Turkey Plate Roadtrip

A few months ago we heard about this great place in Malaysia where you can get seconds on Spode dishes.  Who knew Spode & Mikasa were produced in Malaysia??

We were warned that it was going to be a dirty affair and that you wouldn't necessarily find complete sets...there are just stacks & stacks of dishes that you have to comb through to find what you are looking for.

Tiffany and I were on a mission to get Christmas and Thanksgiving plates.  Vanessa, in no uncertain terms, said she was in no way buying turkey plates.  Keri doesn't cook turkey on Thanksgiving, so she REALLY felt no need to bring home turkey plates.

So we decided, with just 2 weeks left before we all leave for the US, to cram an all day road trip into our schedules!

The drive was not so bad - and customs is just like driving into Mexico, except you cross over a bridge instead of a zoo full of chicklet wielding children.

The bridge connecting Singapore & Malaysia

Once in Malaysia we were all pretty surprised at how pretty the land was.  Rubber trees as far as the eye can see, mountains and not many people around.

Now, similar to Mexico, there is an element of risk.  We have been warned that locals will scope out a car from Singapore and follow them.  They will then egg your windshield, causing you to turn on  your windshield wipers.....for those who are forewarned, this is BAD.  Apparently when you do this, it smears and then immediately hardens on your windshield from the hot sun.  You have no choice but to pull off the road and stop, whereupon the Malaysians will rob you.  Nice.

Another caution from people is to come prepared for poor bathroom facilities.

Tiffany came prepared with the necessary tools for both scenarios:

Jug of "egg wash" and tp

Although we avoided scenario #1, we did hit #2....

Once we arrived at our destination, we were glad to have been prepared for the dirty job.  The stacks of dishes were filthy and it was hot and humid....but we all took off like kids in a candy store!

The cost of these plates was ridiculous!  You could seriously have a different place setting for almost any occasion!  Like...less than a $1 a plate!  So we kinda went a little crazy.

Happy dish shoppers!!

Yeah....just a few dishes.

Now....as for the infamous turkey plates.
Lisa....check
Tiffany....check
Vanessa....changed her mind and bought the turkey plates after all
Keri...still not buying turkey plates for Thanksgiving enchiladas

Keri VERY happy with her purchases - which did NOT include turkey plates

While we were loading up the car, Vanessa and I thought "it's really not right that Keri is not getting turkey plates" and so we proceeded to lay a brutal guilt trip on her.  It went a little like this:

Vanessa:  "you know when your 2 boys get married someday, they aren't ever going to come home for Thanksgiving"


Keri:  "what do you mean?"


Vanessa:  "their wives are going to have grown up having turkey every Thanksgiving, and they will never want to spend their Thanksgivings not having turkey"


Keri (aghast):  "wha...what?"  sense of panic washing over her face


Lisa:  "and the grandchildren....you'll never see them on Thanksgiving"


Vanessa:  "at least if you have the turkey plates, they might consider it...."


Keri:  "really?"


Lisa/Vanessa:  "oh yeah...our girls would never consider a Thanksgiving without some kind of turkey, and the turkey plates would be awesome for the grandkids to look forward to every year....they would WANT to come see you".....oh such mean mean friends.

Keri......

Just thrilled that her friends guilted her into buying turkey plates!

It was a hysterical and memorable day.....
and someday, when we all live in different states and our daily lives have gone on without one another, we will each set our tables on one day a year and recount our adventurous expedition to purchase turkey plates.

Right in your own backyard

Having been in Singapore for 10 months now, I feel as though I have a pretty good handle on the country.  I have explored many many sites, celebrations and neighborhoods.

I have also come to accept a few simple truths:

1)  I cannot, and probably will not ever, understand a Singaporean on my "handphone."  I typically pick up about 1 out of every 10 words and let my brain try to string those few words together.  It normally ends up with my reply of "I am sorry but I am not understanding."  It's English....but it's not English.

2)  I am quite comfortable drinking my diet coke out of a cup which hangs in a plastic baggie.

3)  I have painfully accepted the fact that when I want cash, I can ONLY use an ATM from the same bank that issued my Singaporean ATM card.  They don't believe in charging "non-members" a solid $2.50 per transaction...they simply don't allow them access to their cash.

4)  A quart of organic skim milk costs US$8.00.

5)  The only people you see ever walking down the street in workout clothes are Americans (and yes, I am proudly one of them.)

6)  All outdoor sporting activities are at the mercy of the "lightening siren."  The last 5 weeks in a row, our softball practices have been negatively impacted by the "lightening siren."

7)  Radio stations here are amazingly absent.  My choices are "oldies" or "Chinese"....I couldn't tell you a single song in the current top 20.  I LOVE and appreciate my AppleTV - but sadly they have not yet invented a way to link that to my car radio.  I have come to truly appreciate my iPod and the car adaptor!

8)  If you make a purchase in Singapore, you had better plan on keeping it because they rarely do returns here -and if they do, they it make as painful as possible.


HOWEVER....

Every once in awhile something takes me by surprise.

Today we discovered a little bit of what Singapore used to look like.  Keri, Tiffany and I joined a group of women on a trip to "Pulau Ubin" which is a very tiny island off the northeast side of Singapore.  It is swampy, full of mangroves and all kinds of nature.  There is the last surviving Malay village on the island and is inhabited primarily by an older generation.  From what our guide told us (Raj), another of Singapore's islands was taken over by the military and the government moved all of the native residents into high-rise buildings.  He told us most of them did not live long after leaving their life on the island...city life is not for everyone.

The island does not have running potable water and all electricity is solar or generator driven.  There are fishermen and lots of shop owners renting bicycles to "tourists" like us.

Raj...our tour leader

Approaching Pulau Ubin

How would you like one of these dropping on you?  About 5 inches tip of leg to tip of leg!

Fishing boat...or in this case, a giant tub to hold caught crab

All of Singapore used to look like this

Just a little rustic

The land across the water is Malaysia

Although not a difficult bike ride, it was really hot!

Preparations are under way for Veesak Day, which falls tomorrow (May 17th).  This is one of the most important Buddhist holidays...and is a national day off

Filling up at one of our favorties....YUM!

With all of the travel we have done in such a short time - it was a great surprise to find this right here!