How a Salve Became an Amusement Park

Dear Readers,

With the clock ticking away before we leave for China and home for the last time, every weekend is a marathon of doing things we meant to do but never got around to. I suggested the Tiger Balm Gardens on Sunday since it was raining. My only concern was it wasn't clear to me how to get a taxi back as it was in the middle of nowhere. Our taxi driver assured us no problem! Of course it was a problem. But first we arrived in the heat of the day at the Haw Par Villa (Tiger Balm Gardens) built by a millionaire in honor of his brother. These Aw Brothers developed Tiger Balm (our equivalent of Ben Gay. Same smell too) It made them super rich-they built mansions, owned gardens, and were super stars here in the 1930's. One brother decided to built a park dedicated to the Chinese religion (Taoist) which is a combination of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Chinese lore. He built this series of statues protraying Chinese stories, religious themes, and morals he believed everyone should have. The park for example has scenes of people gambling, drinking, losing their homes and wives to bad behavior. Then in the midst of all of this are statues of Australia animals and the Statue of Liberty. I of course asked the question why and the answer was that the majority of Singaporeans would not get to see these things so he felt he could help them out. He also built a building protraying the ten levels of hell (Steve claims marriage is one) but it was closed. Indeed, the place was in a sad decline as the brothers are long dead. People were having picnics there among the heat and mosquitoes (standing water there. A big no no here). They had a small Chinese museum without air conditioning which we went in. I had no idea that the Chinese man Bing invented the Bing Cherry by combining cherry types. It wasn't Bing Crosby after all. I did know the Chinese invented the Chinese fortune cookie. Da. We decided we were through as my clothes were completely soaked through and sliding off my body at this point. So we make our way down the hill to a so called taxi spot. Three taxis minus drivers are parked there. Were they hiding in the park or were they at the Korean BBQ place across the street. We waited. Then some ladies who were friendly and western flagged down a taxi and got us a ride home.

Next after dinner one night we walked down to the Ion where we took pictures of our favorite street performers. We have been seeing these people for two years now and contributed many coins in their honor. There's the wheelchair lady who plays the mandolin. She's really good. There's statue man-never really figured out what he was about. There's the leopard kids. Their demanding mom (tiger mom) sits behind them and rakes in the money. The Highlights are a husband and wife band who play every weekend to a growing crowd. True, they may be relatives but we often walk by humming along to good American movie sang with a great Chinese accent. You can't beat the entertainment on the streets here. Even the prostitutes are inspiring. The other night when were down at the grocery (across from Orchard Towers, a prostitute icon) a van drove up and we watched about ten prostitutes roll out for the night-all dressed in heels and white dresses. They looked like angels!

By the way, Sarah and Beth, I included a picture of the weddings cars up at the hotel. This is how a car should be decorated, not with cans, bottles, or flat basketballs. This has class!

Our last adventure last week was the river cruise. Here boats take you down the Singapore river to the Marina Bay (now a reservoir) for half an hour. The natives laugh at all the tourist that pay to do this but we found it quite soothing to watch the sun set over the big city and to see all lights come on from the building. There was even a laser light show from the Casino roof when it got dark. We passed two boats picking up trash that somehow gets in there. People drink this water! Never mind. A couple of weeks ago they found a body! They are making arrests even as I write. No crime goes unsolved here.

I went down to the new Chinese Visa place down by Raffles. I had tried for three hours to fill out the online form. I couldn't even get it to print out. Still, I dragged all I had down to the office and they told me to fill out the form again by hand right there. I should have just done that to start with. Seems they have some bugs in the system. But for only $225 they let Americans come to see the sights. Singaporeans are free.

I would like to thank everyone who made comments on my last blog. You have inspired me and improved my mood. I'm still packing though with a frown on my face!Boo Hoo!