SINGAPORE—Wednesday through Sunday, March 27-31, 2013

---

Getting there

Our flight from Atlanta left about 1:15 Wednesday afternoon. We were startled to discover that Atlanta has a new International Terminal, which is completely on the other side of the now “Domestic” terminal. Glad that we weren’t running tight on time. We could see how the new terminal eliminated a lot of the crowdedness and parking congestion. Not sure about having to take a shuttle if transferring from domestic to international, though.

After flying about 14 hours, we made a 2-hour transfer in Narita, Japan, and flew an additional 7 hours to Singapore. Christopher and LeeLi (his significant other) met us at the airport and by the time we had cleared customs and got our luggage, it was about 2:00 am Friday morning, which as far as our bodies were concerned, was 2:00 pm Thursday afternoon.

We got a taxi and the first thing that came home to us in a hurry, was the fact that Singaporeans follow the British and drive on the left side of the road. When you are so tired and the taxi is traveling like a bat out of hell, having cars coming at you in the WRONG direction is disconcerting to say the least!!!

We first dropped Lee Li off and her apartment and then the taxi headed for Christopher’s apartment. His place is on the Island of Sentosa, which is a natural island that has been filled in around the edges to expand it out into the Singapore Strait for a total size of 1.9 square miles. The island lies just a quarter of a mile away from the southern coast of the main island of Singapore and is connected by a bridge and a tram.

His apartment on the 6^th floor sits such that the bedroom and living room glass doors/windows face both the inner waterway and the coast. It has been really interesting to watch the huge cargo ships, ferries, tug boats, pilot boats, and other boats we don’t recognize as to type, sail by. That was basically our main activity the first day we were here---so tired from the flight and the 12 hour time difference is a killer. We did all go to a local restaurant that specializes in mussels--called BRUSSEL SPROUTs!

I have commented before about the gorgeous landscaping in Singapore. People are constantly grooming the scrubs, trees, vines, and flower beds even to raking small amounts of leaves off the sidewalks and grass. We are not far from the Equator here so, the plants are all tropical with so many scrubs and trees in full flower---bright oranges, yellows, reds and pinks are the most dominate colors. These colors are set against the greens of 3-4 different kinds of palms and several varieties of trees I do not recognize. Lush plants cover all surfaces--many are those we grow as house plants. In the road median strips we noticed that lamp posts are wrapped in wire so that flowering vines can be planted to cover them.

Although we have seen some birds, mostly mynas and some sparrows, we haven’t seen the numbers of birds you would expect for this habitat. I think some of it might be due to the government’s serious efforts at spraying in an effort to eradicate disease carrying mosquitoes. One common-ish bird we have spotted is a black capped oriole and there are signs saying not to feed the monkeys, but we haven’t seen any.

Dying Eggs and continuing a family tradition

On Saturday afternoon, we all had a very creative time dying eggs for Easter. Christopher and LeeLi went to the mall and got baskets, paper grass and flowers for decoration. Although we saw some signs in the mall for the Easter Holiday, it is not at all “celebrated” by the majority of Singaporeans, and so very little Easter merchandise is sold.

On a strange note, however, is the fact that “Good Friday” is a national holiday. Valerie and I found hot cross buns in Marks and Sparks, a British department store, but the clerk said that they have them all year round, whereas, we can only buy them in Atlanta at Easter time.

After our creative session, Chris, LeeLi, and Valerie all went for a swim while I people and bird watched. The pool is probably 100 feet long, which is good for laps, and has powerful water jets next to stair benches where you can sit and get a message. Chris and LeeLi did the former while Valerie did the latter and would occasionally venture out for a few exercises in the deeper water.

Our non-traditional Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday we got out of the house fairly early as we had to take 2 buses and two different metro lines to get out to the race track that is situated on the north side of the island very near the Malaysian border.

The experience was VERY interesting. The first race had run when we got to the lobby of the track and before us was sea of Asian men placing their bets on the next race. What struck me was the uniformity of the crowd. All basically the same height and weight with little variation. That many people at a race track in the USA would be male and female between 5’ and 6’4” and weight between 150-300 pounds and would be Black, White, Latino, Indian, Pink, Green and Purple, as well as Asian . The point I wanted to make was how much WE stood out in the crowd!!!

We first had lunch in the food court and then we found seats in this very, very nice facility. Chris and LeeLi quickly got the gist of horse racing/betting with Valerie as their tutor, and they were off and running. Valerie won in every race she bet on except the race when I chose the horse she bet on. Similarly, when Christopher bet on a horse I named, he also lost that bet. They came home about 57 dollars ahead and Valerie won about 25 dollars. We are used to a $2 bet where the minimum bet at this track was $5.

The electronics at the track were phenomenal—the best we have ever seen. We watched about 7 races with one being a special race for a $250,000 purse and then we watched the ceremony for the winner. By this time it had started to rain and we were ready to find some dinner.

We all got into a taxi to go to a popular Malaysian/Indian food street where they had a restaurant that LeeLi and Christopher enjoyed. The place is famous for its prata, which is a dish made with a dough that is thrown by a cook, sort of like pizza dough, until it is very thin and then filled with all sorts of good stuff , it is then folded and fried on a grill.

By the time we were finished it was quite late and so we called a taxi to take us home. A good time was had by all even though we didn’t have the Easter buffet that the fancy hotels were advertising for $88 per person.

---