More pictures to come. For now, here’s a picture of the boys enjoying the pool at our new home. What a delight to have a pool

I think the durian is late this year (or maybe it was just early last year). I know the sale tables outside 7-11 were up in August/September. I’m just starting to smell the welcoming aroma as I approach the grocery store now this month. Whatever the timing, the durian is back!!

Durian for sale!

In other seasonal news, we are experiencing our first Singapore camp out and first camp out EVER for Ben! The Cub Scouts are doing their Fall camp out on the northern most corner of this island (no, that does not make it any cooler!). Nicky and I spent the day enjoying the scouting activities but opted not to spend the night. Dave and Ben are going to camp. Undoubtably the most challenging part of this entire experience is going to be sleeping without air con. Good luck to Dave and Ben and the entire Singapore Pack 3017!

Cub Scout Camp Out - Tent Up - No Problem

The floating village showed us that there are some very friendly snakes around!

Passing boat - she may have just caught this one

Nicky meets a snake

Dave wears a snake!

And this girl owns this snake....a dollar to hold it!

And very clever kids…check out their boats…

Here she comes!

Mini boats

After our time at Ankor Watt, we returned to our hotel for lunch. We stayed at the Victoria. We first discovered Victoria hotels last spring in the remote river wilderness of the Mekong Delta region in Vietnam. It was an amazing discovery. I liken the Victoria hotels to the way the Singapore Raffles Hotel must have been back in the days of Joseph Conrad. There is a feel of authenticity that is so rarely plausible in today’s hotel facades. So, we enjoyed our second Victoria in Siem Reap. There are 6 more Victoria hotels in the property portfolio and we hope to visit them all!

After our lunch we ventured out by Tuk-Tuk to the Adventure Tours group on a pot-holed side road in Siem Reap. There we met our guide and picked up two ATV vehicles. Dave and Ben on one and Nick and I on another first tentatively and then boldly bounded thru full puddles and pits into the remote countryside. We saw cows and chickens, rivers and swimmers, and best of all friendly little children who ran to the roadside to wave to us. We arrived at an orphanage/school over an hour later. We saw three classrooms in action. These classrooms are more like outdoor picnic pavilions. Each was crammed with at least 40 or 50 kids. Most are local children who come for the schooling. Some are children who no longer have families and will grow up at this orphanage.

Tuk-Tuk ride thru muddy street

Cow-bodia

Nicky arrives at the school/orphanage after a long ride

One outdoor classroom, white board hanging on left

Stopping for a snack, here we all are in our muddy glory!

Fried snake anyone?

Lotus flower in the village (can you see the big bug under the leaf?)

beautiful countryside

On our first day in Cambodia, it stormed, thundered, and lightening’ed. There were huge streaks of lightening cracking over the ancient temples. I tried to catch a photo of the lightening – it was that frequent that I’d even try. But, no luck. This was a trip of many Firsts for Nicky. The first First was that he braved the lightening storm and walked thru the temples bravely. Anyone who has seen Nicky during a thunderstorm will know that this was a huge step for him. So, we saw much of Ankor Watt in our $1.50 plastic rain cover ups. Those helped tremendously. And, near the end, the storm stopped, the sun came out and the wet temples and full ponds were just glistening in the sun.

Rainy day at Ankor Watt

The length of Ankor Watt

Windows

Library and Pond Reflection

All of us!

My friend Karen asked what you do with a Jackfruit.  Since I happen to have some pretty good pictures of a chopped up Jackfruit from the wet market at Little India, I thought I’d post them:

Jackfruit up close

Cut up fruit

Ben tastes the Jackfruit.

Fall Break time is starting.  We will go to Cambodia this week after the conferences.

This weekend we took a hot walk in Bukit Batok park.  It’s one of my favorite parks because the old quarry is so beautiful.  It’s also the first place we saw monkeys in Singapore.  And, it’s a surprisingly lush park right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of Singapore daily life.

Look at that leaf!!

The Quarry.

Nicky picture

Starting to feel like we live here.  When you see the same celebrations from last year you know you’ve seen the full cycle of Singapore life.

Today I joined Ben and his class on a field trip to Little India.  Deepavali will be in full swing next week but Little India is gearing up now.  The lights, the decorations, the flowers, the smells, the curry!  Here are some highlights from our time there:

Ben, his teacher and classmates in Little India

Ben and Oliver admire the giant jackfruit

Ben touches a mini-swordfish!

The Temple

The Gold...!!

Nicky is riding without training wheels!  Feels like a real milestone.  Our neighbor, Araceli and her son Anthony, gave us an old beater bike and that did the trick.  Just the right size, just the right weight.  In no time, Nicky was speeding around the block!

Two Wheelin'