Kuching December 5-8

The first weekend of December we headed to a small town in Malaysia called Kuching.
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza, which was very nice, it had a great breakfast, which is always a treat in South East Asia.
It was a three day weekend and it was the perfect destination because we were all exhausted and needed a calm and relaxing weekend. On Saturday we walked down the boardwalk along the water and explored a few streets. Then we hired a car to take us to the Orangutans. There is an area where the people of Kuching have helped the Orangutans to repopulate themselves. We got to see only one, but it was neat to see them in their ‘natural’ habitat.
That night we went to a nice restaurant for dinner and walked back to our hotel.
Sunday we spent the morning checking out the market and some shops. We went back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon swim and a nap. Late in the afternoon we set out for the other side of the town where we found that every single store was closed, we walked and walked, finally thinking we should just turn back. Steve suggested we walk a bit further to see if we could find a café to stop for a cold beverage (aka beer). So we walked a bit further and ran into one single shop that was open and it sold furniture….uh oh…we went in and the man asked what we were looking for a round table and have been looking for the last year and half so did not expect to find one, he says…well, we do have one…. At this point we are both thinking that it will be really ugly with a base of a carved lion or something like that (no offense if you have one of those!) Anyway, we walk back and see this 6 foot in diameter, round table, about 3.5 inches thick, solid wood, nice, plain base, BEAUTIFUL! After about an hour of discussion and working things out we bought the table! This is a dream of ours, to have a round table in our dining room, so that when we have all of you over for dinner we can see each other and have great conversations! He says that the table weighs 400 kilos (almost 1000 pounds!!!) so we will have to reinforce the floor, but it will be beautiful!Then of course we found a console table and a coffee table….since we were shipping one thing, we thought what the heck!
Monday we wondered around a bit more hitting nice cafes and little shops. It was a nice, slow paced holiday and we were thrilled with our new furniture!

The board walk

Our hotel

Streets and shops

Juice on the run!

Hungry?

The Orang utan!

Street treats!

In the market

The plant that eats stuff...ask Steve...

A long day!

Yum!

The view from our hotel

Madi hugging Mickey and Mini

Madi plays with the cat statues

Some eyebrow action, watch for the video

Kuching means city of cats

Hiding at the airport!

Free samples of vodka at teh airport...gotta love Singapore

Video Clips

Madi helping Daddy put up the tree.

Life in Singapore in November

Here are a few more photos of life in Singapore in November. We had our annual Thanksmas dinner at Steve and Lisa’s. It is a great night of friends and fantastic food!
We also had our staff Christmas party the last Saturday of November.
Thanksmas at Lisa and Steve's. Me and Madi, Calico, Carrie and Ali
Madi has a sucker!

Putting up the tree in November

Madi's first time putting up ornaments and candy canes!

Madi and I

Carrie and I at Thanksmas

Lisa and I

Steven in the kitchen cooking us the feast!

Lisa's creative flair!

Christmas party

The boys and babies!Luke (Hailey), Adam, Shawn(Graden), Steve(Madi), Simon, Chris and Steve

Aynsley

doing our crackers

Kendra with her food baby

Steve and I at the Christmas party

Me, Christina, Charla and Claire

Me and Ms. Carol (the EA that I get to work with!)

Me and Cha Cha!

The Grade One Team, Back row is Nancy Fredin, Me, Deanna Odland, Nancy Purdy, Lucinda Doucette. Front Row: Diana Smith, Sue Williams, Bianca Barber, Claire Wylie and Chrisitna Watters