November 10, 2009

Somethin' New

New photos from mom and dad's vacation in SE Asia under the summer photos!
*** NEW PHONE NUMBER: +855978772952 ***

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Jim and Jan(a) in the Jungle

True to Kimmel traveling tradition, mom and dad’s trip to South-East Asia started out on the rocks. And I don’t mean with a twist. Their hotel reservation the night of their departure got bungled, I almost missed my flight because my credit card wouldn’t accept the airport departure tax, and the preceding week had been the usual mess of reservation confirmation, double checking of flights, and last-minute planning. By the time the three of us sat down for lunch at the Dan Ryan’s—of all restaurants—outside Singapore’s Regent Hotel, I would have sworn it was just like every other family vacation: if you can make it to the destination (car muffler, lawn chairs, sanity still intact) you’re probably in for one fabulous vacation. And of course, it was.

Ok, so the vacation didn’t exactly start out in the jungle…unless you want to count Hong Kong and Singapore as part of a very posh urban jungle. Mom and dad spent a few days in Hong Kong exploring on their own and recovering from jet-lag before we met up on the 31st (just in time for Halloween) in Singapore. As always, Singapore was a blur of good food, good shopping, and fine city-life. I was especially excited this time to see the city had already begun decorating for Christmas and was slowly turning from a tropical paradise into a very festive winter-wonderland. Who would have ever guessed? That, combined with the opportunity to celebrate Halloween-in full costume and all-was almost more than I could take.

We spent that afternoon catching up over a very American meal, window shopping, and pulling together my last-minute Halloween costume. Goy and I scrapped the Brangelina idea and decided to go as the birds and the bees instead (although there aren’t as many photos as I’d like because the club was packed from wall-to-wall). Halloween is one of my absolute favorite holidays, and I always say you can judge a crowd or a city by its costumes: and the costumes at Butter Factory were to die for. We rubbed shoulders with everyone who’s anyone from Obama and Spartacus to the Mona Lisa, and even a giant toilet seat! I have to admit, it put many packaged Part-City costumes to shame making their debut at Hamilton College.

The next day, mom, dad and I went to the zoo. Singapore’s zoo is known for its free-range exhibits where the animals live in open habitats without bars, much closer to what they’d experience in nature. Getting to the zoo has been somewhat of a mission since my very first visit to Singapore. Tara and I missed the opportunity the first time after a night of partying (though Tara, Dan, and Deidre all agreed my obsession with eating breakfast with the orangutans was a complete waste of money and would not be participating!!!), my second attempt got rained out so, as they say: third time’s the charm. Mom and dad DID cave in and we all had breakfast with the orangutans, which was fabulous, and then made our way through the other exhibits. My favorites were the orangutans of course, the white tigers, and Philip the seal (who even gave me a kiss!). Unfortunately, the giraffe exhibit was closed, which is always my absolute favorite. After we had our fill of wildlife, we headed back to civilization for dinner at a restaurant called the White Rabbit in an old restored church, complete with stained-glass windows. Just to give you a “taste,” I had baked macaroni and cheese in a black-truffle cream sauce. And don’t even think the words “Kraft dinner.”

On our last full day, we went to Sentosa Island, where we checked out the beach, tikki huts, and golf club. We just missed the Barclay Open by ONE day. But dad did manage to get a few souvenirs of the event. It was the perfect day for the beach—and even mom had to admit the water was as warm as a bath. In the afternoon, we had high tea at the Regent and chatted for hours while we sampled finger sandwiches, scones, beautiful cream pastries, and some excellent lapsang sochun tea. After that delicious late afternoon snack, dinner was a negotiable, so we headed to the Raffles Long Bar where mom and dad tried the famous Singapore Sling. Their reaction was the same as mine – not too favorable, but….. “when in Rome.” After the parentals headed back to the hotel in preparation for our 3 a.m. wakeup call and 6 a.m. flight, Goy and I walked along the river front near the Esplanade and Singapore Flyer, and then sat at a little cafĂ© on the waterfront looking over the harbor until late into the evening.

As predicted, that 6 a.m. flight was a killer, but we arrived at our hotel in Phnom Penh just in time for breakfast before we headed down to the river front to check out the last day of the boat races celebrating Water Festival. I thought dad was really having flashbacks to ‘Nam by the time we sat down on the roof-top terrace of the FCC to enjoy lunch. Mom and dad both took all the chaos and humanity of Cambodia in stride and took to the tuk-tuks and crowds like white on rice. Although I was eating very little of that during this vacation! That afternoon, we met up with Tara and Tiffany for hors d’ouvres, drinks, and dinner before all of us crashed in our very comfortable beds.

The next morning we visited the Peace Corps office, the National Museum, strolled around town, and caught a late lunch at the FCC (dad’s practically an official correspondent now). We headed for drinks at the Elephant Bar and tapas at Pacharan to top off a fabulous—though short—trip to Phnom Penh. The next morning we caught a late flight to Siem Reap and embarked on the last leg of our journey. It really started to hit me when I realized we had spent more days together than we had left. How it is that time seems to speed up when you’re with people you love?

We stayed at a resort called the Angkor Palace at Siem Reap and truly, when on the grounds you could have been anywhere … but probably not Cambodia. The pristine gardens, luxury spa, and gigantic pool gave no hint of the crazy hustle and bustle just outside the entrance. It was exactly what a vacation should be. 100% relaxing. We spent our first day exploring the resort grounds and then indulging in a 5 course (not so traditional) traditional Khmer dinner. The flavors were exactly like what you could expect to find in a typical village, but the combination and preparation of the food was very creative and absolutely exquisite.

The next day we got an early start to the temples and visited “the big three.” We actually did the reverse visit of what Steve and I did during his visit, hitting Angkor Wat first, followed by Bayon, and lastly the temple from Tomb Raider with the strangling tree roots. As always, the temples were extremely impressive, and it was great to share this unique part of Cambodian culture with the folks. After months of pictures, stories, and phone calls—they finally got to see the real deal. In the evening, we cleaned up and headed to Temple restaurant for a much more traditional Khmer meal and to watch the dancing, followed by a trip to the night-market. Sorry to disappoint you though, Steve, no city-wide power outages this time.

The next morning, we headed to the floating village on the Tonle Sap Lake. This one is much more “touristy” than the floating village near my site, but we did get to see some very interesting fish and crocodile farms, and meet some local orphan children. The floating village is such a unique place, I think mom and dad really enjoyed the experience. In the afternoon dad and his alter ego Jack Bauer got lost in the pages of Gray Man while mom and I had some pampering at the spa before sharing our last meal together.

It was hard to believe the trip was actually over as I stood at the airport waving them on to the next part of their journey (first to Vietnam and then Japan). From the minute of their arrival to the minute they left, they had fit seamlessly into my life here—meeting my friends, experiencing all the things I love and get frustrated about, talking and laughing together—almost as if they had been here the whole time and weren’t on vacation at all. When they left, I remember feeling that not having them was suddenly very out of place.

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