Temple tree

One of the stops I always take people to in Singapore is the Buddhist temple right in the heart of Chinatown.  I didn't plan to take any pictures since I've been to it a number of times before.  However, there were some great decorations for Lunar New Year.  This one was my favorite...

These were up on the altar in the main hall of the temple.  You'll notice that the tree on the left has $10 notes stuck in with the shiny leaves.  It was a unique and pretty way to display money offerings.

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32/52 - River Hongbao

Week 32 of 52
River Hongbao
Singapore

I have been wandering around showing my mom the city the past few days.  We have spent a good bit of time on the different Lunar New Year festivities and sights.  It is a fun time of year here...LNY is similar in importance to Christmas in the west...there are lots of lights and lanterns and colors and music all around the city.

Something that they do every year in Singapore is the River Hongbao which is a festival/carnival down at Marina Bay.

There are performances and is an entire section on the history of the Lunar New Year festivities in Singapore.  I like it mainly for all of the fun lanterns and bright colors...

 

Since this is the year of the dragon they were everywhere...

They also always have the different animals of the zodiac.  If you remember, I am an ox so found my guy and got a picture with him...

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Bank of Kate

One of the things that I always end up coming home with from a trip is leftover currency from the country I have just visited.  When there is a chance you may head back to the country you tend to keep a small amount of the cash on-hand and then before you know it...you end up like this... 

I dipped into my savings at the Bank of Kate just before I headed to Australia.  I realized that since I am heading back to the US soon I actually don't need to keep it any longer so ended up turning it at the currency exchange place and had a lot more than I realized.

Can you guess all of the currency?  I'll give you a hint and tell you all of the countries represented...
USA
Australia
Thailand
New Zealand
Korea
Japan
China
Taiwan
Malaysia 

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31/52 - Melbourne (in and around)

Week 31 of 52
Mornington Peninsula
near Melbourne, Australia

Two years ago I made a passing comment to my friend Sonya that we should try and go to the Australian Open sometime.  It seems so close (only an 8 hour flight from Singapore) and I hadn't been to Melbourne yet.  Note to self...do not make random comments to Sonya about trips...she is good at making them happen!  We were lucky enough to have the Australian Open fall over the Chinese New Year holiday here in Singapore so we only had to take one day off of work.

We were supposed to arrive Friday morning and see some evening tennis on Friday night...unfortunately, Qantas had other plans for us and we didn't end up arriving until Friday evening.  On Saturday, we spent the afternoon in a part of Melbourne called St. Kilda.  It is right on the water and has great restaurants and some nice shopping.  We enjoyed a delicious breakfast (very hard to find here in Singapore) and a very long walk along the beach.  It was a really grey day so I actually didn't take any pictures...next time.

On Sunday, a group of gals hired a van and driver to take us to the Mornington Peninsula which is known for some great Pinot Noir.  It was a much prettier day to tour some cute little wineries...

We ended up going to about five places along with a local brewery... 

 We also had an amazing lunch at one of the wineries...

On Saturday night, Sonya and I made up for the lack of Friday night tennis by getting center court tickets to see our favorite player, Roger Federer.  He was playing against a young Aussie, Bernard Tomic so it was a packed arena and had a great vibe...

Roger won the match but went on to lose to Rafa Nadal later in the week.  And this was the closest I was able to get to him...

On Monday we were back to Rod Laver arena for an entire day of tennis.  We had amazing seats at one of the service lines and only about 8 rows off the court...

   

We were close enough to hear the players ranting and see everything really well.  The only problem was we were sitting in the direct sun...and the reflection off of the court added about 10 degrees so we were soaked just sitting and watching...I cannot imagine how hot it must have felt to the tennis players.

Tuesday was a pretty quiet day spent just wandering around the city.  We had another delicious breakfast and did a little shopping before I headed off to the airport to come back to Singapore. 

I had previously not been too interested in visiting Melbourne...mainly because of things I had heard from people.  They had always said that Sydney was definitely worth the visit but Melbourne could be skipped.  I'd have to disagree...Sydney is a must see if you are in Australia but Melbourne is a city with an amazing vibe to it.  Great architecture, beautiful views, delicious food, friendly people, and if visiting in January some amazing tennis!

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Today is brought to you by the number 5!

I have been MIA from the blog lately because I just got back from 5 days in Melbourne, Australia.  I'll blog about all the fun we had but as a preview...we saw some great tennis at the Australian Open...had amazing breakfasts...and went wine tasting.

Here's a preview of how amazing our seats were...

That is Serena Williams in case you aren't familiar with the tennis pros.

Today marks 5 weeks until I leave Singapore.  Right now...in 5 weeks time I'll be about 7 hours into my 18 hour return flight to the US.  I cannot believe that three years has flown by so quickly...and I really cannot believe that my last few weeks here are flying by so quickly!

I'll do some blog catch-ups in the coming days...right now I'm off to bed a bit early to try and fend off a nasty cold I caught while I was away.  Have a great Wednesday, January 25th...see, another 5 in there!

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Singapore living

Growing up in Owosso my concept of a home was a typical single-family house with a garage and a yard.  There weren't very many apartment complexes and certainly no high rise buildings.  I'm sure that people who are from more urban areas would have a different frame of reference.

In Singapore, there are not a lot of single-family homes.  Those that do exist are insanely expensive to rent or purchase (think millions of dollars).  Obviously, when you have 5 million plus people living on an island you very quickly run out of room so the easiest thing to do is build up instead of out. 

These are HDB (Housing Development Board) apartment blocks.  They are built by the Singapore government and are lower cost than the privately held apartment buildings.  Typically, locals will live in HDB apartments but there is nothing that prohibits expats from living in them...although I'm pretty sure we couldn't own one. 

The newer buildings where most of the expats live look more modern and tend to be newer...

I actually looked at a place in this complex...

The thing that is a bit different than being in the US is that all of the units are privately owned.  When you you want to rent one you actually have to have a leasing agent that contacts the landlord's leasing agent to schedule viewings and then negotiate the leases.  I am not aware of any typical apartment buildings like we have in the US where they manage all of the units in the building.  It all seems very inefficient by having so many people involved.

I have enjoyed city living and think that I have adapted well to being in an apartment building again.  However, I'm looking forward to being back in a home that I own...with no neighbors above me or just on the other side of the walls...it will be nice to have a yard again...and to be able walk directly from the garage into the house without having to take an elevator...

BTW - if you check out the pictures of the HDB buildings above you'll notice poles with laundry hanging out to dry.  Most of the private buildings don't allow you to do this so is one way to tell (and am generalizing here) if a building is HDB or not.

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I'm an Ox...what are you?

We are coming up on the year of the dragon in the Lunar calendar.  I found out today that more babies are born in Singapore in the year of the dragon than any other year (so much so that the last time it was a dragon year they had to build more schools).  Apparently dragons tend to be strong leaders and many kings and presidents have been dragons. 

I am not a dragon but as you probably read from the title of this post am an ox.  The general description of an ox is as follows...

Dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, born leader, patient, hardworking, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding.

I would certainly agree that a lot of those characteristics tend to describe me but there are some that definitely do not.  What do you think?

If you are curious what your Chinese zodiac is go to this website and take a look...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

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- to +

The entire time I've been living in Singapore I've tried hard not to dwell too much on things that frustrated me or were different.  I mean...really...those differences are a big reason why I even opted to live here in the first place...to be able to experience them.  Being human...you tend to just get frustrated sometimes and this gets a little harder than you might think. 

For example...
Yesterday I went to the movie with a friend and was stuck waiting for a bus for longer than I wanted to be...ugh...couldn't it just get there...why is traffic so unpredictable...gee I wish I had my own car...

It got me thinking...there are probably negatives and positives on both sides of the globe...so now that I am on my countdown to my last days in Singers I have had a bit of a shift in thinking...I may randomly share a few of these thoughts with you as short blog posts over the coming weeks...

Traffic & Driving
Am really looking forward to having my own car again and being able to drive myself when and where I want...
Will miss the luxury and ease of public transport when there are traffic jams or late nights out...

City Living
It will be nice to be back in a home with a yard and some real space that is all our own.
I will miss being able to walk out the door and be in the thick of things in a matter of minutes.

Tropical Weather
I have a long-standing disdain for hot & humid temps but must finally admit that it is kind of fun being in flip-flops most of the year and that sitting by my pool on the weekends enjoying the cool breeze and blue skies is not a horrible thing.
I will not miss the crazy rain that comes with living in the tropics and am very much looking forward to wearing turtlenecks and tights and boots...when I get back to NC.

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Any last requests?

I have known for some time that I will be permanently returning to the US sometime early this year.  Yesterday, I booked my flight home and will be departing and arriving on February 29th!

I am super excited to be coming home!  It will be so great to be with Alan and the cats everyday and to see friends and family in person instead of through the computer.  I'm also looking forward to cooler temps...driving my own car...good Mexican food...and many other random things...

At the same time, I am really sad to be leaving Singapore.  I'm going to miss the variation in culture...the food...the ability to travel so easily in Southeast Asia...but mostly will miss the great friends I have met here...

I'm going to try my best to live in the moment for the next 54 days (yep...the countdown is on) and enjoy all things Singapore so I don't have any regrets when I am back in the States permanently.  As loyal readers for the past three years do you have any last requests?  Is there anything you want me to revisit or explore or explain while I'm still here?  If so...leave a comment and I'll do it!

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30/52 - Chinatown

Week 30 of 52
Chinatown
Singapore

The Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year is rapidly approaching.  We in Singapore will be celebrating it on January 24th & 25th and have those days off as public holidays.  In preparation for it Chinatown is a buzz of activity.  I always take a trip this time of year to see what the decorations look like and just get a general feel for the upcoming festivities.

We are entering the year of the dragon and ushering out the year of the rabbit.  If you are curious what your Chinese zodiac is check out this website: http://www.chinesezodiac.com/calculator.php.  I am an Ox - FYI.

In the Chinese culture, Lunar New Year is probably the biggest holiday of the year.  It is a time meant to be spent with family and friends.  From speaking with the locals, they take about a week where they go to family members homes for large dinners and quality time.  It is traditional to give a gift of money to children in red envelopes such as these...

There are quite a few decorations to choose from in Chinatown.  The majority of them are red and gold which symbolize luck and prosperity.  And since it will be the year of the dragon quite a few of them are dragon related...

There are also lanterns and flowers everywhere as decoration and to be purchased...

It is a beautiful and fun time of year to wander through Chinatown.  The crowds can be pretty overwhelming but it is totally worth the fun of seeing the buzz of activity for the holiday.

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Fun with food - Egg Tart

When I first arrived in Singapore I read an article about the best bakeries in Singapore for egg tarts.  At the time, I had no idea what egg tarts were.  So, the first time I wandered through Chinatown after reading that article I found the bakery where the article claimed was 'the best egg tart' in Singapore.

The shop is a tiny little storefront tucked away in Chinatown.  You would easily walk by this place and not even take notice.  The man in the picture is standing in front of the only pastry case so you can see just how small the shop actually is.

I should also note that I have absolutely no idea the name of this bakery.  Everything is written in Mandarin and the only way I found it the first time was because of the great description of the location in that original article.

So, what exactly is an egg tart?

It is a small pastry (maybe 2 inches across) that is filled with egg custard.

The crust is like a normal pie crust...

The filling is egg custard...

The custard is thick but doesn't ooze out when you cut through it...not sure why but the first time I ate one I thought it would be a little oozier.  The crust tastes like any pie crust would and the egg custard tastes like eggs with a little bit of sweetness to them.  I would actually say they are more of a savory dessert than a sweet one. 

I prefer the English version of egg/custard tarts because they are bit more dessert-like than the Asian version.  However, I would have to say that this is one of the better Asian desserts that I have tried...there are some really weird ones...remember the post about desserts in Thailand...

http://yourtodayismyyesterday.blogspot.com/2009/11/fun-with-foodthai-style.html

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Welcoming 2012

I had a relatively quiet evening last night.  I went out to dinner with some friends and was home by 10:00 pm.  I wasn't in the mood to deal with the crowds of people out celebrating...and by the looks of the number of people heading down to the Marina Bay area while I was walking in the other direction on my way home I made the right choice.

Much to my surprise, I made it to midnight so watched the festivities on television...

Yep...that is a picture of my TV at midnight...I know, I know...I should have been down there with the 10 gazillion other people but I honestly was much happier in the quiet of my own home.  And, I think I probably had a better view.  Luckily, I live close enough to the Marina Bay area that I could hear them shooting the fireworks and even caught the tippy tops of some of them from my balcony...

What did you do to ring in 2012?

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