Boracay Wedding

One of the very special benefits of living overseas is making new friends and then having special adventures with them. Like being invited to the wedding of one of their children. In the Philippines. On a remote island.

Raye has 3 gal pals that she loves to spend time with. They call themselves "the Divas". Karen and Faye are from Vancouver. Faye was born in Kampala, Uganda and has family tracing back to Goa, India. Pam is from North Carolina, but hasn't lived in the US for over 20 years. Pam and Rich's son, Jonathan (the groom), was born in South Africa, grew up in the Philippines and Puerto Rico, went to college in Australia, and has since lived in the UK, Malaysia, and Singapore. His bride Anya, has a Filipino mother and an English father, grew up in the Philippines and went to college in the UK. And she and Jon knew each other in high school.

Interesting folks - so of course we knew this would be an interesting adventure. And we got a bit more than what we bargained for.

Boracay Island is not easy to get to. It's a 3 1/2 hour flight from S'pore to Manila. It's then an hour flight from Manila to Kalibo, followed by a 2-hour bus trip to Caticlan, a 15-minute ferry ride to the island, and capped off with a 15 minute ride in a van to the hotel.

The flight timings and airport logistics were such that it made sense to spend a night in Manila on the way in and out of the Philippines. Since Pam & Rich lived in Manila for 10 years, it was a great opportunity to get a feel for the city.

Like most cities in Asia (Singapore being an exception), there are nice parts and some awful squalor, and not much distance between them. It's easy to understand why so many of the domestic helpers and construction workers in other parts of Asia and the middle east come from the Philippines -- and why remittances (money sent back home from overseas) are such an important part of the economy. (Outside the USA, Saudi Arabia has the largest number of Overseas Filipino Workers OFW; Singapore is #9.)

The modes of transportation are interesting: not as many motorcycles as Hanoi or Bangkok. And there are two novel types of public transportation, the Jeepney and the Trike. The Jeepney is a "Mad Max" looking vehicle that serves as privately run public transportation. Think of it as the local version of a bus. Each owner/drive customizes their vehicle, so take a look at the variety through the link and our photos.

The trike is a motorcycle with a welded on sidecar, and serves the same purpose as a "tuk-tuk" in Bangkok or autorickshaw in Bangalore. Of course there are also regular taxis, but they cost a lot more. On Boracay, the trip into "town" cost PHP 10 per person (if you bargained for the "locals" rate and shared the trike with up to 4 others, i.e. total of 6 people including the driver), or PHP 50 for the "tourist" rate, which meant a private ride. Raye always got us the "local" rate, i.e. US$0.44 for both of us.

The Philippines is also the land of cheap beer. In Singapore, a bottle of the local Tiger beer costs about US$7; in the Philippines, a bottle of San Miguel is about US$0.74, i.e 10 time cheaper. (Singapore is reported to be the 8th most expensive, the Philippines the 9th least expensive.) Local food is good and inexpensive, we paid PHP 99 for a grilled chicken lunch with unlimited rice. That's US$2.15. And this is a place for inexpensive massages, notably on Boracay along the beach. An hour costs less than US$8, although you certainly can find places that will charge more. Pricing is a matter of negotiation on just about everything.

Everything about the wedding was spectacular. The rehearsal dinner was on the beach and the ceremony and reception were at the Shangri La resort as the sun was setting. Without a doubt it was the most thoroughly photographed wedding I'd been to, with the army of paparazzi choreographed by Amanda the Wedding Planner. (I'd never seen a steadicam used during a wedding before.) They were literally everywhere, but - remarkably - never in their photographs or video. The result was an incredible music-video-quality movie of the wedding day preparations and ceremony that was quickly produced and shown during the reception.

The international lives of the bride and groom was apparent during the reception. The cast of speech and toast makers (and accents) ranged from the southern drawl of the best man (and groom's father), to the patrician British accent of the bride's father, to the Norwegian college buddy, the Filipino-British blend of the maid-of-honor, and the Irish-Filipino blend of one of the groomsmen.

What an experience, and one that we are grateful to have shared with our friends. And New Years was the next day and there were more interesting adventures ahead.

Medical Care in Singapore

One of the things that we get asked about is the quality of health care in Singapore, i.e. outside the USA. It was certainly one of the things we were concerned about when considering our move here. Our concern was really the quality of the care, not whether or not it was covered by insurance.

Based on our experiences so far, we'd rate our entire experience as "excellent."

Not that we've had that many needs, thankfully. The most acute event was Paul's need for stitches after a hash run. The non-emergency visit to the ER at Mount Elizabeth Hospital (across the street from where we live) was terrific. So were the two follow-up visits to check on healing and to remove the stitches.

Since arriving here, we learned that Singapore actually has a medical tourism "business." People from all over the region come here for a variety of treatments ranging from heart surgery to ...ahem... "beauty enhancement procedures." This concept of medical tourism was something I'd never heard of before moving to Asia -- much less about the apparent competition among Singapore, Thailand, and now India.

The medical system in Singapore is a blend of public and private. The WSJ ran an editorial comparing the system here with that being developed in the USA. The Ministry of Heath (MOH) oversees the entire system. Their web site is an interesting read; the link points to the page that discussed the funding philosophy, a combination of "individual responsibility and affordable healthcare for all."

Singapore has a tiered system, with different pricing provisions for visitors, foreign workers (like us), permanent residents, and citizens. Citizens and permanent residents participate in the full medical system and its related benefits. We do not, but benefit from the pricing and quality competition inherent in the overall system.

The most recent example of this was when it was time for Raye to have her colonoscopy done. It had been 5 years and she's very disciplined about proactive diagnostics. A quick survey of her friends' network provided consistent recommendation for a particular clinic. Since it was also located across the street in Mount Elizabeth, the entire process was very easy. Prep was much shorter than her US experience, starting at 8:30 pm the night before and only using pills and a sports drink. No green Jello and clear liquids all day the day before.

The next day she walked over, had the procedure under anesthesia, waited to wake up, got her report, and walked back -- with a clean bill of health. And a CD containing the photos / video of the procedure. Total cost was S$1390 = US$990; that compares to US$1,660 for Paul's back in 2006.

Oh, yes -- and a nifty shopping bag (note that logo) to carry it all in. After all Singapore is also a major shopping tourism destination...

Ha Noi

The Hindu festival of Deepavali takes place in the fall and is one of the public holidays in Singapore. It presents a great opportunity to do some regional travel; last year we made a trip to Hong Kong. This time, we decided to go to one of the places we really wanted to visit - Vietnam.

For a long weekend, you pretty much have to pick between the south (Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon), the middle (Da Nang) and the north (Ha Noi). We picked Ha Noi because, well, it is the capital and was the capital of North Vietnam during the war. It's a destination that would have been the last place on earth you wanted to be back when we were in high school and college.

What a difference nearly 40 years makes. In many ways, it reminded me of my first visits to Germany and Japan in the 1990s. In the foreground was the energy and focus of the present, intertwined with the backdrop of history. And that history is much older and deeper than period of conflict in which our nations were engaged. But still I caught myself thinking, "we used to be at war."

We took the easy way out with travel planning. Raye arranged our trip through the same company that arranged our trip to Cambodia last year. They arrange transport, a guide, and a few meals, leaving sufficient time to do your own exploring as you like. We stayed in the Old Quarter, a historic and scenic area with many side streets to go explore.

Our guide taught us the unusual technique for crossing the street in Ha Noi (note: not our video). You line up in a row parallel to the flow of traffic, and just start slowly walking across the street. The traffic, mostly consisting of motorcycles, just steers around you like a rock in a stream. The key is to walk steadily and slowing so the drivers can judge where to drive. Suddenly stopping or running increases your risk of an unsuccessful crossing. It's really, really unnerving the first time you do this, but it works in Hanoi. (another video)

We made the 3 hour trip over to Halong Bay to spend the night on a remarkable overnight cruise around the bay. It gave us a chance to see smaller towns and villages and get a sense of the life of most of the country. It was rice harvest time, and we could see the cutting, threshing, and drying of the rice (everywhere there was pavement that wasn't being driven on). And it seems like anything can be transported on a motorcycle: we saw chickens, baskets, furniture, pigs -- even a cow.

The cruise on Halong Bay is best appreciated by the photos. It was beautiful and serene, despite the large number of boats doing the same thing. No wonder it's one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Back in Hanoi we visited the infamous Hanoi Hilton (Ho Lo Prison), toured a Confucian Temple, ate at Cha Ca La Vong, the oldest restaurant in Hanoi (only one item on the menu!), and visited the Ho Chi Minh memorial area.

We also got a wonderful street-level tour on a bicycle rickshaw (called a "cyclo") - see the video below. We attended a performance at the Water Puppet Theater, a performance art unique to the north of Vietnam. Of course we visited a local wet market, Raye did some shopping, and I bought some Vietnamese grown and roasted coffee.

It would have been easy to spend much more time in Hanoi and would cheerfully recommend the destination for visitors to SE Asia.

The Shopping Sisters & Accessible Singapore

Back in January, my sister Kay placed a successful bid on Sky Auction for 3 tickets to Singapore. After months of anticipation and planning, the "shopping sisters", my mom, my aunt Pat, and Kay arrived for their 11 day adventure in the wee hours of September 30. They handled the 3-leg, 25 hour trip from Atlanta remarkably well.

Mom is legally blind, wear hearing aids, and has difficulty walking for long distances. So to help make the exploring a bit easier on her, Kay scored a titanium folding wheelchair from where she works. And as a result, we all got to experience and appreciate just how mobility-accessible Singapore really is. It's quite good, particularly in the tourist and shopping areas; less so out in the neighborhoods and some of the ethnic enclaves.

The mass transit system is particularly good, with elevators at every stop we used and with raised markings in the floors to help you navigate. People were also kinder than perhaps I'd expected from earlier "kiasu" experiences. They made space for the chair and gave us room to get over the well-advertised "gap" between station and train. ("Please mind the gap.") The only friendly competition we had was with the baby buggies for the lifts. Many buses are also accessible, although we stayed with the trains, walking, and the car.

Singapore can seem like one great big shopping mall, so the "shopping sisters" felt right at home. Chinatown with it's charm, hidden treasures, and bargains was a regular destination during the visit. And not just for shopping: we enjoyed the hand-made noodles at Lan Zhou La Mian and the snow ice at Mei Heong Yuen.

It was my sister's opportunity to dare the durian, and she did quite well. However, since durian can "be the taste that keeps on tasting", it will not likely be a repeat experience. Aunt Pat liked the green tea, but Mango remains the undisputed champion snow ice flavor. We toured one of the wet markets, smelling and seeing the endless variety of animals, minerals and vegetables available, with black skinned chickens, eels, and live frogs being among the more unusual items.

We enjoyed a boat tour on the Singapore river, a relaxing way to see the city, the many restaurants along Clarke and Boat Quays ("keys"). My aunt had been to Singapore a few years back and recognized that the Merlion, the statue of the city-state's mascot, had been relocated from where she thought it should be. According to feng-shui, the Chinese beliefs about the correct relative placements of things, the additional reclaimed land had made the old location no longer auspicious. We've heard that the Merlion is going to be moved again, sometime after the "Integrated Resorts" (casinos) have been completed at the new mouth of the Singapore river in 2010.

The Night Safari, the zoo that opens as the sun is setting, is a must-see activity. Mom opted out (dark plus a lot of walking didn't seem like much fun). To our surprise, there was a major Halloween fest going on. In additional to roving costumed characters, several of the trails were specially marked and set up like haunted houses with people jumping out of the jungle to scare you. And this being Asia, Dracula was nowhere to be found. Instead, we encountered a "Jiang Shi", the hopping Chinese undead that is a blend between a vampire and a zombie. We also enjoyed the surprise dish served up at the "little dim sum cart of horrors."

We packed a lot in during the visit. There was high tea at the stately Raffles Hotel, tours of multiple Hindu and Buddhist temples, a visit to the "Fountain of Wealth" (listed in the Guinness 1998 Book of Records as the largest fountain in the world), shopping on Arab Street, and the requisite meal in Little India. Little India, with it's narrow streets and frenetic activity spilling out onto the sidewalks, was a particular challenge to navigate with a wheelchair. In contrast, Citylink Mall, an underground shopping complex that spreads out from the City Hall MRT stop, was particularly accommodating. (Mom drew quite the crowd as she demonstrated the wheelchair lift in order to navigate a set of stairs.)

Both Kay and Raye went to Ohio State, and the scenes of Singapore provided a spectacular setting in which to pose for some "O H I O" human letter photos. Apparently the alumni magazine has a running contest for the most original / interesting entries. Perhaps one of their entries will win, and if not they had a lot of fun (and drew a few curious stares) making them.
Everyone had a great adventure. And it wouldn't surprise us if the Shopping Sisters decide that they ended up buying something they don't need or doesn't fit. That's all the excuse they'd need for a "return" trip.

Whiskey St. John's & the Chandelles

It was only the second time the opportunity presented itself. Kay would have an opportunity to go flying with me and my instructor. The first time was 4 years ago when I was still earning my private license. She & my dad were our passengers as my instructor and I flew them on a sight seeing trip around north Texas, landing in Denton and then back to McKinney.


This time, Kay was visiting me in Singapore and was going to ride back seat as I continued my orientation lessons in Singapore airspace. The weather was dicey in the morning so I told her to expect nothing but pattern work, a series of take-offs and landings.

But the weather turned perfect as flight time approached. After we took off, instructor Raman asked me if I wanted to take advantage of the clear weather. Of course I said yes, so he instructed me to radio Paya Labar Approach as ask for "clearance Whiskey St. Johns one thousand five hundred". It took me a couple of tries to get it right. Turn out that Whiskey is an airspace reference point and St. John is an island at the edge of Changi's airspace. Approach thought about it a while, but gave us a special aircraft identification (transponder) code and the clearance we'd requested.


Singapore airspace is tightly confined, and what we'd been given was permission to fly pretty much down the middle of Singapore at 1,500 ft above the ground. We'd pass the southern shore, then turn east to a specific island that serves as reference point for the Paya Labar airforce base. No wonder special clearance was needed!

We then got the required clearance to reverse course and enjoyed the views on the way back to the practice area over the center of the island. Then Raman asked if I wanted to do some commercial maneuvers as a demonstration. Kay was OK with this so we cleared the airspace and proceeded to do a chandelle followed by some lazy 8's. My instructor did the flying.

These two maneuvers can seem like aerobatic maneuvers, but they are basic airmanship skills required for commercial pilots. The lazy 8 is pretty amazing and I'm sure we looked like an airplane in trouble to anyone hiking around the Macritchie Reservoir. Inside the plane, you're alternately looking a sky and ground, pulling a lot of "Gs" at the bottom and feeling pretty light at the top.

When we were done with these, he headed back to Seletar where I did some pattern work to finish up the lesson. The pattern at Seletar airport is pretty and interesting, you can see Malaysia on the other side of the straits. You have to pay attention to tall ships which may be navigating the channel. That's something I never had to contend with back in Dallas!

It was a great flight and a memorable addition to Kay's visit.

Singapore Flying

I've got a way cool entry in my logbook: 9VBOZ WSSL WSSL 1.0 hours dual instruction. It may not look like much to most folks, but it means I've flown a Singapore registered airplane around Singapore.

While this is just the beginning of a whole lot more to learn about flying different kinds of airplanes in this part of the world, it culminates a process that began at the start of June. That's when I decided to apply for a Singapore private pilot license so I could fly locally registered aircraft that are available at one of the two flying clubs. And it's been an interesting process (so far, that is - not done yet, I'm still a student pilot here) that I'll write up for the Texins Flying Club newsletter back in Texas. Unless you're an aviation fan, it probably doesn't make for interesting reading.

Some things that are interesting: there are more places you can't fly in Singapore than places you can fly, at least when you practicing. There are 5 aerodromes in Singapore, but only two are open for non-military use, Changi (the big international airport) and Seletar. And only Seletar is open for private use, and then only between 8:30 am and 6:30 pm. The places you can fly are marked within the 7-sided red & black angular area.

But even with these limitation, it was a great flight. My instructor was careful to point out the many "don't pass here" landmarks as we went through various aircraft orientation maneuvers in the Socata TB9, a low-wing 4-seat airplane. We flew over the heavily forested central area (that Raye and I hiked around last weekend) and then right up to to Woodlands checkpoint at the north end of the island. I could see where I work and had a great view of Johor Bahru, the city right across the bridge in Malaysia. In fact I got to see a lot of Malaysia, particularly in the landing pattern back to Seletar airport. You basically fly along the border on the base leg to get lined up with the runway.

We finished up with a couple of landings and it was all over too soon. I'm looking forward to the next flight. In the meantime I've got that logbook entry to remind me of my first flight in Singapore.

Macritchie, LingZhi, and the Ice Cream You Won't Find In Texas

On Saturday, we met up with a friend for a long walk around the Macritchie reservoir in the middle of Singapore. It gave us the opportunity to revisit the tree-top canopy walk that we'd first experienced when Patrick Meeker visited us. This time there were no shortage of monkeys throughout the walk. (note monkey on tree branch).

We finished up around lunchtime and decided to try something different for lunch. We headed up to Novena on the MRT and tried out a combination 'dim sum and mushroom hot pot buffet' at LingZhi Vegetarian restaurant. It was great and the waitstaff was very helpful in navigating the experience and any choices.

Dim sum are steamed dumplings filled with variety of different things. And being a vegetarian restaurant, we could enjoy everything they had to offer. There were also a variety of other appetizers, all great fun to sample. The main course, was hot pot. The waiter puts a pot with two types of boiling broth in the middle. There are five flavors to choose from, some earthy, some herbal, and some spicy. You then pick out the various ingredients you want to cook in the broth. There were 5 types of mushrooms, various green vegetables, some crouton-like things, corn on the cob, lotus root (new to Raye), okra, and many others. It all goes into the soup for about 5-10 minutes and, well, the rest is delicious.

We walked around the mall for a while and then headed over to a place we'd read about and wanted to try. It's called Udders and it's Singapore original ice cream place. It's a fun place with an eclectic feel to it, like it really should be on a college campus somewhere. There's a chalkboard that lists the flavors they have and continuous voting for the next flavor customers want them to introduce. The place makes all their own flavors (and has regular weekend workshops that let people make their own flavors, too - sold out until November!).

The flavors range from typical to tropical. They have mango and two different kinds of durian flavors. That's like having a both 'valencia' and 'navel' types of orange ice cream. (In this case it's Mao Shan Wang and D24.) The completely new one to us was cempedak, another local tropical fruit. The durian flavors were true to the fruit. The cepedak was best described as interesting: not quite as strong as durian, but definitely from the same neighborhood. It would be a good "dare you" flavor.

And while these tropicals are flavors you're not likely to find in Texas, the flavors that you'd be even harder pressed to find are the adult flavors. As in made with liquors and liqueurs. They even have a different number of martini glasses on the flavor label to indicate the 'proof' of the ice cream. We were tempted by the "Tia Miss You", but opted for the bitter belgian chocolate with triple sec and were not disappointed. It was clear why it's one of the best sellers.

And just when we thought there was nothing else to post about ice cream in Singapore...

Robin's Photos

This is an entry where we will post photos taken during Robin's visit to Singapore. Check back as we will be adding to these throughout her visit. The posting date will be updated after we add new pictures.

Link to photo album.

Snow Ice

"If ice kachang [a local kind of sno-cone] and ice cream had a love child, it would be snow ice." Snow ice is a dessert that originated in Taiwan and which has found a home in Singapore. It is made by feeding frozen blocks of milk, or flavoured milk, into a machine that shaves it into thin sheets. The layers of milk ice, piled high in a bowl, are served with toppings that run the gamut from chunks of fresh fruit to chocolate sprinkles.

We took our visiting friend Robin to Chinatown to book a side trip to Bintan (Indonesia) later during her visit. After some exploring around the area, including a visit to the wet market that Raye frequents, we stopped for lunch at a hand-made noodle shop. After some more walking and a stop at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, we opted to go for snow ice at Mei Heong Yuen on Temple Street.

The place was jammed and we had to wait for about 10 minutes for the opportunity to squeeze 3 people around a table that moments before had been cozily occupied by a young couple. A jammed place is a good sign, particularly in ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown. [We were the only Anglos in the place.]

From the wide selection of flavors (example: mocha, chocolate, durian, yam, and green tea), we opted for mango and an off-the-menu flavor, strawberry. For S$5 (about US$3.50) per serving you get a small iceberg of the stuff. The flavors are terrific, but it's the texture that makes it really interesting. It doesn't have the graininess of a sno-cone, nor the creamy mouth-feel of ice cream. It's somewhere in the middle; perhaps best described as smooth and clean, but different than sorbet.

Raye & Robin are planning a return trip to check out some additional flavors. Next time I go, I want to try some of the traditional desserts like mango sago pomelo, black sesame paste or egg custard with ginger.

Ice Cream in Singapore

It's summer here. But then again, it's always summer in Singapore. And what goes with summer? Ice cream! And it's everywhere in various interesting varieties.

Like the Fair Price grocery store. It was on sale, so we decided to buy some. But how to get it home before it melted? A quick look at the sides of the box gave us the answer: it was prepackaged in Styrofoam.

And what intriguing flavors: Durian, Mango, and Sweet Corn.

The name "potong" on the box means "cut" in Malay. The traditional way of serving up what we call Popsicles was to cut a rectangle of ice cream from a larger block, put a stick in it (called a lidi, made from the spine of the coconut leaf), and serve it up.

Out on the street, you can see this tradition in action at any number of the portable ice cream stands. (Notice the integrated motorcycle; it's part of the stand.) For S$1, the vendor cuts your serving of your flavor of choice from the large block and gives it to you on a stick (Malay style), between two wafers (Hong Kong style), or on a slice of colorful bread (Singapore style). We tend to favor the Hong Kong option.

In the various shopping venues you'll find a wide international representation of ice cream options. There is Azabu Sabo Hokkaido Ice Cream from Japan with such interesting flavors like green tea (of course), black sesame seed, sweet potato, and (one of our favorites) caramel and sea salt. Ben & Jerry's is here. (Our friend Hunter Rose, the Ice Cream Czar would feel right at home.)

And there are several gelato options: Bravissimo and Gelato Twist are two examples. While maintaining a strong Italian tradition (chocolate, cappucino), both cater to local palates with flavors like Milk Tea, Red Bean, and of course Durian. All will let you taste extensively, and that's definitely part of the fun.

But alas, there is no Graeter's in Singapore (except for a brief shining period when we managed to bring some back with us packed in dry ice). So as much as we may enjoy the exotic options here, our mocha chip and raspberry chip cravings have to wait for our visits to the US. At least Kroger's (in Texas) now carries it.

The Durian Day Tour

Ambivalent. This is one word that you never hear when it comes to durian, the "king of fruits." People pretty much either love them or hate them. Other stinky foods like Limburger cheese, or perhaps things like cigars, invoke the same kind of responses.

Tropical fruits come in two categories: seasonal and non-seasonal. (With 12 hours of sunshine and with the weather pretty much the same all year, it's a mystery of nature how plants know what season it is.) Durian is seasonal, with Malaysian season lasting from June to August. This means that mid-July is prime time and there are a variety of tours up into Malaysia to sample the current harvest. So we signed up for a day tour and off we went on another adventure.

A short taxi ride got us to the Yio Chu Kang MRT stop in plenty of time for the 6:15 coach pickup. After a second pickup stop to the west (oddly called Jurong East), we were at the Tuas checkpoint, the "second link" to Malaysia on the west side of Singapore. The procedural choreography was interesting: get off the Singapore bus, go through Singapore departures with your passport, get back on the bus, drive over the causeway, get off the Singapore bus with all your stuff, go through Malaysia arrival immigration and customs, and get on a Malaysian bus. It's actually the same procedures as any international travel, but with a bus ride over a bridge in place of the international flight.

The Malaysian bus was comfortable, with an unusual decor that included curtains over the windows and a karaoke machine (more on that later). We picked up a second tour guide, a Chinese Malaysian who talked to us in a mix of 60% Mandarin and 40% English. The tour group was ~75% Chinese, 20% Filipino, and 5% American (that would be the 2 of us).

Our first stop was in Gelang Patah for breakfast at a Malaysian hawker center. We opted for Fried Carrot Cake and an 3-egg omelette with green onions and a hint of chili. Carrot cake is neither cake nor has carrots in it; it's made from a white raddish. It's really good, especially the 'black' version that is made with sweet soy sauce. Together both cost 7 RM (Malaysian Ringgit) or about US $2.

The drive took about 2 hours and took us by countless palm oil plantations, rows and rows of regularly spaced palm trees. (Malaysia is the world's largest exporter of palm oil, an edible oil that is also used in making soap. The palm oil business is a point of eco-controversy because it replaces rainforest yet is also a potential source for renewable biodiesel.)

We arrived at Gunung Ledang Resort around 11:30 am. Turns out that the tour doesn't go to the durian plantations because of complaints about the quality and cleanliness of the facilities there. Instead of the durian comes to a resort where they have tables and tables set up, covered with newspaper and durians. It was crowded with eager visitors, more than ready for "makan durian" time.

Turns out that saying "durian" is like saying "apple." There are many varieties, but instead of being "delicious", "macintosh", "jonathan", they have names like "mao shan wang", "XO", "Sultan", and "black pearl." Some are know by the cultivar number, e.g. "D13" or "D101". We had several varieties on each table, and yes, you can taste a difference, just like you can with different kinds of apples. I like the D101; the fruit is orange (instead of pale green or yellow) and is creamier and sweeter than the others we tried. Durians in Singapore cost between S$10 and S$18 (US$ 7-12) per kg, and an individual durian weighs about 1.5kg.

There are also some important customs associated with eating durian. The durian is a "yang" fruit, one that increases heat. Proper eating require a balance of "yin" (cooling) foods. Mangosteens serve this purpose, and these were also provided about half-way through the 'feast.' Another option is to drink salt water, salt being a "yin" herb. True affianados drink the salt water out of the durian shell. We opted for the mangosteens, which are called the "queen of fruits", are very tasty and apparently chock full of anti-oxidants.

Next on the agenda was a rainforest hike up to the Puteri Falls. This is the very bottom of the Gunung Ledang Trail. It took about 20 minutes to walk up the trail, with lots to see both in terms of the natural surrounds and the variety of people who were enjoying picnics or camping along the stream. At the top was a natural swiming area and some additional minor falls that people were sitting under. We stayed about 20 minutes, chatting with a Singaporean tourist on a different tour (he went to Indiana University and has a son at Purdue) before returning to the resort for High Tea.

Back on the bus around 3:30 PM, we headed for Yong Peng for a shopping stopover at a local product shops. Along the way, they fired up the karaoke machine connected to the TV at the front of the coach. Fortunately, they only played the tracks that included original artists singing so there were no 'performances.' But it was a little surreal to be on a bus in penninsular Malaysia, half-way around the world, listening to songs like "Yesterday Once More" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

Our next stop was for dinner near Johor Bahru (just across the straits from Singapore) around 5:30 PM at the Grand Straits Garden Seafood Restaurant. We were grouped with a Chinese couple and the six Filipinos on the bus and had a great time. The courses: chicken feet soup, stir fried tofu, thai-style chicken, pink tilapia with sweet & sour chili sauce, stir fried kang kong (like spinach), Cantonese style squid ringlets, braised prawns, white rice, and a fruit salad for dessert.

By 8:30 pm were were back on the bus and headed over the 'first link' causeway into the Woodlands checkpoint and back into Singapore. This time, we got to stay on the Malaysian bus after Singapore customs. It dropped us off at Jurong East and we took the MRT (subway) back home, arriving around 10PM.

How much did this cost? Total value of the deal (including breakfast on us): US$85 for the two of us, including breakfast, transport, durian, dinner, guides, and tips. A great value and a terrific adventure!

(You can click on the slide show below to see larger version of the pictures.)

Attention to Detail

On the MRT (subways and elevated trains) there are "priority seats" near each door. Anyone can sit in these seats, but when an older, pregnant, parent with lap child, or disabled person gets on the train, they get the priority seat. And it's practiced faithfully here.

Sometimes a little too faithfully for our tastes, as in when someone offered Raye the priority seat. (To be fair, this happened when Raye was having her back problems at the end of last year and was using a cane.)

I found the sign itself to be interesting in a couple of details. Take a close look at it. (You can click on the picture to see a bigger version.)

Certainly the illustrations are simple and clear; they don't require translation into the four official languages of Singapore (English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil).

Did you notice that the adult with the lap child is male?

What about the different spine angles for each of the figures? That was a surprise when I noticed it. They all make sense, too.

I guess that's what happens when you hang around with a physiotherapist for 30 years...

Keeping It Clean - Part 2 (H1N1)

Singapore takes the H1N1 flu pandemic seriously. This makes sense, not only because of the recent memory of SARS in 2003, but also because people are the single most important resource in Singapore's economy. Since Singapore is the #3 most densely populated country in the world, the Health Promotion Board of the Singapore Government is mission control when it comes to prevention. The Ministry of Health oversees the healthcare system, e.g. licenses doctors.

There's a full media blitz on the topic: print, radio, TV, and web (including downloadable Power Point slides for use in classrooms). There is even an official government site about H1N1. There are posters in the mass transit stations, buses, and trains. The one that really caught my eye is the one about "Stop the Horror" which emphasizes washing your hands as a way to stop the spread of the flu and other diseases. There is even a step-by-step set of instructions on proper technique on the HPB website. Have a look and see if you're following best practices. And if you have difficulty remembering the technique, check out the "Washy, Washy Clean" preschooler lyrics, sung to the tune "if you're happy and you know it...". There's even an MP3 recording.

Concerns about H1N1 are extremely visible in the workplace. We get daily e-mail updates on the infection statistics. If you travel away from Singapore, you have to report where you've been and you might be asked for a one-week work-from-home quarantine. We have to take our temperatures and record them on a card twice each day. When we arrive at work we have to show our temperature cards and thermometer. If someone comes down with a fever at work (38C or higher), they clear out the lobby, the reception/security team dons masks and gloves, and a ambulance shows up to whisk the infected person away for treatment & quarantine. I've seen this happen twice. Depending on circumstances (e.g if their is a positive diagnosis of H1N1) the entire work team might be sent home for a week quarantine and their work area disinfected.

When you go into a medical building (like when we recently went to the dentist), you get your temperature taken with an infared no-contact thermometer. You get a sticker to wear showing you've passed "incoming inspection." We've also seen this occasionally at arts performance venues. An interesting side note is that the people taking our temperatures seem to relax a little when we explain that we live in Singapore. They probably assume that we are tourists who just got off the plane from the USA, the country with the most reported cases of H1N1 anywhere on earth. (Imagine if they knew we moved here from Texas!)

Singapore's pervasive, proactive pandemic preparations are impressive, and we're appreciative of the energy and effort that are being put into them.