New York - Home Again!

I started posting photos today from our Singapore trip. It will take some time, but at least I've started :)

Here are some quotes I can identify with right now:

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and avoid the people, you might better stay home." James Michner

"Not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkein

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." Mark Twain

"An airplane is a great place to diet." Wolfgang Puck

and although Al Gore is definitely NOT on my list of people I prefer, I like his:

"Airplane travel is nature's way of making you look like your passport photo."

His video was on channel 24 at the hotel 24/7...

On a happy note, check out freebirthdaytreats.com to see what you can get in your area for FREE on or around your big day. There's gotta be a positive side to aging!

love you!

Goodbye Singapore

My brother Eric called around 1 a.m. We thought it was our wakeup call so it took a few seconds to register that someone was on the other end. He called to let me know that my mom wasn't doing very well with her health. It was a difficult phone call for him to make and for me to receive. It appears that Mom's mission in live is almost completed and that soon she will be reunited eternally with Dad. Good news for the two of them, I know, but I will miss being able to talk with her and be with her. I love her. She's one of the greatest blessings I've received in my life.

Our trip home went smoothly all along the way. It was way too long, but the only way to get there and back is by paying the price of two vvveeerrrryyyy long flights. And they treated us well and fed us well. We slept intermittently; Roger did some work and I read a great book about temples. We bought some treats in the Tokyo airport - don't have a clue what they are called or what's in them because all the writing is in Japanese, but we had samples and decided to share with people back home!

We arrived back in NY a little after 3 p.m. Travelled via AirTrain, subways (with a 4 block walking detour), and MetroNorth train back to New Hamburg where our car was waiting. Along the way I talked to Karen who was staying with my mom and then had the privilege of talking with Mom and hearing her say to me, "Linda, I missed you. I love you. I love you, Linda." Those words brought my tears and my gratitude. We arrived back here just before 8 in time for me to catch almost all of the General Relief Society broadcast.

Singapore Day 12 - Friday

Our last day in Singapore began lazily. After Roger left for work I repeated my routine a week earlier or rotating between laundry, exercise, laundry, and swimming. We decided we'd be a lot happier to open luggage with clean clothes when we got home. I packed as much as possible before heading out for one last walk across the street and over to the East Coast Park to walk along the beach. I headed in the opposite direction of where we usually walked, until I reached the Carl's Jr. that Sarah had told me about last week. Much to my own surprise what looked best on the menu was a garden salad. (I think it might have been the only healthy menu choice, and I realized I hadn't had a salad since we arrived in Singapore.) They have a very healthy diet, but we haven't eaten very many vegies while we've been here.

I decided to explore and see if I couldn't find another underpass to cross back from the park and found one almost immediately. Only problem was that it didn't take me to any walkway. Instead I walked between the busy East Coast Parkway and a construction area. I wasn't worried because we felt safe the whole time we've been here. But the closer I got to the end of the construction site, the less possibility I could see to walk out to the road. In fact, I had to step up onto the concrete and hold onto a rail by a body of water. It was like a canal, but it came from the beach so I'm not sure what you call it. I could see the sidewalk at the end, but as I approached it I realized I had to step over a gap and up onto an even higher concrete to step up onto the sidewalk. It wasn't pretty and I was glad I didn't have an audience. In fact, I'm not sure why I recorded it here. :)

I walked around the many shops that are in the area of the mall we've frequented while we were here. The variety and quantity of items was quite impressive... toys, paper products, eye glasses, purses, clothing, food, health products, a small wet market like the huge one I was in yesterday... and much more. After browsing for quite a while I went into the mall a final time and purchased a few items for the trip home.

Roger came home with an avacado drink for me from LiJun. It was similar to avacado batidas that we had on our missions in Brasil, a blend of avacado, milk, sugar, and this one also was flavored with chocolate. It was pretty tasty, but no time to drink it before we joined LiJun, Lei (who took us out last Friday night), and Jeff who drove his car. All 3 are of Chinese descent, speak fluent Mandarin, and are very generous and fun to be with. We drove over the racecourse for the Formula 1 Racing that started that same evening. (The highway we were on was an overpass w/ the highway for the race directly below.)

They took us to an Indian restaurant so we could enjoy prata. That's a bread that looks a lot like a flour tortilla, but is more moist and pliable. We had 4 types - plain, cheese, mushroom, and egg - which means that's what the prata had inside it. They cut each one up into bite size pieces and then we helped ourselves to some of each. Each of us had our own bowl of curry sauce which we dipped the prata pieces into. I pretty much used my hands even though I'd been given a fork and spoon. This is one of the few meals we did not eat with chopsticks. We also had mee goreng maggie (ramen noodles coated in a sauce similar to barbecue but better) and nasi laken (coconut rice with chile sauce, fried minnows, and fried chicken on the side. In the hawker-style restaurants customers just keep ordering more food throughout the evening, anything at any time, until you decide you're done.

The girls wanted us to have a coconut drink again, but we eventually convinced them that we really preferred lime juice. LiJun gave us another gift, which we later found out was coconut cookies that are a lot like almond cookies, and very yummy. She and Lei went home by bus and Jeff drove us back to the hotel so we could finish packing and get to sleep. I'd already arranged for a wakeup call at 3 a.m. and a taxi at 3:30 to take us the airport.

Singapore Day 11 - Thursday

We woke up to the telephone alarm - Roger set the telephone to ring to awaken us. We both got up at 6 and I was out of the hotel at 7, much earlier than other days. As I walked across the walkway to the other side of the street to catch the bus, I saw Bus #36, the one I needed, approaching. I ran down the stairs and toward the bus as I watched it stop and then close it doors. But the kind bus driver saw me running and stopped again, opened his doors, and I climbed aboard. After thanking him I asked him to let me know when we were at the stop I needed. The drivers have been so helpful every time.

I sat down in a seat in the back of the bus and followed where we were going on my map, something I do to help me know when we're getting close. After about 15 minutes I noticed that it seemed to be getting darker outside. And about 5 minutes later I saw a few drops of rain on the bus windows. That's when I remembered that I'd left my umbrella in the hotel room. About 5 minutes later I alighted from the bus in a light rainfall, and hurried to a spot where there was a canopy over the sidewalk to wait for the rain to letup. Unfortunately, just the opposite happened and within a few minutes rain was pouring all around me. I waited a little longer and finally decided to use one of my Singapore pamphlets as a head covering and headed out.

I was headed to the Botanic Garden to meet Tricia, the wife of a guy Roger works with to do something like Tai Chi. After a 5-7 minute walk I saw her waiting for me with a large umbrella. By then I was quite saturated, but I appreciated the umbrella just the same. We had a brisk walk another 5-10 minutes to join the class under a pavillion. I found out we were being taught Yi Shou Gong and Luk Tung Kuen by an Asian women. She taught mostly in English but also in Cantonese. It was interesting. I believe the purpose was to find the energy in our bodies and restore it. I'll have to do some research when I'm home. It was similar to Yoga in that it was refreshing and invigorating at the same time.

Tricia introduced me to Sue, another ex-pat from Britian (Tricia is from Ireland) and we went to the cafe at the Botanic Garden for coffee (and orange juice)and visiting afterward. After a while another woman joined us, but I'm not sure where she was from. After an hour of visiting Tricia and I walked to the National Orchid Garden. It was filled with orchids of almost every color, shape, and size. They were gorgeous and so was the smell. We also saw plants that digest insects and according to Tricia even rats. It was all very beautiful and I took lots of photos.

Then Tricia drove me to their home. It was my first time to sit in the front seat of a car with the driver on the right side, and kind of freaked me out from time to time. She had no problem, but told me she's driven more this way than on the left. She drove me to an area where many ex-patriots who don't want to be in condos live. It was a very nice home, and had a warmer feeling than living in a high-rise buidling affords. The climate is so perfect almost all the time that they have couches and tables inside and out. I haven't seen carpeting in any home or condo here; they all have marble or tile or wood floors with or without rugs.

Tricia introduced me to Emily, a helper who lives with them and takes care of many household needs - laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc. Emily is from the Philipines, very petite, quiet, and friendly. They hired her after another family who were close friends moved away and couldn't take her with them. Tricia and I each showered and dressed for the day and then had a slice of banana cake Emily had made. While we ate we talked about what to do the rest of the day and then told Emily we were leaving. She had been out in back kitchen (there is one inside and one outside) making curry puffs, so we sat back down and ate some of those before leaving. I don't usually care for curry, but these were quite wonderful. They looked a lot like empanadas and were filled with diced potatoes and chicken in a curry sauce.

We went to Little India and I was much more impressed than the brief tour I took by myself there a week ago. They are getting ready for a festival and the streets were lined with shops. We enjoyed looked at lots and lots of saris, bracelets, jewellery (how they sell it here), wood carvings, and other handmade items. It was fun. Tricia's car card was too low, so we found a 7-11, one of the few places where residents can get more cash card added to their cards. Every car has a little machine by the driver's side dashboard that holds a card from which the government extracts tolls and fees, for parking or driving the ERP area. It reminded me of our EZ pass to drive on bridges and toll roads in the Northeast. It made paying for parking easier because it was automatic but I'm not sure I'd like it. We parked in the basement of a wet market where there were wall-to-wall meat, produce, herb, and flower shops. As you can imagine, some areas looked and smelled much more apealing than others.

Then we drove over to Arab Street. Tricia wasn't too familiar with this area of town so I held the map and helped navigate - can you imagine ME helping someone find their way? I knew I was being helped when I found the street names in their small print. We parked again and walked to a Muslim mosque which was huge and amazing from the outside. Unfortunately, we missed going inside by 15 minutes so we bought a couple of lime juices (my favorite drink here) and sat and looked at the mosque for a while.

Our last stop was at the ION Mall to buy a shirt for Tricia's son. The mall is new; it has 8 stories above ground and 4 basements below. Most of the shops are name brands (Guess, Prada, Vuitton) and it is an elegant mall. I haven't yet figured out how all these giant malls are able to co-exist with this population.

We drove home and I met Tricia and Mike's 3 children - Rochin who is 12 year old, Andrew, 17, and Shinead, 14. Good kids and fun to visit with. Andrew is learning to play American football and is on the team, even though he's tall and thin. He looks like his British father and the girls look like their Irish mother, with red hair. Emily served them a dinner of fish and chips on the table in front of the house (there is a fence providing privacy)and we left to meet Rogerand Mike at the Dutch Club for a swim and then dinner. I had sole drenched in butter and Roger had sea bass. We had a delightful evening with these good people before heading home in a taxi.

Singapore Day 10 - Wednesday

I had a good and slow start to my day - Did the eliptical and swam laps after Roger left for work. After lunch I headed off on Bus 197 for China Town. It was a lllooonnngggg route, almost an hour. If I ever return I'll take the MRT and a different bus! The trip home was even longer and that was after waiting 1/2 hour for the bus. Usally the system works much better, thank goodness.

I psyched myself up for the crowds at China Town all morning long and on the bus ride, so I handled it much better than last week. It was a hot and humid day so I tried to stay in the shade. I shopped in a gazillion small street shops on Pagoda Street and in a large mall just outside China Town hunting for souveneirs. Eventually I found all the right things and headed home. Roger arrived about 45 min. later and we walked over to the Hawker Centre in the basement of the Parkway Parade Mall across the street. I had chicken and rice with a brothy soup and he had handmade noodles and seafood. His came in a bowl, swimming in a broth. He had a couple of prawns and a variety of other seafood which he shared with me. It was quite tasty. We walked around the mall afterward and tried 4 different types of moon cakes. The moon festival is beginning now that Hari Raya has come and gone. Dad bought a large box with the same 4 types of mooncakes to take to work and share with the people there. They love it. It's pretty tasty - much denser than I anticipated, but sweet and enjoyable.

We returned and I promptly fell asleep while Dad put in a few minutes working on the computer.

Singapore Day 9 - Tuesday

Roger got up early and worked a couple more hours so that he felt mostly prepared before he took off for work. Joseph, who took us to dinner a week ago with his wife, called to tell us he'd pick us up tonight at 7:30 (when Roger gets home on a good day) for dinner with his family. I went to the fitness room for a quick workout and when I returned I had a phone message from Kathi Nielsen, the RS president, inviting me to join her for lunch and a tour of Orchard Road, the main tourist shopping trap in Singapore.

I found out from the concierge which bus to take and headed over to the bus stop across the street to wait. Usually the bus driver is well informed and helps us know when to "alight" from the bus, but this one didn't speak much English and I got to walk a few blocks. That just gave me a better and closer look at Orchard Road, so not a problem. I met Kathi at the ION Mall and we walked to Takashimaya, another huge mall (They are all gigantic) where we found the Crystal Jade Restaurant that Belle Nef, another ward member recommended. We chose between 3 Crystal Jades - and decided on Korean. I ordered a seafood pancake which had vegetables, cuttle fish, and prawns backed in and a soy/sesame sauce to dip it in. Kathi ordered steak and rice. The first thing the waitress (in Korean dress) brought to us was about 6 or 7 small plates with condiments, including pickled radishes (yummy), some kind of floss (grated fish or pork fried which we tasted and left alone), vegetables with some type of fish - Kathi thought squid or octopus, but the waitress said cuttlefish (surprisingly I LOVED it!), bean sprouts, a cabbage roll (which was too spicy for me but she loved it), and spinach. Also a small bowl of rice. We decided to share it all and each took home leftovers.

Then we walked up and down Orchard Road but since neither of us is a shopper that didn't last more than 1/2 hour when we decided to order some gelato from a street vendor. I had chocolate hazelnut, subtitled death by chocolate. Very very dark chocolate and quite yummilicious! We sat down to eat it and continue visiting. She was very friendly and easy to talk to and I enjoyed my time with her. After the ice cream we walked to her apartment complex which happened to be right next to the bus stop I would need to get back to the hotel. They have a very very nice condominium on the 16th floor. We had told each other all about our wonderful children and their families, so it was nice to see photos of her family. I headed home around 5.

Roger arrived at 7:30 with an odor. He brought with him some durian, a very very pungent fruit that the people here think is a delicacy. I first heard about it last week from Sarah, and then again from the girls who took us to dinner. From what I heard I wanted nothing to do with it. Roger said one of his fellow workers insisted on buying it for him during their daily lunch break. (He has eaten at a variety of hawker centres for lunch each day.) He couldn't talk the guy out of it, even though he reminded him that he had to ride home via MRT and bus and the odor is so strong that it is banned from both. And from taxis! Instead, the guy had the seller wrap the durian 3 times and then place it in a bag. Somehow Roger was able to sneak it home, but the moment he walked into our hotel room I could smell it. I assured him I wouldn't be trying it. He placed it in a well-ventilated part of the bathroom and we left to meet Joseph.

Joseph's sister, Betsy, came with him. She is a retired flight attendant and very warm. They took us to Joseph's home (a condo in another tall building not far from here.) We met Joseph's mother, Agatha, his daughter, Angie, her husband, Cal (a palestinian), and their 3 children Sarah (9), Hannah(6), and Adam (1). We saw Joe again (Joseph's friend who was with him in the hawker centre when we first met them) and met his wife, Anita, and Joseph's wife, Theresa, who had taken off work early to prepare so many traditional and delicious foods for us - curry chicken and potatoes, chicken w/ sweet and sour sauce, fried prawns, It was all quite tasty.

Hannah became my friend instantly and kept bringing me love notes. Eventually we exchanged addresses and I assured her I will mail her a letter from NY. She's in K-2 because here they have 2 years of kindergarten. We enjoyed a wonderful conversation with all and with each individual. All are very educated. Joe used to Singapore's ambassador and gave us an autographed copy of one of the 3 books he's written, with a photo of him with Russia's Gorbachev in it. We visited down by the pool after dinner until after 10. Joseph and Theresa drove us back to hotel where Roger retrieved the contraban durian and they drove us to a beach park so we could all share in the delight of eating it. Roger was soooo brave and bit right in. Eventually I ate 2 tiny tastes of it, unable to convince myself to be a better guest. Joseph and Theresa ate the rest happily and told us this was a medium-grade durian and that a higho-grade can cost as much as $60S! They said they sometimes splurge and get one when they are in season. Lucky us to be here at the right time!!!

Singapore - Day 8 Monday

Today is a holiday because it's the last day of Ramaden; I believe its called Hari Raya. Holiday = day off for Roger so a bonus day for us to tour together = YEA!!! Interestingly, on his day off, he worked all morning long in preparation for the next 4 days. That was time he needed, so it was actually good. We left the hotel not too long after noon and caught the bus to the Vivo City Mall. I think we're beginning to figure out the bus system better each time. We took the escalators up to the 3rd floor where we purchased tickets and got on the monorail to Sentosa Island. This island used to be empty and was actually a place where they sent prisoners. Now it's an island resort and very very crowded!

First we went to the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom where we saw about a zillion beautiful butterflies. Our favorite were those with blue wings so of course they were the ones that never actually landed on any of the foliage for photos. We walked around and looked at displays of thousands of bugs, most of which were very creatively designed and many of which were also very scary looking. I wouldn't want to meet them in real life. We met a young woman guide who is from India and enoyed learning more about the insects from her. She then followed us throughout the rest of the museum and gave us additional info all along the way. The people here are so wonderful! Dad held a pretty creepy bug or actually, it held onto his hand. I thought about it, but couldn't convince myself to even try. Among other insects, we saw live beetles, cockroaches, giant millipedes.

Next we went to "Images of Singapore", a wax museum telling the history and customs of Singapore. It started with a video narrated by people representing the 4 main cultures - Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Eurasian. We followed the history through life-size panoramas with audio added and learned who came when and what they did to make Singapore the busy and productive land it is today.

When we exited the exhibit we walked down a long hill to the beach and then along it for quite a distance. We stopped to get some fruit drinks and to sit for a little while sinced we'd been on our feet so long. Along our walk we passed a pavillion where hundreds of people were learning line dancing. Some people were in the ocean, inspite of the water being quite polluted from all the ships, some not far away. Eventually we reached the end of the beachfront and walked up to the Merlion. I have no idea how big this, the real one is, but very very tall.

We ended our time in Sentosa at the Songs of the Sea performance. It started to rain while we were waiting, but almost stopped by the time the show began so everyone put away their umbrellas. (Most people have an umbrella with them at all times; it works well for the frequent rain and for the almost constant sun.) The show consisted of live dancers, music, and an amazing laser light show. A pre-recording tells the story of an island boy who conjurs up a sleeping princess and then tries to awaken her through his music. Along the way he awakens other beings, but it all works out in the end. We enjoyed it immensely!

We took the first monorail back to Vivo City where we found a recommended restaurant, the Marche. When we arrived we were each given a card about the sized of a driver's license which we used to pick up the food we wanted. We walked around to all the booths to see that we could choose pasta w/ a variety of sauces, many types of seafood, different breads, Kampong chicken, ristos, rice, vegetables, etc. Roger chose pasta with chicken and vegetables stirfried in marinara sauce and I chose a risto which turned out to be a lot like hasbrowns. We shared and were stuffed from the huge portions in no time. We returned by bus around 10 p.m.

Another wonderful day in Singapore!

Singapore Day 7 - Sunday

I slept 10 hours last night! I can't remember the last time I did that, but man did I feel good. No problem staying awake in Church! We slept so long that we had to take a taxi rather than ride the bus to Church as we'd planned. We enjoyed our taxi driver so it was worth it. The ward here is very strong and we enjoyed great talks and lessons. I met the RS president who was out of town last week and who invited me to lunch later this week. I also visited with Belle again and she gave us more advice on tourist sites. All the ward members are so friendly and welcoming.

After returning the hotel we changed our clothes and went to the Singapore Botanic Garden which is free. It was mostly green, with ferns and many tropical plants - banyans, plumeria, ginger, to name a few. It has a National Orchid Garden which costs so we didn't check that out but have heard it's beautiful. Much to our delight there were hundreds of brides and grooms all over. We'll have to google to find out what was going on yesterday. I don't think that happens every Sunday. There were beautiful swans on the lake and more birds that we listened to.

The bus schedules and routes are not as easy to follow as the MRT but we were blessed and got home without a problem.

Singapore Day 7, Saturday

We had a late start to our day, but left for the Jurong Bird Park around 10 a.m. This park is amazing. I'll post more about it when we're home. We saw thousands and thousands of birds, and most were new to us - shoebills, saddlebill storks, blue cranes, pelicans of all kinds,k parrots, parakeets, lovebirds, toucans, hornbills, swans, owls, vultures, and many many more. We went to 3 different bird shows and watched birds perform all kinds of entertaining tricks. Nothing I write can do justice to what we saw. In one show an eagle flew over us and touched Roger's hand that was holding the camera! It was interesting and delightful. And a bit smelly at times, as you might imagine. It was our good fortune that the day was cloudy with a 60% chance of rain because that seemed to reduce the crowds and made the day more comfortable. Still humid, but not as hot. We had a burger and fries for $10S which we split. The sauce was more like a chili or barbecue sauce, a bit of a surprise on the first bite, but not bad.

We traveled by MRT and bus to get there and to get back. Roger found fruit drinks right at the station for only $1S. Mine was like a strawberry daquiri and his was orange juice. On the way back, we "alighted" from the MRT at Raffles Place and walked through an underpass below a hotel to walk past the Merlion statue. After taking some photos, we walked on a beautiful pathway bridge that parallelled a car bridge we've been on a number of times. We went to Gluttons Bay at the Esplanade Mall and each had a plate of pasta and seafood. Mine was seasoned with a marinara sauce and Roger's with olive oil. Both were yummy. After dinner we walked to the City Hall MRT which took us to the Eunos bus stop which took us to the hotel. Roger worked a couple of hours while I fell right to sleep.

Singapore Day 6 - Friday Sep 17

We slept in until almost 8 a.m. so Roger dressed quickly before taking off for work. I started the first load of laundry before doing the eliptical, and started the second load before swimming laps, so it was all done before noon. I went to McDonalds and ate a double cheeseburger and hot fudge sundae for lunch. The cheeseburger was the only menu item that wasn't fried and I wanted to spend all my calories on the sundae. :) In case you can't read the sign on the door, almost every McDonalds in Singapore delivers!


I did some shopping in the mall. It's one of the smaller malls, only 7 stories.



I found this advertising display cute:

and then returned to the hotel where I spent a few hours planning options to do this weekend.

Roger got to the hotel around 8 pm by taxi, with two Chinese young women who work at SSMC.




They took us to a hawker stand and had us sit at a table while they bought dinner - which included satay, chicken, rice, vegetables, carrot cake (fried carrots & flour), and barbecued stingray.

Yes, they really do eat that here - It's supposed to be a real treat. Not much meat, as you can imagine, but that's okay because it wasn't any better than you imagine. I only ate 1/2 of one and they wanted us to have it all, so poor Roger ate 1 1/2. They also bought us special drinks - iced sugar can juice and coconut juice (served in the coconut.) After drinking that you're supposed to spoon out some of coconut itself for a yummy treat. I passed on all the coconut stuff after one taste, so Roger was the hospitable one again.




We took a taxi to the Night Safari program at the Zoo. Here we are waiting - LiJun and Lei, then Roger and me:





Some of the things we saw in the show:

Singapore Day 5 - Thursday Sep 17

Roger set the phone to wake us up at 5:45 so we could get to the exercise room before it was full. I did the exercise bike and some eliptical. I talked to Mom on the phone while Laura held the phone to her ear. I am so grateful for this miracle!

Here are a few more photos from the area just outside China Town yesterday - On one side of the street a group of men is sitting and chatting:



And just across the street people are busily shopping at a mall:




I watched these 3 guys out the bus window, washing a handicapped parking space:



In case you can't read all the labels on the drinks available at this stand, they include honey dew, water chestnut, bird nest, and sour plum:


After lunch I met Sarah (Schmutz)Redd at the gate of her apartment and we walked over to the beach with her 4-month old, Crew, and poodle, Daisy. We talked nonstop as I caught up on her family and she gave me suggestions for my visit here. We went up to her cute apartment on the 18th floor - very small but very very nice. She helped me look up some Singapore info on her computer.

Roger and I went to dinner at another hawker stand by one of the quays (pronounced keys) with one of the head guys at the company and his wife, Mike and Tricia Bolt.


Another delicious meal - lemon chicken, beef w/ onions, 3 flavors of Satay - beef, mutton, and chicken, rice, and best of all, peppered crab.



Once we saw this:


We knew we needed these:





I'm not a fan of mutton, but everything else was FANTASTIC!!! I had a lime juice that was also heavenly. Our table was outside, right next to the water so we watched boats go by as we dined. Mike is from Britain and Tricia from Ireland, so they were delightful to listen to and we enjoyed our time with them until way too late - getting home by taxi at midnight and then dropping into bed.

Singapore Day 4 - Wednesday Sep 16

We slept in a little this morning so Roger left without any exercise. I forgot to mention that he worked until 1 a.m. last night and put in more time before leaving this morning, in order to be prepared for his presentation. I received an email from Laura that Mom seems to be recovering, so went down to the fitness room and tried the eliptical machine for the first time. Not sure whether I like it or not yet. I decided not to swim so I could get an earlier start on my day out.

I called Sarah (Schmutz) Redd and found out she and her family live in the apartments right next to our hotel. That's more amazing than it sounds because most of the hotels are downtown and ours is not. She gave me some recommendations on where to go, so I changed my plans and took a bus to Little India. Because the bus stops arent' very clear, I told the driver where I wanted to go and he told me when to get off. I saw another Hindu temple









and some streets that probably look similar to what I'd see in India.











This is for an upcoming festival:





I only walked around for about an hour, after which I took the train (MRT) to China Town. The MRT is a lot like NY's subway system, only cleaner. I walked out of the station onto Pagoda Street, lined with shops selling just about everything at rock bottom prices. Yet, all I bought were post cards - 18 of them.





I saw two more temples, first another Hindi:




and the other Buddhist:





These two guys are out front to welcome visitors:





And so is the incense between them:



The inside is beautiful! Ornate and with more incense and a large bowl for offerings brought:








and this guy to wish you well as you leave:



I took a tour of the Chinese Heritage Centre where I learned the history of the Chinese immigration to Singapore. Some of that history was very challenging, but these people now form the majority of Singaporians, so they have more than survived. They overcame opium, prostitution, gambling, and poverty to become business and political leaders of this country.









After a few hours I took the bus back to hotel, knowing I will return to purchase souveneirs next week. I addressed and wrote on post cards for our grandchildren and then walked over to a post office I noticed the dy before. So watch your mail!

When Roger came back we walked over to the Mall and decided to order a half dozen items from one of the bakeries for dinner and a couple more for my breakfast the next morning. We couldn't tell what most of them were, but ended up with a ham and cheese bun, a couple of rolls with pork in or on them, a cheese roll, something with cream cheese piped into the center, and a peach pastry. As we walked toward the beach, we picked up a can of carrot juice and another of guava juice to with our dinner. We found a concrete table and sat on the dry part of a bench there,(it had rained in the afternoon) and ate our meal. It was interesting!

Singapore Day 3 - Tuesday Sept 15

Tuesday began with a walk along the beach. As we walked we passed a few groups of people doing what appeared to be Tai Chi. It was surreal to watch them and listen to their Asian music. When we returned we received the news that my mom had had a heart attack. I quickly found out how to make a phone call to the U.S. and joined a conference call with all my siblings. We received information and recommendations from the doctor and all agreed to disconnect the external pacemaker. I spent the rest of the day in my hotel room awaiting news of her condition. To our grateful surprise, she rallied and continues to improve.

I took a break and swam another 30 laps in the pool. My hair continues to look absolutely gorgeous, as you will see. I took another quick break late in the afternoon to ask the concierge for directions on catching the bus and MRT to a few tourist attractions tomorrow.

Roger returned to the hotel at 7:30 and we spent the evening with Joseph and Theresa Cheong, a sweet couple who took us to dinner and then on a tour of the island.


We met Joseph at the food court on Sunday. Dinner was at the East Coast Seafood Centre and was amazingly wonderful!!!!


We had calamari, prawns, cuddle fish, another spicy fish wrapped in banana leaves, rice, vegetables, chicken, and 2 kinds of crab.

We ate and ate and ate until we were so full that neither Roger nor I even tasted the chile crab. Everything about it was wonderful, including Joseph and Theresa. They taught us so much about this island and its people, history, customs, and beliefs.




After dinner they drove us the Mount Faber where we parked and walked around the top of the mountain overlooking all of the island except for what was blocked by vegetation or darkness. It was beautiful.



The pathway was partially lighted from underneath, and pointed the way to various tourist spots on the island and other bodies of land around the area, such as Bangkok, Australia, and Sri Lanka.




They explained that the government has built housing to improve the living conditions and has mandated that each is habitated by the population according to their country's percentages. In other words, mostly Chinese, with smaller groups of Malay and Indians. They are very proud of their country's attitude and ability to contribute to the population's happiness.

This is a miniature of the famous Merlion Statue.



We got back in the car and drove around the business district, seeing a former post office that is now a posh hotel, as well as many well designed and engineered buildings. There is a great variety in styles but even the parking garages are works of art. We drove through some areas which are designated ERP where the government charges a fee to drive through in order to limit the traffic congestion. They told us there is an expression, "Singapore is a "fine" country, meaning there are an abundance of fines. They also informed us that race and religion are topics that most people stay away from, but we've shared many of our beliefs and asked about theirs with those we've met without any negative effects.

Joseph and Theresa also told us about Singapore's history. The country became independent from Malaysia about 50 years ago. And I guess it's too early in the day for me to remember much more, although we learned a lot that evening. We returned to our hotel after 11 p.m. Eric had left a message that my mom was awake and able to mover her fingers and toes. She's amazing! And we are so grateful for this blessing!