On my way again

Flying again. This time Singapore to Munich, Munich to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Nice. So many stopovers to keep the price down for my client.

It's raining most of the time and there's the threat of a strike in Germany. Made it through really late and my brother picked me up.

Crashed into bed at 2am.

The Wheel

The very last thing Ilham and I did on Sunday night was to take a ride to the top of the Wheel, Singapore's version of London's Eye.

We were told that night time wasn't the best time to ride the Wheel or see the city. Not so - it was fun to see the place by night, with the lights sparkling through the beetle backs of the the concert halls, twinkling from the storied homes of people and racing down the highways.

Plus the Wheel itself changes color, so we road a rainbow to the top and back again. Not bad at all!

One of the problems with Singapore is the lack of taxis - there simply aren't enough. We walked a long way - all the way back to the Mandarin Hotel, no less, to find a taxi to take us back to the River. There we had dinner by the river edge, bringing the weekend to end with a beefsteak and beer.

Thanks so much Ilham for the time together!

Chinatown

After Little India Ilham and I went to Chinatown, wandering around the streets and the market squares.

Later we went to the principal Buddhist temple. This was absolutely incredible - the sheer opulence of the place, the vibrancy of the colors, the grace of the monks.

Two things were truly amazing - the museum of Buddhist history and art, and the smaller temple in its garden on the very roof of the temple complex. Truly beautiful.

Little India

The weather remained as unsettled on Sunday as it had been Saturday. So, after breakfast and checking out the best possible timing of things, Ilham and I headed off to Little India.

As you might expect, Little India is a part of Singapore that is home to a large community of Indians. Indians have lived in SE Asia for millenia, way before the English began exporting them as laborers and imperial functionaries to vaious parts of the world in hte 19th century.

Most now are merchants and traders. living here as they would in London, Chicago or Melbourne.


We visited two temples; the first we couldn't get into to, the second (which was actually near Chinatown, that we visited later) we did. Here's some fotos.

Sentosa

Friday night Ilham came up from Jakarta to visit me in Singapore for the weekend. We had dinner in one of the restaurants just below the hotel, then hit the Ministry of Sound to see the night life. Quite a place.

Saturday morning, not too early, we headed off for Sentosa, the island just south of Singapore island that serves as its park, playground and pasttime.

Getting to Sentosa was fun - we took the cable car from Mount Faber, Singapore's highest hill. This is most ingeniously made. It works like the cable cars in the Alps - double band of six man carriages with a waypoint for changing from one band to the other. The waypoint is the top floor of a skyscraper that stands by the water's edge on Singapore Island.

As the car went up to the station on Sentosa itself, I could see the entire north shore being remodeled. Great trucks, greater earthworks. As I learned before, these are part of the massive investment Singapore is making to become a regional hub for entertainment and the conference industry.

We hit every one of the rides - the Pirates, the Logs, the Aquarium, you name it. Same as in most other luna parks, but I hadn't done this for ages, so it was fun all over again.

Later in the day we went down to the beach on the south side of Sentosa, taking the 'ski ride' down to the shore. It was sunny enough to sit on the beach and go for a swim, but this was cut short by a dark monsoon cloud invading the day's happiness.

It didn't last long (tine enough for a Cuba Libre) then we shot off to see the dolphins do their thing in the pool. I haven't seen these dolphins before - they are long nosed like the river dolphins of the Amazon, but their bellies are pink. Where are they from?

After the show was over, we walked back along the beach to the bridge that links Sentosa to one of the artificial islands built along the coast. The sign says that this is the southernmost point to which you can walk in Asia. Counting bridges from Malaysia to Singapore, from Singapore to Sentosa, and from Sentosa to this point, well its possible. But looking at the map, more of Sentosa lies south of here...

The sunset was beautiful, especially from the ski ride back up to the top of the tower. We got back to the hotel and basically crashed.

What a fun day!