Phuket and on to Singapore

First of all, I am sorry I have been so slow with updates! I just realized it has been about two weeks. To make up for this, I have added pictures from both Ko Lanta and Phuket, and also from Singapore. These albums can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bridgetholmstrom. Please check them out if you have a few minutes!

We spent about 5 nights on Ko Lanta, where I was able to take my cooking class. I learned to make homemade Chili paste, Coconut Chicken Satay, Stir-fried shrimp and vegetables in chili sauce, Tom Yum (a really good seafood soup!), and Red snapper in Chili paste. We got to eat everything we cooked, and it was all delicious! I have a lot of other dishes I am looking forward to trying at home as well. My cooking class also went over the major and minor Thai spices, herbs and flavoring agents, so I think I will be well=prepared to try new dishes :) Below is a picture of me with my dish of Tom Yum.

Here is the sunset our first night on the Ko Lanta beach

We went to a snake show the day we rented a scooter to explore Ko Lanta. Below is a picture of me posing with a snake. Yuck!

James and I liked Ko Lanta, as it was more of a town (there were real cars on the island, not just scooters! And a paved road!) and our hotel also had a beautiful infinity pool and a tv in our room. When we moved on to Phuket for 3 days, we were able to watch a lot of inauguration coverage on TV. We had three news channels - BBC, Fox News, and Aljazeera, so we switched between them. Needless to say, we were happy we were not in DC to witness the crowds. Aside from the 5am bar nights, it would not have been fun to be there!

We went on to Singapore and spent our time in the city while there. As it had been about 5+ weeks since we were in a well developed city, we ended up seeing 4 movies in theaters. Singapore was much more expensive than we originally realized, but we tried to see a lot of monuments and famous areas such as the fort, Orchard shopping district (The Champs Elyse's/Spanish steps area/Rodeo Drive of Singapore), National Museum, Little India (where we stayed), Chinatown, etc. Beer was surprisingly expensive unless you drank it during happy hour, as was food. Restaurants ran $10-20USD per meal, but in Singapore there are things called "Hawker centers" which are areas filled with low-cost food options. These typically ran $2-5 USD, so we were able to try traditional Singaporean dishes and also had some good Indian and Chinese meals.

Below is a picture of Parliament (long building to the right) and the City Hall (domed building).

Here is a picture of James (Stanley), standing under the "Stanley Street" sign! The picture was my idea of course, not his :)


I hope that everyone at home is having a good winter and enjoying the snow! I almost miss it... almost! Email me, and don't forget to check out the pictures!

-Bridget