The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

In typical Singapore fashion, in Chinatown there are both Hindu and Buddhist temples within a block of each other. Both are spectacularly beautiful.

Mike Walach & I toured Chinatown during his visit and stopped to look inside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It's a remarkable place to visit. The temple gets its name because on the 4th floor of the building is a 2 meter high stupa made of pure gold. Inside that chamber is a tooth relic of Buddha. According to Buddhist texts, Buddha left behind four wisdom teeth and 40 tooth relics for the succeeding generations. This rare relic makes this temple particularly important to the local Chinese (and other ethic groups') Buddhists.

Mike and I weren't there during one of the viewing times, so I cannot give a first-hand report about the relic. However, as the pictures detail, the first floor of the temple is beautifully decorated. It's an active temple so one has to be careful about not disturbing those who are praying. You can see the niches in the large picture and a couple of close-ups of the smaller Buddhas that fill the wall.

The temple is a fairly recent addition to Chinatown. It was completed only two years ago and is modeled after the architecture of the Tang Dynasty.

Parkview Square

Mike Walach visited us this week. We've known Mike & Jean for over 20 years. We moved to Boston together and then to Dallas within a couple of months of each other. Jean watched Erica when Raye went to the hospital to deliver Jackie.

So needless to say we were delighted to be able to show Mike around Singapore, a place he hasn't been since around 1980. Lots has changed since he was here.

Like this building for example: Parkview Square. It's one of our favorite buildings in Singapore, an easy landmark near the Bugis MRT stop.

The architecture is iconic, so much so that the local nickname for it is "Gotham City." Completed in 2002, it looks more like something that was designed during the 1930s. It's 24 storeys and 144m (472ft) tall.

Outside are several statues that easily make one think of first Tim Burton Batman movie.

It is all commercial office space. But inside on the first floor is a beautiful bar. One of the interesting features is the multi-storey wine cooler. (You can see it behind the photo of Mike and Raye.) During the evenings, the waitresses hook themselves up in harnesses and become "wine fairies" who fly up to collect the appropriate bottle.

Singapore has many other interesting buildings that will be worth posting about sometime.

Singapore Thanksgiving

Remember the old joke "Do they have the fourth of July in England?". (Yes, it's right after the 3rd.)

Well, they don't have Thanksgiving in Singapore (nor Black Friday the day after). It's a regular work day. But this did not stop us from having a wonderful get-together with some American friends here. Six families all got together for a pot-luck feast. Our contributions were Raye's pumpkin challah and Paul's wild rice / corn chowder soup.

Yes, you can get turkeys here: Butterball, no less. Finding smoked beef sausage (for the soup) was much more difficult. We found the closest thing to it at Carrefour's the French version of a super Walmart.

Today is also Paul's dad's 82nd birthday so we stayed up late to give him a call just after midnight in Singapore so we could be the first to wish him a happy birthday.

The girls are enjoying a "Village Thanksgiving" with our wonderful extended family in Plano. Paul's sister, brother, mother, aunt, uncle, etc. are all getting together in Montgomery, AL.

P.S. The high temperature here today was 30C / 86 F, compared to -5 C /23 F in Ankeny, IA where Raye's brother is celebrating the holiday.

Raye Meets Herman

It was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

So Raye and a bunch of her gal pals joined with Singaporeans and (more than a few) expats to welcome Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits to the Lion City.

Singapore is a young-looking city but you wouldn't have known this from the appearance of this particular audience.

Young-at-heart for sure -- the inner teens enjoyed the show and sang along on every song.

It could have been one of those PBS fundraisers.

The highpoint of the evening for Raye was meeting Peter and shaking his hand. She waited excitedly for 42 minues; that's one minute for every year Raye has been a fan.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

Well, not exactly. Although the attempt is impressive.

This display is over the entrance to the major shopping area of Orchard Road. It takes some getting used to seeing people in summer attire, getting their picture taken in front of artificial Christmas trees, that have been place next to real palm trees, with wild parrots flying overhead.

Folks in Florida, California, and Hawaii may not find this so unusual. However, if you've lived in Ohio, Chicago, and Boston, the scene is remarkable.

Since there is no Thanksgiving here to act as a speed bump, as soon as Halloween was over, the Christmas decorations began to appear. Almost overnight.

And in case you're wondering, the color choice of the elves to the right, this is not a carry-over from 31-October. They were promoting cell phone service from M1, and orange is the corporate colour. Red belongs to Singtel; Green to Starhub (as in the billboard in the background).

Of the 4.8 million people here, over 85% of them are not Christians. Buddhists are the largest single group at about 43%. Muslims are the next largest group at about 15%. So no token menorahs here (nor "Chinese tops" for that matter).

The seasonal promotions are inventive. And some, like the Tanglin Mall "Snow and Avalanche" are annual favorites. (Local friends have told us this is a not-to-be-missed experience.)

The 'snow' is a type of soap foam that is blown from a half-dozen boxes that circle an outside patio with a 5 meter tall Christmas tree in the middle. One one side, there is a somewhat larger box that collects the foam and then blows it out all at once. This is presumably the 'avalanche'. I say presumably because they were still setting it up when we walked by on Sunday.

There are many temporary stores set up on the sidewalks selling toys, costume jewelry, even tree trimming supplies. (No real pine or fir trees sighted yet, although I'm fully expecting to see some here in a few weeks.)

Only two months ago, there were different seasonal stores set up in the exact same places selling mooncakes for the mid-autumn festival.

And just as fast as these decorations were set up, around December 24, they will all disappear - quickly replaced with decorations for Chinese New Year that takes place one month and one day after December 25.

That's the next major shopping season.

Weekend in Hong Kong

This weekend was a 3-dayer because of the holiday of Deepavali, the Hindu "Festival of Lights" and a national holiday here in Singapore. So what did we do? We decided to dash off to Hong Kong, a modest 3.5+ hour flight that is equivalent of flying from San Antonio to Duluth. (That is, if San Antonio was located a bit north of Quito, Equador in terms of lattitude.)

We got a surprise upgrade to business class on the way to HK. Coach was oversold and we just got lucky.

The "new" (now about 10 years old) HK airport is about 30 minutes away from the city center by high speed train. We got 3-day tourist passes the combined a round trip from the airport with unlimited use of the subway.

We covered several 'must do' items right away. We took the Star Ferry over from Kowloon to Hong Kong island and had dim sum at Maxim's. Hong Kong is the place for dim sum and Maxim's is one of the recommended places; it was worth the 30 minute wait to get a table. Dim sum is the a la carte buffet that comes to you. You sit at your table and servers wheel carts around the room and offer you baskes of steamed or fried snacks. The menu is displayed on each cart, and unfortunately for us, in Chinese. (We were able to avoid the plentiful traif options by speaking to the servers.) After giving you your food (usually in quantities of 3 items), the server marks your bill. When you're done, you take the bill up to the cashier and pay.

What surprised us most about Hong Kong was the terrain. It's a lot like San Francisco with plenty of hills and small mountains. It also has the haze and, while not as cold as SFO, it was definitely cooler than Singapore. We took a "cable car" (known in ski circles as a gondola lift) to Lantau island to see the Tian Tan Buddah, one of the largest outdoor bronze statues of the Buddha.

We had some memorable meals. One was at Wu Kong Shanghai Restaurant where we had a terrific cold pigeon dish. Yup. Pigeon. It was very good, and served with the head on the side (which we skipped). Another was at Hutong, on the 28th floor of a building with a spectacular view of the Hong Kong skyline and the nightly light show that takes place promptly at 8pm. The food was terrific, including the best fried rice we'd every had -- simply prepared with sea salt and dried fish and just a bit al dente. (Thanks to our friends Susan and Ed Hurley for recommending Hutong to us.)

Of course we had time to walk around and take in the sights, especially up and down Nathan Road in the center of Kowloon. At night it was lit up in neon and had an energy that didn't seem to stop. From traditional medicine shops to cameras/electronics to international designer label store, there was plenty to see. That includes the stores, the displays, and (of course) the people doing the shopping!

We'd put off taking the trip up to The Peak because we kept hoping the haze would lift for a better view (and to avoid the throngs who make the trip over the weekend. So on Monday we made the trip up on the Peak Tram, a train that is pulled up the side of the mountain on a cable that runs down the center of the track (techncially called a funicular railway). The views were gorgeous, even with the haze. We took the tram down, collected our bags from the hotel, headed back to the airport for the flight home. No upgrade this time.

Comparisons between Hong Kong and Singapore are inevitable. The one I heard and like the best goes like this. "Singapore has a nice Chinatown; Hong Kong is Chinatown."

The Singapore Sukkah

The holiday of Sukkot is here. To those unfamiliar with the holiday, you might consider it to be the Jewish Thanksgiving. Part of the observance is to spend time in a temporary dwelling called a Sukkah.

Sukkahs come in all shapes and sizes. Back in Plano, Beth Torah has sukkah that seats 80 and is unique in it's custom design & round construction. It takes a dozen guys a few hours to put it up and take it down.

Here in Singapore, the community sukkah was substantially smaller and of the mail-order variety. Made in the USA.

The roof must be made of a natural material that allows you to see the stars on a clear night. Back in Texas, bamboo served the purpose. Here, it was palm leaves that were woven into a kind of "roof mat".

It was was the first time we'd been in a Sukkah that was 33% lulav.

The Indian "ArtsFest"

It was a cultural opportunity that we simply could not resist. The Zee cable TV network was bringing their Carnival to Singapore! And better still, the headline attraction was none other than Shahrukh Khan, the king of Bollywood.

A bit of introduction: The Zee TV network is the first Hindi satellite/cable TV channel. It provides the global Indian diaspora with a taste of home, showing Bollywood film, Indian cooking shows, news, reality shows, and musical shows around the clock. (It's been available in the US for 10 years.) And although the comparison is definitely apples to mangoes, Shahrukh Khan is somewhat the Bollywood equivalent of George Clooney.

So Raye got dressed in her salwar kameez and I put on a neru collar shirt I bought in India, and off we went to Suntec City on the MRT. Raye got several second looks on the MRT. To no surprise, the closer we got to Suntec City, the more and more we stood out as being outside the "target demographic" of the event. One Indian woman stopped Raye, took a long look at her, and simply said "Thank you, you have made my day."

Raye's too.

We'd bought our tickets in advance but it didn't save much time. The line to get in was long and there was a security check. Once inside, we picked up our goody bag of coupons and marketing literature and began making the rounds.

The room was blaring with Bollywood hit songs and there was a huge stage at the front with a subcontinental fashion show. I found it particularly interesting that the designer and models were from Pakistan. Looking around at the various booths, I realized that both Pakistan and India were represented. Apparently, combination of event-scale economics and the emphasis on cross-cultural harmony that is very much part of Singapore made this possible. And by the way, there were plenty of fans there from Malaysia and Indonesia who'd come in for the weekend. We were part of a crowd of about 10,000 people (according to the newspaper).

In addition to the main stage, there was an autograph stage, a cooking show demonstration stage (for Sanjeev Kapoor) a travel services area, a food court, and lots (and lots) of booths. The merchants covered just about everything one might imagine: clothing, jewelry, spice mixtures, those mouth cleansing seeds and stuff you get at Indian restaurants (more varieties than I've ever seen), astrologers, martrimonial services, ayurvedic medicines and treatments, and cultural newspapers.

It was wonderful walking around and taking a look. And we weren't alone: we saw a handful of other "out-of-demographic" folks making the rounds.

The various celebrities from Zee TV were making appearances (to the delight of the crowd) and signing autographs. However it became clear that the Bollywood King was going to be the very last person to come out and -- as interesting as it all was -- that would have meant spending the entire day there. So we took our leave from the carnival, happy with yet another interesting experience.

Birthday Weekend in Singapore

Here are a couple of photos from Paul's birthday weekend. Raye returned from the US around midnight on Friday night. Saturday night we went out to dinner again at Banana Leaf Apolo. It is in the middle of Deepavali season so everything there was beautifully lighted and very busy. We stopped by a specialty market, the cultural equivalent of a Hanukkah (or Christmas) shopping bazaar. We'll have more about Deepavali in a future post.

On Sunday, we were invited to a brunch hosted by one of the members of the UHC, the progressive Jewish congregation here with which we've affiliated. It was a wonderful chance to enjoy some lox & bagels (and many, many other wonderful treats). It was a great mix of people with ages ranging from early 20's to seniors, and geographical homes from Argentina to the USA to the UK to South Africa, to Israel. (The Israeli ambassador to Singapore was one of the guests.)

One of the non-culinary treats was listening to our host play the piano with an impromptu accompaniment by one of the students from the local music conservatory.



Monday morning meant back to work but not without the traditional breakfast in bed. Dinner was at home, with marinated leg of lamb using our favorite recipe. It's expensive here (and there's only two of us) so we bought a slice of the leg. Raye sacrificed greatly (i.e. her sense of smell) and surprised Paul by buying a durian for dessert.

It was delicious and wonderfully creamy. However, like a fine cigar, it had to be enjoyed outdoors on the patio.

Another noteworthy event of the day: Raye passed her written exam and earned her Singapore drivers license. (Now all we need to do is get a car...)

The Istana Open House

October 1 was a public holiday in Singapore in observance of Hari Raya Puasa, the end of the month of Ramadan on the Islamic calendar. Called Eid ul-Fitr in other cultures, the name used here is the Malay term. It means Celebration Day of Fasting.

To help commemorate the day, the official residence of the President of Singapore held an open house. Called The Istana (Malay for "palace"), it is the local equivalent of the White House. Except for 5 days each year, the place is buttoned up like Ft. Knox, so this was an opportunity not to be missed.

Admission to the grounds was free to Singaporeans and permanent residents. Foreigners paid $1. The optional tour inside the actual building was an extra $2. All admission proceeds and revenues from the sale of Istana-branded souvenirs go to the Community Chest charity. Pretty neat idea.

We didn't have the run of the place of course. There were armed guards everywhere and the activity was centered around the fairway of the 9-hole golf course. The gardens are beautiful and provided plenty of photo opportunities. Some families were having mini-picnics on the grounds.

The tour in the building was interesting and unfortunately, no photos were allowed. Some nice paintings and figurines (gifts presented to the President and Prime Minister) were on display. Among these was a nice collection of decorative animals which were very similar to ones that Raye had in our kitchen back in Plano. We got to see the rooms used for State receptions and other official functions. You can read more about the building itself on the official Istana web site. The open house link has some photos of what's inside.



The next public holiday is October 27 for the Hindu holiday of Deepavali (also called Diwali) -- the Festival of Lights.

Richmond Park Views

Raye received a request for a blog posting showing the views from our apartment here in Singapore. To get oriented, here is a Google map that is centered on our building. It's located under the "Elizabeth" that is the street name. You can zoom and pan to look around or just click on the link and get a larger view. Our apartment is located in the corner of the building which is at the "bottom" as seen on the satellite map; our living room windows face south-southeast.


View Larger Map

The photos are also in a picasa web album.

The First Fast Trip Back to USA

We made our first trip back to the US to attend our niece's wedding in Cincinnati. It also happened to be Paul's 35th class reunion.

The adventure began at 4:30 am Thursday morning (September 18) when United called to let us know our flight to Tokyo had been cancelled. After talking to their US reservation staff enroute the airport and for about 30 minutes after arrival at Changi, they came through with alternate arrangements that got us to Cincinnati an hour later than originally scheduled and in time to attend the end of the rehearsal dinner. We were impressed and grateful.

The family time was terrific. We were able to pose for a great family photo. We also were able to have an outing for Skyline Chili and Graeter's ice cream. And through the technology of dry ice, there is now Graeter's ice cream in Singapore -- at least in our refrigerator! Paul & his sister made a fast trip to Jungle Jim's the quintessential foodie destination.

The reunion on Saturday night was a treat. Our class has been able to have these every 5 years, thanks to some terrific people back in Cincinnati who get together and make it happen.

Early Sunday morning came too soon as Paul began the 28 hour trip back to Singapore (via Chicago and Hong Kong) and Raye returned to Dallas with Erica & Jackie. She returns to Singapore on October 2 after working, visiting friends, and celebrating Rosh Hashanah at Beth Torah.

The Scary Nut

Today at the office I learned about a Malaysian tradition associated with the Mid-Autumn festival -- the boiling and eating of a special type of water chestnut.

Here they are called ling kio. In English they are called water caltrops.

My colleague even had one to show me. Wow, I'd never seen anything like it before. It's the scariest nut ever.

The connection with the holiday is based on a legend in which an immortal fairy falls in love with a human cow herder. Against the rules, they get married. As punishment they are separated and only get to see each other once a year - during the moon festival. The shape of the nuts are a reminder of the story.

I think they would be awesome things to hand out during Halloween, especially in Austin, TX.

Mooncakes & Moonpies

It is the mid-Autumn festival here, a major holidays on the traditional Chinese calendar. Also known as the Moon Festival or the Mooncake festival, it is celebrated throughout east Asia, including Japan, Korea, Viet Nam, and Malyasia.

And of course, here in Singapore.

The basis for the holiday is the Chinese legend of the "woman in the moon", Chang'e. There are several variations to the legend; all of them have her floating up to the moon from earth and being associated with a rabbit that lives on the moon. This is why the posters used in advertising all have her pictured with a rabbit. The 2007 moon probe launched by China was named Chang'e1, and the legend was referred to during radio exchanges during the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

Dating back over 3,000 years, this holiday has developed a wide range of common and regional traditions. The two most obvious (as in commercial) ones are mooncakes and pomelos. You can find both on sale all over the city and in wide ranges of quality and price points.

Pomelos are the largest citrus fruit (can be 2x larger than a 16" Chicago softball). Very moon-like.

Mooncakes are the more ubiquitous. They are everwhere: huge road shows in shopping malls, sidewalk booths, at hotels, and specialized bakeries. We recently went on a seasonal tour of Chinatown, which is - as you would expect - mooncake central in Singapore. We got to sample several varieties and tour one of the bakeries.

Mooncakes have a skin of phyllo like pastery which is either brown or white (snow skin). The filling is traditionally lotus seed paste and has one or more egg yolks baked inside - the yolks representing the moon. More yolks are better (and of course more expensive). Other fillings are used: sweet bean paste or mashed dates. There are also modern adaptations, the most intriguing is a local Haagen Dasz one that uses dark chocolate as the crust, vanilla ice cream instead of the lotus seed paste, and a round dollop of mango sorbet in lieu of the egg yolk.

How do they taste? Well... different. They are very rich and heavy; a serving is a small slice. Raye is not a fan; Paul likes some of them. We both wondered if these are the cultural equivalent of fruitcakes: the gift that keeps on giving, so to speak. Apparently not. It's traditional to sit outside under the full moon and eat mooncake together as a family.

Mooncakes are not to be confused with moonpies: Mooncake is traditionally served with tea. Moonpie is traditionally accompanied by RC Cola.

Maybe next year, we'll import some moonpies and RC - just for variety.

The Human Race

Today was the world wide "Human Race" organized by Nike. Runners from around the globe all took part in a 10 kilometer (6.2 mile) race.
Race courses were set up in multiple cities: Shanghai, Melbourne, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Istambul, Rome, etc. Austin, New York, and LA were the locations in the US.
Paul decided to participate in the event too late to run in the physical race in Singapore (registration was already closed). However, the Nike+ training system provided a "virtual" alternative. The system tracks distance and time of a run and then uploads it to the Nike+ race system. The goal was to complete the race at a 9 minute/mile pace or better.
Mission accomplished: just under 54 minutes or 8:42/mile.

Dinner in Little India

One of our favorite areas of Singapore is Little India. Like Chinatown, Arab Street, and Geylang, Little India is one of the ethic enclaves. Walking around there is just like walking around a city in India.

The sights, sounds, and smells are terrific. There are jewelry shops where highly detailed gold artworks are sold by the gram (just like in India). There are video/music stores with the latest Bollywood releases on DVD, VideoCD and audio CD. There are handicraft stores and silk store galore. There are stands that sell flower garlands that Hindus take to temple with them as part of their worship rituals. And of course there are grocery stores and fresh fruit and vegetable stores.

Then there are the restaurants!

From the north to south of the Subcontinent, just about every variety of Indian food can be found. On prior visits, we've had dishes from Kashmir, Nepal, Kerala, and Tamil Naidu. This time, we decided to try The Banana Leaf Apolo, one of the highly rated options among the many choices in the district. It's a breeze to get to: from our apartment we just walk down the street to Lucky Plaza and take the #65 bus which takes us directly to Little India.

The restaurant is famous for it's fish head curry, one of the "uniquely Singaporean" regional specialties. We decided to give that a go another time as we were more interested in something more traditionally Indian. After pouring through the 10 page illustrated menu, we opted for tandoori lamb chops, black dal (lentils), and baigan burta (eggplant). For breads, Raye chose garlic naan and I was delighted to pick romali roti, a type of bread I really like but haven't found anywhere outside of India. And of course, Kingfisher beer. What a feast!

Like the restaurant name suggests, it was all served up on a banana leaf that serves as both placemat and plate (see photo). They'll bring silverware for those who prefer the Continental approach (that would be Raye), but the locals (and Paul) prefer the Sub-Continental approach of eating with your fingers.

The total bill came to S$50 ($36), with the lamb and beers the high ticket items.

After dinner we walked around, took in some more sights and smells, and enjoyed some pistachio barfi (Indian "fudge" made from condensed milk), and sohan papdi.

Another great evening in Singapore.

Chicken Surprise

This is actually about a wonderful dinner with some new friends on Saturday night. And like so many things, it was another Singapore learning experience.

Our guests were Elisa & Joe Chan and Nazim and Nazima Mohammed. Elisa is Jewish from New Jersey, her husband is Chinese, originally from Hong Kong, and the Mohammeds are native Singaporeans with roots in the Malay community. They are practicing Muslims and so this meant we had to serve Halal foods.

Unfortunately, our local grocery doesn't carry such items. So, we trekked over to the appropriate ethnic area near Arab Street and found it with no trouble. (Raye asked one of the hijab-wearing women where to find it.) The green label, the NTUC (local Safeway-like store) clerk tolds us, indicates a Halal chicken.

It was in a bag, pretty much like what you see back in the USA. However, when I opened the bag up, I got the chicken surprise. While there were no giblets within a parchment bag inside, as you can see, the head and feet were still attached. (The green band around it's neck is a Halal certificate.)



While the grilled chicken recipe turned out well, the conversation was even better. It ranged from shopping secrets (where to get the best fruit at the lowest prices), to what it's like being in the Singapore military, to how to travel safely in Malaysia, to the wide variety of moon cakes now available for the mid-autumn festival. It was a poly-cultural smorgasbord.

One of the tidbits we picked up is why Singaporeans back into parking spaces and Malaysians park "head first". In Singapore, it is safer to get out of a space when you can see cross traffic in a busy garage. (In fact, many cars have sonar on the rear bumper to aid in backing in. However, in Malaysia, backing in makes it easier for someone to steal your car by lifting the front wheels (of a front wheel drive car) and towing it away.

Nazima and Elisa both work in schools here and Nazima is also a Singapore Regional Director in Destination Imagination. (She and Raye met at Global Finals in Knoxville in May.) So we talked about the public and private schools systems, curricula, and the various standardized testing regimens that shape student futures. Another interesting tidbit: all other things being equal, priority is given to students who live within 1km walking distance from a prestigious school. This means that certain housing locations have a premium value. And what's more, as most people live in high rise apartments, the 1km radius is actually specific to individual units, not to an entire building.

The evening went far too quickly and I hope we will have occasion for us all to get together again soon.

Tiger Balm Gardens

My cousin David G asked me if we'd been to Tiger Balm Gardens yet. We hadn't -- and since Dave has been to Singapore multiple times -- we decided to act on his suggestion and made the trip.

The "Uniquely Singapore" website describes the place as "fascinating, delightful, bizarre and entertaining, Haw Par Villa is like no other place in the world."

I'd say that about covers it.

If you've heard of Tiger Balm, then you already know some of the history of this place. It was built in 1937 by the one of the Tiger Balm founders, Aw Boon Haw, for his brother Aw Boon Par. It's known locally as Haw Par Villa after the brothers' first names. (Last names come first in Chinese.)

It was built as a place to learn about traditional Chinese stories and values. There are over a 1,000 statues so even the 41 photos in the photo album does not come close to capturing the scale of the place. Admission is free, except for $1 to go through the "Ten Courts of Hell" exhibit.

In this exhibit, you are treated to a graphically detailed portrayal of the Chinese equivalent of Dante's Inferno. In each court there is a sign of the offenses covered by that court and the punishments. Following that is the gruesome diorama depicting the punishments. It left me wondering what kind of conversations parents and children might have walking through the exhibit. And whether or not going here was a reward or punishment.

It's a definite "you must experience" kind of place on several levels. The artistry is remarkable, the scale is impressive, and the opportunity to gain insight into another culture's traditions is compelling. Even when it has a bit of "Ripley's" vibe going through it.

Thanks, Dave. Link to photo album.

Singapore Photos

Here is a slide show and link to some of the photographs we've taken that were too numerous to post on the blog. You can click on the slide show to go to the album or just click here.

Siem Reap - Updated

We are just back from our first adventure away from Singapore. We took advantage of the 3-day weekend here to visit Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is the location of the ancient capital of the Khmer empire from roughly between 900-1500 CE. There will be more to write/update and we'll have to set up a different way to share the many photos we took. Cambodia was amazing and it was fascinating to learn about the ancient history and intensely interesting to hear about more recent events on a first-hand basis.


In front of Angkor Wat.

Here is a slide show with about 50 photos from the weekend.  You can click on it to see larger images or just click here to see the entire album.

The Random Singapore Walk

The sun was shinning, the temperature was not too hot, and the humidity was relatively low for Singapore. In short it was a perfect day for an exploratory walk around Singapore. As we set out, our general destination was the Quays (pronounced "keys"). There are three of them: Boat, Clarke, and Robertson in order as one goes up the Singapore River. These are scenic parts of Singapore with many restaurants, pubs, and shopping.

We were in no particular hurry, so we decided to go in any direction that looked interesting as we walked along in the sort-of general direction of downtown. We brought along the camera so we could share the interesting things we found. We also brought along Paul's cell phone (with the built-in GPS) just in case we really got turned around. Singapore is small and very interesting, so we got more use of the camera.

Of course we stopped on occasion to sample some local treats. Like Hong Kong ice cream for example. It costs S$1 and is served from pushcarts. The vendor takes a block of the ice cream of the flavor you picked and cuts a slab from it. He then serves the slab to you between two sugar wafers (Hong Kong style) or wrapped in a slice of multi-colored bread (Singapore style). We opted for the bread this time, having tried the wafer version a few weeks back.

There are interesting things around just about every corner. Here's group of rickshaws cruising down North Bridge Road that we almost missed. As you can see, they are right in the middle of traffic.
We found ourselves on Waterloo Street, a small street that is the very model of religious diversity. Magain Avoth, the large synagogue in town is at the south end. And at the north end, we found a beautiful Chinese Buddhist temple -- and right next door to it -- a spectacular Hindu temple.

In front of the Chinese temple were various vendors selling incense, fruits, and other items that one might need in the temple.

It occurred to me that these building would really stand out as being peculiar in Dallas. Here they really just seem to fit in naturally into the scenery. The styles of prayer are also different, in terms of sounds and movements, sights and smells. During our walk, we found a smaller place for Hindu puja that was set up in a small yard. On other walks, we found signs behind the public housing flats indicating that one particular spot was the authorized place for "religious burning."

Eventually we found our way to Boat Quay and walked along the river past Clarke Quay to Robertson Quay. Each of the Quays will be worth an extended visit on a future adventure. For example, we saw a bar called "the Highlander" which had a huge malt whiskey menu -- and Chinese waiters and waitresses wearing kilts. Another pub was called "the Clinic". It was decorated with old hospital equipments: OR lights, hospital cots, wheel chairs, etc. An old dentist chair (I think) is the centerpiece (you can see it between the two pillars in the photo).

It was a great walk that lasted about 4 hours. And we're both looking forward to doing another random walk again. You just never know what you're going to see next, and that makes it so much fun!