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.