Singapore-Day 3

The third day was a much slower day...it rained-believe it or not, a good thing as it brings the temperatures down.  We had scheduled the bus tour for this day which was a good way for mom to see the city.  We chose the historical tour which is more city central but hits all the really cool neighborhoods.  It is a good way to see the city and discover the places to go back to visit on foot.  I didn't take too many photos but here are a couple.

Mom and Margie on the bus-we laughed a lot...the bus is great because the tickets are good for 24 hours.  They run every 20 minutes or so and you can get off and on at various scheduled stops.  Many tourists use them for transportation because you can explore a neighborhood and get on  when you are done and go to the next place you want to see.

Not a good shot but this is Beach Street, which actually meant something before the land reclamation project in the '60's'. It was on the waterfront, but not anymore.

We went back to Margie's to rest and then headed out for a drink at Raffles, and old Singapore hotel and landmark.  It's in the heart of the Colonial District.  It's expensive  but has a great courtyard for drinks.  Margie says it's been ruined by the new management who established a pizza kitchen and have piped in elevator music.

There is beautiful iron work and twilight is magical there.

I love these palms and the fan palms.

On the way home we ate at the Singapore Art Museum, which serves food outside late.   There is always a lot of action at night because it's  so hot during the day and you can't really be outside.

The building is lovely.

  So for Day 3 there is one more story...since Margie lives in Little India, the street life is very wild.  The migrant workers get a half day off on Sunday and converge on the neighborhood from their outlying construction jobs.  There are hundreds of men, maybe thousands, who come here to her street and shop and eat and just hang out on the streets and vacant lots.  It's loud and joyful and all the vans/transports that bring them in are parked along Race Course Road. It all lasts until  midnight and then they all go back to the dormitories where they live.  I wanted a better picture of the crowds but it wasn't possible.  This was the best I could do.

The bigger crowds are on the corners.

Singapore: Day 2

Jet lag doesn't seem to be much of a problem..Margie's system works.  We started the morning going  to another ethnic neighborhood - Joo Chiat. This neighborhood is where Chinese and Malaysians who intermarried lived.  Many Eurasians lived here too.  There are many preserved and restored shophouses there.  Shophouses are 2-3 story buildings that had commercial space on the first floor and residential space on the second and third floors.  A family might have their shop below and live above.  Or, the people living above a shop might be unrelated to the shop owners.  There is also a "five-foot way", a covered walkway that protected the public from sun and rain.  Many of these buildings were destroyed by the government's development policies, but some are preserved in various neighborhoods.  These buildings are wonderful-colorful with tiles and bas relief designs on the facades.

These shophouses are so beautiful...lots of  Chinese signs but also other languages.

Some of the details on the buildings are incredible.

we walked around for awhile and then had iced coffee while watching the crowds.  

Mom made great progress with her walker and it has really made it possible for her to get around.

There are several tell-tale signs that let you know what neighborhood you are in.

  Halal on a sign in front of a restaurant means the food has been prepared according to Muslim dietary requirements so Muslims can eat there.  We ate Laksa for lunch-a Malaysian seafood and coconut milk broth with noodles-so good.

It's got lime and chile in it too.

Loved the old Chinese signs...a very colorful neighborhood located on the Eastern side of Singapore.

That evening we went on the Singapore flier, to see the city at twilight.  We had expected a clear night and full moon as we had had the night before but it was hazy and not great for photos.  Mom was given special treatment to get up to the flier. The procedure had us all laughing-sort of.  A young woman took us on a hike at breakneck speed all the way to the other side of the building-where the special ramps where. I ran after her so we wouldn't lose her while Margie tried to escort Mom.  The young woman stopped periodically to let them almost catch up before she took off again.  When we got to the front of the line, we were cordoned off while she took mom careening down a ramp and onto the flier.  Somehow she survived, but was exhausted.  It was obvious that they have a procedure and they were going to follow it no matter what.  

Shipping takes up a great deal of the coastline and there really isn't waterfront as much as river front and a sort of manufactured bay.

Lots of tall buildings in financial district and new buildings going up all the time.

These building are a stadium and hotels along this bay...it's lively at night with light shows and places to get drinks and a view.

There seem to be a lot of buildings with this shape-the ones from the first day and others being constructed.  These are at a waterfront park that we will visit after Bali.

The flier goes very slowly-the people jump off as  it is still moving though they did stop it for mom.

More later on Day 3.

Singapore Day One

It was a long flight:  11.5 hours to Tokyo and 6.5 hours to Singapore.   We followed Margie's plan of staying up till 3:30 am and sleeping till 10:30 and then going about our day. Lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in Little India-Margie lives there anyway.  Here street is so cool.  The view from her window is so cool.  Old buildings and new ones behind.   

  Love the roof tiles  - so irregular.

 Ok, so back to day one. We took a taxi to Little India and had lunch.  Then we headed to Esplanade shopping center for massages-Margie' treat.   Very cool rooms.  They give you hair nets and these "very attractive" mesh panties to put on. The shape reminds me of those old diaper covers I used to put on the kids.  The message was wonderful and got the circulation going so our feet would unswell from the flight.  The we headed up to the roof for view. 

You can get drinks from the top of this building - Marina Bay Sands. We will do this before we leave.  

Many  more beautiful views-it is a big modern city.

These buildings below are part of the Esplanade.  Built to resemble the durian fruit.  

There is tons of building going on.  Cranes are everywhere.  Singha means lion and there are lions represented everywhere.  Here is one on the harbor.

We then took another taxi to The Civic District-where old Singapore began-it's the seat of the old colonial government and the Asian Civilizations Museum is there-to be visited after Bali.  This is the old river front-so beautiful at twilight.  We had wine and appetizers on the River front at Siem Reap-another  twilight treat.

The day finished off with a full moon-so lovely.

More later...

Windrush Farm Fiber Fest

Love this car!!

I drove up to Petaluma with Laurie and the top down on the Mustang..  It was a beautiful warm fall day.  Linda has been doing spinning and dying with the women who run this farm.  It's full of sheep, llama, alpaca and goats.

The mosaic name plate for the farm

We took so many photos of the animals.  The women sheer the animals, spin, and dye the yarn. 

Isn't he beatiful!!  He's an alpaca:  shorter nose/muzzle and ears that drop down.

This is a llama-the ears are the give-away

This guy has been harvested!!  Shaved completely

Three were dye and felting demos and beautiful yarns an fleece (roving-it needs to be spun into yarn.

This is the roving

A table full of different colored roving

This green is incredible.  All the dyes are natural:  Plants, nuts, flowers

This is what it looks like before anything is done...just from the sherring

I bought a bit of roving to make felted beads.

This is the barn where the women hold their classes

There  was also a weaving demo.  They use yarn and roving to weave with

This beautiful alpaca was so cute and very naked.

It was so wonderful to see all this going on only 45 minutes from San Francisco.  I love how close everything is in the Bay Area.  You can get out in the country so easily....

Costa Mesa for a Work Conference

Lisa and I went to Costa Mesa to present our Writing Workshop model at the Student Success Conference.  It was an amazing experience.  We heard a keynote speaker who was really inspiring.  His name is Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade and he teaches in an East Oakland High School....he teaches students of trauma, as he puts it, and we have many of the same students at Laney.  We are hoping to have him come to professional development at Laney, especially since he's local. He's also an assistant professor of Raza Studies and Education at SFSU.  And, wow...I bought his second book.  What a Coach Can Teach a Teacher to read soon.  I found his talk on Youtube and it's great. 

We spent most of the time preparing our own presentation and eating out at night.  We found a great restaurant (so great in fact that we ate there both nights) Ecco, they have a great wood oven and make fantastic pizza and many grilled vegetables.  The biggest hit were these grilled marinated artichokes.  We even convinced the chef to come out and tell us how to make them.  Lisa and I are planning to try them at our respective houses and see who can reproduce them with the most success...then we share what worked...

Our presentation was a hit...I was so nervous but it was great.  Our room monitor, the guy who listened and kept us on time and made sure everything worked, came up and told us how much he liked it and said it was very interesting.  Several in the audience told us that it was the best presentation they'd heard at the conference.  We stayed after and talked to people who wanted help setting up their own course for over 30 minutes....so happy.

That left us an afternoon to get out in the sun.  Lisa wanted to go to Newport Beach,where she had spent a summer at age 16.  We took a cab to Newport Beach and ate lunch at an incredible seafood restaurant.

We had grilled prawns and scallops (grilled, not fried-how rare to find that option although when we left we saw the chef brush melted butter over all the entrees coming out...the joke was on us:  probably the same calorie count as the fried would have been!!)

We walked from Newport Pier up a few miles and back on highway 1 thru Newport Beach and back to pier,  The we walked all the way down to Balboa.  Many miles in the sun.  After talking to Mom on the phone I do know we walked past the old house on the beach front.  Between 7th and 8th.

Looking south from Balboa Pier

We loved the vast expanse of sandy beaches and the familiar smell of seaweed, salt, and sand.  There are days when I miss Southern California.

From Balboa Pier

Newport Beach Pier from Balboa Pier:  it was a long walk!!

We saw some great houses behind Lido Island and here is one that we loved.  Amazing stained glass window!!

Bad angle:  too much garage, but there were some nice balconies and some beautiful metal work

Close up of the stained glass window in front

The sun, sand, and ocean can't be beat.  We wanted to spend a day on the beach, but no time.  We had decided to come home and see our families rather than be gone on the weekend. 

from Balboa Pier

From Balboa Pier in the other direction

 

 

 

 

The driver from the hotel told us about both restaurants:  the one we ate at and a Mexican restaurant that we didn't get back to.  We will save it for another trip.

Mural on the back of the Mexican restaurant

This is it on 28th and Newport Beach Blvd.

We had a fun 2 days...very stressful, but successful.