Ray Whyde – The Chicken Scratches

2025 – 2nd Annual Singapore Book Club Meeting

by Ray WhydeNovember 18, 2025February 10, 20262

At our 1st Singapore Bookclub Meeting in Istanbul in 2024, we chose to go back to Singapore for the 2nd meeting. The meeting was hosted by Jane and Sunder, before they leave Singapore for London. What a great get-together those of us able to attend enjoyed. Pat and I arrived on November 7, after a week in South Korea with Annelise and Gloverson. Gulcin and Phil were already at our hotel, Citadines Balestier. With Jane and Sunder, the attending members were all in SG. Unfortunately Susan & Woody, Jenni & Eric, and Elise & Renato, were unable to join us. …

2025 – South Korea (1-6 November)

by Ray WhydeNovember 7, 2025February 11, 20264

On this trip our ultimate destination was Singapore for the 2nd International Singapore Book Club Alumni Meeting. Looking for flights to SG, we noticed that Delta had a direct flight to Inchon, South Korea with a partner flight on Korean Air to Singapore. We have always said that a long flight for 1 week doesn’t work for us, but if we can visit another country, either before or after, we will extend the trip. Then we checked with our friends, Annelise and Gloverson, whom are also part of the book club, to see if they wanted to join us in …

2025 Ireland (30 Aug – 7 Sep)

by Ray WhydeSeptember 9, 2025March 4, 20260

From London Pat and I flew to Shannon, Ireland to meet my son David and his friend, Martin. While we were in the air for a very short flight, Michelle and Claire were flying back to Salt Lake City. We met David at the Shannon airport and took a bus into Limerick and the Woodfield House Hotel. We spent a rainy hike around the city with a stop at The Treaty City Brewery. Good brews and a nice atmosphere – no pretention here. Later in the day Martin, who flew into Dublin from his home in California, arrived by bus …

2025 London (23-29 Aug)

by Ray WhydeAugust 30, 2025February 11, 20260

This trip to London included my daughter Michelle and granddaughter Claire. This would be Claire’s first time in London so we tried to organize the trip around what she wanted to do. Little did we know how many thrift stores would be involved! We stayed at the Edward Hotel in Paddington. In a previous visit to London Pat and I had stayed in the Paddington area close to Paddington Station with easy access to the Underground transportation system especially the Elizabeth Line and easy access to Heathrow Airport. The following are highlights of our trip (in no particular order): Around …

2024 First Annual Singapore Book Club Alumni Meeting (Oct)

by Ray WhydeOctober 27, 2024December 18, 20251

When we lived in Singapore (2014-2016), we joined the Friends of the Museums’ Couples Book Club. In October seven couples from that book club gathered together in Istanbul for another meeting. The couples: Susan and Woody (US), Pat and Ray (US), Gloverson and Annelise (US/Brazil), Gulcin and Phil (Australia), Jenni and Eric (US), Jane and Sunder (SG), and Elise and Renato (US). The idea for meeting in Istanbul came about because a few of us wanted to meet Gulcin and Phil in the city where Gulcin was born. Once we decide on dates (11-18 October 2024), other couples gladly decided …

Alaska (July 2024)

by Ray WhydeJuly 31, 2024February 10, 20262

Our friends, Annelise and Gloverson Moro, needed to visit one more state to have been to all 50 U.S. states – Alaska! They invited us to go along. We met the Moros, when we lived in Singapore, and have been friends ever since. From Singapore, they moved to the U.S.A. and are now returning to Brazil. We don’t know many Americans who have been to all 50 states – in fact, Pat and I have not been to all of them. What an accomplishment! The Moros drove to Salt Lake City and we all flew to Anchorage, Alaska where we …

Europe 2023: Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius

by Ray WhydeSeptember 25, 2023November 14, 20233

Pat and I decided to visit the Baltic countries this year, with stops in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After these, we extended our vacation into Poland and Slovakia (covered in another post). We planned the trip for the full month of September. We left Salt Lake City on September 1st and returned on September 30th. Helsinki, Finland (2-6 Sept) We arrived in Heksinki about 5:30 PM, after a 5 hour layover in the Amsterdam airport. We bought HSL 72-hour, public transport tickets (covering buses, trams, local trains and a ferry to Suomenlinna) at a convenience store before catching a …

Dublin, Ireland (29 Nov-7 Dec 2022)

by Ray WhydeDecember 17, 2022November 9, 20232

This year, for my birthday and Christmas, Pat asked where I’d like to go. Dublin, Ireland, was my immediate response. We had planned a trip to Ireland, with one night in Dublin, before Covid-19 played havoc with everyone’s plans. That trip was to be with David, Michelle and Claire, with everyone flying into Dublin, but immediately heading to the West Coast. Only Pat and I were to stay one night in Dublin. As usual, we flew Delta, through Boston. When we arrived at the Dublin Airport (DUB), we stopped at a SPAR (convenient store) and purchased two 7-day Leap Visitor …

Hops around Park City (2022)

by Ray WhydeOctober 15, 2022November 9, 20230

The Summit Land Conservancy and Park City’s Wasatch Brew Pub teamed up to harvest wild hops around Park City, Utah, in August, culminating with a party in October to sample the beer made from these wild hops. On August 18, a group met to look for hops between Park City and the Judge mine to the south. This particular hike was a recon hike to check for hop, which would be harvested in a couple of weeks. Along the way, starting at the top of Prospect Avenue (which was one steep road!), on the Prospect Trail, we passed several old …

Europe (July 2022)

by Ray WhydeAugust 23, 2022November 9, 20231

We left Oslo, Norway, on 2 July heading to Copenhagen and then on to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich, Brussels and London. This is the first time we have done a European trip without renting a car – we are using trains between cities. During planning, we picked Eurail as the supplier of our various tickets. Unfortunately, they were swamped with pent-up demand from all the people who were getting back to travel after Covid. We were part of that demand. However, Eurail was not prepared and didn’t have sufficient support staff available to answer questions and fix problems. It didn’t …