In late September, Elizabeth and I took a package tour to Indochina with Globotours, which I can highly recommend. Our goal was to see Angkor Wat and other famous temples near Siem Reap in Cambodia, but the tour started us out in Singapore, where we had a relaxed time recovering from our jet-lag.
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Our trip began in style at the Ritz Carlton Millenium
in downtown Singapore.
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The hotel from the outside...
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...and our floor looking down on the pool and entry
circle.
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Our day started with a delicious buffet cut short by
a panicked search for some misplaced documents, followed
by a tour in the tropical rain.
Keywords Eliz
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Our tour guide, who explained the mix of cultures that
characterized this city-state.
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Little India was full of Hindu religious figures and
a wonderful temple, which we visited later.
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First, we had to make a stop to see Singapore's mascot,
the "Merlion," or "Kitten of the Sea" in rough translation.
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A fellow tourist took this for us.
Keywords Eliz, Greg
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The rain was lovely and warm, and none of us minded
getting a little wet.
Keywords Eliz, nice
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I believe this was the original Merlion fountain, which
was moved from its old spot at the mouth of the river
when the city expanded, as it continues to do.
Keywords art
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The entrance to the famous Hindu temple.
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The face in the doorway was a little intimidating...
Owner Elizabeth
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Entry is free and open to all, though everyone is asked
to remove their shoes.
Owner Elizabeth
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Religious ceremonies and blessings are the purview of
the Brahman caste.
Owner Elizabeth
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The rituals involve many substances, mostly edibles,
usually burnt in offering. Sometimes the ashes are
placed on the foreheads of worshipers. It reminded
me of my own attempts at cooking.
Owner Elizabeth
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The gods seem to do a lot of partying.
Owner Elizabeth
Keywords art
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Eliz found a scarf almost identical to the one she wore
there, and we brought home others as well.
Keywords Eliz
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The penultimate stop on the tour was a jewelry and souvenir
store, where we dutifully looked around at the semi-precious
gifts. I was fascinated by the stone-inlaid globes.
Owner Elizabeth
Keywords Greg
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They also had "stonings," some containing little waterworks
and LEDs that would light up when you clapped. Oooo!
Owner Elizabeth
Keywords art
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Our final tour stop was a lovely botanical garden, which
probably required more care than was apparent from the
lush growth and tropical climate.
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Now that the sun was out, the air could hold a tiny
bit more mostiure, which it set about doing...
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Eliz & I before we didn't go in to see the orchid garden,
which hardly seemed worth it for the short time we had.
Besides, entering a hothouse seemed beyond redundant.
Keywords Eliz, Greg
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One of several high dynamic range (HDR) images I took
of trees and things. (Any image that isn't named "DSC_blah.")
Keywords hdr
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A consciousness-raising circle, where there were repeated
and enthusiastic queries from one fellow of "Who is
the leader?" answered by many "I am the leader!" replies.
It's actually quite funny when you think about it.
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A man-made lake surrounded a concert ampitheater, and
in the lake were thousands of koi.
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There were many of these fellows as well. I think it's
called a "bird."
Keywords wildlife
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Duck!
Keywords wildlife
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Turtle!
Keywords wildlife
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Flowers!
Keywords flowers
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A flower with wet leaves. (OK, I happen to know this
one is called a "lily" and the blooms are "lily pops.")
Keywords flowers
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Later that afternoon, we set out to explore the downtown
on our own.
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Before we did, we decided to have a bite to eat at the
local mall. Shopping seems to be the national pastime.
Keywords Eliz
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Here we are on the bridge to the Chinese place we selected
from a dozen alternatives.
Owner Elizabeth
Keywords Greg
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This is a 73-story hotel, which our guide told us was
formerly the world's tallest.
Comment A 73-story hotel
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A peek at the Esplanade, Singapore's cultural center
where they hold concerts and such.
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An HDR view of the larger structure.
Keywords hdr
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Another HDR of a modern office building that caught
my fancy.
Keywords hdr, nice
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There were older structures as well -- this is an Anglican
church, of which we saw a few.
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I loved these spiral stairs.
Keywords hdr
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Another indoor mall. We saw more than a few of these...
Keywords hdr
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This was probably the most popular market we visited,
on Bugis Street.
Keywords hdr
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Bugis St. Market
Did I mention the national pastime?
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I was needing one of these about this point.
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I framed this carefully so you couldn't see the color
of the "water."
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Evening was accompanied by gaggles of loitering males
in Little India. Women were conspicuously scarce.
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Elizabeth loves windows and their hints of mysteries
beyond.
Owner Elizabeth
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Another Anglican church, well-attended this Sunday evening.
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A view from Little Arabia.
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This was right before I nearly passed out from heat
stroke. We were trying to find a place to eat, and
I was desperate for a place to sit down and cool down.
Little Arabia wasn't big on air conditioning, as it
turned out.
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The following day, we had a little time in the morning
before we needed to head to the airport, so we went
in search of the Fountain of Wealth. (We gave up on
the Fountain of Youth some years back.) A passerby
pointed out the prominent numerals represented on this
building. The foggy look is not in the air, but on
the lens -- moving from the A/C of the hotel out into
the dense humidity outdoors meant I had to wait 20 minutes
or so before the condensation on the lens evaporated
again.
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We were directed to yet another indoor mall to find
the fountain, this one following a distinctive library
theme.
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More koi, these occupying an indoor fountain.
Keywords pets
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The fountain of wealth at last. But we already have
each other, so who needs it?
Keywords Eliz, Greg, photoshop
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Oh, well, it can't hurt.
Keywords flowers
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Instructions on getting wealthy in several languages.
Keywords Eliz
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Dang! Does everyone want to be rich? People are so
greedy.
Next to Siem Reap...
Page created Oct 13 2007 3:25:55p