Happy Thanksgiving

Yes, it is Thanksgiving but you don't find the things you normally associate with the holiday here in Singapore.  The crispness of the fall air, the large family gatherings around a table laden with delicious food, "the football" ... all are a world away.  

People in Singapore do not celebrate Thanksgiving (not surprising given it's unique American roots with the Indians and settlers sharing a meal in harmony and giving thanks).  Normally a turkey can not be found here but we did discover a couple of stores that had temporarily shipped in a limited stock of frozen turkeys for the small number of ex-pats that live in Singapore. 

Sticker Shock!

Easier on the Wallet

Unfortunately a 10 lb. turkey cost about U.S. $40 so we decided to go another route.

The rotisserie chickens were less than U.S. $3.50 each so we just  bought two of those instead.

Our Thanksgiving meal consisted of the following menu.

 Roasted pumpkin soup

This was yummylicious!!!

Steamed  broccoli    

Green & healthy

Corn pudding casserole

Baked for 1 hour

Rotisserie chicken   

No prep time!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!

Of course, you know what's next!

Gardens by the Bay in Singapore

There are many green spaces in Singapore.  In an earlier post we took you to the Botanic Gardens.  Another equally spectacular garden space is Gardens by the Bay, a relatively new nature park on the waterfront.  It's hard to believe but this Garden is over 250 acres and contains well over a million plants.  

It is an integral part of Singapore's current vision of being a "City in a Garden".  We explored the gardens recently and enjoyed the fragrance of the plumeria and beauty of the foliage.  And, yes, it is still HOT and HUMID here!!

          This Lotus pond had lots of beautiful pink blossoms with their distinctive seed pods.

Don't worry.  The Great Blue Heron was patiently looking for a meal in the Lotus pond while the colorful Koi swam safely in a secluded waterway.

The lion head is the national symbol of Singapore.

       The little brown bird in the lower right is keeping a wary eye on that big white bird!

Look, I match this wisteria type plant -- no fragrance--not sure what plant it is!!

Plumeria is one of my favorite flowers and they were plentiful in the Gardens by the Bay making the whole area smell wonderful! .

The domed buildings are very large climate controlled greenhouses & they charge big $$ to go inside and take a look-see.

These gardens are probably best known for their futuristic looking Supertrees.  They are constructed using metal frameworks that have many different small living plants attached to them and have a built-in micro irrigation system that can be used should rainfall be insufficient. They even have photovoltaic cells on their canopies so they can light up at night!

This photo gives you an idea of the sheer size of these things!

Reflections at Supertree Grove

You can also pay to walk on a Skybridge to get from one Supertree to some of the others.

Doesn't this look like a scene from the future in a science fiction movie?

Alright, I think I've gotten enough steps in for today -- I am SLOWLY losing weight through these daily walk-abouts.

End of day

Exploring the Chinese and Japanese Gardens

The Chinese and Japanese Gardens in Singapore are each located on a separate small island in Lake Jurong and are connected via foot bridges. These gardens are a great place to walk for exercise in scenic, relaxing surroundings.  Of course, you have to beware of those who are playing Pokeman Go there!!  Sometimes they are running to the spot where the Pokeman is located!

Watching the colorful Koi swimming around can be very soothing.  One can just feel stress melting away and blood pressure lowering!

The Garden of Abundance has stone sculptures of the12 Chinese zodiac animals.  My birth year happens to fall in the Year of the Rabbit.  Hippity Hop!

Here I am hoping to gain some wisdom from a really old guy named Confucius.

The two island gardens are connected to each other by the 13 arch Bridge of Double Beauty.

I hope these two guards will let me in the front door!  They look like replicas of the warriors found in Xian, China and aren't the bonsai nice?

Admiring some of the more than a thousand Bonsai plants that can be found in the gardens.  These can be very difficult to grow -- ask me how I know this!

Whew!  Finally getting a chance to take a break in the shade.  Have I mentioned how hot and humid it is here in Singapore?  We are in the monsoon season, so it rains almost every day.

The bright red color of this bridge is quite striking amidst the more natural tones.  We stopped here to observe a great blue heron.

This 7 story structure is known as the "Cloud Piercing Pagoda".  Someone was playing flute music inside the pagoda and we went to investigate.

Climbing the stairs to the top floor can be challenging!  

However the views are so worth it -- folks playing cricket on the field.

Yup, coming back down IS a lot easier than climbing up!

Finally heading home with weary feet but feeling mentally refreshed.

Visiting Kuala Lumpur

From Melaka, it was a short bus ride to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia with 1.7 million residents.  K.L. (as the locals call it) is a bustling city with lots of ongoing redevelopment projects transforming the older buildings into modern high rises.  It did not take us long to figure out how to ride the public transport monorail system.

The twin Petronas Towers, rising 1,483 feet, were completed in 1988 and at the time were the tallest buildings in the world.  We enjoyed a view of the towers from our hotel window.

We took the "hop on / hop off" bus to see the sights of K.L. and one of the most impressive was the National Palace.  It has a colorful changing 

of the guard ceremony.

Nearby in the Lake Gardens area, we toured the 21 acre aviary called Kuala Lumpur Bird Park -- easy to get our 10,000 steps in this day!

Wow-- a whole museum dedicated to textiles -- it was eye candy!!  The National Textile Museum showcased an exhibit detailing the involved process of making 

batik & I was fascinated.

The "hop on / hop off" bus took us to a craft compound where you could observe local artisans at work creating their designs using various media such as woodworking, silk painting, batik making.

I thought I would try my skill at batik painting -- a Hawaiian honu!

Dyed batik drying on a rack

This piece of batik came home with me.  I loved the bamboo shoot design that the artist used.

As night fell we could see the glowing lights of the Petronas Twin Towers from our hotel 

window and wondered what tomorrow would bring...