Lost in Sydney

Dear Readers,

My daughter Beth pointed out that I didn't spell Sydney correct. Sorry if you are Aussie. I am a bad speller I admit.

On day two of our journey, we were picked up very early at our hotel by a bus company. We continued to pick up people at other hotels and I was relieved that we didn't stay at the Shangri La in Sydney afterall. It was down on the docks but quite a walk from anything. We were at the heart of downtown where we were at the Swissotel.

We grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonalds (the American embassy they referred to them as) and boarded a bus for the Blue Mountains. If you look at a map you can see that Sydney is bordered on the west by a large range of mountains-The Blue Mountains. Sydney has the most people in all Australia-about the population of Singapore. About ten minutes outside Sydney, there was nothing. I could have been driving through Virginia. The mountains are beautiful. Unfortunately it was foggy and slightly misting as we drove up to a town on top of the mountains. Coal drove people to settle there. We visited the Three Sisters which was a rock formation that was impressive. If you knew where we live, the Natural Chimneys is a close twin. Now these rocks were in a large national park. No animals! Only birds live there-whole flocks of beautiful white cuckadoos. The forest is actually like Virginia forest. I felt right at home!

We first rode a glondala down from the mountain top to the forest floor. Here they had had a coal mine decades ago. The remains of the mine were on display. Then we rode a train (almost vertical) up the mountain. This was the original track that brought the miners up and down the mountain as well as the coal. It was scary! Not much of a seat belt! But what a rush! Once back on top, we sought out lunch at the cafe. Someone pointed out a stuffed fake Kola bear in the tree. Ha. Ha. I said. After lunch we hopped on another cable car that went across the canyon and let us see a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately we didn't have time to do any hiking because we had a strict time limit to be back on the bus. For the rest of tour it was the same way. Hurry up! Ten minutes. Here is a photo minute-and I mean a minute! Get back on please. I would like to be home by 5:00. Move along. This is the problem with taking a tour instead of renting a car.

After we were all rounded up like lost children, we headed off to the Wildlife Park. Here I was deceived. I had been under the illusion that this was my last chance to observe real Australian wildlife in the real wild. Not so. This was a zoo where damaged and sick animals were nursed back to health. I did get to pet a joey (baby kangeroo). Kangeroos did roam wild through the zoo and I got food that brought them to me. I got to pet them, cuddle them, and call them George. Until a big bird came and attacked me. It took my cone away from me and dared me to say something about it. I murmured something about KFC but it was unimpressed. I lost my edge then. I became an observer. We watched them feed Dingoes. I got to pet Kola bears and yes, they really feel like a shag carpet. By the way, I was told these docile creatures are agressive and bite in the wild. They will take your head off! And they don't like Quantas! I feel your pain.

Then we were huddled back on the bus and shuffled back toward Sydney. Before we arrived, however, the driver informed us that we could enjoy a boat ride back. The ferry awaited. So we did buy a ticket and rode down the river to Sydney. I observed many other tourist buses unloaded their passengers at the ferry. Somebody was getting a kickback! The tide was up and we had to duck under bridges. The rowing teams were out and racing beside us. We landed at the marina about two blocks from our hotel. We stopped along the pier there and ate dinner at a seafood restaurant. Guess What. They like shrimp with the heads on them too! There is no accounting for bad taste! Ha.

We headed back to our hotel buying postcards and looking for possum products. The next day we were flying to New Zealand. So we went to bed. Stay tuned.

I Come From the Land Down Under

Dear Readers,

We recently returned from a 12 day trip to Australia and New Zealand. Sadly I heard today that Christchurch, the biggest city of the southern island of New Zealand was leveled again by an earthquake. We just missed it.

Our trip began on a Saturday afternoon when we got on a Quantas plane bound for Sidney. This was a seven hour flight (overnight) and we were to arrive in the Australian morning at 6 am. It was a terrible flight and we were literally at the back of the plane with a whole team of sports boys. They never shut up. Half way, over Australia, we hit rough weather (remember a hurricane had just passed through the area a few days before). The plane shook all the rest of the way there and the kolas weren't the only ones who hated Quantas before it was over. We never did figure out why the plane didn't go above it. I was very glad to land-never mind the lack of sleep. We were picked up at the international airport by an old man and lots of other people. Our plane had arrived late and so everyone was out of sync. He went back and forth from the domestic and international airports trying to find people before he finally gave up and took us to our hotel, the Swisshotel. It was great but our room wasn't ready. We had to leave our luggage and walk around town.

It felt like 90 degrees. I was amazed at the heat because I had on jeans and long sleeves. We walked around in the heat looking at the churches, parks, flowers, and even went into a museum of dinosaurs. They had an exhibit of the ancestors of some of Australian animals and we were amazed at the large versions. Luckily they were extinct!

We got checked in and then were off on a bus tour of Sidney. Unfortunately, I had changed into shorts and it was now raining, blowing, and the temperature had dropped thirty degrees. I heard this was normal for Sidney. We rode around looking at the Sidney harbor, climbing rocks for photo shots, listening to a droning bus driver, and finally ended up at Bondi Beach. The weather was so bad that no one was on the beach and I got sand in my eyes. Bummer! Back to the hotel.

That very night was a parade for the Chinese New Year. I had missed that in Singapore so we got to see a delightful display of weirdly dressed Asian people and balloons of horoscope creatures. You see, there are alot of Asians in Australia. They have to import workers and until recently, immigration was greatly encouraged. Now they are closing the border shut and turning boat loads of Indonesians and Sri lankians away. They have tightened the immigration of Singaporeans also. Medical students can't do their residences there anymore. They have to come back to Singapore.

Finally we made it back to our hotel, armed with postcards and the camera. It continued to rain off and on. We had an early day the next day so we went to bed Stay tuned.

The Year of the Metal Rabbit (it has these teeth!)

Dear Readers,

It is the year of the rabbit here in Singapore and the Far East. Metal Rabbit means gold or silver. Metal is one of the elements, according to the ancient Chinese. The bunny is a kind sysmbol. The economy is suppose to improve and everyone get along. They are predicting all good things for Singapore.

Now, in order to figure out exactly how the world is going to treat you, you have to know your numerology. Take your birthday. Mine is 14th so that means 5. I am an adventurer. Add up my birthday and I am a 2. A peacemaker, thoughtful, kind person. Sure. Now add up your birthday, birth month, and the year 2011 for a prediction. Unfortunately for me I am in a 9 year until my birthday in October when I switch over to a 1 year. Now 9 is a bad year. Year 1 is great-starting over, change in jobs. The number woman said I would be seeing these changes starting in August. Gee, that would be when I come home for good. Coincidence? No way.

Yes, they take luck seriously. My lucky colors are green, blue, and turquoise. Everything here is dressed in red and yellow for the color of wealth. I went on a tour with the woman from the American Club and saw where they make lucky cookies, get willow branches (Chinese Christmas tree for luck) and learned that a piggy is a symbol of abundance. Hence piggy bank. I also sipped coke at a coffee shop between two whore houses. They had lights (yes, red) and if the lights were on, then they were open. The light was on! It is illegal to stand on the corner. That's where I was standing.

Steve and I watched the new year ceremony at my favorite Buddhist temple. He was amazed at the modernized chanting of the monks. They have microphones and everything. We also caught the lion jumping dance at the mall where two Chinese boys wear a dragon costume and hop on tall poles. It's quite entertaining. The children loved it!

My friend Tammy was put in the Mt.Elizabeth Hospital with pneumonia. She had gone to see her sister in Wales and about froze to death. When Steve and I arrived at the hospital, we couldn't find her. There was no one at the information desk. So finally I wandered back to the cashier's office and asked them to find her. So we got a room number and then we couldn't find the room. The place is like an octopus. Finally in the back of the back we found her. She looked good, having every drug known to man pumping through her veins. She's home now, resting.

I think she will live.

We are getting ready to depart to New Zealand. I will blog more when I return from our twelve day trip. It will involve trains, planes, automobiles, and a boat. Hope my suitcase is big enough.

Good luck to you for the new year (which doesn't start until Feb 3rd).

Saying Goodbye to Singapore for a month

Dear Readers,

Everyone I know is getting ready to exit the island. All non-residents return home to spend Christmas for good old cold weather, snow, ice, and pudding. Of all the times I want to be home, Christmas and the cold is not one of them. I'd rather stay and keep up my tan. But alas I have been given another economy ticket to sit for 36 hours while Steve enjoys business class out front. You see, Invista is cheap. But I can't complain. We have a job. Things are hard in the Shenandoah Valley. If they finish closing the plant, then we will have to move anyway.

Out in the jungle amidst the mosquitoes and tree vipers is a cooking school. It is located on Dempsey Hill in an old army barracks of the British. The government sold the crumbling buildings to the public and they became restaurants, playschools, and dancing schools. I signed up for a day of "Christmas Cooking." It was more like Thanksgiving. The teacher was british and so were most of the other people. Two were Muslim maids sent by their employer. Unfortunately they couldn't touch the turkey which were stuffed with pork sausage. There were plenty of roasted potatoes, parsnips, and brussel sprouts for all, though, and I was surprised how many people hate brussel sprouts. My favorite thing was the ice cream cake. I will have to try that! We did three turkeys three different ways! Chestnuts were everywhere.

I returned to Dempsey Hill to catch a bus for the "holiday tour" that hauled us around to see four decorated houses in the area. The first house was owned by a French designer. Everything was brown, black, and white. No windows-just open to the air. I guess she doesn't know about the mosquitoes, dengue fever, and malaria. Several of the ladies had fresh bites on their backs. The only Christmas decorating I saw was the lame wire sticking out of a bucket twisted in the form of a branch. Glass things hung on it. I guess I am not hip. The next house was an apartment on an historic street. Small, strangly cut up, and again the only decorations I saw where three ornaments on top of a table. No tree, no red and green. Someone should have told the committee that Buddhists don't celebrate Christmas. Next we went to White and Black House. These are the houses saved by the government and were the orignally houses of the British elite. Now they were cool! Pools, marble floors, Christmas trees with angels and color, airplane wing desk (really, a airplane wing!) and lots of greenery and wreaths. The final house was a mansion with great paintings-both abstract and traditional. Statues of Buddha were everywhere as well as Christmas decorations. One room was a Buddhist shrine. So I don't know what that was all about-the family seemed a bit confused on where they stand. The maid was highly thanked for all her hard work setting it all up for the tour. You see, these people only supervise the work. They don't actually DO IT.

Well no maid is going to do my Christmas decorating. In fact, I'm not sure I'll get around to it during the short time I am home. No sooner does it go up then I have to pack it up and leave for the land of hot sun. Well, all this touring has allowed me to meet new people, a New Zealander named Donna, and others and eat more shrimp with eyes. Tomorrow, it's retail therapy where I travel around with the same people looking at textiles, furniture, and other stuff. Saturday I ride a bus to see all the Christmas lights on the island. Never a dull moment.

Pictures I have tacked on are Christmas lights, Steve and I having Thanksgiving with our friends Tammy and Greg, and me eating snails at a German restaurant. Luckily the eyes were missing.

See you at home! Donna.

Thanksgiving in Singapore

Dear Readers,



There is no Thanksgiving in Singapore. what do you think this is, America? The American Association offers a picnic at a hot and mosquito ridden park with all the beer you can drink. I just said no. Been there and I have the bites to prove it. No, this year I opted for the set meal at Dan Ryan's Chicago Grill that includes turkey, mashed taters, stuffing, and cranberry something, plus pumkin pie. Sure I could have cooked all that myself but when in Singapore, it's cheaper to eat out. A turkey runs you forty dollars here. Besides, I won't have to do the dishes.



It rains here almost every day now but just short showers. The plants here are wilting. The heat is intense. All the while the Christmas lights are up and "Let in Snow" plays in the mall. Tammy and I have been keeping score on the most cheesy decorations and the mall that won had a bunny, Alice in Wonderland girl, fairies, mushrooms, and butterflies. They really don't get Christmas here. They should develop their own traditions with an Asian slant. Maybe something with palm trees, lizards, sheets of white rain, and durian pudding (stinky fruit). Santa Claus could be a Asian grandpa giving out rice porridge. No where do any of these present decoration portray the birth of Christ. That would be against the law.



Speaking of different religions, I went with the American Association to see the famed tooth of Buddha. Yes, did you know they cut his body up into 18,000 parts and distributed them around the world to do miraclous things. This temple was six floors. On top they had a garden that grew the Buddha Tooth orchid developed for the temple. Very nice. They also had a prayer wheel that was about eight tall. you pushed it clockwise around once and it was to send a sutra chant to heaven. The fourth floor was where the tooth was. You had to take off your shoes to go there. The tooth is enclosed in a stupa of 413 poiunds of gold (people donated their old jewerly for a melt down). True, it didn't really look like a tooth. Could have been anything really but it's the symbol of the tooth that counts. People come here to be cured by the tooth. I had a rash. It went away. I guess it worked! ha!

Anyway, a buddhist monk sat there to bless people for a fee if they wanted. They would be allowed to actually pray in front of the tooth.



The third floor was a museum that recounted the life of Buddha and how the temple came to be. It is a new temple, only two years old. It came about through a vision of a monk from Cambodia who was in charge of the tooth. He was getting old and met this really intelligent monk who he instructed to build a temple in Singapore. The guy had to go to go to the prime minister and get some land and then build the temple for billions of dollars. It's a modern temple with an elevator and bathrooms and even a kitchen to feed the poor. But it's made to look old and beautiful. Gold is everywhere. It is dedicated to the future buddha. They are waiting for him to come. I was struck by how Buddha's mother was supposedly childless and a white elephant visited her dreams. Then she was pregnant. We compared that to Mary, mother of Jesus. They predict the next Buddha will arrive during a time of extreme chaos (end times). There is nothing more interesting than hearing these monks chanting in the nice golden room with a microphone watched by the 10,000 buddhas on the walls. It will raise the hair on the back of your neck. Everyone is reading the Chinese sutra and repeating OM OM with them. Except that old man on the last row. He's sound asleep.



Did you know that once a monk has risen to a most high level and dies, his ashes turn to crystal? Each of those 10,000 Buddhas has a monk's crystals in its head. Creepy. Then there is the display of Buddha's tongue, intestine, brain all in crystal form in the museum. They love this stuff. Some of the group was Buddhist but they rest were shaking their head and saying it was a bunch of crap. Maybe so. But I found the similarity of Christ's coming and the future Buddha really interesting. And you already knew that the end times for Islam have Jesus leading their army against the Christians. Is everyone right?



I have been going to Pompeii lectures down at the National Museum. They are so boring that the Italian lecturers have had to stop and wake people up before they fell out of their chairs. I thought for sure I was going to get creamed by a fat lady beside me. When they start weaving, you get worried.



We caught the annual Christmas Light Up on Saturday. They turned the lights on at 7:45 this year. The President threw the switch himself. President? I asked. There's a president? Yes named Nathan. What does he do? Christmas Light Up evidently.



That's all from here. Steve is going back to China for ten days and I want to finish Christmas shopping. May the Buddha be with you-or his parts anyway! See ya.

Drama in Singapore

Dear Readers,

Last week was filled with frustration and agony. I came down with a sore throat on Monday night and it went downhill from there. I was suppose to be at a book club but couldn't finish the book because I broke my Kindle. It didn't matter because I was called to the travel agency to finish paying for my upcoming trip to New Zealand. I hoofed it to the other side of island only to have my credit card shut down (I already called several weeks ago to make sure this didn't happen). There I was, embarassed, and unable to reach the company on the phone. So I hoofed it back to the apartment, only I got on the wrong train in my furstration and headed in another direction. By the time I got back to the apartment, I'd missed the book club. So I called the credit card people and hoofed it back over to the travel agency, having paid up.

There seemed to be some good news. The insurance company had investigated where our $6000 went and it had been found at the Raffles Hospital. Great I thought. I gave them a call. They had no idea what I was talking about. This was the fourth time I had called them to ask if they had received the overpayment. No, No. No. I was beyond upset. They said they would call me back. Never heard from them. More important, I missed going out to the pool waiting for their call.

Now, I went to my new writers club down at the American Club. They meet 10:30-1. Why so long? We all had an assignment and each of us reads our writing. The assignment was to start a page with "My mother never . . .," and make it up. After the first draft, you take your mother out of it and then yourself. I ended up with a woman named Carrie who is executed on death row because she murdered her boss who had taken out a hit on her. She was laundering money for a casino. Anyway, when I got finished reading my work, everyone was speechless. They are nonfiction writers, reporters for CNN, etc. They need help writing fiction and they hope I can help. I live in an imaginary world, I told them, where hospitals call you back and your credit card is not declined.

The real world sucks. Is any of that stuff true about your mother, they asked. Only in my head, ha!

So I look forward to reading some of my chapters of my new novel to them.

On Friday I took a taxi and went down to the hospital. I marched up to the office with my copy of the email from the insurance company and the number of the wireless transaction. Ah, they declared, they had found my money over night. It's in the mail. So far I haven't seen it in the mail. Looks like another road trip.

This weekend Steve and I went to a farmer's market that had been advertised. It turned out to be some westerners making alittle money on the side importing organic vegetables from Malaysia or bored housewives making ice cream. We were out in the middle of no where and I was afraid we would have a long way to walk home with my bottle of organic rose wine. But it must have been karma. We walked out to the road and a taxi just drove up! That night we went to Raffles Hotel and had a Singapore Sling. I hadn't done that yet. After getting liquored up, we rode over to Little India to see the lights for the Hindu festival Deepavali (Festival of Lights). Cheesey Christmas lights on the main streets have been banned by the Prime Minister. But they abound there! It celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Everyone gets the day off. On Sunday we went to see Adele and the rising mummy adventure. In French because I picked the wrong cinema. Only one had French with English subtitles and that's the one I picked. It was a scream, French or not. I recommend it when you're in a silly mood (or liquored up).

Tammy and I went to charity Christmas fair at the Goodwood historical hotel. It was cool until I saw the dragon ornament I bought at Tanglin fifteen dollars higher then I paid for it. That's when I realized we weren't getting any deals here. It was the big shake down. I did buy Christmas cards with the three wisemen riding Thai elephants.

Well, that's all from here. Say happy birthday to Sarah. She's an old lady now. Ha! What does that make me? Ancient. My mother? Old as dirt. My grandmother? She knew George Washington personally. See ya.

You call that fashion?

Dear Readers,

We would have had a great weekend except for the noise upstairs. Some people have moved in above us and they are a herd of moose. Starting from 4:30 when the kids arrive home, there's a NASCAR race upstairs until about 1 am. I can't go to bed until they do and so I have asked to be moved. This is drastic. We love our apartment and the view over the pool. Why don't they move them? They aren't complaining. This is a battle until the end-I will call every night starting at ten. Last night our pleas ended at 12:30.

I went to the fashion show sponsored by the American Association of Women down at Tanglin Mall. I've never seen so many Texans in all my life. Everyone there was a wife of an oil engineer here building platforms and running the businesses. Like most Americans, we were not Asian size. We were eating all the donuts too! It's what we do! We were all complaining how there were no clothes here our size and how shopping is a drag.

Then the designer for the store we were in call out with a girl's necklace around HIS neck. He wanted to tell us what to wear in Singapore-all black and white, balloon dresses, and the worst material I have ever saw. I couldn't believe the price for $10 worth of wrinkled crap. Did I buy something? Sure. I wanted to be part of the herd. I was eating the donuts. I bought a rust Tank top. It made me look busty! These women went for the clothes though. I couldn't believe the cash I saw coming out of their oil wallets. I was given a grab bag, some barbed wire earrings, and sent on my way like the trailer trash I am.

That night I rode over to the National Museum with Tammy and her husband to catch the Pompeii lecture on the people of Pompeii. I was interested in serious intellectual study but everyone was there for the talk on prostitutes. Yes, Pompeii was a red light district before it's demise in 79 AD. I remember it well. The British scholar was great and the slides very good. I told Temmy that I wished I remembered more of my Latin! Maybe I should take it up again. She said no one takes Latin for fun. What kind of a weirdo was I? Trailer trash? This weekend Steve and I went to the museum exhibit for the first time. I have to say I was amazed at all the relics they had and the collection of plaster bodies. The best thing was the 3D movie made by the Melbourne University. I had these large glasses on and volcanic ash was pouring over me and I was swatting at fire sparks in the air. I was really there! When we were half way through the tour when all of a sudden these people rush in Roman costumes, yelling and fleeing from the volcano. You see, we didn't take the interactive tour with the actors! We heard it anyway! I couldn't help but think about those people in Indonesia who refused to leave their houses when the volcano went last week. They were found in the same positions as the Romans in 79 AD. See, the Romans didn't have clue to what was happening. But the Indonesians? It was on the front page of the paper.

Christmas trees are going up everywhere downtown. I have to admit I've never the seen the newest thing here-an umbrella turned upside down that circulates false snow up and down over Santa. I was impressed with the lengths that people go to to sell Christmas. Connecting Christmas to umbrellas now is a stretch.

Tammy and I went to see a Chinese art gallery. The paintings there went from realistic to contemporary and abstract. It was fun to see the range of colors and techniques. Most important of all, I got a list of all the art galleries on the island. So I want to visit every one

I included the rest of the Malaysian pictures. Have a look. Bye.