Blogs from Singapore, Asia - page 328

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Asia » Singapore » Raffles Marina August 2nd 2006

Well after arriving in Singapore at 1am we acted like true backpackers and slept in the airport before catching a bus to KL at 8am. Had one day in KL where Liz introduced Claire to KLCC - her favourite shopping centre in the world. Amazingly we didn't buy anything other than food!! The next day we headed off to Borneo accompanied by John, Liz'z diving instructor and 8 other tag-alongs for a 5 day intensive dive holiday. stayed a night in a little village called Tawau - where us foreigners with our white glow in the dark skin colouring were somewhat of a novelty. We were pointed at and stared at but hey we did what comes naturally and smiled and waved like the famous people we long to be! Arrived at our dive resort the ... read more
Kapalai
Home sweet home
Diving buddies

Asia » Singapore August 1st 2006

Arrived in Singapore via the dodgy Malaysian bus that insisted on travelling overnight, through the pouring rain, with no windscreen wipers whatsoever. Stayed in the Little India quarter (after the BIG India experience, I don't know what I was thinking!) and walking down Seragoon Road (the main artery in Little India), it was only polite to have my fortune told by a plucky parrot who, upon hearing my name, picked out a suitably vague tarot card. It foretold riches, travel and tall dark handsome stranger......I'm not holding my breath! With Singpore only intended as a quick stopover before flying to Perth, after a quick visit to St. Andrews Cathedral, with its stunning stained glass windows and over-enthusiastic guide who insisted on giving us "Bless You" badges, we hit for the city. Singapore is essentially one big ... read more
Raffles City
St. Andrews Cathedral V
St. Andrews Cathedral II

Asia » Singapore » National Stadium July 31st 2006

National Day Parade, Preview (29 July 2006) The National Stadium will be put to sleep after it braces itself for the final time on the 9 of August 2006 for the nation’s 41st NDP celebrations. 33 years after it first opened for the 7th Seap Games, it will be replaced by a new sports hub in 2010 in time for the Sea Games in 2011. Clare and I went to the stadium for the last time for the NDP Preview last Saturday to capture the final snippets of the place before it plough its way for the bull dozer. Kallang MRT station was full of red devils as we arrived. Both of us came to watch the parade after a hard day of work on a Saturday. The walk to the stadium was long and queuing ... read more
Last look at the National Stadium
National Color
5.50pm, the time we arrived at the stadium

Asia » Singapore July 31st 2006

Early pearly morning t'was when I ventured out to the Botanical Gardens once again to search for little nocturnal beasties. That was the plan yesterday but I got there too late and all the night animals were down and the day animals up. Raining it was, this morning, perfect weather for creatures of the froggy persuasion one would think, but sadly no. One black-spined toad, a little flock of little bats twirling like murderous butterflies as they dealt their evil ways amongst the moths, and the calling of a large-tailed nightjar who (of course) stopped calling and made his unseen departure before I drew near. That was the draw for the dawn, apart for the hundreds of giant gouramis lining the lake shores. Then I headed off to the Jurong Bird Park, where the rain ... read more
feeding time in the Waterfall Aviary
Victoria crowned pigeon (Goura victoria) at Jurong
shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) at Jurong

Asia » Singapore July 31st 2006

hi all! pix on the sabbaticals done by the girls....includes bonsai, rock climbing, cooking French cuisine, local dishes, environmental science modules - yep a visit to Labrador park....plus lotsa more... also, a couple of pix on Ms Grace Fu, our alumni, board member as plus as MOS who readilly pose for us with her grandmother, our first principal. cheers!... read more
Bonsai
analysing the food

Asia » Singapore July 31st 2006

Hei taas! 35 tuntia matkustusta takana, edessa ilmainen aamiainen seka internet. Loysin taalta Singaporesta tosi kivan majatalon, 4 euroa yo, odottelen etta saavat siivottua huoneen jonka tosin jaan 8 muun ihmisen kanssa. Lahdin tosiaan yolautalla tanne suuntaan, yleensa olen nukkunut hairiotta edelliset merimatkat ja osittain siksi valitsin lauttavaihtoehdon, vaikka se pidensikin matka-aikaa melko merkittavasti. Nyt ajattelin kuitenkin ottaa varman paalle, koska taalla Sporessa aikaa on vain pari paivaa enka halua viettaa puolta siita toipilaana sangynpohjalla. Eli marssin Thaimaassa apteekkiin ja selitan tilanteen, nukkua on pakko jossain valissa. Ennenko paasen edes puolivaliin tarinassa apteekkari tytto on vetaissyt laakekaapin auki "Valium, miss?". Kysyn etta jaa, eiko sihen yleensa tarvitse laakarin maarayksen? Henkilokunta vaan totesi etta no oikeastaa joo, mutta ei se ole ... read more

Asia » Singapore July 30th 2006

The few yards' walk between the arrivals hall and a waiting taxi were enough to tell me that Singapore was demonstrating the real meaning of humidity, making Darwin look crisp and fresh by comparison. My driver spoke good English and informed me that it was the month of hungry ghosts - apparently the gates of hell open for a month, during which ghosts are free to roam at will and need feeding. My guidebook had inexplicably omitted this fact, but I resolved to buy some sweets in case of a chance encounter. I'd been looking forward to visiting Singapore simply because it had barely appeared on the radar in the 3.5 decades of my existence. My vague impression was that it was a country that had achieved a vibrant and robust economy in double quick time, ... read more
Fountain at Clarke Quay
Merlion and skyscrapers
Esplanade

Asia » Singapore » Sentosa Island July 30th 2006

I returned to the Botanical Gardens this morning to see what I could see. It was all common stuff of course: plantain squirrels, cute little white-breasted waterhens, koels, flowerpeckers, etc. I fed the whistling ducks with the nutritious fare of white bread crusts. A snakehead came up as well to try out the offerings. The lakes in the Gardens are full of fish -- gouramis, cichlids, catfish, all sorts, as well as millions of red-eared turtles. I saw an Asian softshell turtle (Amyda cartilaginea) too, who was really nice but a trifle perplexed to see me. After I was done, I headed off to Sentosa Island, off the south coast. There's a lookout there labelled as the southernmost point of the Asian continent, which kind of begs the question of shouldn't the southernmost point of ... read more
softshell turtle (this one is at the Butterfly Park)
the entranceway
opening mural

Asia » Singapore July 29th 2006

Its still too hot and I'm not getting enough food. The 'free breakfast' at Cozy Corners appears to be limited to cheap white bread and spreads. Today I went to Pulau Ubin, which is an island off the east coast. To get across you travel on what they call 'bum-boats', possibly because they look like what a bum might use for shelter in an alleyway somewhere, and which seem to be just about as seaworthy. The crossing only took about five minutes which was fine by me. The sea is not my friend, but I had been prepared for the ocean waves by the considerate actions of the crazy bus driver who took me to Changi Village from whence the boats leave. On the way across I spotted a great crested tern. Once on the island ... read more
blue-spotted mudskipper (Boleophthalmus boddarti)
Oriental pied hornbill (Anthracoceros albirostris)

Asia » Singapore July 29th 2006

We arrived! It's day two for us and it's really strange to us that in time we're so far ahead of home. Singapore is much different than I expected. Our flights were nuts. Traveling to Los Angeles was fine. We sat in LAX for six hours and we couldn't check in for our flight to Taipei until 9:30 at night. It wasn't until we were standing in line when we realized that we were supposed to pick up our bags and check them in with EVA airlines. So a race from terminals caused a bit of stress but US Airways saw that our final destination was Singapore and put a rush job on them. Which freaked us out even more when we finally arrived in Singapore and didn't see our bags come out on the conveyor ... read more
Lavander Food Center
Esplanade
Merlion




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