Make a Wish for 2010!

Throughout the month of December, plastic white “beach” balls (Wishing Spheres) have been filling the bay after people have written their wishes for 2010. This visual display lights up at night. Tonight is the final night of the display and some 20,000 spheres have been collected – this, music and fireworks will help to ring in the New Year! The Marina Bay Singapore Countdown (MBSC) has become a unique event that has become a fascinating tradition.

(Beginning of Dec 09 - Above)

(Now 20,000 Wishing Spheres!)

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE WISHING SPHERES Make Your Wish for the New Year
“Each wishing sphere represents a hope, a belief that the New Year will bring new possibilities and a brighter tomorrow. Pen your New Year wishes on these wishing spheres throughout December at wishing stations located around Singapore throughout December.”

New Year’s Eve: A time of reflection, resolution and renewal. A time of sharing and a time for wishes, for what is to come.

Water: Water has often been associated with the source of life and origin of many civilizations and good feng shui. Marina Bay is located at the mouth of Singapore River, where life began for Singapore.

Light: A symbolic significance in almost all cultures, representing goodness, knowledge and hope. Bringing all these elements together at Marina Bay, the countdown was created as a start of a new tradition unique to Singapore to celebrate the collective hope and dreams of all Singaporeans.

Source: www.marinabaysingaporecountdown.sg

(Photo from Marina Bay S'pore Countdown)

Unfortunately, our hotel room faces the wrong direction, so we can’t watch the festivities from our window. So, I think we’ll have to join the some 250,000 Singaporeans expected this year. Can’t wait to post pictures of our adventure tonight!

(Photo Taken by Photography Honorable Mention: Lee Chau Loong)

Chinatown Walking Tour – Thian Hock Keng Temple

Well, I finally got Paul out today for a walking tour, but OH! what a day – humidity like you wouldn’t believe and it was so HOT! We did have a very interesting tour and didn’t get back to the hotel until 3:30pm or so, and man, we’re both exhausted tonight! It was a 4-hour tour of Chinatown and for this post, I will just give you a glimpse and focus on the Thian Hock Keng Temple (oldest Hokkien-Chinese temple in S’pore) meaning “Temple of Heavenly Blessings.”
It was a beautiful temple but our first introduction to it was tempered by the fact that there were tour buses blocking a view of the whole temple (I’ll have to go back and get some photos once all of the tourists leave next week! Those darn tourists – LOL).
Helena (pronounced like the capital of Montana), our tour guide today, was fantastic and is a direct descendent of a Chinese migrant worker who ended up staying in S’pore. Her knowledge was just tremendous and I don’t think I’ll be able to do it justice; needless to say, you’ll have to come here and take the tour yourself!
Above you see her leaning against a lion – this is at the entrance to the Temple. Additionally, you have to step over an 18” threshold to enter the Temple. Helena said that some believe it was to keep the sea water from coming into the temple but actually all Chinese Temples like this have the threshold because it forces you, by stepping over, to bow when you enter.

For the carpenters reading this, you’ll be interested to know that the Temple was constructed using Tongue and Groove joints. In Chinese heritage and architecture, nails are only used for the dead. The Temple was renovated in 2000 and you see it in the vibrant colors. The Dragons on top of the Temple symbolize power and the Ying/Yang. Dragons with 5 Claws are a symbol of the Emperor. The “pearl” in the middle of the two dragons below is the “blazing pearl of mortality.” It is put in the mouth of the deceased; it gives the deceased light in which to see the path to “heaven.”
Interestingly enough, the picture below of the “Gold Tablets” are markers for the deceased; if a person wanted a better place in the “cabinet” they would buy his or her tablet ahead of time. In that case, a red piece of paper would be placed over it until he or she died. I’ll have more to post later on how the Chinese used to treat the dying and the dead. The symbols that Helena is pointing to are the Crane meaning Long Life; the four Bats for Luck; and a Vase meaning peace.

Guan Shi Yin Pu Sa is the Goddess/God who has stayed behind in between life and death to help people reach Nirvana (see below). One interesting aspect of Guan is that women (in the past) never exposed their bare feet to another except their husbands. You’ll note that Guan has her feet bare – the shortest reason I can give is that Guan originally started as a man but through different legends has become a woman, thus the reason for the exposed bare feet. I would have never picked up on that nuance if Helena hadn’t pointed it out.
Last but not least, Confucius. There was a shrine to him in the Temple and I was reading in a recent newspaper article that his teachings are gaining in popularity again.
Here is Helena’s version of his teachings:
1. Absolute obedience for Rulers
2. Absolute obedience for Parents
3. Be Kind for Kindness Sake
4. Be Moral for Morality Sake
Confucius’s teachings were approximately 500 years before Christ and his version of the Golden Rule was first but somewhat long: do not do unto others as others would not do unto you. Christ’s version was a little simpler, but now you see how the teaching had been in the works for awhile.
This is only Part I of Chinatown…come back later for info on the Chinese Migrants Workers, Chinatown Wet Market, Burning Artifacts, Nutmeg and Cinnamon Trees, etc.

Another Milestone – 8 Years!

It’s official – we made it 8 years! And we pretty much celebrated our Wedding Anniversary Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood style (though we didn’t eat at McDonald’s – that’s how they spent their Anniversary). We took it easy today and tried to think of some different things to do but we just kept coming back to a movie and just hanging out together. Luckily, it turned out well.

We watched Superman this morning while I finalized some flight plans for a High School Girls’ Cruise that Jade, Erica, Tavia and I are taking in February – so excited! Paul looked up options for what we could do on our Anniversary and found a Blog by a guy named “Angry Ang Mo.” He posted that S’pore is the most unromantic city in the world. We find that to be a bit of an exaggeration but he did mention that most people go out to a movie for a date night and that’s exactly what we ended up doing! But, how many couples share Japanese Yakitori on a street bench by Orchard Road surrounded by thousands of people. Hmmm…maybe not so romantic, but Paul did get down on one knee and propose to me again! Now, that’s romantic!

Paul thought it would be fun to share how the “Happy Anniversary” song got started:



Hope you are all recovering from your “Christmas Coma” and looking forward to a great 2010!

An Otter-ageous Christmas!

Hope all of you had a special Christmas! We had a fun, nontraditional day! We started fairly normal with breakfast and opening presents but then spent a majority of the day by the pool and ended up at the Night Safari. We had a great time and met some wonderful people. One family was from Mississippi who is now living on Sentosa (lucky people!) while he works on getting some oil rigs up and running. We had an intriguing conversation about Hurricane Katrina. They had been in the midst of it and remembered a group of people coming down from Denver who helped take down trees.

Additionally, we met a fantastic family from Kuwait on Holiday! We talked for at least 30 minutes waiting for the Night Safari Show to start and we were quite taken with the children – they were so engaging and loved telling us all of the tales of their adventures here and Phuket! We were lucky to exchange information! The daughter is doing a project about Chile (she’s going to an American School there). So, I offered that my brother, Mike, might be able to share photos, etc. The Mom is a columnist for a newspaper – it’s in Arabic but we hope a co-worker of Paul’s will be able to help us translate so that I can see what she writes! What a lovely family! More than the adventures, just meeting a variety of people has been such a blessing.

Well, you probably want to see some pictures of animals, but since it is a Night Safari and they don’t allow Flash Photography – well…I don’t have too much to show. I can give you some names and hopefully you’ll want to look them up! Here's a good picture of the Ankole Cattle:

We also saw the Greater Asian Rhino, a few varieties of Jackals, 2 Malayan Tigers, Elephants and some majestic (but lazy) Lions!
We bought a Park Hopper, so we can go to the Night Safari, Zoo and Jurong Bird Park as much as we want over the next month. So, next time we go to the Safari we’ll probably walk throughout and that will give us a chance to see the animals a little closer!

One of the best showings of the night was the fire eaters and luckily I got a great video of them! Quite reminiscent of a show at a Luau.

We did find TURKEY! Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant had a set menu for Christmas and we enjoyed a Salmon/Red Pepper Mousse (or Paul enjoyed that…) for an appetizer, a wonderful cup of chicken broth and dumpling soup, for the main course -Turkey with almond mashed potatoes (shaped into a pear – quite cool!) and a strawberry cream-filled log cake for dessert. I will have to do another posting on the log cakes here; I don’t understand the fascination but they are EVERYWHERE!!! I’ll be happy if I don’t see another Log Cake in my life.

(View from our table at Ulu Ulu Safari Restaurant)

They did a little show during dinner, too; check this out!

Here’s a picture and video from the Night Safari Show – quite funny!

Happy Christmas Eve!

Hi all! Just wanted to let you know that we’re thinking of you all on Christmas Eve! May the spirit of season be well with you – Merry Christmas!

What’s the best Christmas Eve Dinner? Sashimi, Edamame, Steak and Tempura at Japanese Dining Sun (located at Chijmes). Though, Paul said we need to find some Turkey on Christmas Day – wish us luck on that quest! The dinner was phenomenal and of course, I had to take some pictures. When food is art, it’s hard to resist. Below you’ll see, Paul took a picture of me and a fan of tempura noodles – fascinating! Tonight’s activities will involve me begging to open my gifts early, Paul resisting and us going to bed watching White Christmas – what a great evening!

Here is a picture of our suite during the Christmas season. We snagged some fun decorations and it’s helped us get into the spirit.
Below is a video and a picture of the Singapore Flyer lit up for Christmas. I can’t wait to take a ride – it’s the tallest in the world. Though, I heard the Chinese are working on one that will be the tallest next year or so.

As you’ve seen me post before, S’pore is a great city to be in for Christmas; they really know how to do it up right! So, here are some more pictures for you to enjoy.

Colonial District Tour, An Introduction

I had another great walking tour experience that I have yet to share. On Monday, December 14th Razeen was our guide for the Colonial District Tour. There were only three of us taking the tour: me and a Mother/ Son duo that were Korean but from California (they were visiting family here). We were a quiet group but got the personal attention of the guide and some good nuggets about the city.

Here was the itinerary for the day:
We started outside the City Hall MRT and headed right to St. Andrew’s Cathedral, then continued west on Coleman St. while Razeen related interesting tidbits about the city and why Coleman has a street named after him. While heading north on Hill St. we stopped at the Armenian Church. After a quick walk up Victoria St. we stopped at Chijmes and ultimately ending at the Raffles Hotel (I posted this part of the trip earlier last week: “Flat Phoebe” Visits the Raffles Hotel).

Quick S’pore History Bite:
In 1819, Sir Raffles bought Singapore for the East India Company. Why? Interestingly enough, S’pore has a natural harbor and, at the time, was the perfect place to stop in the spice trade. Raffles wanted to create a free port – no taxes. It was quite a concept back then! To bring order to a growing city, Raffles engaged with the “First Architect of Singapore,” G.D. Coleman. Along with Raffles, Coleman turned S’pore into a planned city starting in 1822 with streets at right angles and “planned areas” for ethnicities, administration and trade. S’pore still has the remnants of these areas: many of the government buildings are in the Colonial District and even though people are no longer sectioned out by ethnicities, Little India and Chinatown sprung out from those roots. Of course, the most desirable area of S’pore – the beachfront, was designated for Europeans. Though a few infiltrated the area – if you had lots of money then it didn’t matter. So, a few successful Chinese businessmen had Bungalows along Beach Road. Raffles actually had people moved if they were not in their “designated” area; for example, the people from India first inhabited the beachfront area, but were pushed north and west to what is now called Little India. Hmmm…makes you think it would have been difficult to have an interracial relationship…I guess, for Raffles, the idea of segregation was revolutionary, but now it just seems ludicrous.

So, here’s Part I: St. Andrew’s Cathedral
How fascinating that so much history could be in one building. Of course, Razeen is a WWII history buff and he gave us a lot of information about the attack and how long the Japanese occupied S’pore. Thus, I’m going to try and do the Cliff Notes version!
Yes, lighting can strike twice and it did for the original church that stood on the grounds. After that, the church was declared unsafe, redesigned and rebuilt in 1860 using convict labor (& not so coincidently also highly-skilled craftsmen) from Sumatra. The church (now upgraded to a Cathedral) is much more ornate than the first church and attracted the most influential in Singapore. St. Andrew’s was not for the “common man.” Of course, it wasn’t – why wouldn’t a church be for all to come together and worship – what a concept! No, of course, it was a place to see and been seen.
You’ll see in the stained glass of this church three very influential family “code of arms” or “badges.” The left represents Crawford’s (the man who what in charge of S’pore in 1823 and signed a treaty with the Sultan that gave up S’pore to the British); the middle represents Raffles and the right represents Butterworth, the governor of S’pore at the time. I found this quite interesting that in a house of God, three men’s family representations stood in plain sight at the head of the church…just makes you wonder a bit.

(Above: Crawford's Family "Code of Arms" - see the two-headed eagle?)

(Above: Raffles "Code of Arms" - see the ornate "badge?")

(Above: Butterworth's Family "Code of Arms" - see the moose?)

The other interesting thing about this church was the extensive WWII Plaques that were inlaid into the walls of the chapel. The history surrounding WWII, the Japanese and S’pore is fascinating but I will have to leave that for a later post. But, the connection to the church is that it was used as an infirmary during the war.

As you can see the church is beautiful and is quite prominent; we can see if from our hotel. The white façade is striking in sunlight and is a beautiful study in architecture. The city was lucky to have such skilled convict labor.