Hello! We are the McClain family and this blog is the way that we document all of our incredible adventures. In 2016 we moved to Singapore and ever since then, we've gone on various adventures. We've gone to Thailand, Vietnam, South Africa, Cambodia, and more are coming. This blog was made to share these experiences with others so they can know how other countries really are.

Cambodia Day #5 | 5 Day Cambodia Series

Cambodia Day #4 | 5 day Cambodia Series

Cambodia Day #3 | 5 Day Cambodia Series

Cambodia Day #2 | 5 day Cambodia Series

The Snake Scarfer

So, walking on the streets of Siem Reap in Cambodia, my father encountered a boy selling snakes, spiders, and scorpions as snacks. These delicacies were cooked but still were chilling to look at. My dad didn't think that the boy selling the creepy crawlers and slithers had the guts to eat one, so he dared the boy. The boy said he would eat one if he was paid one dollar. My father agreed to the bet. In less than three seconds, the boy then scarfed down a snake. My dad was shocked and disgusted but paid the dollar. The boy had to get his money.

Market Lady

So, In Vietnam, we were walking to the market for a cooking class. We had made some banana leaf salad and corn soup. We enter the market and there are fish heads, dead frogs, millworms, and the smell just hits you walking in. A lady chopping a chicken heart looked at my dad and yelled, "I hate you!" We were pretty confused. Then she said, "I love you!"Which was also pretty confusing. We paused, looked at the tour guide, and the tour guide asked, "You go with her now?" in a serious manner. We laughed at the occasion,  but I started to think. In Vietnam, if you say I love you to somebody, do you just go with them and leave your family for a stranger? I don't know. The occasion was hilarious though.

Cambodia day #1| 5 day Cambodia Series

Thailand Photos

Beatboxing

After a long day of touring townships and visiting Robben Island (the prison where Nelson Mandela was held), we were waiting outside to be picked up by my dad. Being in a completely new place, it took a while for my dad to get there so I just began beatboxing. Prior to that, while visiting the townships I learned there was a tribal dialect referred to as Xhosa which consists of a lot of clicking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trq_gIe1v04 (Video on how to speak Xhosa). Anyway, I was beatboxing when a woman looked up at me, at that point, I just remembered that Xhosa existed. I thought I may have offended her, but then she just looked down and smiled. I was alleviated. The moral of this story is even when they're not words, be careful what comes out of your mouth, you might be saying something.

Fishing and Rice

Our time spent in Vietnam was incredible, especially when we went fishing. We were staying at a village and after we finished harvesting a sifting rice, we rode bikes over to a pond. Typically when you think of fishing you think of a rod and a fishing line, nope. In this village, we put on high waisted suits and gloves, to protect us from leeches, and were given baskets, we were supposed to plop down the baskets in hopes of trapping a fish. To my surprise, we caught about 5 fish which was later served to us at dinner along with rice we sifted. First, we put the rice in this machine which I this separated the outer shell of the rice grains, then we put in this simple machine that looked like a teeter totter, this mashed the rice into finer grains. Finally, we sifted the rice in a large basket, we were told that the white part's of the rice is what we were going to eat. When we got back to our temporary residence, the fish was brilliantly prepared along with very delicious rice. Kam Un (thank you) to all those who made this trip incredible.