May in Malaysia

Sorry for the delay in this posting for May. Apart from Brian's trek to the States, it seemed like a pretty quiet month here for me and the kids.

Early in May, with Patrick's travels to KL to teach the pulmonary block, the PUGSOM family headed up to Penang. Since our first trip to Penang in November centered around Brian's half marathon bridge run, we were happy to drive up to spend another weekend there. Penang is an island located off Malaysia's northwest coast. The drive took under four hours, including crossing a long bridge (the one Brian ran on) from the mainland into Georgetown, Penang's cultural center. The trip was also well timed as Violet's integrated curriculum topic currently is art and Penang's famous street art served as a central topic for several of her lessons. We spent one morning roaming around looking for the street art she'd discussed in class. The kids loved turning the corner and finding a new art piece that they'd seen in photographs in class. Of course they loved the pop up Minion art, too!

We stayed at the China Tiger (http://chinatiger.info/). I highly recommend their studio apartments for families! Under Toby and Zack's leadership, we focused Penang adventures around food. Malaysia has many very wonderful food bloggers and we found their websites valuable when hunting down food stalls and pop-up hawker areas. I was too busy inhaling char kway teow to take many pictures.

The first kilometer was the hardest, mostly because Brian made a silly deal to carry Tyler every other 100 meters!

Climbing Penang Hill was a highlight for all. On Saturday after 2nd breakfast, Patrick, Toby, Zack, Brian, the kids, and I taxied to the start of the hike. We'd read it was 5 km and would take about 2 hours. After about 45 minutes of hot, miserable, straight up hill climbing on an asphalt road (in flip flips with sweat pooling and dripping off my soaked clothing), I admitted to Brian that I was not having any fun. We were at the 1.2 km point of the hike. I said that I wanted to turn back, to which Violet replied, "Mom, this road only goes one way - up!" Brian agreed to finish the hike with Vi as Tyler and I headed down the hill to ride the funicular up and meet the happy hikers up top. This strategy proved to provide Tyler with his #1 Asia highlight: After descending about 100 meters, a guy on a motor scooter stopped and offered us a lift down. Before I could decline, Tyler had hopped on back and in 30 seconds the three of us were racing down the mountain. I admit, it was a heck of a lot better than sweating our way down. The super nice driver was tickled when Tyler wholeheartedly thanked him and said, "This is the best day of my life!" We had a great adventure getting to the funicular, including a run in with a four foot-long monitor lizard. Tyler confirmed that this was, indeed, the best day of his life. Eventually we ended up at the top of Penang Hill. Turns out that Violet and Brian's path leveled out a bit after we left them (most of the accent was in the first 2 kms of the hike) and they made it to the top about 45 minutes after we departed.

funicular

 noun: a railway going up and down a mountain that carries people in cars pulled by a moving cable
            (to the Pittsburgh friends, it's just like the incline)

Before leaving town, we checked out the Made in Penang Interactive Museum. It has these huge murals on the walls... well check out the photos and you'll get the idea.

As for the rest of the month... The kids are almost through half the final school term for the year. With each term comes new after-school classes. These are one of my favorite parts of Garden International School. The after-school programs allow the kids to give a go at all kinds of activities. This term Tyler continued parkour and added gymnastics. Violet's line up is Zumba, scuba diving, and fencing. Awesome! Scuba is, of course, super exciting for us because we're looking forward to family scuba trips sometime in our future. I'm less apt to see us engage in family parkour (although Brian insists he will still be doing the Tough Mudder when the kids are old enough to participate...). Violet also competed in a soccer tournament. Although they ended up only playing three games due to rain (err... monsoon), it was a good learning experience for Vi.

Tyler's class went on a pretty cool field trip to watch the filming of a kids' TV show called High 5. Yeah, I'd never heard of it either. It's Australian and broadcast here. It was a bit trippy with flashy colors and costumes. Serving as the audience, the kids danced to a song -- they'd (kind of) learned the choreography the week before in class. It was a real TVstudio, which was fun to see from behind the scenes. Of course we couldn't take pictures inside the studio, so my only photo was of the monitors during the first set of takes. When they filmed the kids dancing Tyler didn't seem to get much airtime, but in the stage shots, the back of his head looked well groomed. This was my first field trip with either kid... A pretty easy one as the studio crew did all the child managing once we were on-set. They also had an air conditioned tent with a large food buffet for us. I did, of course, have to hear the girls on the bus ride to-and-from sing "Let It Go" -- I don't know -- A THOUSAND times.   :o)

Also in May, we discovered a new favorite breakfast spot in KL at Imbi Market (google map Pasar Baru Bukit Bintang to find it). I adore finding a great spot right here at home! After enjoying a scooter/jog on "Carless KL" morning, we met up at Imbi, a traditional weekend market downtown that serves amazing food. The assam laksa, a sour fish soup, cannot be beat! It's also the best "carrot cake" anywhere. "Carrot cake" is a stir fried tofu dish that is neither carrot nor cake. I'm actually not really sure what is in it (shout out to Baltimore - similar to Lake Trout that is neither from a lake nor trout). We first went to Imbi market in early May while Patrick was in town. We visited again last week and it did not disappoint. There is this drink there I love called cham. It's half overbrewed coffee, half overbrewed tea. Add sweetened condensed milk. Shake. And then pour over ice. Yep - amazing.

 

So happy June everyone! We're heading off to Singapore for a long weekend and then to India next week for Pooja's wedding. I'll try to keep up the blog posts. 

By the way, HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY, Brian!

Home is where the heart is....

This past week I returned to the U.S. for the first time since we moved to Malaysia. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) had their annual conference in San Diego and I was fortunate enough to be invited to speak at a session and to present some of my basic science research. When I purchased my flights to California around Christmas time I realized that the conference was the same weekend as the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore. Some of you may know that we live one block north of Pimlico racetrack where the Preakness is held every year. It is an incredibly fun time to live in Mt. Washington. All of our neighbors throw race-themed parties and barbeques and a number of our good friends come from across the country to spend the weekend in Baltimore. Ryan Tedford, one of our friends from residency, hosts an annual brunch and then takes a group of 30-40 people to the race. In short, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make a detour from Los Angeles to Baltimore to go to the race! It’s only a 5 hr flight – that’s not even my personal record for going to a sporting event (i.e., opening day for Major League Baseball in Sydney, Australia!).

It was so great to see everyone in Baltimore. Bob picked me up at BWI on Friday (and took me straight to the beer store) and Matt hosted a poker night with the neighborhood gang. Mike Brown didn't have time to make his famous ‘Box ‘o Nachos’ but he brought some amazing home grown peppers and there were more IPAs than you could shake a stick at!

For all of our Malaysian friends, this is what a beer store looks like!

Saturday morning I went on a great run through Robert E. Lee Park and then headed to the Tedfords for their annual Preakness brunch. As always, the food was stellar and the company was even better. After gorging on quiche from Dangerously Delicious Pies and Roxanne’s famous crème-brulee French toast we hopped onto a hired school bus bound for the racetrack. To be honest, most of the day was a blur. I was pretty jetlagged and the Preakness is nothing else if not complete sensory overload. I did manage to place a few bets, and even won a few bucks (Thanks, California Chrome). I also managed to talk my way past security to visit Damian and Alycia (and Alice and Mark) at the Democratic Governor’s Tent in the VIP section of the infield. After the race, the Peltons had a bbq and I was able to catch up with everyone from the neighborhood that I hadn’t yet been able to see. It was so great to see everyone. It honestly felt as if I had never left Baltimore. Thank you all for making it a great trip back!

Brunch at the Tedford's.  I didn't have time to get a searsucker suit so I went Batik instead!

The Mt. Washington crew at the post-Preakness bbq

On Sunday morning I headed out to San Diego to catch up with the conference. Unfortunately, my usual roommate Billy Fischer is on a WHO assignment to investigate the Ebola outbreak in Guinea but Ben Singer was kind enough to let me crash with him at the Hard Rock Hotel. We had a blast. ATS is as much about seeing old friends as it is about the science. And there was some great science at the conference. Thanks to Ben and Leann for helping present some of my posters, and a special thank you to Sonye for inviting me to co-chair a session with her. I would also like to thank everyone for a wonderful birthday celebration. I almost escaped from the bar just before midnight but Ramana was happy enough to remind everyone that it was still my birthday! I suppose I should thank her for that.

Tuesday night the Padres were in town so a group of us went to check out the game. I could not name a single Padres player before the game and I'm not if I could name one now. The stadium was a great place to catch a game though.  

Wednesday was the last day of the conference. Most people cleared out of town by Wednesday morning but I had the privilege of presenting the last poster at the last session on Wednesday afternoon. Being surrounded by intelligent and strong-willed women at home and at work usually means I don't get to have the last word so it was kind of a unique experience!

After the conference I hopped on the surfcoaster train to Encinitas to see our dear friends Cory and Abby. It was awesome to meet their son River and their dog Bruce. Bruce reminded me so much of Penny. We had an excellent bbq steak dinner followed by my last craft ales and then I boarded the Amtrak to LA to catch my flight back to KL. I won't bore you with the details of the flight except to say that I watched two Keanu Reeves’ movies. It was surreal (or maybe sublime – I honestly am too jetlagged to figure that one out).

I'm now back in KL. I have to say that it felt as if I had never left Baltimore but being back with Mary and the kids reminds me that home is truly where the heart is!

Indiana Jones and Lara Croft: Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

With over 40 temples in the UNESCO World Heritage Region, we could spend every waking moment in temples on a visit to Angkor. Actually, our guide's original itinerary had about twelve temples a day. Slow down, buddy. We've got five kids along for this rodeo. So I researched. I talked with families here and read some blogs written by families that toured Siem Reap. I heard a lot about a syndrome called "temple fatigue" and aimed our visit to avoid that nasty bug. I also looked up what tour groups aimed at families have for their itineraries. Then we crafted our trip with temple time, plus a good deal of other fun-filled activities. A few friends here in KL have asked for my itinerary, so I'll include it all at the end of the post.

So can you do Angkor with kids? Yes, absolutely! Siem Reap has built up a huge tourist infrastructure--with plenty of family fun activities. And let me be totally honest, I was so hot and tired after about 3 or 4 temple hours, that I was perfectly okay to pull out "the kids need rest" excuse -- and then park myself at the pool for a nap.

Wednesday: We had a later start (about 9:30 am) because we'd just arrived from KL. We booked a guide and driver ahead of time based on suggestions from friends in KL and TripAdvisor. I highly suggest booking ahead of time. You can totally book from Siem Reap, but having someone meet us there on Day 1 was great. Also, we communicated over email so I'd already laid out expectations (meaning seriously cut down the number of temples and add in huge break times).

Due to Khmer New Year, we opted to do the far away temples of Banteay Srei and Beng Mealea on Day 1. These were great because they got the kids moving and excited. Arriving back at the hotel at 6:00 pm, we had a good hour of pool time before walking to pub street and dinner. Siem Reap has many, many dining options. The area around pub street is stacked with Khmer and western food. I found the food to be South East Asia expensive. I think with all of these food options geared toward the US dollar-based tourist, prices run high. A Khmer curry dinner was $4.50. We'd spend less than half that for a similar dish in KL. If you are traveling from the US, you'll feel it's not expensive for dinner. Traveling from SEA, you'll have sticker shock. The kids enjoyed playing cards and hanging at dinner, especially when they got their own table! After returning to the hotel, the kids collapsed into bed. Monique, Dave, Brian and I played cards in the lounge this night (...and also every night of the trip). After losing a few hands in a row, the silent killer, Monique -- with trusty partner Brian -- swept the next 5 rounds to claim victory over game night for Day 1 (...and also every night of the trip).

The kids preferred mode of transit -- the tuk tuk

Thursday: Angor Wat at sunrise meant that we had finished up this crazy amazing historical site and were back at the hotel and in the pool by 10:00 am. Our hotel had cabanas with hanging beds AND ceiling fans. Lovely! We camped out in two of these cabanas all day and ordered food (and cocktails) from the hotel. After Monique and I returned from our massages, it was time to indulge in a lovely dinner of Khmer BBQ. Khmer food is delightful. The curries have a deep depth of flavor, with lots of lemon grass, similar to Thai cuisine. However, it's not at all spicy hot.

After dinner, we went to Phare-The Cambodian Circus. About 20 years ago, a group of men coming out of refugee camps started a program to reinvigorate arts lost during the civil war and to help orphaned children. Today, the organization has grown in multi-dimensions into a performance, music, and visual arts school. We saw the performance "Panic" which loosely strings together a plot of performers auditioning for a show. The acts are similar but in smaller scale to Cirque Du Soleil, with lots of juggling and acrobatics. Tyler especially liked the spinning fire dude. Violet was invited on stage (she flew from her seat and skipped across ten rows of bleacher seats) to participate in a slight-of-hand trick with the clown. The clown gave her a sneak peak how the trick was accomplished -- and she figured it out and performed it to a huge round of applause! After the show, the performers were super game to take pictures with the kids. Fun night! I highly recommend Phare to anyone traveling to Siem Reap. I did read that the shows alternate and some have more mature themes, so check out the website to see what's playing when you visit. http://www.pharecambodiancircus.org/circus/

Friday: As we mentioned in the Siem Reap blog Part 1, the kids were enjoying the temples, but they were also starting to have a bit of temple fatigue by day 3. So we pulled out the extra magic and rode elephants to the temples on Friday! The long 2 km ride from the east gate to the Bayon was a blast. After mounting the elephant, we crossed a long narrow bridge over the Angkor Thom moat. The bridge, leading to the ancient city wall and gate, is flanked by stunning sculptures from the Hindu story The Churning of the Sea of Milk. Of course, this means that the bridge is jam-packed with tourists -- along with tuk tuks, cars, and vans bringing the tourists up to the Bayon Temple inside the ancient walls. Along the bridge, our mischievous mahout (elephant driver) ran our elephant up alongside a large group of tourists that were lost in a picture taking moment. The elephant flapped her ears, thus gently whacking the picture takers in the backs of their heads. We loved the looks and then laughter of people turning around to see that they were standing beside... an elephant. The girls and I rode together -- check out our on-the-elephant selfie!

We headed back to the hotel about 1:00pm. After saying goodbye to our guide and driver, we jumped in the pool. Monique and I had set up some clay classes for us and the girls. So after swimming and lunch, the ladies tuk tuked over to Khmer ceramics. We did a bit of wheel work, some hand building, and some paint your own. I'd taken a few clay classes back in Baltimore. However, this wheel was driven by a foot pedal. Wow - that's a whole new physical element to throwing a pot. It was a bit frustrating for me because I didn't remember all the steps to throwing and I kept forgetting to use my leg to spin the wheel, so at key points, my wheel would stop spinning. Monique and I are going to look around KL for a wheel class! While we worked on clay...

The girls were so tired during the tuk tuk ride to dinner.

...the guys went to Ankgor Putt, Siem Reap's first putt putt golf experience. (Brian's taking over for a paragrpah or two.) Dave and I were a little skeptical as the tuk tuk turned onto a dirt road and kept going for miles out of town. Our driver had tried to convince us to pay him double to wait for us to finish our round because we would not be able to find a tuk tuk that far out. We thought he was trying to con us so we said no thank you. We saw 0 tuk tuks on the way out to this place. When he dropped us off, we offered him double but he said "sorry" and drove off. Oh well. We've been stranded in worse places in the last 9 months.

The course was small (only 14 holes) but clean and well manicured. Each hole was temple-themed, so it was kinda fun when the boys recognized they just shot a ball over the moat of Ta Prohm, etc. We were the only people on the course which meant the boys had plenty of time for extra shots, mischief, etc. Every third hole or so, there was a doorbell with a sign that said, ring the bell for drinks. $0.50 beers (which meant you had to buy 2 at a time because there was no change!) - not a bad deal on a hot day. Dave was in the driver's seat until he fell apart on the last 2 holes (must have been the $0.50 beers...). Around hole 12 we started wondering how we would get home but that's when a group of 20 Chinese tourists showed up in 10 tuk tuks. Jackpot! We got a great deal playing the driver's off against each other.

Thanks to TripAdvisor, Team Clay and Team Putt Putt had a predesignated dinner meet-up at Jungle Junction. This restaurant is an indoor (movie theater, bouncy houses) / outdoor (sandbox, trampoline) play space for kids, with pleasant outdoor seating and cold beer towers for adults. The staff at Jungle Junction babysits the kids (Monique and Dave's 2-year-old had her own handler) and gather them up for you when it's dinner time. After drinks and a nice dinner, we ordered a second tower and headed up to the family karaoke room. Despite an English karaoke song selection devoid of music written after 1989, we had a total blast. (Who knew the Dutch loved Elton John and Celine Dion so much?) After the adults sang for 30 minutes, we turned on the disco lights and gathered up the children for karaoke/dance party. AWESOME day!

Yes, that is Antonio Banderas in "Desperado" killing a bunch of guys with his guitar case full of weapons as Violet sings Hotel California.  Desperado is a great Eagles' song but I'm not sure the connection was intentional.

Saturday: No more temples on Saturday, but we were still up early to beat the heat. Today we went horseback riding at The Happy Ranch! Cambodian horses are small, so they are ideal for young riders (and short people like me). They also have a 200lb weight limit. The guides were amused that as Americans both Brian and I made the cut and were able to ride (that hadn't happened in a while). Dave and little 2-year-old V joined in the fun by riding in a cart pulled behind a horse (Dave is 6 foot 6 and didn't make the 200 lbs cut). The ride, taking us through villages and fields, gave a glimpse of rural life. The weather was hot, but the ride very pleasant. We trotted for a bit on and off. The ranch provided a team that helped lead the horses, especially for the boys. We did have a little scare when Violet fell off her horse during a trot. The horse reacted perfectly by stopping and move away from her and all the other horses stopped. She was fine, but had a sore little tush. After she dusted off, she got herself right back up on the horse and rode the rest of the ride. After living the old adage of "getting back on the horse," any sore feelings about the horses were washed away when Vi and the other kids helped bathe and groom the horses back at the stable! She did however limp around and milk the fall for frozen yogurt upon our return to town.

The stable was established by a Cambodian from Siem Reap who was working in the US embassy in Cambodia's capital in 1975 when civil war broke out. The US offered him asylum and he then lived in California for 30 years. While in the Golden State, he fell in love with horses. Returning to Cambodia a few years ago, he built and opened this beautiful ranch. I was impressed by The Happy Ranch. The stables are beautiful and horses well trained. The staff was professional in all ways -- prompt email responses to my inquiries, having cool water on hand, taking A in the ring for a few laps after the trail ride because she was still too thrilled to get off. And yes, all the kids (and me too!) want to take riding lessons. Fun fact: Cambodian horses don't eat hay and oats. They eat rice!   http://www.thehappyranch.com/  

 

We wrapped up the day by meeting Toby and his parents for dinner on Pub Street (they just happened to be visiting Siem Reap the same time we were). We found Monique a bottle of Champagne, ate brick oven pizza, and grilled up some crocodile and kangaroo (I'm not a fan).

The kids made it back to the hotel via tuk tuk, but fell asleep in the hallway before the adults could open the rooms. A great end to another amazing trip. We were thrilled to have Monique and Dave join us and hope they are on board for whatever adventures are ahead!

Itinerary

Transit - AirAsia, KL - Siem Reap direct flight
Accommodations - Family room at Memoire D' Angkor in Siem Reap, breakfast included
   http://www.memoiredangkor.com/

Wednesday: 
Guide, Mr. Borey. Arranged with vannak_pin@yahoo.com

Tripadvosor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g297390-d4509186-Reviews-Pin_Vannak_Private_Tours-Siem_Reap_Siem_Reap_Province.html

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PinVannakPrivateTours?ref=hl

* Banteay Srei
* Beng Mealea
* (We'd planned to go to the Landmine Museum, but ran out of time and energy.)
* Swimming
* Dinner

Thursday:
* Sunrise at Angkor Wat. Hotel prepared a to-go breakfast.
* Swimming
* Ta Promh temple
* Phare Circus

Friday:
* Elephant ride into east gate of Angkor Thom to the Bayon. Elephant rides start at 7:30.
* Bayon
* Walk to several other smaller temples, terrace of the elephants, terrace of the leper king
* Swim
* Clay at Khmer cermaics -- http://www.khmerceramics.com/
* Angkor Putt Putt -- http://www.angkorwatputt.com/
* Dinner - Jungle Junction -- http://www.junglejunctionsiemreap.com/main.html

Saturday:
* Two hour horseback trail ride -- http://www.thehappyranch.com/
* Swim
* (We wanted to take an afternoon cooking class, but couldn't get it arranged. Cooking classes at Le Tigre De Papier get excellent reviews.)
* Dinner - Le Tigre De Papier -- http://www.letigredepapier.com/en/

Sunday:
* Early am flight back to KL