Singapore - Day 30 - May 30, 2011

Day 30 - May 30
Location: Singapore

I slept in -- first time that I slept later than MJ on this whole trip. I've been so jealous of her ability to sleep.


Went for our yummy soup and fruit breakfast. And then, decided to check out Canning Park --  National Park right in central Singapore. It was really
a good decision. Aside from Internet access in the visitor center, the staff looked dome places for us and helped plan our last few hours in Singapore.




Wax figure in the Battle Box


We Climbed 181 steps up to the Raffles Terrace, walked through the Spice Garden, visited the Cemetery and toured the Battle Box, which was perhaps not the usual tourist destination.


















The Battle Box is an underground bunker from WWII that has been made onto a museum that chronicles the days leading up to The British surrender of Singapore in 1942. All figures are high quality wax museum statues, and through clever lighting and audio recordings you hear the conversations leading to the surrender. It was a fascinating museum to visit.


We checked out of hotel at 2:00. We put our bags in the hotel luggage storage and took off on the Hop On back to Little India for lunch at Komala Vila -- we had to have another round of their Pouffy bread. It was great.


Back onto to the Hop On with a stop at the Raffles Museum, which was very interesting. Talk about a place steeped in history and so beautiful and elegant.
We got back to our hotel about 5:00, took showers and did final prep for departure. 8:00 pick up to go to the airport. Hard to believe it's all over but the flight home -- a year+ worth of planning and communicating and thinking and coordinating.


To answer one of the crequently asked questions -- yes I would consider serving as ED on another exchange -- but not in 2012. At this exact moment I'm dreading any trip further than Winter Park!! I suspect that I will mellow, but for today Altamonte Springs sounds so appealing.


Airport transport arrived a little late, but we still had plenty of time.
8:30 PM pick up at the hotel on May 30;
Hour drive to the airport.
Flight departed at 12:15 PM
12 hour flight arrived in Frankfurt at 3:00PM May 31 -- local time.
Two hour layover in Frankfurt and we were off to NY.
Frankfurt to NY is about 7.5 hours, so should arrive by 11:00 AM.
We have a long layover in NY. Not scheduled to depart on out Delta fight until 4:00 PM, which should put us at OIA around 7:15 PM May 31.


We will check on getting on an earlier flight from NY to OIA, but I'm not optimistic, given this is still a holiday weekend.


Checked bags will add a little time for the pick up. Wonder if my Luggage will arrive with me.  I'll keep my  fingers crossed -- I guess it's possible.


If all goes as scheduled, I think it will be around 35 hours door to door. Sleep will be good :)


The End
Mum/ Nancy

Singapore - Day 29 - May 29, 2011

Day 29 - May 29
Location: Singapore


We discovered a great place for breakfast and it was right around the corner from our hotel in the Digital Mall -- and the Digital Mall is another whole Singapore shopping phenomenon, but I will tell you about that another time -- suffice it for now to say it was five floors of primarily digital equipment. We met someone today who told us, "Singapore is the only shopping mall with a seat at the UN" :)

Anyway, Part of our breakfast consisted of constructing our own soup -- we picked seven ingredients (veggies, hard boiled eggs, 5+ versions of tofu, 5+ fish based 'things' and a bunch of unidentified food products. They cut up everything you select and boil it in chicken broth in this huge cauldron that has sections -- like a giant apple corer dividing the pot into four big sections with a center ring. Most of the ingredients go in one section, in another section of the pot of boiling chicken broth, they add your choice of rice, noodles, beans or whatever kind of starch. Then it all goes into a big bowl -- enough for us to split. Costs about $4 total.


Then, at another food stall is fresh  fruit. You select what you want, it all goes onto one plate and you pay based on what you select. Papaya, kiwi, mango and dragon fruit were our favorites  Costs about $5.


In a very expensive city like Singapore it's a great deal to get a tasty, filling breakfast for two for under $10.


After breakfast, MJ and I took the Hop On to a vert ritzy part of the city to check in with Singapore Air -- for our return flight.  Singapore Air office is in the most luxurious shopping district -- in an upscale shopping mall that has eight floors of high end, designer shops; about four floors underground, marble, glass, chrome and brass.  Unbelievable. The underground floors also serve to get you across the streets. You can't cross the streets in this area above ground.






Orchard Road -- Extreme Shopping!



It was an interesting excursion. We had to ask for directions to find our way out!
After confirming our flights, we made a stop at Starbucks to check e-mail. WIFI is hard to find here, but there are lots if Starbucks around the shopping areas, so that's been our best bet. Starbucks mugs in Bali cost $5-9 dependent upon the pattern. In Singapore same mugs are $18.


Now that we know where  Little India is, we thought we'd go there today. We took the Hop On and enjoyed the ride, winding around through the city. Totally different "flavor" in Little India" -- there is a market that sells all manner of Indian stuff, but most of the independent shops are either gold jewelry or silk for sarongs. Fun to look at, but not my style and all way out of my price range.






One of many silk shops in Little India, Singapore

We had a good lunch at an Indian restaurant where a friendly Indian family, at the table next to us, helped us order. It's hard to order food when nothing is in English. Everything was delicious.


We Rushed back to hotel, took a quick shower and headed out to Lau Pa Sat to experience the food hawkers at night. They block a street off on one side of Lau Pa Sat and the satay vendors set up shop on the side of the street. The whole center section of the street is tables. Masses of people and smoke from the satay fires add an "other world" feeling to the whole scene.


Next stop was Raffles for my ridiculously expensive Singapore Sling. Check that one off my list :) We sat out in the courtyard and enjoyed the opulence -- if only for an hour.






Raffles, site of my insanely expensive Singapore Sling :)


Back to the hotel by 10:00 where proceeded to reorganize and pack. Another big day.
MUM/Nancy

Singapore - Day 28 - May 28, 2011

Day 28 - May 28
Location: Singapore


I seem to have lost track of a day somewhere.


Today's goal was to visit the Singapore Botanic Garden and then Bugis Street and Little India, which turned out to be easier said than done. Mission was not accomplished, but we sure did walk a lot.




Just one of many incredible plantings in the
National Orchid Garden 

 We took the Hop On shuttle to the Botanic Gardens and Jackie was right -- it was the most beautiful botanical garden I have ever visited. It is huge -- 128 acre botanical wonder. It is beautifully laid out with great signage for individual plants and the various categories of plants. It was clean, well manicured and very serene. Our handy-dandy pack of vouchers included admission to the National Orchid Garden, which has the largest display of tropical orchids in the world -- more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids -- with a Cool House for high-altitude orchids and and gardens with orchids in natural settings. What a paradise. MJ and I both favored the Orchid Garden, though the entire grounds were excellent.








After a few hours we caught the Hop On again and headed for Little India, which we never really found.


We visited The Sultan Mosque, which is the focus of worship for Singapore's Muslim community. It's glided dome is impressive, but we didn't linger inside because it was prayer time.

The Sultan's Mosque in Little India

By this time, we were starving and ready to sit for a few minutes and tried to get WIFI in a coffee shop attached to the hospital. I was able to receive messages and though I sent some, only to discover later that the messages never actually went - another mystery to add to the list. I did receive messages from Linda about Dan, but the one I sent back to her didn't actually transmit until later in the day when we went to Starbucks.


We had lunch at a food stall attached to the hospital. You got a bowl, made seven selections of vegetables and then gave it to someone who chopped it up and cooked it in a boiling vat of chicken broth. MJ and I shared a bowl, thinking we were still going to have dinner at a particular place in Little India.




One of our favorite meals -- you select the ingredients and it all
gets cooked in the boiling chicken stock. Delicious!

We walked through an Arab section with many restaurants and finally found our way to Bugis Street, which a number of people had raved about as the largest market with great, inexpensive shopping and tourist trinkets. We were disappointed, though I did find pins of the Indonesian and Singapore flags. Mostly it was really cheap, poorly constructed clothes and shoes, very low-end jewelry, nail and hair booths, a few tattoo and henna spots, and lots of other cheap stuff. On  things that I would have considered buying, we saw them for so much less in Bali that it didn't have much appeal. It had also gotten really hot And I think we were shopped out on the usual stuff.

By late afternoon  we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel. After a half hour nap, we were ready to head out for dinner, but putzed around too long and ended up missing the last shuttle to where we wanted to go for dinner. We were not happy about that!!!


Ended up walking over to the Singapore River area and had dinner at a Thai restaurant. Most expensive meal on the whole trip and not the best, but we were seated right on the water and there was a nice breeze.




This building was our landmark for which street to take
to get back to our hotel. It was a really colorful,
easily distinquished building in the daylight and at night.

 Our hotel is in a great location and it's nice that we now have a little sense of where we are so that we can walk places -- like to the Starbucks for WIFI and restaurants and boat rides. Singapore is a very safe city to walk and by evening it cools off a bit.


Tomorrow we are heading straight for Little India -- we now know where it is, so that should help. :)


Later,
XO
Mum/Nancy

Singapore - Day 27 - May 27, 2011

Day 27 - May 27
Location: Singapore


Our first day in Singapore.


We were awakened by a phone call, asking us to come to the Singapore Stopover Tour desk at 9:30. SST is all our arrangements here in Singapore, so we went to their office around 10:00. All they wanted to do was sell us very expensive tours for various sites and attractions around Singapore.  We politely declined and took off for the day, much to the salesman's dismay.


We got on the "Hop On" bus and rode the 90-minute  loop around the city. It gave us a good orientation to the city. It's unbelievable how many shopping malls/centers there are. And they aren't like outs in the US -- they are huge 3-6 stories of shops; hundreds of shops. Fashion shopping has reached new heights here. I've never seen anything like it.


After our Hop On tour, we stayed on the bus and went to Lau Pa Sat, a food/eating area near Chinatown. There are a zillion street food venders of every imaginable ethnicity housed within the largest remaining Victorian cast-iron building in Asia. Unbelievable variety, unknown ingredients and lots of commotion. It was quite an experience and great fun. Good food too.




Lau Pa Sat at lunchtime



Then on to Chinatown.

The hustle and bustle of Chinatown

Thiam Hock Keng Temple, the oldest Chinese temple in the city was very nice. After a few streets of shops in Chinatown, we were ready for a break and found it at a Starbucks. This was the first I could get a WIFI connection, so I did a little catch up on messages while MJ did some exploring. She found Clarke Quay -- a beautiful, colorful, twinkly lit, river front walkway with restaurants, live music and lots of activity.  We walked a long way along the river and ended up taking a riverboat ride on the Singapore River, which winds through the city. It was a very special end to our first day in Singapore.




Clark Quay



The Sky Park atop the Marina Bay Sands



We'll see what tomorrow brings -- today I was struck by how clean and well organized the city of Singapore is. It's really quite remarkable how thoughtfully designed and laid out everything is. It feels like a country that has considered human needs and planned for a pleasant life experience -- I really like it a lot.


The biggest downside to the whole trip right now is that I got an e-mail saying that Dan Coughlin got sick in Bali and ended up in the hospital. I feel so sorry for him and wish that I had known. Fortunately, Elaine was flying back to Orlando on the same flight as Dan and she has stayed with him. Hope to get more details as they evolve. Elaine is the hero on this one.


Goodnight
Mum/Nancy

Indonesia - Day 26 - May 26, 2011

Day 26 - May 26
Location: Ubud, Bali to Singapore


Last day in Ubud. MJ and I are being picked up at 4:15 PM for our 8:00 PM flight to Singapore.


I saw everyone at breakfast and returned their emergency health forms and associated info. I sighed a sigh of relief last night when I was going through my paperwork and throwing out exchange stuff that I didn't need -- I could throw away all the forms and paperwork that has to be filed if you have an emergency. Thank goodness I didn't have any problems that would have required it.


Lots of people sick along the way, but no emergencies, broken bones, hospitalizations, etc. There were only a few of us that never had stomach problems and if you can believe it, I was one of the healthy ones!!!! I still have Singapore to go, so I'd best not talk too smart yet :)


There are a number of different airport  pick-up times today. Everyone is scattering. Dan is still not feeling well, but Elaine will be with him all the way to Orlando, so he's in good hands. Elaine has been so helpful on the whole exchange. She jumped right in and helped right from the get go.


After saying our good byes to those leaving before us, MJ and I moved some of our bags to the front desk and our carry-ons to a vacant room that we can use until our 4:00 pick up.




Heading up the hill, into Ubud.



We headed back into Ubud walking up the hill one last time. Stopped for a massage, did a little more shopping and then went back to Tjampuhan. We had a great lunch at the hotel with Bee and Phil. We had to eat at the hotel b/c we knew they took credit cards -- none of us had any Indonesian money left and we didn't want to get more and have leftover cash. It was a really good
meal, so it all worked out just fine.


I took a shower and did some last minute organizing/packing and we left Tjampuhan for the last time. Bye bye Tjampuhan -- it's been nice knowing you:)

One of the ponds at Tjampuhan Resort & Spa

One of the MANY paths and stone steps that wind throughout Tjampuhan.

Off to the airport for our 8:00 flight. We got into Singapore around 10:30 and we were to the hotel sometime around 11:30, though we didn't settle in until closer to 1:00 -- room keys didn't work, construction going on so it took a little longer to get where we needed to be, etc.


Two tired puppies.


Hello Singapore.


Mum/Nancy

Indonesia - Day 25 - May 25, 2011

Day 25 -- May 25
Location: Ubud, Bali

This was our last full day in Bali and it was a free day for everyone to do as they pleased.


The group split off into all directions and interests including: a visit to the
Antonio Blanco Museum, the Neka Art  Museum, Monkey Forest, a cooking class at Cafe Wayan, hiking, shopping and various dining options.


MJ and I went in search of a hanger for the batik wall hanging that I bought in Yogya. Finally found one and I think it will be perfect. Now I just need to figure out where to hang it. It will be a wonderful reminder of this unforgettable trip.

We have had a couple people sick the past couple days. So far, I'm managing to dodge the bullet. I'm still being very cautious, but did have a few bites of lettuce yesterday -- no I'll affects so far. :)

Thirteen of us met at 4:00 PM to catch the shuttle to The Royal Pita Maha Resort, which is owned by the Royal Family of Ubud -- as is the Tjampuhan Resort & Spa.
 

Royal Pita Maha Resort


The Royal Pita Maha Resort is the epitomy of luxury -- absolutely beautiful. Each villa has its own private garden and swimming pool. I think that perhaps Ibu Atun (the Princess who we met with yesterday) called to tell them to give us  the royal treatment. We were guided through the grounds, up and down endless stone steps, along the river and into the various pavilions.  We also used two different elevators to get to the base of the valley. The whole complex is villas, each with a private pool, perched on the sides of a steep walled valley. The guide took us inside one of the villas, which was beautiful too. We were also given a welcome drink at one of the restaurants overlooking the complex. We were all awestruck.



Entrance to the Royal Pool at the
Royal Pita Maha Resort



 

Then MJ, Leyla and I went for dinner. We intended to try one of the restaurants that was recommended by others on our group, but when we got there -- after walking a quite a distance -- the menu looked very westernize. We all agreed that our last dinner in Bali should be Balinese, so we ended up back at Cafe Wayan and had another wonderful meal. Everything there us delicious. We told our waiter that we had been to Cafe Wayan last night and wanted to ordered something different, which we did. However, our comment got translated into "this is our last night in Bali" -- both sentences do have the word "last" in them :).  It all worked in our favor though, because they gave us a beautiful farewell desert. It was very sweet of them to do that -- and it actually was our last night in Bali anyway. Just another example of how we think we are being understood and everyone agrees -- only to discover that there were two totally separate, unrelated communications going on.



And why did I gain weight back in Bali!! It was so delicious.




I packed my suitcase this evening, and with the addition of a duffle bag that I bought here, everything seems to fit in. Wish me luck getting through JFK with it all.



Next stop, Singapore.



XO

Mum/Nancy





 

Indonesia - Day 24 - May 24, 2011

 Day 24 - May 24
Location: Ubud, Bali


Another great big day -- my feet, knees and hips feel like they belong to someone else -- they sure don't feel like mine. I think I wore mine out.

We left the hotel at 6:30 AM for a 2.5 hour walk, which took us through a couple rice fields, two different villages,  and a local market. It was all very interesting and quite different than our other rice field experiences. The villages and market were seriously rural -- running water and basic sanitation appear to be in scarce supply. A fascinating place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.




Breakfast, lunch and dinner!






Meditation center in the rice field.

 





Power line to the meditation center in the rice field.



Jackie, I kept wondering how these villages compared with where you lived. I'm anxious to talk with you about it.



Flowers for offerings -- at the market.



 

Because we left so early, we had a boxed breakfast, which we ate in a little shelter in the rice field. The shelter is just a covered platform where a person might stay to guard the rice when it's almost ready for harvest -- guarding it from birds and animals. I missed the banana vetoes that the hotel offers every morning, but the view compensated for their absence -- it was so peaceful relaxing.

At the end of our hike, we went to visit the family compound of our guide, Windra. That too was quite an experience -- the various buildings and their function and location were explained. So many rituals and traditions dictate everything from construction to who lives where to how the unit operates. 20 people live in Win's family compound. Win and his wife, kids and G-kids do not live In his family compound, though he goes there at least once a week and is responsible for a portion of it's maintenance. It was all very interesting.



The temples at Win's family compound.



We were back at Tjampuhan by 11:30.

This afternoon 13 of us made our way to The Royal Palace where we met with the Princess -- Ibu Atun. This meeting was arranged by Arifin who is an old friend of the Princess. It was an unusual time to visit and we were very fortunate to be able to -- her step-mother died a couple days ago and everything and everyone in the palace was revolving around the death. I was surprised that she still was able to meet with us.




Me with Ibu Atun at the Royal Place, Ubud, Bali

  

Government  administrators and their wives were paying their respects and the "sympathy cards/placards/arrangements" added an unusual look to the scene -- like nothing I've ever seen before. Atun appeared to be happy to receive us. The original plan was that we would meet her for afternoon tea, but because of all the people coming to pay their respects, we were offered lunch too. Quite an event. The funeral isn't until August 18, so I guess this will all go on for a while. They were hauling away truckloads of the giant sympathy panels and replacing them with new arrivals. I'd love to come back for the funeral, I suspect it will be quite the event.





The "sympathy card" from the President of Indonesia.



I had a couple hours to check out the market, which was half a step short of being a madhouse and was back at Tjampuhan in time to rest for an hour before going to a Kecak and Fire Dance performance. Great performance -- very impressive. Beautiful show that ends with one of the dancers going into a trance and walking through fire.

Lots of sparks and flames go flying around
when you are in a trance and dancing around
barefoot through a fire!

It's a wild and whacky world -- and that's about all I can say about this whole adventure !!!!

That, and I'm going to bed :)



Stay tuned, it ain't over yet!!

XO

Mum/Nancy

PS: MJ, Leyla and I went to Cafe Wayan tonight -- another great place to eat. At this rate I will gain back the weight I lost in Yogya.