Easter (on the) Island

The rest of the Grieses in Singapore Saga-

Not only did we get to celebrate my Mom's birthday in Singapore, we also got to celebrate Easter!
We flew back to Singapore for Jogjakarta early Sunday morning, arriving midday. We taxied home, unpacked, napped, and futzed about on computers (I discovered the further loss of keyboard life on my MacBook - nooooo!).

We then got dressed up and went to an Anglican church that's not too far from us. It just wouldn't feel like Easter without church! I think it felt weird to all of us three trumpet players to neither be playing nor hearing trumpets on Easter Sunday, but we managed. The service turned out to be a contemporary one, but we did get in one good Easter hymn at the end. The church itself is a beautiful building, left from when the English had a garrison in the area.

We went on to celebrate Easter with Mexican food! What - you can't get much more Catholic than Mexico!! Such a treat - and the margs were pretty tasty. Jacob got a beer served with a jalapeno and a chili-salt rim, which made him pretty happy. But we weren't done yet! On the way home, we stopped to pick up some fruit, and proceeded to create a chocolate fondue feast! And what Easter is complete without a Peep or two? We didn't have an Easter egg hunt, but we had some wine, so same-same!

Weirdo.

Now THAT'S an Easter Feast
And yes, Jacob and my dad are dressed alike.

The hybrid species achieved when chocolate bunnies and rabbit peeps mate!

Parkview Square - crazy art deco building in
Kampung Glam.

On Monday, Jacob & I headed back to work, leaving my parents to pack up. Then Jacob met them and they went to the National Museum, which sounded pretty sweet! I think my parents particularly liked the exhibit on hawker food - I really need to go check it out! Jacob had more teaching to do in the evening, so we made the parent hand-off after I finished work, and my folks and I checked out Kampung Glam, also known as Arab Street. The several blocks of Kampung Glam are host to Singapore's largest Mosque as well as dozens of fabric shops, Persian rug stores, Middle Eastern restaurants and hookah cafes. It's a really great area, and definitely one of the first places we recommend checking out if you're in Singapore for a day or two. 

Masjid Sultan, the largest
Mosque in Singapore

We made our way to BluJaz cafe, where Jacob would be playing with a group called Omniform later in the evening. Settling into some very comfy couch-chairs, I had the wonderful privilege of getting to just chat with my parents over some wine and food for a few hours. There were many highlights of our trip, and for me this was definitely one of them. Since graduating from college in 2009, I haven't spent more than about 6 months living in the same state as the rest of my family, so I really treasure the time we had together.



Jacob swung in for a bit to eat with us before joining the band and rocking out. We stayed for the first set, polished off the remaining wine and then headed back to Clementi - my parents had another early morning coming up with a 7:00am flight (and a 5am taxi).

While their visit seemed to go fast, I'm amazed at all we got to do - but not surprised by what a good time we had. I knew that'd be the case.

Thanks for coming Mom & Dad!

AND if this sounded fun to you - COME VISIT US!! :)

Singapore Lions Game

According to the Lions website, there were
7000+ fans in attendance.

HEAR THE ROAR!

On Saturday night I got to attend my first Singapore LionsIIX football match (yep, that means soccer game). The 'Twelve' in LionsIIX is a tribute to the fans, recognized at the '12th player' on the team - aw!

I attended the game with my housemate Reshmi (who is a BIG football fan), Karyn & her husband Alex, and their British friends Katie & Mike. And several thousand excited Singaporeans!



The Lions play in the 'Malaysia Super League,' and on this occasion were facing ATM FA, the Malaysian Armed Forces team. It was a really exciting game - lots of action, many yellow cards, some very coordinated chanting on the part of the ATM supporters, and even some booing of the refs! Actually, the booing was even pretty awesome, because it was really fun to see Singaporeans getting really into it! We even learned how to chant 'Referee, you're no good!' in Malay! But mostly there was lots of cheering and support and fun happening - my favorite, grammatically-awkward chant was 'We Want Goal! We Want Goal!' From the start, Singapore came out really strong against the Malaysian team, in a game in which they were not favored to win. So it was really satisfying when Singapore was ahead 2- 0 at the half and finished the game 3-1!

The other part of the game we really enjoyed watching were the fans in front of us - what we assumed to be a little league football team who had come to watch the game. The boys were about 7-8 years old, and they were SO into the game! They were instantly on their feet cheering and jumping up and down after the goals - and even quicker to their feet, gesturing and shouting in frustrating at bad calls. They were so cute - they were mimicking adult reactions so perfectly, we couldn't help but laugh.

Intent on the game.

As we watched them, I also reflected on just how cool it is to me that among these dozen or so boys, there were at least four ethnicities, but that was so clearly not even a factor in their brains - they were just watching the game. After a trying week full of heart-wrenching news from around the world, it did my soul good to see kids having a great time together, giving no thought to how they're different, just focusing on the game and, of course, their game snacks. THAT is what kids should get to do, and I'm glad that Singapore is place that allows that to happen.

ARE YOU KIDDING? BAD CALL REF!!

Singapore Wins!!!!!

Prambanan, Batik, and Pedicab Ride in the Rain!

Time to recount the rest of our time in Jogjakarta - before the details slip away!

Member of the Palace Guard - fierce!

On Friday morning we set off to check out the Kraton - the Sultan's palace. We got there early to avoid crowds - forgetting that it was Good Friday which is actually a public holiday there. There were several school groups there, but it was not a problem - we had a lovely tour guide to show us through the main grounds. (The Kraton is a huge complex, encompassing residential areas as well).

Swanky ceiling!

Palace Gazebo

Hey kids!!!!

Swimming pool!

We then left the palace and wanted to make our way on foot to the Water Castle, the 'pleasure gardens' of Sultans past. However, we had no real sense of where to go and ended up giving in to the vocal pedicab drivers who were anxiously offering rides. Good thing we did - these two guys not only brought us to the Water Castle (we would not have found it on foot - plus it was crazy hot, it would not have been fun!), but then assured us they would wait for us and then take us to our next location. We were a little skeptical about this - not wanting to get roped into more than we bargained for, but it worked out great. We toured the Water Castle, hosted by another tour guide who we didn't exactly ask for, but who was informative nonetheless. Near the end of the tour he took us to a gallery with batiks and shadow puppets for sale and asked us to support the local artists - fair enough, but we were already happy with our previous purchases and so declined. He was very gracious though - if long winded!

Swimming pool monster!

She is applying wax to to the design areas to prevent
those areas from being dyed.

Upon exiting, our dedicated pedicab drivers loaded us up and set off for a museum - which was closed. So they then took us down to the batik district, where we got to take a tour of the entire batik process. Highlight of the day - it was fascinating! I couldn't believe how detailed and painstaking the work was - and how long it must take to complete each piece!

Neat display showing the batik process.

Some batik is done entirely by hand, while other can be done (more quickly) using these stamps to apply the main wax patterns, then going back and adding detail by hand.

These ladies are very talented - and work a LOT!

Just next door was Hanis cafe, where Mom and I enjoyed pizza and Jacob tried a coffee-avocado-milkshake. (Verdict: pretty darn good!). During our leisurely lunch, it began to rain, but our pedicab drivers just pulled out plastic tarps to rainproof the cabs, and continued to wait for us. We asked them to take us to one more destination - our hotel. I don't think any of us realized quite how far away our hotel was - or just how serious this rainstorm was about to become. Thus began our half-hour pedicab ride in the pouring rain! We were cozied up with plastic over the front of the cab to screen the rain, but our poor drivers only had rain jackets for protection as they doggedly pedaled our lunch-stuffed selves uphill. My dad and I, in one cab together, tracked our journey on his phone - and realized just how far  e had left! But what could we do - it seemed like it'd be even worse to ask to get out and take a regular cab, after all their hard work. Plus, they were already soaked and unlikely to get another fare in this weather. So we carried on! It became comical, just how ridiculous this ride was! Finally, after a few wrong turns, we reached our destination - and paid our drivers what we hoped was far more than they expected. Even so, all said and done, I think we paid them each the equivalent of $6 - sounds crazy for the work they put in, but that is how the exchange rate works.

Dad kicking my butt at Cribbage

Romance!

We took it easy in the afternoon, playing cards, reading, napping and enjoying afternoon tea while it continued to rain. We played a game of Heart, which Dad won handily. For dinner, we headed back to the south part of the city to Via Via cafe, highly recommended by Lonely Planet. Well, they may have had a bit of an off night - they were out of wine and several other foods we asked for and then they forgot to place my mom's order! - but the food ended up being good and the live jazz was quite enjoyable.

We got some pretty wicked ice cream sundaes for dessert - Jacob and I split the 'Romance' sundae - ooh la la!












On Saturday, we slept in a bit and then split up to do a little more shopping and sightseeing along Malioboro. While Jacob and I haggled for a cheap watch and some belts, my parents enjoyed the World's Most Expensive Coffee. The Luwak is a type of small jungle cat which eats the ripest coffee berries - and I quote (from the package) - "unable to digest the coffee beans, the Luwak graciously deposits them on the jungle floor where they are eagerly collected by the locals. The stomach acids and enxymatic action involved in this unique fermentation process produces the beans for the world's rarest beverage " Thanks to packets my parents bought for us as well, I can report that it is indeed delicious. You can hardly taste the poo!

Fancy cups!

Dad attempting to convey the deliciousness of the coffee with his eyes - MMMM!

Mom & Dad came across a bridal expo in the mall.

Soo beautiful!

We had a quick lunch at the Superman Cafe (I think we hit at least half of the Lonely Planet restaurants while in Jogja), before meeting the driver we hired (through the hotel) to take us to Prambanan, another huge temple - this time, a Hindu temple.

Prambanan Temple - a bit rainy, but that didn't stop us!

Too cool for school

Umbrella Party!

The temple and its many surrounding smaller temples were damaged by a major earthquake in 2010. The main temple has been deemed 'relatively stable,' but they do require to you to wear hardhats to go in.

Such tourists.

Literally raising the roof!

More amazing architecture.

And lots and lots of rubble from the earthquake.

Modern technology - we found a geocache near the temple!

There are three other smaller temples near Prambanan, including this Buddhist one, which predates the Hindu one. Almost no other tourists wanted to walk this far, meaning we were all by ourselves among the buildings and ruins. It gave the whole place quite a feeling a mystery and history - I loved it!

Buddha in the rubble.

Ancient carvings.

It lends itself to contemplation.

Not sure if I can convey how amazing this place is - can you imagine
ancient people building something like this?!

Magnificent.

We finished off the evening with a delicious dinner at a steakhouse - and they DID have wine! Most excellent.

On Easter morning we were up at 4:30am again, enjoying the hotel's kindly prepared breakfast before taking a cab to the airport and heading back to Singapore. Apart from an unexpected airport 'service fee' (to be paid in Rupiah ONLY - one more stop at an ATM), travel was smooth and mostly spent dozing.

One more short blog on M&D's last few days in Singapore to follow - peace out!
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