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.