first, when we heard about the transportation woes, the lack of snow and all the line-ups, in fact we both chuckled that we were both "glad to not be there" but by day three, that changed.

Michelle ordered ESPN so that we could get full Olympic coverage at home, I started checking the websites more and more for updated stats and medal progression and within a few days, we both wanted more than what we could get in Singapore. Michelle really wanted to experience some of the magic first hand. She was already homesick to begin with but add on some Olympic mayhem and she really wanted to be a part of it, so we dug into the savings and sent her back to Vancouver for the last week of the Olympics.

To say "you have to be a part of it to believe it" seems to be an understatement, Vancouver is more alive now than it has ever been. According to Michelle, everyone is out on the town, all the pavilions, restaurants and bars are constantly full. People from all over the world, crammed together, laughing and cheering their respective countries on and above all else, everyone is happy. Sure you see a lot of protesters on the news but that is nothing in reality. The positivity of these olympics far outweighs any damage those protests could do.

The thing that I really notice is the onslaught of "canadian pride" usually subdued and reserved and only for closed circles, no, not anymore. Canadian pride is out there, it's loud, it's proud and bigger right now than the expected American pride, that's for sure. They are usually the ones on the hill screaming to the masses, not anymore, look up on the hill again, you'll see a touque-wearin' Canadian!

I'm glad these Olympics went well, could they have been better? Sure, technically, transportation throughout the city was a disaster, there was a lack of leadership for all the Volunteers and let's face it, NO SNOW! These have been the warmest Winter Olympics in all of history something I am sure the IOC does not want to repeat. But the being said, this has also been the Highest Viewed Olympics on Television (more than Salt Lake & Torino), USA and Canada both broke medal records (USA with the most medals overall and Canada with the most Golds overall), the city was restructured to accommodate live-event tents (places for non-ticket holders to gather and watch events - a successful endeavor that IOC wants future Olympic cities to incorporate) and millions of people got to enjoy our city and bask and all that Canadian goodness.

In the end, I'm glad that Vancouver hosted the olympics and I think most Vancouverites are as well. The city looks great, the people look like they are having fun, Canada did fantastic in the tournament and Sydney Crosby scored the OT winner to win Hockey Gold from the Americans!

Despite my no vote, I wish I was there.

THE SKYWALKERS ARE HERE!

I really wanted to get a pair of those new STAR WARS ADIDAS shoes but there were two problems: 1) They are $180Sing and 2) They only go up to size 12. For me that's too expensive and I am a size 13. I tried ordering them online from here but for some reason, the Credit Card wouldn't be accepted (both the Sing & the Canadian one). Well, luckily my awesome ex-co-worker Fred ordered a Size 13 pair for me online in Canada and he only paid $89CDN for them! What's even better is that they arrived so I can pick them up next time I am in Vancouver! Thanks Fred, you are DA MAN!!!

HOT TIMES IN PHUKET

Hot indeed! I thought Singapore was hot but no, midday in PHUKET, THAILAND is hot, damn hot, real hot... and awesome. As it is the Chinese New Year Weekend and a long weekend at that, we decided to hit Thailand for a little holiday along with our travel buddies Barb & Brett. This was their second time to Thailand as well as Michelle's but my first and luckily is was a first time to Phuket for all of us.

We arrived late Thursday night on different flights and even though B&B left for the airport before us, we arrived in Phuket 45 minutes before they did thanks to a four hour delay with their flight. We took a 45 minute taxi ride with our speed-demon of a driver named Phat (yes, that's his name) to our beachside hotel, the Phuket Heritage (not too bad except for the rock hard beds and ancient bathrooms), dropped off the bags and decided to hit the town of KARON BEACH after midnight. We ate some Thai, had some drinks at the Beer Bar and watched all the drunks flirt with the thai bargirls, a good first night indeed as we turned in at 3am.

The next day was something we all planned ahead of time... a full beach day at Karon. We wanted to relax and by gum, we were going to do it! After some breakfast and lubing up with sunscreen, we hit the beach for a day of suntanning and splashing in the awesomely warm ocean. Despite the "rules" that say no topless women, that didn't stop the majority of 65+ year old overweight German & Russian ladies from letting the girls go free on the beach. While I admire their rebellious nature and continually tout my love for "the booby", I secretly wished for the bikini top to return to these women, alas I was denied, a full day of knee-knockers was ours to enjoy!

We also enjoyed a great Thai lunch on the beach which might not sound all that stunning but it was especially since, our lunch was brought to us by a restaurant that doesn't sell Thai Food, in fact, it's a friend of the Beach Restaurant that made us this lunch and I think they did it for us since we were the first PHLANG (white folk) that were craving "local food" instead of the pizza and burgers they usually sell.

By 6pm we were wiped and by the time we all got back to the hotel, we realized we were all a little burnt, except me, I was glowing pink with probably the worst sunburn I've had ever. Wow, did it burn, like a mini campfire just for me, all over my skin! But I wasn't going to let molten skin stop me, so after a liberal dousing of "after sun cream", we hit the town again for authentic Thai cuisine at the best named restaurant anywhere... VITAPORN! I don't know what vitamins and porn has to do with Thai food but hey, it works for them (sidenote - there were no visible signs of vitamins or porn anywhere in or around the restaurant, its just a name). A great meal was had but the burn was getting too much and we were all sleepy after a day of worshipping the sun, we headed back to the hotel so Michelle could drown me in some aloe vera for the evening.

On Saturday we decided to play Tourist and see some of Phuket Island but instead of going on a pre-packaged tour that costs an arm and a leg, we chose a few key spots we all wanted to see and Brett in all his bartering glory, haggled us a great deal with one of the cabbies named Bee. So we went to the Big Buddha (a mammoth Buddha statue that sits on the highest hill on Phuket), two of the big temples (surrounded by a giant market filled with amazing sites and smells), the lookout (where you can see all the beaches in their glory) and the Beach Market (just outside of Karon Beach). A great day indeed and without all the blah blah! After some much needed G&T's to help quell the heat of the day, we walked back to Karon Beach to do some shopping and hit more of the bars.

Now it might sound like we are boozehounds here but really, that is all that Phuket and really Thailand is... shopping, sites and bars. Bars, Bars, Bars! And inside of those bars are gaggles of girls dressed in varying degrees of nothingness all wanting you to come to "their place" so you can spend your money with/on them and potentially take them home for more. The sex trade is alive and well in Thailand and in full swing whether you partake in it or just watch from the sidelines, it would be a little sad if it wasn't so entertaining. The sad part being that these poor girls have to deal with a lot of old and overweight ugly guys and sad that these guys are getting played hook, line and sinker by a couple of shrewd businesswomen, put them together and that's where the entertainment comes from! Sit at any of the gazillion bars in Thailand and watch the magic happen.

Anyway, after a few more bars and a few more shops we went for Steak at THE BULL HOUSE and damn was it good, we were all craving beef and we found great portions and taste here for a third cheaper than we ever would in Singapore. Go meat! We decided to call it after a small stroll back to the hotel via the beach (which was cool as we got to see a few of those wish lanterns get released into the sky).

Our last full day also happened to be Valentine's Day and we decided to spend it with one of our favorite activities... food! Michelle signed the four of us up for a day of Thai Cooking classes at this cool place called PUM RESTAURANT & COOKING SCHOOL in downtown Patong and what made it even better was that we were learning to make Twelve Dishes. Twelve! Not three as we were all expecting but twelve, now THAT'S a cooking class! We got dropped off in the wrong part of Phuket and had to find the true location of the school and walk there and I seriously thought we were going to catch on fire. It must have been 37 degrees or so, I was never so moist in my entire life and just before my body exploded from internal combustion, we found our destination and got busy.

We learned the classics like TOM KAH GAI, PHAD THAI, TOM YUM GOONG and GAI PHAD MED MAMUANG (Cashewnut Chicken) but also some new favorites like PANAANG CURRY (spicy), UNITED COLORS (Sweet & Sour Chicken), DANCING FISH (peppery fish) and HERB SALAD (with Soy, Oyster Sauce, Garlic & Lime Juice Dressing) to name a few. We were there for four hours cooking and eating like gods, it was a great way to spend Valentine's to be sure. We took the TUK TUK back to Karon, put on some swimgear and headed to the hotel pool for the late afternoon and to watch the sun set and laugh at the Russians in their tiny speedos (our hotel was full of them, Russians and speedos both). We then headed back into town for a final stroll, shopping and drinks. Then it was back to the hotel for packing and an early night before our 6am wake up call to head to the airport and back to Singapore.

My first impressions of Thailand? Hot, friendly and awesome. There's still so much to see, still so much to do, still so much to experience and I can't wait for our next Thai destination. Until then, you can see pics from our weekend in Phuket HERE!

THE CHILI CHALLENGE

During our many adventures in Singapore, one thing we've always wanted to try (and by "we" I mean "me") is LAGNAA'S CHILI CHALLENGE.

Lagnaa is our favorite Indian restaurant here in Singapore. Located deep within Little India, this place has quickly become one of our hangouts thanks to its amazing food, friendly staff and decent prices. We've been there numerous times, taken the COOKING CLASS there and celebrated events with friends and family (yes, Mario, Gina and Chad have been there). One thing we haven't tried though is their monthly Chili Challenge.

You see, every month they bring in some special chilis from Indian to make some spicy Masalas and if you finish the dish you get your name on a board and the praise of all who witness the feat but there are rules:

1. You must finish everything including all of the gravy
2. You cannot drink anything once you start eating the dish
3. you cannot swap to another dish once you start eating, the only other thing you can eat is rice & naan
4. No sweating, slurring, sniffling or tearing up once you start eating

Last night, we ended up at Lagnaa's for James' Birthday party and most of us were all up for the chili challenge. I went for the Level 6 Chili while James went for the Level 7... we both did not make it.

While extremely tasty, the Level 6 Chicken Masala was a spice inferno that would not diminish, my mouth, throat and stomach were no match for the awesome powers of the Indian Chili. James got through two-thirds of his while I only managed a third. As spicefans, we were pretty disappointed with our performances but took comfort in the fact that only one guy in the entire restaurant (which was full) managed to eat a Level 6, then a Level 7 and as we were leaving, he was getting a Level 8 cooked for him. Crazyman or a Spice God? We didn't stick around to find out.

This adventure coupled with my LEVEL 10 HOTWINGS NIGHT has made me realize that it's time for me to throw in the towel. My days of trying to conquer the ultimate in spiciness are over, I just can't do it anymore. I can't take it, my body can't take it and my stomach can't take it. I will always love spicy food but my quest for crazy spiciness is at an end.

Thanks for the memories Chili Challenge.

The Adventure of Gio's Foot

Today Gio called home and asked me to meet him at the hospital as he was concerned about his foot. Wait. I should give a little history here first...

Thursday morning Gio woke up and was barely able to put any weight on his left foot, as his ankle was very swollen and painful. Now, we have no idea if he twisted it during the day, which he does not remember doing, or if he slept on it strange and hurt it during the night, which he has done before (by the way, it is difficult to show the appropriate amount of sympathy when someone hurts themselves in their sleep). So he went off to work. Thursday afternoon he visited 3 different doctors to try to gleen more information on his injury. None of the docs actually touched his ankle but all pronounced it to be sprained and recommended RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation). However, no one was able to help with the compression aspect, as no doctors kept bandages in stock, he needed to go to the pharmacy. Anyway we get supplies to wrap his foot and ankle and spent the weekend primarily on the couch. Over the weekend the pain seemed to shift from the outer ankle into his foot and became worse at work this morning thereby leading to the trip to the hospital.

Gio tells me to meet him at Mount Elizabeth Hospital. OK. Knowing the cabbies here, and that you usually need to be prepared with at least 3 different ways of explaining where you need to go, I proceeded to do a google search for the hospitals address. What I found were these directions:

Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located near Jalan Lada Puteh; near Mount Elizabath; near Jalan Kayu Manis; near Jalan Jintan; near Jalan Elok; Mount Elizabeth Hospital is geographically located at latitude (1.3053 degrees) 1° 18' 19" North of the Equator and longitude (103.8354 degrees) 103° 50' 7" East of the Prime Meridian on the Map of Singapore or JB.

The locations related to Mount Elizabeth Hospital are represented by the path the bullet takes from the muzzle of the gun to the target and may not be nearest by road. For example, Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located 0.1 kilometre from Richmond Park. Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located 0.1 kilometre from Elizabeth Towers. Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located 0.2 kilometre from The Esquire. Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located 0.2 kilometre from Somerset Compass Residences. Mount Elizabeth Hospital is located 0.2 kilometre from Tong Building.

Wow... helpful. Hey Uncle, just take me along the path of the bullet!

Anyway, I met Gio at the Hospital and he was on the phone to HR figuring out the puzzle of what doctor/GP/specialist to visit with his insurance coverage. After a few minutes of back-and-forth, we went to a GP to get a referral for the Orthopedic Doctor. The GP didn't even touch the foot, just asked a few standard questions and then sent us back to the 16th floor of the hospital. There we waited for 30 minutes until Gio went in to see the doctor, two minutes later he came back and had to go back down to the first floor to get xrays. It was at this time that I realized I was getting into one of my "lack-of-food moods" so I had to eat so while Gio got the xrays, I went to grab a quick bite and as it turned out, no need to rush as Gio was 45 minutes waiting for his turn.

Five minutes later, we are back on the 16th and the doctor looks at the xrays, no broken bones but potential ligament damage is a concern, so we have to wait for the swelling to come down before he's sure. No athletic activity for a week, Gio laughs, I shake my head... of all the comments, no athletic activity... he's still going to do his sit-ups and arms though :-)

Crisis averted and RICE is still in full effect, at least its not broken!

THE CHAD

And just like that three weeks is done. CHAD FORBZ has come and gone from Singapore in a whirlwind of tourism, food and photography.

He arrived on December 27th and spent two days here before Michelle and he went to BALI for NEW YEARS and a few days of sightseeing. I should of been there as well, alas Passport Issues that you've read about elsewhere on this blog kept me from joining in on the fun. Anyways, Bali is beautiful and just seeing the pics from their trip makes me want to go again as there is still so much to see for both Michelle and I, we will be back.

But once they did return, Chad still had almost half his trip left to explore Singapore so we made sure he saw everything: Orchard Road, Holland Village, Dempsey Hill, the Zoo, the Night Safari, Chinatown, Little India, the Esplanade, the Arab Quarter and the Quays.We also tried to keep him busy with: Cooking Classes in Little India and swinging through the Treetops Adventures.

We also made sure he tried to eat as much as possible which was difficult do to his amazing array of allergies but he did well. We made sure he tried Chili Crab, Black Pepper Chicken, Mee Goreng, Satays, Soup Dumplings, Japanese BBQ, Nestum Prawns, Barking Chicken, Ice Cream Balls, Tango Wings and Prata Dogs! Chad was also kind enough to cook two nights where he made his famous Banana Chicken Curry and Bird Eye Chili Tofu Stirfry.

He also got to meet and hang out with our friends here in Singapore, the two biggest nights being Friday Nights where we did Mexican Dinner & the Indian Dance Club and then last night where we indulged in the full Singaporean Seafood Dinner and then the Sake Bar.

All in all I think Chad had a good time and we were very glad to have him here. I wish I could have seen more of him and spent more time with him but anytime is better than no time at all. I hope he enjoyed it here as much as we enjoyed having him. Safe flight home brother!

Check out some pics from our adventures with CHAD

THE WONDER YEARS