Garden play

So, we didn't really play in the gardens. 

This morning we took a walk through the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  As always, it was a nice walk...pretty dang hot...but always nice.  We saw lots of trees and flowers and critters.

The Singapore Arts Festival is currently going on.  This afternoon we saw a matinee of the play I, Malvolio.  It is a one man comedic play where the steward, Malvolio tells the story of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  It was quite entertaining.  There was a dialogue with the playwright/actor after the show so we stuck around.  We learned that the play was written when the playwright was here in Singapore about a year ago.  He worked predominantly with junior college writers to assist him.  I must admit, it was interesting to see a play that was created here.   

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Happy B-day Buddha!

Today is Vesak Day in Singapore and many Southeast Asian countries.  It is the day Buddhists celebrate the birth of Buddha.  As Alan said when I was telling him about it...it is the equivalent to Christmas for Christians...without the presents...but with the public holiday...yipee for me!

As an aside, looking back on last year, I don't think I was actually in Singapore to celebrate any of the public holidays.  I was traveling so much I missed them.  To be truthful, half of the time I wasn't even aware that there was a public holiday.

Anyway, we headed up to a Buddhist temple today to see how Vesak Day was celebrated.  There were oodles more people in the temple and the cloud of smoke from the incense burning was amazing.  Otherwise, it looked like any other day at the temple.  I wonder if this is what Buddhists would think of Christmas if they were to go to church?

Even though it wasn't a big festival type holiday, it is still really interesting for me to be here and experience it.  I had never heard of Vesak Day before living here and I probably would never have given it a second thought. 

So...happy birthday Buddha!  I hope it was a great one and wish you many more.

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Stair un-master

Nope, not a blog post about the gym...

I love to ride on the upper deck of the bus.  You can see a lot more and there are always more seats available upstairs.  There also seem to be less people rambling on and talking on their phones.  I'm not sure why...but that does seem to be the case.  These are all perks.

Trying to walk down the stairs as the bus is about to reach your stop is not a perk.  It is next to impossible to do in any sort of graceful manner.  Try doing it in heels and while carrying a couple of bags and it is truly shocking I have not gone tumbling down them.  Heck, I've almost wiped out in comfortable flats without anything in my hands.

There does seem to be some comfort in seeing that this is an issue for everyone.  It is sort of like slipping on ice in the winter...it happens to most everybody and we all look equally silly when it happens.

Let's hope we never find out what happens if I take a tumble.

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Open House

The Republic of Singapore Navy had their open house today at Changi Naval Base.  The naval base is on the eastern side of the island just past the airport.  As with most military bases, there is typically restricted access so it was a great opportunity to get on base and explore something I wouldn't normally get to see.

Changi Naval Base is huge.  It has some new buildings to house both operations and soldiers.  It also has quite a large berthing space for their ships as well as visiting ships.  They had a nice selection on display including frigates, missile corvettes, patrol vessels, submarines, landing ship tank, and mine countermeasure vessels.

They offered a number of rides...they called them cruises... on the various ships.  You had to put your name into a lottery and then they would text you if you won.  It seemed like a nice way to manage the process and give everybody a fair shot.  They also provided guided tours on a number of the ships but the lines were pretty long and it was Singapore hot so we opted not to go on any tours.

It was interesting to notice that they didn't have the large scale ships that we are used to seeing in the US Navy.  There were no aircraft carriers and the few battleships they had weren't nearly the size that I have seen in the US.

I also found out, by asking a very nice sailor, that this is the flag of the Republic of Singapore Navy:

As with most places in Singapore, you can't wander around without running into some fun signs.

Would hate to be around when this occurred.  However, it is quite nice that they give you the warning.

Lastly, and probably the most important sign I've seen in awhile...

Do not...I repeat...do not under any circumstance drive Herbie off of the dock!

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Churches

This afternoon we visited St Andrews Cathedral in Singapore. It was originally founded in the early 1800s. We were told that it was specifically placed between the British on one side and the Chinese on the other.

The church itself is beautiful. You are allowed to walk in and tour it and I'm always amazed at the beauty you find inside of old churches. The best part was that they were in the middle of practicing for a concert that evening with their recently restored pipe organ.

I figured it'd be kind of fun to share the sounds of Singapore with you instead of just my descriptions and pictures. So, just click on the video below for a listen:



We then headed off to Chinatown for a tour. It was amazingly quiet and uncrowded compared to the last time I was there during the height of Chinese New Year.

Here we stopped in at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. We happened upon it at a great time as the monks were leading the congregation...do you call Buddhist temple goers that...in chants. Again, thought it'd be fun for you to be able to hear so click on the video below (apologies that Buddha appears to by laying down).

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Dragons can swim?

Actually, I'm not really sure if they can swim.  But, I do know that they can go really fast on water if manned by 20 people.  

Today we stumbled across dragon boat racing on the Singapore River at Clarke Quay. 

Dragon boats are basically long boats that are paddled by a crew of 18 with a drummer in the front and somebody steering in the back.  The boats themselves have the head and tail of a dragon affixed to them (you can see it in the picture above).  The drummer is on the boat to call out instructions to the team and to beat the drum to give the paddlers a pace to paddle to.

The teams today were from different crews around Singapore.  The picture above is of the men's American Dragon Boat crew.  Unfortunately, they did not win the race.  The speed and power that they created during their race was pretty amazing.  Take a look at the white around the boats...it'll give you an idea to how fast they were going.

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Shh...

No, not you...all of the people on their mobile phones in Singapore. 

This past week I have noticed just how many people here are talking on their mobile phones.  While they are walking down the road.  While they are driving.  While they are waiting for the bus.  While they are sitting next to you on the bus.  While they are standing in line at the grocery store.  All. The. TIME!

Sheesh!  I have no earthly idea what all of these people are talking about.  Nor do I know what is so urgent about all of these conversations. 

Do all of you remember the time before mobile phones?  What did we all do back then?  How did we survive? 

I am not a phone talker.  It just isn't my thing.  Ask Alan...it is a really good thing that we have a video chat capability these days or it'd be tough to be on two separate continents.  I am certainly not much of a mobile phone talker.  For me, it is primarily used for text messaging (which I adore) and quick phone calls or urgent phone calls.  I can't ever imagine sitting on a bus speaking on the phone with somebody for the rest of the bus to hear.

What do you think everybody is talking about that is so important?

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A week later

I got back in Singapore one week ago and I must say that this past week has just flown by. 

Jet lag has been trying to become far too cozy with me.  I am not a fan of jet lag so have been resisting him with all of my being...jet lag is very persuasive sometimes. It was far worse earlier in the week so think I'll be back on track when I start the work week next week. 

Speaking of work...it has been really busy. It has been great being back in the region and much easier to meet with everyone since we're in the same time zone...mostly.  But, since I have been gone for a bit and am now back my time is in high demand.  I worked a lot of long hours this week.  So, I took today as a bit of a mental health day which has been nice. 

I still need to unpack from the trip last week.  Am not sure if I've explained my unpacking strategy previously...basically, I leave my bags on the floor in the middle of my apartment.  If I took them into my bedroom they'd likely sit there for ages waiting to be unpacked.  With them being in the middle of the room, I will usually get tired of tripping over them and unpack them right away.  Not this week...I've just been sifting through them...finding what I need...creating more of a mess as I go along.  I have successfully tripped over them far too many times and the task for this Friday night is to get them unpacked.

Hopefully next week I'll be doing some sort of exciting Friday night activity!

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Flying backwards to Hong Kong

That title probably sounds a little more interesting than it really is.  The plane itself flew normally but my seat was a rear facing seat.  I was on the upper deck of a United 747 and they now have rear facing seats to provide "the most privacy and comfort in flight".  Every other row faces the rear of the aircraft or aft if we are speaking in proper aeronautical terminology.
My seatmate was not thrilled to be facing aft and asked to be re-seated.  Unfortunately, the flight was full and nobody wanted to switch with her.  The very nice flight attendant asked everybody in a forward facing window seat to switch and everybody declined.  Seems so odd to me...it is still a seat on the flight...just faces a different way.  Why not switch?  I totally understand not wanting to change from an aisle to a window or vice versa but really...forward or backward?  To me there isn't much difference.  Plus, I think it is actually safer to be facing the rear...all military flights have the troops facing the rear...at least from what I have seen...so that must mean that they are safer.

I honestly didn't notice much of a difference.  It was a little noticeable during the ascent and then when the pilot slammed on the brakes during landing.  Otherwise, it was just like any flight.  I think riding in the passenger seat of a right-wheel drive vehicle is weirder than this.  And actually, since I was facing the rear and the galley was in the rear...it was much easier flagging down flight attendants when I wanted something.

I'm now sitting at the airport in Hong Kong killing a few hours before the final leg of my journey.  It is really cloudy and foggy here today so all I can see is part of a mountain and the airplanes moving around on the tarmac.  I'll have to come back in order to say I've officially been to Hong Kong...passing through the airport doesn't count...you have to actually set foot on the soil.

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75...4...26

No, that is not the combination to my high school locker...

It has been 75 days since I have been at the airport and on an airplane.  Can you believe it?  I think this is the longest I have gone without being on a plane in a few years.  Are there new security rules?  What are the in-flight movies?  Have they changed the safety speech?  (Exits are to the front, middle, and rear of the aircraft....white lights lead to red lights indicating the exits...)

Of course, that will all be resolved tomorrow when I hit 4 different airports and travel for about 26 hours on a plane on my return trip to Singapore. I'll be RDU - ORD - HKG - SIN.  I leave first thing in the morning and arrive late, late on Friday night Singers time.  I am a little excited because I'll have a brief layover in Hong Kong which I have not yet visited.  Even though I won't step foot outside of the airport I will be seeing a teeny bit of a new country.

I'm going to miss being at home.  It has been so nice to experience the amazing spring weather we've had.  And...I won't have Alan or the kitties at my apartment or good friends in Singapore.  However, I do have a lot of work that will keep me very busy and I'll be back in Durham before I know it.  I'm not sure why, but knowing when the next visit will be makes it a little easier when leaving.  So I shall try not to dwell on the sad parts about leaving...

Instead, I need to get packing...did I mention that I'm leaving early tomorrow morning?

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