November 15 Singapore

The Raffles Hotel

The Raffles hotel is a colonial building of impressive size. It takes up a whole block and is a famous landmark in Singapore. It is the home of the Singapore sling and a great place to eat. The Sunday morning brunch is popular and Caroline, Ali, Joan and I joined the crowd today for the buffet. It's too bad I couldn't eat more. I tried to pace myself and not eat any bread. I lost track of how many times I went up to the buffet for food, but I tried every fish dish I could find (around 10, but I had small portions). Then I tried 3 versions of mutton. I never made it to the beef or the dessert table.

I ( Joan) also really enjoyed the food and my 3 Singapore slings. There is a huge choice of all courses, all of which are very beautifully presented {especially the appetizers) and delicious.

In the evening we went to the Cirque du Soleil show Totem, which is doing a 6 week run in Singapore. We all left with a WOW feeling. They put on an amazing show.

Cirque du Soleil

Thanks again to Caroline and Ali for arranging such a wonderful day in Singapore.

November 14 Singapore

We flew back to Singapore and had a rest day. In preparation for the Canadian winter we spent the afternoon by the pool. In the evening we enjoyed a meal of Chili Crab – a Singaporean specialty. Like lobster it takes a lots of effort, but unlike lobster the whole dish is covered in chili sauce and you get very messy. Fortunately they have a sink right in the restaurant which I could use. Afterwards we walked to Marina Bay to see the sound and light show.

Skyline from Clarke Quay

November 13 Kuala Lumpur

Our first priority was to get to the Twin Towers for a 9:00 a.m. visit. We visited the Skywalk on the 41^st floor. The Skywalk joins the 2 towers on the 41^st and 42^nd floors. After that we visited the 89^th floor viewing platform for the best view in KL.

Joan on Skywalk

On this floor there were viewing binoculars which we used. I saw a very pretty mosque with 2 minarets It looked like the National Mosque. After the visit Joan and I split up and I went to visit the National Mosque. I hopped on the subway and then took an elevated walkway. I made a wrong turn and ended up doing a 3 KM walk to cross a highway. I entered the mosque via a side entrance and the guard asked what I was doing there. When I said I was there for the photography he told me to go around to the front for the best pictures. This was not the Mosque I had seen through the binoculars. It was a new modern mosque which I found very non photogenic. The fountains and the flowers helped but it was a very square building with very little character. I never did find the nice Mosque.
 

One of the Twin Towers

The Public Bank across the street

November 12 Kuala Lumpur

Petronis Twin Towers

We got on an 8:45 AM flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur and we were at our hotel before 11:00 AM. We were on our way at 11:15 to have our first close up look at the Petronas towers. The temperature was hot and the sun was shining, but we discovered that Kuala Lumpur has passageways above ground and covered against the sun and rain. They also spray out cool air which makes walking around the city rather pleasant. The towers were built by the state oil company and incorporate Islamic and Arab influences. At 452 m tall it is the highest twin towers complex in the world. The towers have a pleasant park with fountains, pools and playgrounds on one side, which gives photographers a great view.

We have tickets to go up the towers tomorrow morning and are looking forward to that!.

November 11 Singapore

One day to rest up and do the laundry. Joan went shopping and I went picture taking. The opportunities were limited as the rain started when I came out of the subway and continued all afternoon. Near sunset the rain stopped and I went to a good spot for night pictures. I couldn't believe they had put a whale statue in the middle of my favorite fountain.

Who put a whale in my fountain?

We went for supper at Caroline and Ali's favorite dim sum restaurant and finished the evening with several games of bananagrams. Dim Sum is a meal of steamed dumplings. You have a choice of a hundred different types. You order several different kinds when you sit down and the dumplings come at irregular intervals depending on the kitchen. They are steaming hot and delicious.

November 10 Mandalay

Temple Arches

Some of the 729 little Temples

Adding Gold Leaf to Buddha

Mandalay has an area of temples on a hill called Mandalay Hill. Caroline had arranged a driver to take us around all day and drop us at the airport for our 4 PM flight. Our driver drove us up to the top of the hill and we started with temple no. 1. The architecture was different, in that shiny glass was prevalent on the walls and the temple used arches instead of posts. It was reminiscent of a mosque rather than a temple. The temples we saw today were built 1500 years ago, but have been redone several times due to fire and wars. Even though today is Tuesday and not a holiday, the temples were packed with local families going about their business. The temples were also packed with vendors selling flowers and souvenirs. I was particularly pleased, in temple no 1, to see the flower sellers and souvenir sellers going after the locals and ignoring the tourists. I wanted to see how the locals handle the hawkers. The locals seemed to completely ignore the vendors and the vendors stop yelling as soon as they passed. When the vendors approach a tourist they always start with a question “Where are you from?”. We always respond politely and then the vendors lock in and walk beside you until either you buy or ignore them long enough. We need to learn not to be so polite. The second temple we visited was called the largest book ever. 729 Marble slabs containing ancient script are housed in 729 little Stupas surrounding the temple. Here there were fewer locals and more tourists. The hawkers included several young girls who use the line “you buy, I go to school”. Unfortunately, the more they sell the less likely they are to go to school. The third temple we visited was packed with locals. It contains the most revered image of Buddha in Myanmar. The worshipers were applying Gold leaf to the statue of Buddha but only at the base. Women were not allowed past a certain point so they sat near by and watched the ceremony on closed circuit television. As a male I was allowed to walk right up to the Buddha and take pictures. After a quick lunch we were off to the airport and then flew back to Singapore.

We thank Caroline and Ali for having organized and accompanied us on our amazing trip to Myanmar!

November 9 Fly to Mandalay

Kings Palace

Another early start as we flew from Bagan to Mandalay at 8 AM It was the shortest flight ever – about 25 minutes and we were at our hotel by 9:30. We visited the Royal Palace in the morning and then took a taxi to visit U Pein bridge. It is a 2 KM long bridge made mostly of teak wood. We walked halfway across the bridge and then stopped to take pictures . It was a great photo op.  One of the nicest parts of the trip was to see the number of locals out enjoying the sunset and the socializing that happens on the bridge. 

U Pein Bridge

Three Monks on Bridge

November 8 Bagan

Another early start. We had a 5:00 AM pickup for our hot air ballooning trip this morning. We were at the field in the dark and they fed us coffee and croissants while they got organized for the dawn takeoff. About 20 balloons lifted off and we floated over the temples and countryside of Bagan. It was awesome. The light was perfect and the temples are so varied and plentiful it hard to take it all in. We floated for over an hour and enjoyed every minute of the trip. We landed ever so gently and then they got us out and fed us Champagne. What a great way to view the temples.

Inflating Balloons

Temple Group

Holy Temple

Next we rented electric bikes again and set off for the temple viewing tower. From the air it looked like an old temple, but as we got close we could see it was new and modern. It was built in 2005. From the tower, which was just under the height of the tallest pagoda, we could see the temples and their groups. We returned to the viewing tower at sunset and as luck would have it – it was happy hour.

Viewing Tower Sunset

November 7 Fly to Bagan

Joan Checking out the Buddha

We were up 4:45a.m. for another early morning flight. We met Caroline and Alistair at the airport for a flight to Bagan. This is an area of pagodas and temples that were built between 600 and 1400 AD. The origin is unclear but it seems every king and noble built a temple in the area. There are over 2000 structures ranging from very large to very small. The temples are everywhere. There can be 2 beside the road and another 3 temples 50 meters behind sitting in the fields. Most seem to be unused but every one I checked had an statue of Buddha inside. The last temple we checked had an inscription from 1200 AD and was showing it's age. It looked like a good place for Count Dracula. We all rented electric bikes and toured the countryside this morning. Joan balked at driving her own 2 wheeled vehicle, so she rode on the back of my bike. That poor bike worked really hard going uphill.

(Note: Near the end of our trip another rider overtook me and flagged me down. He was from the bike rental company. He wanted to change bikes because they noticed Joan wasn't using hers and they gave me a more powerful bike. Now Joan and I are the fastest.)

After an afternoon swim we went out on our fast bike and visited the “Count's” temple when the sun was setting. We walked through the fields for a good camera angle and the sun co-operated.

Facing East

Facing west

November 6 Rangoon

Cargo Ship on Rangon River

Guardian Lion at Temple

Buddha on the Cobra Throne

Joan and I started with a visit to the post office for post cards and stamps. Then we took a ferry across the river to Dallah. Yangon(formerly Rangoon) is on the Yangon river about 5 km from the ocean. There is constant traffic on the river with boats of all sizes coming and going and fishing right in front of the city. On the Dallah side of the river we took rickshaws for a tour of the countryside and pagodas. We enjoyed the fishing village, but the rickshaw drivers have a con going with a visit to a tsunami ravaged village. My driver kept pointing out ruined homes and telling me the residents had no food. Then he told me we had to make a contribution to the tsunami fund of 1 bag of rice We ended up at the local gangster's house who had several bags of rice available of differing quality for only $55 each. I realized now I was being set up but it still cost me $10 to get out of there. Then after the ride I had to haggle for the cost of the rickshaws. The drivers brought in the head shark who informed me how I had cost his drivers lost wages by being 10 minutes over time, He had to listen to my retired senior story and we came to an good agreement but I didn't have enough local currency. So we haggled over exchange rates and I paid him in Singapore dollars. I think I lost that argument too.

Elephant Fountian in Peoples Park

In the afternoon I returned to the Shwedagon Pagoda to take more pictures. I was impressed by the people this time. At the entrance I stopped to put on my sari and the 2 girls behind the counter started to giggle. Then one girl came out and helped me put it on. She knew exactly what to do and my sari stayed in place for the next 3 hours without any problems. Later on I was taking a water break, sitting on the stairs when an old monk approached me. He asked about my family and then introduced me to his grandchildren who were skipping along beside him. When he was leaving he asked me if I was christian and when I said yes, he gave me a christian blessing which was very moving. What a role model! After the sun had set and the sky had darkened I headed to the park across the road to take more pictures As I was leaving they turned on the dancing waters and music. What a nice finish.

November 5 Fly to Rangoon

We were up early to catch a 7:20 flight. We flew to Yangon, Myanmar (formerly Rangoon) to experience Myanmar (formerly Burma) for the first time. It was a 3 hour flight with a 1.5 hour time zone change so we landed before 9:00 local time. We visited 2 of the major temples in the morning and then visited Shwedagon in the afternoon. We had driven by Shwedagon in the morning and had seen an avenue leading to the temple through a park. We returned to the park and walked by a segway stand where you could rent your own Segway. I rented 2 Segways so we could ride to the picturesque avenue, but Joan refused to ride one( I tried twice to ride my Segway but stepped off both times as I was unbalanced and twice got whacked painfully on the shin by a whirling Segway. Thus has ended my Segway career -Tim went on his own - J) But the renter came with me and wouldn't let me go off the paved path. What a waste! I walked to the avenue and met 2 monks who wanted me to take their picture so I did.

Then I caught up with Joan and we went into the temple. What a temple – golden spires and domes everywhere, thousands of people everywhere, monks in purple and orange everywhere. It was a true experience and we never stopped gawking in the 3 hours we were there. We need to go back tomorrow.

November 4 Singapore

Super Tree

Super tree trio

Super trees

This evening we went to the sound and light show at Gardens By the Bay. The garden has “Super Trees” that are made of iron and filled with peat moss and various plants. We saw them 2 years ago when they were just started and the plants only went up the trees 6 feet. Today the bottom 50 feet of the “Super Trees” are covered in foliage. These trees are an experiment in sustainable vertical planting. As we sat in the tree gardens, music filled the air and the trees were lit with various lights of all colours. It was a very enjoyable experience and the show is free every night of the week.

As we walked home, we came across another sound, light and water show on the history of Singapore, so we watched that as well. We find it neat that they can project images on sprays of water.

November 3 Singapore

Finally we took the tourist bus tour of the sights of Singapore. It's a ride in a double decker London bus with an open top. We baked in the sun for the first hour and then stopped for a drink, and a hat and suntan lotion. We rode the second hour back on top then moved to the air-conditioned downstairs for the final 15 minutes. I really enjoyed the commentary about the history of Singapore and the modern customs they now have. The unique city areas like Litte India Chinatown and the Arab quarter are the original boundaries allocated to these races when the British were in charge. Since becoming a city state in the 50's Singapore has maintained the status quo on racial makeup with Chinese(75%), Indian(13%), Malay(10%) and others being the 4 fixed categories. Beach Road, which is in the middle of the city, was the real beach until a land reclamation project 50 years ago. After the tour Joan went shopping at the Cloud Forest and I went picture taking. We had supper with Caroline and Ali at the huge food court near their apartment building.

Sands Casino with Cloud Forest Building on the right

Singapore Flyer

November 2 Singapore

Arab District

Sultan Mosque Singapore

Joan and I returned to the Arab Quarter this afternoon. I sat and had a large beer while Joan browsed the shops. This is the Muslim area of town, All sorts of textiles are sold here, which are used for womens' and mens' traditional clothing. Most women in the Arab district wear hijabs and a lot of the men wear skull caps. The main Mosque has recently been painted and the gold dome towers over the surrounding district. The shops are old two storey houses with shuttered windows on the second floor. The area is picturesque and surrounded by skyscrapers. It is nice how Singapore has kept some areas of its history – Chinatown ,Little India,the Arab Quarter , the Quays.

November 1 Singapore

Caroline, Alistair and Tim rented bikes today and toured a small island called Cooney Island. It was just off the big island and accessible via a causeway. It is preserved as a bird sanctuary, but just off shore are large ships piled with containers cruising through the straits. The water does not look that clean but the birds seem okay and there are fish in the small creeks we saw. On returning to the main island we toured through a new estate where several public housing buildings are being built. The state of Singapore does most of the infrastructure in advance and the rapid transit stations are usually in place before the apartments are built. Most people in Singapore live in social housing, but are subsidized according to their income. This

New Housing Estate

may not be a socialist state but the rich definitely pay for luxury goods. It would cost about $100,000 to register a car in Singapore. Mass transit and the taxi system are so good that very few people own cars.

The Main Mosque in Singapore

For the evening meal we went to a Turkish restaurant in the Arab quarter. We dined in the street and the food was delicious. The surroundings were so beguiling Joan and I will go back tomorrow.

Oct 31 Fly to Singapore

Airport at Wakatobi

We flew back to Singapore via Wings Air. The airport at Wakatobi was small. The only plane we saw was the one we used. Surprisingly it was full, but most guests got off at the first stop (45 minutes) and we carried on to Makassar another hour's flight. The visability was good and I took several picture of the cumulus clouds. Unfortunately we saw several fires as the farmers were clearing more land thus creating more smog. There has to be a better way.

On arrival in Makassar we had to wait 45 minutes for our bags, but Joan was enamored with the dresses and hijabs the women wear. Indonesia is the largest Islamic country in the world, but the women are not shy. I would love to take their pictures but I'm afraid to ask. We made the final hop from Makassar to Singapore and even in the dark it was easy to see the smoke from the fires in Indonesia had abated. Better visibility and much brighter colours were noticeable on the way home.

October 30 Wangi-Wangi

Today we took a car into the fishing village of Bajo Mola about ½ hour from our resort. It is a village of houses built on stilts over the sea with many piers and concrete channels We crossed from pier to pier on bridges -some were one wide plank ,some were two 2x4s,. some were 3-4 bamboo logs tied together, some were actual concrete bridges. Tim was fearless but I did not really enjoy these crossings and eventually lost my nerve and walked to any sturdier bridge nearby. However I crossed many and did not fall into the channels which were about 8 feet deep with the tide out.

There were a lot of children in the village who were coming home from school shortly after we arrived. The school day here is from 7-10 am We had fun trying to converse with the older kids and taking pictures with the younger ones.

Boats in Canal

Bridge where Joan lost her nerve

We had decided to find our own way back to the resort instead of having the resort driver wait hours for us.

We found a market place and a local driver who had other passengers and who offered to drive us back. It was not a luxury car for sure but he was a good safe driver. 

It was a fun and interesting excursion but we found that there was a lot of garbage in the water and on land. They are not yet friendly to the environment.

Hopefully, they will be in years to come.

October 29 Wangi-Wangi Diving

the resort's dive boat

The snorkeling trip was set-up through the resort. We were 1 scuba diver and 1 snorkeler – me, with six people on board to attend to our needs. Nobody went in the water alone. I was accompanied by a staff person on all 4 dives. I jumped in to start my dive but to get me back in was a procedure- drag me to the ladder(because the boat was moving), take my camera off my wrist,  take my mask and snorkel , take off my flippers (they were really tight) so that I could then walk up the ladder. These guys made me feel old. We were swimming by a reef and the scenery was impressive and the fish were plentiful. My underwater camera worked well and I didn't fog up at all. Before my first dive the diving master rubbed a white goo all over my mask. He said it was necessary because the goggles were new. All of their equipment was new because the diving shack burned down 2 months ago.On one occasion the divig master beckoned me over and point at coral on the bottom.  Then it moved and I realized it was a 7 foot sea snake.  I got a few good pictures. When I showed them to the other diver he got excited and spoke with the dive master in Indonesian.  It appears the sea snake is extremely deadly.  But the dive master said it's not very aggressive.  

 I went in the

Sea Snake - extremely deadly

unnamed fish

water 4 times and at the end I was exhausted. I need to snorkel more than once every 2 years! Between the dives we were treated to hot coffee and food. I have one small accident to report, I was cut on my thumb in 3 places by a fish. I finished eating it anyway!

October 28 Fly to Wangi-Wangi

I had booked the Patuno Inn by mistake because the information on booking.com was incorrect. I thought it was in Makassar 3km from the city center. When I read the write-up , it said the hotel was on the island of Wangi-Wangi, 300km away. So I canceled and booked another hotel in Makassar. But I liked the looks of the Patuno resort so I booked a flight to Wangi-Wangi and we ended up at the Patuno dive resort. The coral reef sits 100 meters off-shore so I rented snorkeling equipment and off I went. I saw lots of fish but failed to get a decent shot of anything with my underwater camera. When I got back, I tested it and realized the camera was not working well. I reset my camera, it is working well and I am looking forward to a half day snorkeling trip tomorrow.

Trying out my rented equipment

Joan by the sea

While Tim snorkeled, I enjoyed a nice long swim in the very warm waters. While Tim dives tomorrow, I am planning to go for a walk and a swim, read my book and catch up on the news .

October 27 Makassar

We hired a taxi for the day in order to visit some sites around Makassar. We tried to visit an area of town that had some island traditional houses on display. It was an abject failure as the taxi driver didn't speak english, didn't know where anything was, and I suspect he couldn't read Indonesian either, We gave up on the houses and headed for the waterfalls next. First he phoned somebody for instructions, then he stopped to ask directions. We got there first attempt and had a neat visit to a waterfall and caves. The caves were not lit and I think we ruined someone's day when I pulled a flashlight out of my camera bag for Joan and I to use in the caves (the worker with the coleman lantern did not need to use it). Then the guide and 3 young boys got out their iPhones and used them as lights also. We had just enough light to take some pictures in the darkest cave. We had a good visit and then the guide asked us where we were heading next. When I told him the city name, he informed me it was 4 hours away, not 1 hour like I expected. We made a quick change to the itinerary and the guide gave us a map to the next destination – a set of ancient caves. The driver really wanted to go straight back but I had the name and the map and off we went. This is when I realized he couldn't read. I had to check the signs with the map we had and I had to navigate. It sort of worked, The driver really seemed frightened and checked with everyone we met. The last guy we asked pointed to the next driveway and that was it. We were at the caves where traces of civilization were about 8000 years old. Then the driver, who had been rather tense, came to life and joined us on the tour. He took more pictures than me on his iPhone. He really enjoyed the caves after he got there.

Waterfalls during the dry season.  Monsoons next month.

Caves near the waterfalls

October 26 Fly to Makassar, Indonesia

We are visiting the land of forest burners. We flew to Makassar on Sulawesi Island in Indonesia. It was a 3 hour flight almost due west of Singapore and we flew over the haze all the way. The haze is much less noticeable in Makassar than in Singapore.

Local style cargo ship

Shipwreck off the end of the pier

We had heard about the small boat harbour in Makassar where the smaller locally built boats are moored. Although we had the correct name we still got dropped off at the wrong harbour – the ferry harbour. When we realized what had happened the local drivers guides/ brothers, pimps... latched on to us until I went into a mosque to take pictures. When we came out we were harassed again by the same guys. I told them to go away and I started walking, they followed until Joan told them to go away. That worked! I then asked a warehouse guard where to get a taxi and some guy fired up his big black SUV and drove us to the harbour we wanted. He drove us right past the guards and we didn't have to pay the tourist entrance fee. Then he refused all money and drove off.

The harbour was colourful and entertaining.

October 25 Two Temples of Singapore

 

I visited the Sri Therapeutic Indian temple first. I have yet to figure out what is allowed and what is forbidden when it comes to photography. I asked an official at the temple and he said take pictures but don't go past the tourists forbidden signs near the inner shine. That worked well because the best artwork was on the roof. Unfortunately the parking lot, which had the best view, was being used for a large wedding party, but it worked.

Roof Ornament Sri Theraputic

Wall decoration - Chinese Temple

The second temple was Chinese. It was so far set back from the street I didn't see it until I read the signs. It was behind a beer hall and a parking lot. Again I asked the janitor if I needed to remove my shoes. I thought he said yes, but the 2 Chinese boys that came in behind me kept theirs on.