Singapore

I posted a few days ago that I went on board the Singapore Flyer. We saw Singapore from the bird's eye view. Father commented that it had changed so much. I think he was remembering how Singapore was years and years ago.

Today while I checking my mail H sent me this lot of pictures - Singapore in the 60's.

Hmmm.... I can make a post here. Although when I took those pictures while we were on board I never thought of doing this post.
So here it is.
This was taken from the Singapore Flyer. The sky scrapers are buildings in Raffles Place, Collyer Quay area and the Singapore River. The highway across is the Benjamin Sheres Bride. On the left above the bridge is the site for the future Sands casino.

Below are the pictures of the sky scrapers site (the picture above ) in the 60's

Bird eye view of Singapore's central business district. The Padang (Field) in front of the City Hall/Supreme Court (on the right; building with a dome).

Clifford Pier - which is now closed. You can see the Fullerton Hotel (on the right), used to be the General Post Office.
Raffles Place - all those low buildings had been replaced with most of the sky scrappers we saw from the flyer.

Elizabeth Walk - now the Esplanade
Another view of the Elizabeth walk with the Fullerton building on the left. The bridge you see here is now behind the new highway which runs in front of the Fullerton building . (See picture below) The bridge is the 2nd small white structure after the Fullerton (from the left). If you clicked on the picture below you can see part of the bridge.
This is a present picture which I took after I had zoomed in. (Clicked on the picture to get a bigger view).
The Esplanade (the 2 dome shaped buildings on the right) is where Elizabeth Walk used to be.
The locals call those domes 'durians'; after the thorny fruit. Or some called it the 'bug's eyes'. The floating stage will be the site for Singapore's National Day Parade until the new stadium is up.
Fullerton building (low building with the red roof) is on the left.
On the right, at the back of the picture is the Supreme Court (with dome)

Now this is my picture. Fullerton Hotel, the ex General Post Office. I can still remember how was the interior before it became a hotel .

The Singapore River in the 60s

The present Singapore River. The sky scrapers of Raffles's Place is at the back of the picture.

OK the next two are for my Sister. They are both in Orchard Road - the shopping belt in Singapore.

CK Tang - a departmental store. The present store and hotel is at this same location.

I can still roughly remember it. Not the exterior but the interior. I remember Mother choosing a pricey handbag and Father paid for it to make her happy. And a stainless steel flask which is still around. If I am not wrong there is a big staircase in the center. Please correctly me if I am wrong.

And this is the location of the present, Centerpoint. It was Cold Storage (supermarket) before it became a mall.

And lastly the following are for U.lee. He mentioned a few times the Big Splash in the East Coast Park. I don't have any old pictures of the Big Splash. What I have are only recent ones.

The present Big Splash. Still known as the Big Splash.
This used to be a water theme park of sorts. With big slides leading to a pool.. Now only the circular tower is left behind. The pool is gone.
It has turned to a family entertainment area, with cafes, burger joints, restaurants, bicycle rentals.

Singapore had changed a lot, ya ?

Yummy.....Durian Puffs

Today we passed by Joo Chiat and I decided to buy some durian puffs from Puteri Mas. It occupies a small shop lot but business here is good.
The puffs are small but comes choked full with durian fillings. The filling is light and fluffy. Hope I got the description right here. Even though the filling is light I can still taste the durian's meat. Is there such a description, I wonder ? Anyway who cares.... I just love durians.
See how small it is. My #1 can easily pop one into his mouth. Can't wait until we reach home. The aroma of the durian fills the car. Hmmmmm........
Yucks ! To some like my #2.
Actually I was trying to take a picture of my #2 who just hates durians. #1 was just trying to imitate his looks.
See, even #3 loves it.

PhotoHunt - Bright

This week's theme - Bright.

Can't think of anything plus too lazy to go out and search for any 'bright' things.

Went through my photo album and decided to choose one from my (again) recent trip to Angkor.



These pictures are taken at Pre Rup on our 3rd day.
A temple much, much older than Angkor Wat. You would think nothing can be older than Angkor Wat. But here is Pre Rup, now reduce to ruins with crumbling towers and walls.

Why did I choose them for today's theme ?

Well, it happened to be a bloody hot day, the day we were there.
That is me, waiting for H and my son to come down from the temple. Trying to spot them up at the temple. I had went up with them but came down real quick when the heat became unbearable. I remember thinking that it was so bloody bright that I can't see them on those steps.
To tell you the truth I can hardly see the LCD screen of my camera after taking those pictures. I did not know how well they will turn out until I was back in my room. Luckily they turn out not bad.

My son climbing up the stairs to the temple.

As you can see there are no trees around to give some natural shade.

If you had seen my previous post, you would have notice that the stones used here are different from Angkor Wat or Bayon. Pre Rup is built mainly with bricks, giving it a warmth look .

Have a nice and bright weekend, everyone.

Day 2 - Ta Prohm

Back to my Angkor pictures. And I am still in Day 2 !
This time, will be a temple by the name of Ta Prohm. It is one of those 'must see' in Angkor.

"Ta Prohm recreates the experience of the nearly explorers who rediscovered Angkor." Borrowed a line from the guide book. :)

We walked a long path under towering trees to reach this :-

Ta Prohm - with it's collapsed causeway under going restoration. It was built by Jayavarman 7 - most of the temples in Angkor were built by him. This one is dedicated to his mother. Ta Prohm had been swallowed by the jungle where enormous kapok trees had grown on the temple buildings. Making the whole place very photogenic and leaves a kind of mystic feeling around it.

OK, here are some of the most photographed trees in Ta Prohm.

Click on the pictures if you want to have a bigger picture, instead of peering closely at your screen. :)

A tree encroaching on a building.
Some of the trees need to be removed. Does it look like giant fingers grabbing on to the wall ? Those stones stacked up nicely there are from the temple, waiting for restoration. Most of them are numbered. Just imagine it is like a big jigsaw puzzle waiting to be pieced together.
And here is a wonder of nature. The roots of a tree encroached the whole wall but leaves a small window for this Apsara to peek out.

Here is the famous scene from Tomb Raider, according to our guide. I am not a big fan of Tomb Raider so I just have to believe her. There are actually two trees here. The Strangler Fig has over taken the Kapok tree.

A towering tree being supported by a roof of a corridor. It's roots crawled across the roof. Sort of like a snake.
A closer view of that same root formation. They are so big and thick. From a far it looks like flowing water.
Those are roots from one tree. It sort of like frames the collapsed roof. A popular spot for shutter bugs. Real hard to capture those shots because everyone stops here for that Kodak moment. Then check to see if it is OK. If not they will have another few shots at it. I am guilty as charged. :)

Admiring all those trees and their roots I actually missed some of the buildings with their wonderful carvings. Remarkably the carvings on the buildings are well preserved.
A moss covered building with more beautiful carvings
A dinosaur ? My son said it is a stagysaurous.....or something like that. This carving was found on one of the walls. Really. I am not pulling your leg.

A beautifully carved false door. Look at the beautiful carvings above the door. Those figures are deeply cut and looks like they are individually placed instead of from a block of stone.

Why decorate a false door ? No idea. Our guide told us the false door might be used to fool any strangers attacking the temple. In fact this is not the only temple with false doors.

There are false windows too on a richly decorated wall.

The missing images above it were removed when the state religion changed from Buddhism to Hinduism. We saw lots of those missing images through out our visits to most of the temples. And as usual there are a pair of sexy ladies framing the windows. Note their feet. They are facing forward. Those in Angkor Wat are turned sideways. Another difference are the windows. In Angkor Wat they are really windows. Here they are false.

Collapsed stones. There are many parts of this temple that are partially collapsed blocking the way. Making the temple almost maze like.

Can you see me ? Here I am under one of those giant trees. Note the root is taller than I.

The trees are hundreds of years old towering over the temple. Their leaves filtering the sun light. We were here in the afternoon but we did not feel the heat at all.
#1 took a picture of some tourists resting on the stones, under a tree. To tell you the truth I wished to join them too. We started Day 2 at 8am. We need to wake up earlier than that as we need to grab a quick breakfast before we start exploring. We had been walking most of the morning. And in some temples there were no nature's umbrella to shield us from the relentlessly hot sun beating down on us.

My last words here -

There are no narrow, steep, near vertical steps to climb here ! Yeah !!!!

P.S - This is the last of Day 2.

Last Week.....

I will give my Cambodia photos for a rest. There are still some more I would like to share but I figure you are sick of them by now. :)


This post is what we have been up to for the last week or so. First I would like to shout out loud that the school holidays are over !!!!!

Yeah !!!!!!

Groan !........No more lazying around in bed for me. :(My folks have return to Ipoh yesterday. Safe and sound.
Before they left we took one day to visit the Singapore Flyer. The above pictures were taken while we were on the flyer. The boys were excited to be on it.
This is the site for the future casino in Singapore. That day happened to be cloudy so we did not manage to see far. But we did manage to enjoy the view of Singapore from above.

One morning we went to the East Coast Park, the boys rented bicycles again. This time #3 manage to stay on the bike with out falling off. Although he is still a hazard to the other cyclist mainly because he can't cycle straight yet.
Nope that is not #3 but Father trying to ride on a bicycle. He said it had been ages since he had been on one. He was wobbling, in the end he gave up. He said he will stick to cars.

Other than that we went window shopping, stayed home and cook. Yeah ...I forgot to mentioned Mother brought some Kueh Chang/ Choong/rice dumplings from home. Home made Nonya Chang....of course they are all gone before I left for Cambodia. :0

PhotoHunt - Water

This week's theme is Water.

We then to take for granted the water surrounding us is clean and drinkable. We don't think twice before turning on the tap to quench our thirst.

During my recent trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia my son notice that the water do not come from just opening a tap that easily. In the country side the villagers still uses a well to obtain water. Something my son had never seen before in Singapore.


The following are pictures taken during this trip.

This picture here was taken while on our way to Kbal Spean in a mini van. I manage to capture this while we were speeding along this bumpy road. The well is just next to the dusty laterite road.
Before that at the Tonle Sap Lake we went to the floating village. The villagers here uses the water in the lake for their daily use. Children play in the water. If you see closely you can see a naked boy climbing out of the water, behind the sampan. And the water here is brown in colour.

At Kabal Spean after walking 1.5km up the hill, into the jungle we came to a waterfall. There is not much water but our guide told us in the rainy season the waterfall will be in full spate. But in the dry season the carvings are easier to spot.
The trip to Kbal Spean was not for the water fall. We were here to see the carvings on the river bed. This place is also known as the "River of Thousand Lingas". This is one of the Linga carved on the river bed. The Lingas are carved to bless the water before it flows down to Angkor.
Other than the Lingas there are other carvings of the Hindu deities dotting the river bank. Most of the carvings are done between 11th -13th century.
In Siem Reap, we strolled along the bank of Siem Reap River. The water here is brown in colour too.
But the stroll along the river was pleasant. Large trees line both side of the river with benches for us to rest our weary feet.

And the most memorable water photos I have from this trip is Angkor Wat - taken at the reflecting pool in the day.
And Angkor Wat in the night, same spot.

Day 2 - Check out my Slide Show !

On Day 2 we went to a few temples in Angkor Thom.
Here is a summary for that day :-

Walked round and round.
Climbed up and down.
Went in and out.
Examine the carvings.
No sunset to enjoy.

Yup, that's about sum it up for Day 2.

Baphoun - a temple closed for 25 years and only recently opened to tourist in 2005. Nothing much to see as major restoration is still going on. The causeway is elevated with rounded pillars. The first I have seen here in Angkor.

The vanished Royal Place.


Phimenakas - this is the interesting part. There is this legend that there is a naga spirit up at the top of the temple. By day it is a snake. At night it turns in to a woman. The king must pay a visit every night before he can be with his wives and concubines.
If the snake do not appear it means that the King's death is near. But if he fails to keep the appointment, disaster will fall on the kingdom.

The steps up to the top of the temple is very steep - near vertical. But there are some wooden steps with railings to help us on one side of the temple. But to the very top of the temple where the King has his tryst with the naga, the steps are super steep !!!
I wonder if the king still have the energy to do anything after that climb. :)

Royal Pools - There are 2 pools. A big one for the King's women. A smaller one for him alone.

The Elephant Terrace - Is a giant viewing stand for the King. It is about 300m long.

Terrace of the Leper King - nothing much here except for a naked statue draped with a yellow cloth. It is not the original. The original is in a museum. The walls below it has some nice carvings.

Sra Srang - A man made lake in front of Banteay Kdei.

Banteay Kdei - a monastery in ruins.

Preah Khan - With their massive garudas on the walls and a 2 story building which resembles something from Greece.

Then to the Phnom Bakheng - To catch the sunset. Walked up the hill and then climbed steep steps up to the temple. Too bad it was a cloudy day. The sun did set but was blocked by the clouds.

We went to Ta Prohm - but I will make another post for this. Because I think it deserve a post on it's own. :)

So check out my slide.

Hover the cursor over the pictures and the location of the place will be revealed.

Words fail to express what I saw and feel. My camera skill s are laking. The actual visual impact is fantastic..

It is best to check it out yourself.

Angkor is awesome !!

Day 2 - Bayon

From the South Gate at Angkor Thom the road leads straight to Bayon. It stands right in the middle of Angkor Thom. This is another place I won't ever forget.
The minivan stopped us in front of the temple. From a far it looks like a big jungle of dark coloured rocks. Randomly stacked up. Nothing like the magnificent Angkor Wat on our first day. But as we walked closer to it the massive faces of Lokesvara becomes apparent.
At the top level we were present with a jungle of towers with their 4 faces wearing the famous 'Khmer smile'. They are almost at eye level or staring down at us. They are suppose to represent happiness, justice, mediation and sympathy. We can't figure them out , can you ?

We were told that those faces are suppose to resemble the King Jayavarman 7. Hence his all seeing eyes keep watch over his empire at all angles.

#1 mentioned that those faces are eerie.

Everywhere we turn we see the faces of Lokesvara smiling or glaring down at us. Either in full face or in profile.

So, how can I forget this place. :)

At the lower level our guide call this place the hide and seek area. Because of the dark, covered narrow walkways, dark passages chambers with low ceilings. Completely different from Angkor Wat which is airy, bright and spacious. Some parts of the temple is badly damaged or unfinished. The following are some bas relief I took that turn out well. They are found mainly at the bottom of the relief. Those that are higher did not turn out well. The bas relief are so detailed and depicts the scenes of everyday life in the 12th century Khmer.
Cooking.
A pregnant lady giving birth.
Cock fighting.
Cham soldiers in their boat on Tonle Sap lake with dead bodies below it.
A troop of Chinese soldiers.
And don't forget those sexy Apsaras (celestial dancers) whose present is always around in all the temples we visited. This formation you see here is known as the Flying Apsaras. Different from the rest of the Apsaras carved on the pillars in Bayon

Wonder how they are carved ?

First those stones are quarried from a distance, float on raft down a river and dragged to the required location. Then blocks of square stones are stacked up. Once they are up, they are polished to get a smooth surface. Next the carvings are skillfully chiseled out.

The magnitude required to construct the temples in Angkor is mind blowing. Given the lack of modern cranes and trucks we take for granted.

See What I Found.......

I figure by now you will be sick of my temple posts. So today I will post something else. Still from Cambodia but not lichen covered stones.

During our trip to Angkor my son saw and experienced many new things. He is adventurous enough to try the food in Cambodia. Through out this trip he was using my old camera. He was amazed at the architecture of the temples. Usually he will wander off on his own when he sees any dark and narrow passages or chambers. Leaving us with the guide he will go exploring on his own.

He was most amazed to see animals wandering around. Such as cats, dogs, cows, monkeys. Especially cows. You can see them wandering along the main road too. The following are those that he managed to capture with his camera.

A calf. There are lots of cows roaming around in the Angkor park. They can be seen outisde the park and never inside the temple grounds. Those cows belong to the villagerswho are living within the park. It is only the foreign tourist that need to pay for a pass to enter the park or temples. Locals are free to enter at any time.
Buffalos grazing near a temple. We saw many through out this trip, mainly at the padi fields or rolling in muddy water. Their horns are enormous but he did not manage to get a good picture of them because we are usually passing by in our mini van.
A spider in a dark corner of a temple steps.He spotted this giant millipede while we were walking out of a temple. The biggiest we had ever seen. (Clicked on the picture toget a better view).
A butterly in a temple.
A conch on the ground.
And the best was when he came running and stuck this in my face. Eeee....

( Clicked on the picutre to get a better view)

He found this big, fat and colourful catterpillar among some leaves. Asked me to hold the leaf while he snapped a picture. No way am I going to hold that leaf with that thing on it. In the end I agreed to use my camera and zoomed in to get a closer shot.
Boys.....

Day 2 - Angkor Thom

Welcome to Angkor Thom. This is the famous gateway to enter the city. Angkor Thom means Great City. Inside the city is where the Royal Palace use to be, Bayon, Phimeanakas, Elephant Terrace and the Leper King Terrace. I will post their pictures later.
The sun was shinning brightly through out the day.
A causeway leads to the gate and it is flanked by 54 demons on the right. (Not a good picture here)
A better picture of the grimacing demons.

The left side of the causeway with it's 54 gods. Both the demon and gods are tugging a naga. They symbolise the story from the churning of the Ocean of Milk (same as the bas relief from Angkor Wat)
A closer look at the serene looking gods. The causeway had been restored but some of the heads had been stolen; chopped off and sold. It has been replaced with new perfect heads. Those that are dark and covered with lichens are the originals. Through out our tour of Angkor most of the statue's head or carvings are missing.

The causeway leads to this gate which is topped with the 4 faces of Lokesvara looking to each cardinal directions. The gate is 20 m high to accomodate the entry of elephants in ancient times. Elelphants still pasees through it, carrying tourists.
Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat. Crocodiles used to inhabit this moat. It symbolised the mythology Mt Meru surrounded by the ocean.
The funny thing is on the right side the moat is now dry. We saw cows lazily grazing the grass.
At each side of the gate it is decorated with 3 elephant trunks holding the lotus flower each, forming pillars.
One last look of the gate after we had passed through.

There are all together 5 gates. These pictures were taken at the South Gate which is popular with tourist entering the city. We exit the city by the North Gate which hardly sees any tourist.

All the gates are similar with the 4 faces, elephant trunks and the 54 god and demon tug of war causeway.

After passing the gate we headed towards Bayon in our mini van. Another 1.5km ride to reach Bayon.

Day 1 - Angkor Wat

Went back to Siem Reap for our lunch after visiting Tonle Sap Lake.
From left to right, clockwise - curry pork, egg omlette, chicken fried with tomatoes, some sort of a fish cake with pickles and a green vege. We were told that it was morning glory. To us it taste like kangkong, stirred fried with garlic.
A lot of food isn't it ? Wait - there is a soup and dessert too. There were only three of us and we were served so much food. It was already pre-fix as it was included in our tour package.

Half way through our meal it started to rain. Did I mentioned that it happened to be the rainy season there ?
After that heavy meal we started the tour of Angkor Wat. But first we had to get our pass to enter the temple grounds. The mini bus stopped at a large entrance booth to the Angkor Wat. We got down, stood in front of the instant camera, smiled, went back to the mini van. And soon we got our pass and went on our way.

Angkor Wat is surrounded by a moat. We had to cross this 190m wide moat before we can enter the temple. I was reminded of the moats I saw in England. Those are nothing compare to this. The rain continues. Luckily our guide provided us with umbrellas each.

The sandstone causeway leading to the entrance of the temple. There is a big crack in the center of it. There is a reason why it is there. The one on the right has been restored (see how smooth it is ). The crack was before restoration. Left there to show visitors how they were before restoration. This temple is built in the 12th century with 5 huge towers.

The entrance of the temple flanked by those naga balustrades, mostly broken or eroded away. The entrance is richly decorated. We did not enter the main entrance (closed). We entered by the side door.




And was greeted by this statue of Vishnu; eight arms holding various items.



Behind the statue is an entrance, which we went through.




This is the other side of the entrance.

At this side, the walls were richly decorated with sexy bare chested Apsaras (celestial dancers). My pictures do no justice to them.

Now we still have not entered the main temple yet. Another causeway lined with naga balustrades greeted us. On either side of this causeway are two libraries. But the majestic sight of the towers looming ahead of us was awesome as we walked neared and nearer towards it.

The library on the left of the causeway. It is empty. Behind each library is a pond.

And here it is :- Angkor Wat.
Picture with it's 5 towers reflected on the pond. A postcard scene. But I can't seem to get a good shot. :(

The sky is dull after the earlier down pour. Through out our visit to Angkor Wat it rained on and off.

There were lots of people lining up snapping away at this location. Some with super cameras, with lenses that are longer than my hand.

Enter the temple and more sexy Apsaras greeted us. There are suppose to be 1500 of them here. A total of 1700 carved Apsaras in the whole of Angkor Wat. Each carved on the walls of Angkor Wat is unique. Not one of them is the same. It seems they are model after an actual dancer from the King's palace. They have different expressions, head dress, skirts, hair style, flowers, bracelets. We were told only two Apsaras were carved smiling. I guess the rest are not happy standing still for such a long time for the artist.

The inner courtyard with the 1500 Apsaras. Everyone seem to be fascinated by them.
One of the stairs leading to the central temple. The upper levels are closed to visitors. There are supposed to be 40 narrow, near vertical steps. It used to be opened to visitors but more restoration work is going on at the moment. It seems the center tower was strucked down by lightning sometime back.

#1 looks like a dwarf standing at the bottom of the central temple.
Next we went to examine the bas reliefs. There are 8 sections of them, stretching from around the outside of the central tower. They are events, intricately carved. Again my pictures do no justice to how they really look. Words fail to express how magestic they really are.
It is amazing how they manage to do all that. My favourite is the Churning of the Ocean_of_milk. The carvings here are really good. The biggest tug of war in the world with demons and gods on either side, pulling a snake. Apsaras dancing above them with fishes at the bottom of the reliefs. Too bad during our visit the other half (demon section) were closed for further restoration.

The previous picture is of the god section. The above is the demons section with Vishnu at the center.

We left by the East gate. No causeway here. Only a path with trees lining both side of it. And it was still raining.
Leading to this gate. There are also more Apsaras here too.

It is worth while to travel thousands of miles to see this incredible ruins. The visual impact of it...is indescribable. It is best to check it out yourself. There are lots of pictures out there and mine is nothing compare to them.

Last words - WOW !!!!!!

Angkor Wat is totally awesome !

Day 1 - Tonle Sap Lake

Our journey to Siem Reap was smooth. We took the budget airlines - Jetstar. It was only a two hour ride.

Reached Siem Reap 7.30 am local time. Disembarked. I can't help wondering when was the last time I walked on a tarmac. So, of course must take take a picture. :)

Got our bags, met our tour guide which took us to the hotel to deposit our bags. And then it was to the Tonle_Sap lake. It is the largest fresh water lake in Asia.

Views along the way to the the lake. We sees lots of greenery - padi (rice) fields. See those white things dotting the picture. The guide told us they are plastic bags placed in the fields for catching crickets. Those crickets are then deep fried and sold in the markets. We saw them in the markets but I do not dare to try them out.
Padi fields - those are short term rice. Needs only three months to grow and harvest them. Because in the next few months this whole place will be flooded.

Houses nearer the lake. They are made of bamboo and palm leaves. The houses stand on stilts. Very high stilts. That is because once the lake swells during the rainy season the water will reach the road.

You see the hill behind those houses. The lake water will reach the foot of the hill during the rainy season. Most of the residents will move up hill or float along the river/lake.

Our bus took us from a tar road to a lateite road. We stopped to pay toll for the new road they are building, leading to the lake. From here onwards the road is terrible. This is the condition of the road after the toll. Construction is going on. Lots of houses line up along the road. There are deep ruts on the road all the way until we reach the jetty. The driver will swerve left and right to avoid them. And he is not driving slowly either.
This is the first time #1 has seen such poor living condition. The nearer to the lake the poorer are the people living there.

Boarding our ride to the lake. #1 commented that the water looks like the colour of his chocolate drink. The boat is maned by two man. One driver and the other at the back with the rudder. Our guide told us the driver's pay is only US$10 a month.

The boat took us along the river which will lead us to the lake. Along the way we saw many houses along the bank of the river. Many children were playing in those waters. They will do all their business there from washing to cooking and ....I will leave it to your imagination.

The boat stopped for us to enjoy the view of the lake and the floating village. Soon a paddler came near us selling drinks, fruits for US$1. The girl with the snake - if you want to take a picture with the snake it cost US$2. They are very pitiful looking but our guide told us to ignore them. True enough they paddled off to other boats filled with tourist like us. Most of the children here do not attend school.
A boy paddling around in a metal basin.

Floating market for the residences on the lake
One of those floating house, nearer to the bank of the lake.
A floating house in the middle of the lake.
View from the top deck of a floating restaurant. We stopped here to quenched our thirst, admire some catfishes and crocodiles in captivity. Went round an exhibiton on how the villages catch fishes in the lake.
#1 and I spoiling the view. :)

Back to shore for lunch and the visits to the temple begins. (next post)

I Am On My Way..........

It finally happened !!!!!!

Ever since secondary school days when our history done on and on about the ancient Khmer civilisation, I longed to visit Angkor Wat.
The mystic Wat has always appealed to me.


Today woke up early in the morning since we need to be at the terminal at 4am.
Took the cab to Terminal One. Checked in and found a cafe just for the sake of updating my blog before I fly off. :)

With nothing to do after checking in and going through all those security checks wandered round the transit lounge. Not much to see. Most of the shops are closed. Some passengers (like us)strolling around, but mostly catching a nap on the chairs.
I wonder when was the last time I ever woke up this early.


Ended up at the DFS.Decided what I want to buy on my return tip. That's about it.

H, #1 and I will be in Siem Reap, Cambodia for 4 full days. I am sure by the time I board the plane home we will be sick of Wats.

But until then I am now very, very excited.

Latest Updates :)

I have not updated for a while again. I seems to be occupied with things.....The school holidays are here and I thought that I will have more free time. Instead I seem more occupied than ever.
Brought the boys to the beach/park. It seems like this holiday that is all we do - to the beach.
The beach we went to this time round, was the East Coast Park.
The beach in Singapore might not be the best in the world but that do not matter to the boys. They love going to the beach. Most important of all it is free.
We rented some bicycles for the older boys. #3 started his lessons on bicycle riding.
Ah.....

We will usually rent a four wheeler for him. But this time he wanted to be like his older brothers - a two wheeler.

Learning how to ride a bicycle, there is no easy way about it.

"Get your balance, pedal and pedal, wobbling and then Oh oh......"

I am sure those of us who rides a bicycle have been through these before. I have the scars and memories from them.

H and I tried to encourage him because he has this fear of falling down ( don't we all) from his bicycle.

Poor fella how many times he had to pick himself and the bicycle up. Start all over again and Oh, oh.... The sequence repeating until he master it.

His older brothers went off cycling along the park. But they will come back to take a look at him struggling under the hot morning sun.

I was surprised that they encouraged him, saying

"Aiyah, don't worry. It is like this. See, this is how you do it."

Then off they go again. Zooming past us in a 'blur'.

#3 looked at them longingly.

Now it is our turn to tell him not to worry because once he master the skills he will be just like his "kor kors". But until then it is pedal, pedal pedal.....

After three hours of sweat. Lots of it. We called it the day. He managed to master the basic. Still wobbly and the fear of falling is still there but he was real proud. He managed to stay on with out falling off. Even though it was for a short distance.

Next......

My parents are in town. Yesterday we went for a walk by the Singapore River, beside the Esplanade. H met us in the city after work.

A picture of my left palm. This is not a palm reading session.
I slipped and fell at home about a week ago. Landed on my well padded butt. But I had tried to break my fall with my left hand and elbow. It was real painful and my left hand is swollen. Not the whole hand but only the part below my thumb. This picture does not really show it that well. But you can see that my thumb is slightly bigger than the rest of the digits. My thumb can't even reach the tip of the rest of the fingers. Nothing was broken.

Phew ..... Or else I had to go on my trip in a cast.

I still can do most of the house chores. Dressing up is a bit difficult. I had to grit my teeth to do it. Such as unbuttoning my clothes or pants. Pulling down my pants. Making the bed. That thumb and the fleshy part below it still hurts until now. I still can't bend that thumb down fully with out gritting my teeth..
The next two pictures were taken a minute ago.. This is how my left hand looks like now.


The red parts are where the bruises are now forming. The bottom of my index finger and wrist. The fleshy part is now slightly swollen.
Never knew how important that thumb can be. Holding a dictionary hurts. Can't open a bottle with it.


Finally....I still have not packed our bags for our trip to Siem Reap.
The bag is out. It is a matter of putting in the clothes.
What to bring/wear ? :)