A birthday to remember Saturday, Jul 26 2008 

Celebrities may have their bi-coastal parties, but you’ve not arrived until you’ve celebrated your birthday on both sides of the world! The “Bawlmer Hons”, and special guests, threw me a surprise virtual YouTube birthday party - complete with party hats, “gifts”, and a birthday cake. Thanks Hons!!!! Virtual Hugs to all of you back in Bawlmer.

Here in Singapore my family helped me to celebrate the “BIG ONE”. First we headed out to the Fountain of Wealth. The largest fountain in the world, to walk around the mini fountain at the center of the fountain’s base for good luck. You place your right hand into the water, make a wish, then keeping your hand in the water, walk around three times.

making wishes at the fountain

We finished just in time, at noon the main fountain rains from the ring above.

ring of wealth fountain turned on

. . . and being noon we headed into the Suntec Mall for lunch. As you saw in the pictures above the sky was grey and a storm rolled in. It was the first day of the Singapore Garden Festival and how better to spend the rainy afternoon.

A unique wall display to add that touch of texture and foliage.

reed and leaf disks

. . . an underwater fantasy

underwater

. . . nature takes over

in the forest

Can you see who’s depicted in the greenery?

marilyn

. . . a world of color from a school entry

colorful mannequins

The storm passed and we did the next best activity in Singapore - shopping - before we headed home to regroup for the big birthday dinner. A nine-course feast at the Crystal Jade Palace Restaurant! Here is a sampling . . .

seating

Appetizers of goose, crab cakes, scallops, and shrimp wrapped in tofu skin; roast suckling pig

OneTwoThreeFour.JPG RoastPigPlated.JPG

Peking duck and lobster

PekingDuckPlated.JPG LobsterPlated.JPG

Sea bass and tofu stuffed with a shrimp mousse

SeaBassPlated.JPG ToFuShrimpPlatter.JPG

Happy Birthday!!!! my family, friends, and chocolate :) life is good!

BirthdayGroup.JPG

P.S. A lady never reveals her age :)

A Family Affair Wednesday, Jul 23 2008 

July is the month for the family visit. First, Erin arrived on July 1 to spend the month with us. On July 20th both of my brothers and their wives arrived for a two-week visit. From left to right: Ted - Rose - Erin - Jack - Claire

the crew

We’ve been doing the Singapore experience, aside from hitting the highlight tourist spots, shopping and eating is on the top of the agenda. As we are eating one meal, we’re practically planning the next!

Although we woke to a rain storm, we ventured out as the rain was just stopping in hopes that it would clear by the time we reached the Botanic Gardens. Erin and I have been there often enough and we’ve taken many, many shots of flowers and orchids, so this time we concentrated on close-ups. The very neat thing in photographing these, after a rain storm, was capturing the raindrops clinging to the orchids. Here are a few examples, and if you’d like to see more, just click on any of the pics. Enjoy :)

pinwheels

spirals

tendrils

And capturing this spider!

spidey

More adventures ahead!

Dragonfly and butterflies, oh my. Thursday, Jul 17 2008 

Erin and I went to do two photo shoots, at the Botanic Gardens, then at Butterfly Park & Insect Kingdom on Sentosa Island.

We found this unusual dragonfly at the Botanic Gardens. Notice the transparent wing tips. I haven’t seen ones with this dark red coloring before.

dragonfly

At the Butterfly Garden we ended up spending a steamy hot and sweaty 40 minutes chasing butterflies in the enclosed atrium to photograph them. Although the enclosure was a meshing to keep the butterflies from escaping, there was no air moving inside. I love the curl on the butterfly’s face, it uncurls to reach into the flower when feeding.

sitting pretty

These grow so large that they look like a bird in flight as you’ll see in the following picture.

butterfly

butterfly or bird?

Red and black on the underside, but black and beige from the top must make for good camouflage.

red and black

Also at the Butterfly Gardens are these beautiful parrots. The parrot in the center seems to be very perturbed with his buddy on the right. He probably just finished berating the poor thing to its left! You can see his feathers are in a ruffle and his head feathers are standing straight up. We watched as these two were having a spat. They had just finished feet-wrestling.

get away from me - NOW

The parrot on the right seems to be saying, “Are you satisfied?” “I’m over here now!”

are you happy, I'm over here now

Remember the old Doublemint gum commercials?

twins?

What a world of color!

Raffles Hotel Tuesday, Jul 15 2008 

Our friend Cynthia won a night’s stay at the famous Raffles Hotel. She and her fiance´, Daniel, invited a bunch of us to join them for Afternoon Tea at the Tiffin Room. The Tiffin Room serves both the traditional tea fare: finger sandwiches, scones, sweets; along with a buffet of local favorites.

tea tray

We had a leisurely two hour repast with lively conversations among the eight of us. The best was when Cynthia said we could go and see their room - suite actually. During tea time the lobby is restricted to hotel residents only. The corridors to the rooms are gated (read: locked)! On one of the suite doors was a little brass plaque that read - Ava Gardner’s Suite.

wing of rooms

As you enter the room the foyer has a breakfast nook to one side, and a sitting nook to the other. Come in, sit a spell . . .

breakfast nook sitting nook

A look through the shuttered “window” into the bedroom. I have to say, we must look like country bumpkins descending on our city cousin!

bedroom armoire and dressing table

The bathroom is probably bigger than some second or third bedrooms in most houses. It had separate rooms for bath, and washing up.

bath washing up area

After a long day of shopping and sight-seeing you can relax by the garden outside your room; or breakfast with the birds.

lounge by garden

The piece-de-resistance — the room comes with a BUTLER!!!! We were trying to come up with suggestions that they could ask the butler to do: draw a hot bubble bath, and maybe at midnight send him out for a bowl of laksa. At a $1000 a night, this must be how the other half lives.

Thanks Cynthia and Daniel for the lovely afternoon.

Scariest drink EVER!!! Sunday, Jul 13 2008 

Erin and I took a 25 minute bus ride to The Roti Prata House and had a great lunch, it was worth the ride. We always check out what other people are eating and we noticed a table with cans of drinks and glasses aglow with an unearthly color.

Roti Prata House

We asked our waiter to bring us a can after much Tarzan-talk trying to figure out what it was exactly.

die die must try

Ok, so he was really saying “rose”, Rose Bandung to be exact. We pop open the can and begin to pour out the liquid. This is an untouched photo, it really is that color. It rivals Pepto-Bismol for that particular shade of pink.

it's really that color

On the rocks, of course. It is rose water and condensed milk, though roses are not one of the ingredients listed; and dental-shockingly sweet. It’s non-carbonated, but I don’t think bubbles would have helped. Burping roses . . .

on the rocks

Ladies, after that Valentine rose bouquet has past its peak, and they’re a little droopy in the vase, you might want to consider the food processor, a sieve, and some condensed milk. You don’t need more than a sip. You don’t WANT more than a sip!

See Erin’s blog for more details on our lunch: Pepperknit

Food, Glorious Food . . . Sunday, Jul 13 2008 

It’s Singapore Food Festival month. Each weekend features the best of Singapore cuisine. We hosted our friend Sue, who was here from the States, for a conference. She had been to Singapore years ago and was hoping to indulge her tastebuds with some chili crab.

We started our food fest at Lau Pa Sat - means “old market” in the Hokkien dialect. We went for lunch but Sue and her cohorts had just finished a late breakfast. We ate, they sampled and opted for some sweets.

Lau Pa Sat

- fried eggs and oysters, a mini-wok of ma po tofu (spicy tofu) and rice. Sorry these pictures don’t make the dishes look very appetizing, but it tasted better than they look.

fried oyster and egg mini woks

After a day of sightseeing it was time to tackle the chili crab! While we were waiting for our table at Long Beach Seafood, we went next door to Red Dot microbrewery. Sue and I couldn’t decide on one beer so we decided that we would try their sampler. Nice size samples too. Yes, one of those beers is green - not your “St Patrick’s Day food coloring green” but is green from the added spiruluna; so not only is beer fun to drink, but healthy too.

Our visitor - Sue beer sampler

Table’s ready and so are we! Honey glazed ribs, cereal prawns (whole prawns with a crunchy oat topping - not cereal as in Capt’n Crunch)

honey glazed ribs cereal prawns

Black pepper crab, and the famous chili crab (sop up sauce with rice or fried bread)

black pepper crab chili crab

The carnage - my “bone” plate. Oh, we had a vegetable platter too!

the carnage

At the beginning of the week Erin and I, while shopping at the Takashimaya mall complex, came upon its food festival.

Takashimaya food festival Takashimaya food fest booths

Candies and sweets, and these cute citrus bottles.

candies citrus juices

Fried potato spirals on a stick - sausage covered with bread cubes!

potato spirals sausages covered with bread cubes

A new take on rice krispies - pastries both sweet and savory . . .

cookies and new twist on rice krispies delicate pastries both sweet and savory

The infamous durian fruit, not allowed to be carried onto buses, planes, even in some taxis. We’ve been reluctant, or maybe just scared to try durian again. We gave it a go on our visit to Taiwan years ago but we feel that wasn’t a good sampling. We’ll let you know if we get up the nerve to try it again.

durian fruit

Last but not least, we and Rachel went to a Korean BBQ restaurant for dinner before we headed over to the Esplanade for a free concert. We started with the bbq beef, then on to chicken.

Jang Shou Korean BBQ rest beautiful beef for bbq

- a spread of ban chan (little dishes), signed placemat by the Korean pop star, Rain; seafood pancake, most of the ban chan was spicy; all were delicious.

table of ban chan seafood pancake

Esplanade at night . . .

free concerts at the Esplanade concourse pianist

The pianist was from Indonesia and during one of her pieces Erin remarked that she was amazed the woman only had ten fingers! It was a nice way to cap off the evening.

“Circle-slash” International Sign Saturday, Jul 12 2008 

How do you dress a flame? What is the proper attire for a flame? How do you tell if it’s naked?

indecent exposure

Found at the beach on Sentosa Island.

Melaka - History 101 Wednesday, Jul 9 2008 

Who would have thought one little place like Melaka would have been occupied or coveted by so many different countries. First, 1511 the Portuguese ruled Melaka. In 1641, after a fierce battle, the Dutch won control from the Portuguese; then in 1795 the Dutch relinquished control to the British to keep it from the French. Later it was returned to the Dutch but then exchanged by the British for Bencoleen, Sumatra. Melaka the hot potato (or po-tah-toe)! Singapore even had a hand in Melaka’s ruling. Finally in 1956 Malaysia proclaimed its independence. Though not there to conquer Melaka, there always existed a large population of the immigrant Chinese merchants.

In my last post I left you at Jonker Walk. Come with me on a short, albeit very hot and humid jaunt over the river (which I don’t know the name of) as we start our historic walk back in time. You didn’t have to go too far to be “back in time”.

river but not a "riverwalk"

A bow to the Dutch - the windmill in the roundabout; and a fountain in the square.

windmill fountain

The Stadthuys - official residence of Dutch Governors and their officers. It is now the History Museum and Ethnography Museum. Preserved in its original structure and form and color, very red. And surely in its time, the alley was not lined with souvenir vendors.

Stadthuys The Stadthuys

The museum was beautiful inside but mostly displayed traditional bridal costumes and relics. This dug out canoe with the bird head was most interesting.

Malay dug out canoe

Christ Church built in 1793 by the Dutch- part of the Stadthuys complex. The church was furnished with hand-made pews. I wasn’t supposed to photograph them, so I ask for forgiveness.

Christ Church handmade pews

All around the Stadthuys are these trishaws. They’re colorful to say the least, and yet notwithstanding, quite tacky — and blaring everything from classical Malay music, to oldies, to the latest hip-hop rap; you’re choice of entertainment in case you didn’t find these trishaws entertaining enough on its own. I didn’t catch the creme-de la-creme of the trishaws cycling past me, which sported on the front, a very large Mercedes-Benz symbol - now that was ridin’ in style!

More Trishaws out for a trishaw ride

St. Paul’s Church built by the Portuguese but turned into a burial ground by the Dutch for their noble dead; and renamed “Our Lady of The Hill”.

St Paul's Church Head stones

At the one end of this church still stands opened the open-grave where St. Francis Xavier, was briefly enshrined.

the open grave of St Francis Xavier looking into open grave

At the other end, brides and grooms seem to find this a very picturesque setting to have their wedding photos taken. We saw two couples here. And there’s also entertainment (on the right).

just a shell left  of St Paul's church wedding photo

A shot of the old fortress A’Famosa - touted to be the most photographed subject next to the Stadthuys. Built by the Portuguese, sustained severe structural damage during the Dutch invasion; saved by the intervention of Sir Stamford Raffles (who established Singapore).

A'Famosa top view

A'Famosa side entry

This is one of the best views out to the Straits of Melaka. Note the one colorful painted faςade. We met local artist, Jehan Chan while poking around his gallery/shop who features this view in his paintings. Alas, we could not afford one of his paintings; but his limited edition prints were more in line with our budgets. Rachel and I each indulged on a print. Not on display here yet, needs to have it framed.

rooftops and one colorful house

The Melaka Sultanate Palace is a wooden replica based on the description and reference to the actual palace in the Malay Annals. It is built by two carpenters using no nails. It has 99 beams of which 4 of them are 67 feet long! It was never used as a palace of the sultanate but is the only Malay palace. It’s the Cultural Museum of Melaka.

Melaka Sultanate Palace

The churches of Christ Church, St Paul, St Xavier, and St Peter were all within walking distance of each other. It almost seemed like they lined up the temples of all the other religions on one street.

. . . Cheng Hoon Teng Temple, oldest Chinese temple in Malaysia built in 1646 from materials shipped from China.

Cheng Hoon Teng Temple roof Deities - roof detail

temple detail offerings of incense at Chinese Temple

. . . Kampung Kling’s Mosque - one of the oldest mosques with Sumatran architectural features.

Kampung Kling's Mosque side porch of Mosque

. . . Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Temple - one of the first Hindu temples built in the country.

Sri Poyyatha Vinayangar Moorthi Hindu temple

It’s not often you find Portuguese cuisine so we had dinner out at Portuguese Square, located within the Portuguese settlement outside the main city area. The Square was not much more than some restaurants and a tchotchke shop or two. The concierge told us that there’s nothing else to do or see there - and she was right! We got the name and number of the taxi driver who took us there to make sure we could get back to the hotel.

Restoran De Lisbon

Baby squid and kai-lan (a Chinese broccoli)

baby squid kailan

Curry debal chicken (indeterminate cuts) and Ikan Bakar, actually a Malaysian fish dish.

chicken curry debal fish with limes and a spicy sauce

I asked our waitress what was it about our meal that made our dinner “Portuguese”. She remarked that it was “local” Portuguese! The food was good, but aside from having to travel out to the Portuguese Settlement, it is a loose translation of the Portugeuse cuisine.

Back we came in time for the Night Market on Jonker Walk. I miss night markets. They’re fun, colorful, and filled with local treats and a shoppers delight. They’re popular throughout Asia but do not exist here in Singapore. Head in and you’ll even find line dancing lessons!

The Night Market on Jonker Street line dancing

Snacks and drinks of all kinds and colors both savory and sweet — pressed sugar cane juice, no Kool-Aid flavors this stuff!

sugar cane drink interesting drinks

fish paste wrapped in bamboo and grilled on a brazier, satay and rice –

fish paste wrapped in bamboo cooked on a brazier satay and rice packets

Bags, and bows –

Mickey tote bag hair clips

and last but not least — pet mice –

meeses

We’ve had a long, hot day and looking forward to getting a shower, into jammies, and chill out in our nice cool rooms. Just a little more exploring the next day before heading back to Singapore.

Malacca - Melaka - Malaqa Sunday, Jul 6 2008 

Not quite the to·ma·to / to·mah·to controversy but it seems this little state of Malaysia is known by several spellings, but one pronunciation.

According to a popular legend, Parameswara was resting under a tree near a river while hunting, when one of his dogs cornered a mouse deer. In self-defence, the mouse deer pushed the dog into the river. Impressed by the courage of the deer, and taking it as a propitious omen of the weak overcoming the powerful, Parameswara decided on the spot to found an empire on the very place that he was sitting. He named it ‘Melaka’ after the tree under which he had taken shelter. Another version of the story says that Parameswara chose the name ‘Malacca’ from the Tamil word ‘mallakka’ which means upside down or on ones back. Old illustrations of the scene where the mousedeer kicks the dog shows the dog falling on its back into the river, hence the inspiration.

Just a three hour drive from Singapore, it is close enough for a day trip, or a short overnight stay. Melaka is the third smallest Malaysian state, but chock full of history having been occupied by the Dutch, Portuguese, and British.

Erin arrived on the 1st of July for her month-long stay with us. Taking advantage of the July 4th U.S. holiday, but just another Friday here; along with our friend Rachel, we headed up to Melaka before the weekend traffic crush. The drive was easy and uneventful; Erin and Rachel bonded; and the directions were pretty straight forward to our hotel, albeit not drawn to scale.

Hotel Puri is a restored Peranakan house; which once belonged to the descendants of an eminent philanthropist and rubber plantation owner, Tan Kim Seng. It extends 100 metres long, the distinct characteristics are its beautiful and intricately decorated façade and the impressive length of the house.

Our hotel Our boutique hotel in old Peranakan home

Beautiful open work on the panel, the open “atrium” in the middle lobby area.

beautiful openwork panel and spiral staircase mid-section of lobby of our hotel

Looking up into the open atrium area toward the skylights.

open area in center of lobby

The open courtyard of the hotel’s restaurant with a “waterfall” wall (over Erin’s shoulder).

courtyard at hotel - waterfall wall outside seating at hotel restaurant

After checking into our rooms, we headed out to explore. You needed the surefootedness of a mountain goat when venturing out of our hotel as there was no sidewalk — a yucky ditch and vehicular traffic, or no sidewalk and parked cars along the other side. The one-way street was a main thoroughfare shared by everything from bicycles, motor scooters, to trucks and tour buses!

watch your step - no sidewalks follow the yellow line

The Peranakan shophouses along Jalan Tan Cheng Lock

Along our street Peranakan row houses along Jalan Tan Cheng Lock

Beautiful details on one of the faςades.

Peranakan row house beautiful porch detail of Peranakan home

The location of Hotel Puri was within walking distance to most all of the places of historical interest, art galleries, antique shops; and just around the corner from Jonker Walk.

another derivative of Melaka antique shop in old Peranakan home statues

The safety of a sidewalk! Jonker Walk is lined with antique/collectible shops, tchotschke shops, restaurants, and street vendors. In the evenings, on the weekends, it is closed off to traffic and becomes a night market. Erin and I surmised that those markings on the street are not parking spaces, being too small for anything shy of the Smart Car, but are numbered for the night market vendors.

Jonker Walk sidewalk vendor along Jonker Rd

… from the refined to the funky

antique shop along Jonker Rd masks

. . . from snacks to a cafe

snack shop sweets

Geographer Cafe lunch at the Geographer

This is the start of our journey, come back to the next posting and join us as we visit the historical sites, and take in the night market.

which way?

See you soon!

Best Signage EVER! Saturday, Jul 5 2008 

I’m sure you’ve seen, read, or heard of the book “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”; the book about grammar. I understand the importance of punctuation marks; it helps alleviate confusion, clarifies thoughts and ideas. But sometimes, just sometimes, you’re not sure where it belongs, or like in signage, there’s no room. So, therefore, when there is no punctuation you can read it as you wish, even if the meaning isn’t quite what you’ve meant to convey. Erin and I came upon this sign at a condo development, and I have to share it!

best signage EVER!

This is even better than the “Slow Children At Play” that you find around schools and playgrounds at home. Rarely do we use the adjective “dead” with the speed of a car; and never on a sign to indicate how slooooooow you should be driving. This is slow.

Hope you got a good laugh out of this :)

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