Repositioning to Our Home Port

Saturday and Sunday November 6^th and 7^th

Yesterday was spent doing some last minute things we wanted to see or do here in Singapore. We spent a little more time out at the Botanic Garden visiting a couple of areas that we missed on Thursday. On the way back towards our hotel we visited the Singapore History Museum which is in a beautiful building. It was quite an interesting tour following the history of Singapore from pre colonial period to the British Colonial period and then to the present day.

We didn’t do much the rest of the do except to get our suitcases organized and to rest.

This morning we had a late breakfast and then headed out to stay at the hotel at the airport. The Crowne Plaza is attached to Terminal 3 where we fly out of early in the morning – very convenient. At the most, it will take us 10 minutes to get to our check in counter.

We leave Singapore at 8am and get into San Francisco at 8:49am – how’s that for fast flying – only a 49 minute flight to cover all those miles. Wrong – we just gain back the day we lost on the way over. We actually have about a 7 hour flight to Tokyo and then an 8 to 9 hour flight into San Francisco. Then we have the “puddle jumper” into Sacramento. Hopefully, there will be some sleeping time on some of those flights.

We think the monsoon season is starting here. Last night we had heavy rain and we are getting heavy rain tonight again along with wind! We guess it is a good time to be heading home.

We have had a great time in Asia and we have developed a real respect for these countries. Of course, in our minds, we are thinking of the next trip to this area.

Singapore III

Friday, November 05, 2010

The day started with rain. The first real rain we have seen on this trip. Mary calls it a baby monsoon. However by 10:30 the the rain had cleared to clouds and we were ready for the day.

We had a great day with Joel See. We met him about 6 years ago at church in Roseville. He works for HP here in Singapore and periodically travels to Roseville for business at the HP plant. We have seen him several times since then and he has always wanted to know when we were going to visit Singapore. So we emailed him in September and mentioned that we were going to be visiting here.

He picked us up and we headed off to Chinatown. After roaming around there we had lunch at one of the Hawker Centers. The guide books say no visit to Singapore is complete without visiting one of these centers. These are no-frills food stalls in a big building. The food is excellent and just quite an experience to eat at one these places.

After lunch we toured around various areas that we hadn’t seen yet and ended up at Joel’s apartment. We got to see his wife and meet his two little girls. Then we all went out to the East Coast Park which is on the way to the airport. There is a nice sandy beach here. We ate at Jumbo Seafood which is a local favorite place to have Chili Crab and Drunken Shrimp. The Chili Crab is a whole crab smothered in a sweet and sour, spicy sauce. Let me tell you it is excellent, but it is without a doubt the messiest food that we have ever eaten! You needed a bath after eating it!

We just had a very special day getting to see areas that most tourists don’t get to visit.

Singapore II

Thursday, November 04, 2010

We got up quite early, got some breakfast, and headed out to Singapore’s Botanic Gardens – called a timeless tropical Eden. It covers over 155 acres and what is amazing is that it is only about 5 minutes from Orchard Road and all of the shopping. We spent over 3 hours walking and taking tons of pictures. We only included a small portion of them in the slide show for the blog.

Some of the various areas are: Swan Lake, Ginger Garden, the bandstand, Children’s Garden (which we did not get to), Palm Valley and the National Orchid Garden. Tuck in around the gardens are some great sculptures – such as “Swing Me Mama” – all donated. There were a lot of people doing their morning exercise in the park. We would have spent more time there, but it was getting just too hot. It is a fabulous place though.

After getting refreshed at the hotel, we took off again to take a “Bumboat Ride” on the Singapore River. Bumboats were used to ferry cargo at Singapore’s historic trading port. There use to be 100’s of these caring goods and people around. It was quite an interesting ride.

After the boat ride, we got a late lunch and then walked and walked and finally got back to the hotel dripping from the heat and humidity and exhausted. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and resting.

Note Charlie's new car -- a Lambrogini knock-off. It'll only do 150.

Singapore I

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

We got into Singapore around midnight last night and what a beautiful airport! We have never seen such beautiful airports – greenery all around – I said that it looked like a nice hotel lobby. From the time we got off the plane until we were in a taxi headed to our hotel only 30 minutes had elapsed! (Granted it was midnight, but still that was pretty good for passport control and customs etc.)

We are down in the Marina District downtown and the view from our window is gorgeous. We started the day (late) and took the “Hop On/Hop Off” bus tour of the city. We feel that it is the best way to get the feel of a city. Singapore is a city-state, which means the city is the country. The main focal point of the city is the Singapore River. This is where Sir Stamford Raffles landed and he built his settlement for the East India Trading Company. Frommer’s guide says, “In 1822, he developed a town plan which allocated neighborhoods to each of the races who’d come in droves to find work and begin lives. The lines drawn then remain today, shaping major ethnic enclaves held within the city limits.”

In the afternoon, we went to visit the Marina Bay Sands Hotel – the Skypark. We saw a documentary on the plane about the constructing of this building and it is the most amazing building we have ever seen. Google it you won’t believe it! It was a little scary being suspended on a cantilevered portion (56 stories up) longer than a 747. Seriously, Google it. We will put our pictures in.

After this, we had to check out the legendary Raffles Hotel which is a neat old Colonial type of hotel. I had a Singapore Sling there at the “Long Bar” – the drink was invented here. (Actually, Charlie’s beer was better.) The place was neat, but the staff was pretty snooty!

It is hot here, but you are not out a lot. Singapore is 85 miles north of the Equator meaning hot all the time, lots of rain, and high humidity.

We are getting up earlier tomorrow to head to the Botanical Gardens which are supposed to be fabulous!

Repositioning

Travel Days – Monday and Tuesday, November 1^st and 2^nd

We took the Airport Bus back to the Seoul Airport this morning– it is so convenient with pickup right at our hotel. There are signs all along the highway to and from the airport about the G20 and also all over the airport. This is a beautiful airport!

We were presently surprised to be upgraded from Business to 1^st Class! We were sure wishing that the flight was longer than the 2 hours it was back to Tokyo – oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Upon arriving in Tokyo, we took the hotel bus to where we were staying close to the airport.

It is Tuesday, the 2^nd and we are watching the World Series – we sure hope Texas gets their act together or this is the last game! We have a 6pm flight to Singapore tonight. It is actually almost a 7 hour flight there. Singapore is always hot and humid since it is almost on the equator. We packed our long sleeve shirts away.

Seoul Day Two and Three

Sunday, October 30^th and 31^st

Happy Halloween from Seoul! We have been having a lazy weekend exploring Seoul. Saturday morning we walked down to the Namdaemun market which the guidebook says is the largest traditional market in the country and has been going strong since 1414. They say if you can’t find it here, it probably doesn’t exist.

From the market we wandered over to Cheonggyecheon. Again I am quoting from Frommer – This use to be a small stream that flowed through the downtown area that was hidden beneath a truck bypass for decades. In 2003, the mayor of the city (now the president of South Korea) decided to restore the stream and give the city some natural space. The bypass was removed, walking paths were opened, and 22 bridges were built. The stream now covers an area close to 7 miles long. Night or day it’s a great place to stroll with Seoul’s skyscrapers looming on either side of you. It really is an amazing development – we had a great time walking along it although we only did about a mile.

We didn’t do much the rest of the day just read and relaxed.

This morning (Sunday) we first checked the World Series game and Rangers were winning – yea! Then we went to church. Right next to our hotel is the Namdaemun Presbyterian Church (the first Christian church in Korea). We had such a nice experience there. Everyone was so friendly (I wonder how they knew we were visitors????) – they got us an English Hymnal and Bible. Then they got us a audio machine that switched between Korean and English so we could listen to the service. It was Reformation Sunday and it was really special to be singing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” there. Their choir was very good. It was also communion Sunday. After church, several couples came up and showed us around and then insisted that we eat lunch with them – the church has lunch every Sunday. Charlie loved the kimchi! After lunch the people insisted on taking lots of pictures. It was truly a special experience.

I checked Google about Kimchi and one site said that Korea has named it a national treasure. It sounds pretty easy to make – vegetables pickled in a solution of garlic, salt, and red chili peppers. It is suppose to be a great source of vitamins B and C.

Charlie took a taxi to go visit the War Museum and I am getting a foot massage.

Seoul Day One

Thursday, October 28^th and Wednesday, October 29^th

Yesterday was a traveling day. We spent the afternoon in Narita/Tokyo’s international airport. We had beautiful weather throughout our tour and once it was over the rain came. It rained buckets all day yesterday. We felt so sorry for the ground crews out in the rain all day at the airport. That is a fun airport to just watch all the air traffic – 747’s, 777’s, 767’s – all the big ones along with the big air buses – it is a busy airport!

We arrived in Seoul around 8:30 pm and took the Airport Bus into the city to our hotel. The airport is huge.

We had a leisurely breakfast and then took a taxi to an area where we picked up the “Hop On/Hop-Off” tour. It really gives you a great over view of a city. This city is really something. We got off at the palace and spent a lot of time roaming around there. We caught the bus again and headed back to the start area. We did a ton of walking!

I admit that I did not know much about Seoul, but did you know that it is the 2^nd largest metropolitan area city in the world? I sure didn’t! It is really huge! And….Tokyo is the 1^st!

Right now, the whole attention of the city is geared to the “G20 Summit” when we checked into the hotel they gave us a letter saying that today there would be helicopters landing and taking off from the top of our hotel to practice security response. The summit is the 11th and 12^th of November.

Well, we need to go study our guidebooks for tomorrow.