Candeto Family Vacation–Singapore/Thailand Edition!

**There are so many pictures for this entry, they are in one large picture gallery at the bottom of the entry:).

Three days after Happy Meal left the fair island nation of Singapore, Steve Candeto came to town!  Five days later, the rest of the Candeto and Newkirk clan followed.  Steve, like Happy Meal, arrived very late one evening.  John and I went to the airport to pick him up, brought him back to our cosy little apartment and we all went to bed.  Steve is 6’2″, I think, so you can imagine him on a tiny pull out couch.  He is such a trooper:).

Much to our surprise, Steve woke up and was ready to go at around 9:30 the next morning!  We met John for lunch at Holland Village and then were off to explore Singapore!  Steve saw Chinatown and then we walked to the Central Business District and all the way over City Hall to catch the MRT back home (that walk took us about an hour and a half).  He saw a lot of Singapore that day!  For dinner, we took him to an HDB estate (HDBs are public housing here–about 80% of the population lives in them) to a hawker that serves American food!!!  The place called Botak Jones (Botak means bald in Bahasa Malaysia) serves burgers, french fries, and has some of the best cajun spice you’ll find in southeast Asia;).  After dinner, Steve crashed at around 8:30.  I knew jetlag would get him eventually—haha:).

The next day, John and Steve went off to Indonesia for a “guys” weekend at a beautiful little place called Telunas.  I’ll have to get John to write and entry to tell all about that!  I spent the weekend in Singapore reading Harry Potter!  Once Steve and John returned, we had a glorious meal at a restauarant whose opening we have long been anticipating.  That’s right, world.  Singapore has a Chili’s!!!!!  No longer do we have to drive to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to get some Tex Mex goodness.  I cannot tell you how fabulous those chips and salsa were after so many months without them.  I was dancing in my chair as I ate.  Going to Chili’s was definitely blog worthy.  Ask Steve.

The next day, we prepared for the rest of the Candeto family to get into town!  John went off to work and Steve and I spent a few hours by the pool.  We sat in the shade the entire time and I still managed to get a pretty nasty sunburn.  Fair skin and the equator do not mix.  The sun comes after me even in the shade–it hates me!  That night, we were off to the airport to pick up Robin, Lucy, Matt and Caroline after their long journey across the Pacific!  After a quick snack, we took them to their hotel and we were all off to sleep!

It wasn’t until about 3:00pm the next day that people began to wake up–changing 12 time zones is rough!  Once everyone got up and going, it was dinner time!  John and I took everyone to the hawker centre by the river where we had stingray, pineapple fried rice, chicken wings, satay, and even some chicken rice!  This was the initial introduction to Singaporean food–and everyone seemed to really enjoy it!  Matt even ate some of the sting ray skin!

The next afternoon–we were off to beautiful Phuket, Thailand!  We almost missed our flight.  The girls went to the restroom before the “first call” for boarding and five minutes later, they made the “last call.”  It wasn’t until we caught up with the boys who had run up to the gate carrying all of our purses that they informed us that “last call” lasted about fifteen minutes.  So, in reality, the first call is the last call, in case you ever fly Tiger Airways out of Singapore.  Gotta love it:).  Upon arriving at the Marriott Mai Khao Beach Resort in Phuket, Thailand, we were greeted with beautiful flower necklaces, cool scented towels, and fruit punch!  It was a wonderful beginning to a wonderful trip!  We were then shown to our villa:  a gorgeous two bedroom, two bathroom villa with a pool view and an ocean view if you looked over a few one story villas in front of us.  It really was paradise.

The next few days were spent relaxing by the pool, eating, and bonding as a family.  We hadn’t seen each other in about five months so some catch up time was crucial.  We ate so much wonderful food–we had seafood (fish served with the bones and the head) some amazing Thai dishes, Italian food that was to die for, and even some yummy bakery items and smoothies every morning for breakfast.  Looking through our pictures, I realized that most of them are of us eating!  We even had a night where we played “Battle of the Sexes.”  I am happy to report that the girls team DESTROYED the boys team.  No matter how much they saw the game was rigged–don’t believe them:).  I’m still enjoying the memory of them trying to work out the meaning of the word “exfoliation.”

One day, in Thailand, we took a van to Phuket Town and Patong Beach so that we could see part of the real Thailand.  Phuket Town was interesting–most of what we saw included markets, clothing shops, and a market that smelled like month old fish.  We only stayed there for about 45 minutes.  For lunch, we ventured into Patong Beach where we found a restaurant that served Thai food, American food, and even “Maxican” food.  It was beautiful–we sat outdoors on the beach and ate our delicious meal.  Caroline and I even had drinks in a coconut.  Matt, however, learned the hard way that when a Thai person tells you that something is spicy, it, indeed is spicy!!!!  Following lunch we took a scorching walk down the beach where we saw people parasailing.  Normally, people are harnessed to the sail, put in the water, then pulled into the air by the boat.  No no.  In Patong Beach, they were launching them from the shore with a worker hanging from the sails.  He just jumps around from rope to rope while the parasail is in midair–no harness or anything.  Then, as the person comes into land on the beach, the worker jumps off of the ropes, lands on the beach, then helps the person down.  The precision was incredible, but we couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if that worker were to fall off of the ropes while the parasail was at maximum altitude.  After our walk, we continued through Patong Beach until we found a lovely Margarita bar, had a beverage and cooled off for a bit.  Then back to the hotel and the delightful pub that we found:).

The rest of our days in Thailand were spent reading, relaxing, and enjoying the beautiful surroundings.  It rained on the last two days–so we remained inside, watched movies and enjoyed each other’s company.  Our last morning there was my 24th birthday!  I woke up and got ready then was asked to go into the main room where the whole family had gathered to sing “Happy Birthday” to me and give me birthday gifts!  I was not expecting that–especially not in Thailand!  It was a great beginning to a wonderful birthday!  Once we were back in Singapore, I came back to our apartment and discovered what John had prepared for my birthday (he had to come back to Singapore two days prior for work).  He had flowers on our coffee table, three different kinds of chocolate waiting for me, a picture of himself on the TV holding a sign that said “Happy Birthday”, and Louis Armstrong playing.  Plus, there was a great birthday cake for me to bring to my birthday dinner at ……..Chili’s!!!!!!!!!  Dinner was amazing!  We definitely had chips and salsa and I had the most wonderful salad followed by the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted!!!  Rev even came out to celebrate!!  It was a perfect ending to a fabulous birthday!

The next day was Robin’s birthday!!!  We decided to head to the Bird Park since she loves birds!  When we arrived, we immediately sought refuge in the Penguin Encounter because it was so hot outside!  After that we went to a “Birds ‘n Buddies” show where they showcased different types of birds and their special talents!  They had a bird that could count to ten in English and Chinese and could sing songs in English, Mandarin, and Malay!  He even sang Happy Birthday!!!  After this show, we immediately set off for the “Birds of Prey” show that featured hawks, eagles, seagulls, falcons, etc.  It was actually pretty scary how close the birds would fly overhead.  Robin and I even had a close call that found us ducking down and grasping onto one another!  We certainly didn’t want to be attacked by bird of prey!  The highlight of the show, however, was Lucy volunteering to feed one of the birds!  She took a sling shot, loaded up some raw meat, then shot it straight into the air where one the birds flying overhead caught it!  She did it on the first shot–one of the boys who also volunteered couldn’t do that;).  After the show, we wandered around several of the aviaries and got a closer view of birds.  Steve and I even learned that certain pretty, colorful birds will bite your finger if the opportunity is presented.

That night, we went to Pete’s Place–a favorite Italian restaurant of John and mine.  Since Robin loves Italian food, we thought it would be the perfect place!  The dinner was wonderful and then Robin got to open her presents!  Caroline is great at planning ahead–instead of bringing all of Robin’s presents with her to Singapore, she took pictures using her digital camera, then showed them to her at dinner!!!  We even had a cake with candles to celebrate at the end!  After that, we had had a busy couple of days–everyone was exhausted–it was time for bed!!!

The next few days around Singapore flew by!  We went shopping in Chinatown and in the Arab Quarter.  We even got to explore the Buddhist Temple and the Sultan Mosque.  Lucy got to go in all the brand name stores on Orchard Road (think 5th Ave.) and Caroline got to explore a Japanese food market!  We even had a lovely dinner poolside at the Marriott one night.

One Sunday, their final day in Singapore (which was also our 1 year wedding anniversary:), we all met at church and then after, went to an Indian restaurant for lunch!  After that, we had a leisurely afternoon, then headed to the Night Safari!!!!  The Night Safari is amazing!  We saw a show with animals we had never seen before (except when John and I had seen the show previously) and saw a tribe from Boreno eat fire, juggle fire, and generally do awesome things with fire!  We then took a tram ride around the park to view animals in their “natural habitats.”  They were rowdy that night–zebras were fighting, deer were fighting.  It was crazy!  We got off just long enough to see the flying squirrel (we actually got to see it midair!!!) and the bat enclosure.  I’m still amazed at how close you can get to those bats.  After all of this fun, we had to say goodbye to the Candetos.  Their flight was to leave at 6:30 the next morning–so we had to say goodbye that night.  We will get to see them again very soon though:). We can’t wait!!!

We were truly blessed with a wonderful visit and can’t wait for many more in the future!  Thanks for coming all the way over here!!!  See you all in a few days!!!:)

One more entry to come–my trip to Indonesia and a general life update!!!  Enjoy these photos:)