Mini Vacation Part 5- Marina Bay, Carnivore and Hediard

The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

The Shoppes are in the foreground, hotel behind it (Not our photo). We took the SMRT (Singapore Metro Rail Transit?) from the MRT stop at the ION/Orchard Rd out to Marina Bay and changed trains to the Circle line to get to the Marina Bayfront for the shops and hotel. We actually walked through the hotel (bypassing the huge casino) to get out to boardwalk. Between the hotel lobby and the Shoppes was an indoor waterway with sampans to rent.

We walked on the boardwalk awhile snapping photos. The odd building shaped sort of like a hand is the Science Museum. We were told that the exhibits are actually mostly underground, not up in the “fingers.” Under the Science museum there was a huge pond filled with water lilies. Very pretty place.

On the day of our visit, the water in the bay was bright green, not the dark color in the Internet shot I found.

Science Museum

Water lily ponds under the Science Museum

B's panoramic photo down at the boardwalk

This shopping spot is huge with a capital H. We didn’t even go in any shoppes really, but we peaked in windows. Every brand of watch. All the designers known on the planet probably. Two TWG tea shoppes. We saw the location of a future Gordon Ramsey restaurant.

We did have a fun lunch at a place called Carnivore- a Brazilian Churrascaria. There is a fixed lunch buffet price (steep at $34 SGP plus drinks each). The buffet includes an abundance of salad bar items, typical and not so typical. Then the chef starts bringing out various types/cuts of meat all rotisserie-cooked. He brings the whole rotisserie rod right to the table and tells you what he has and you say yes you want some or no you will pass on this one. They keep bringing meat items until you flip your sign over that means please stop, we’re done. At least that’s how it was explained to us. However, in our experience, the chef keeps bringing meat items after you turn the sign. We got full before he got to the top of the line, most flavorful beef cuts and he wanted us to try them. I forgot to mention that you get a pair of tongs to grab your piece of meat as he cuts it off. The meal concluded with rotisserie-cooked pineapple. Yummy!

There is a famous gourmet food shop in Paris named Hediard. A couple of years ago we visited Hediard on a day of heavy rain where we popped in and out of food and chocolate shops and got soaking wet. I don’t remember what else we may have purchased at Hediard, but I do remember the pâtes de fruits gems. Luscious small fruit jellies with a wide variety of unique as well as ordinary flavors, coated in sugar granules. These are delicious! I digress. Why am I talking about Hediard? Quite by accident, we found a Hediard shop in Singapore and they sold pâtes de fruits. Yippy! And we didn’t have to fly all the way to Paris to get them.

 

Mini Vacation Part 4- Eco-link BKE

Eco-link —BKE

We might have missed this if it weren’t for our taxi driver. Singapore recently completed a $17million elevated wildlife bridge. It is 62 meters long and 50 meters wide. The bridge connects Singapore’s largest primary and secondary forests, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the Central Catchment Area. Both had been separated by the Bukit Timah Expressway since 1986. There is a dense hedge system, storm drains and railings to hopefully keep wildlife off the expressway. The bridge is planted to be a forested corridor between the two areas. Hope it works. People will be kept out of there for a while to allow wildlife free use of the bridge.

Mini Vacation Part 3- Fort Canning & National Museum

Fort Canning. This is a park which sits on a small hill. It was once a 14^th century Malay king’s palace site. Later it was the Far East Command Center and British Army Barracks. It was also the site of the decision to surrender Singapore to the Japanese on February 15, 1942. The decision was made at Fort Canning in an underground command center known as the Battle Box. The Battle Box was closed for renovations. We spent some time wandering through the gardens. With lots of plants labeled it was really interesting. We spotted a patch of pandan (remember the chicken dish?) plants. Pandan chicken is chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and baked. They almost make a basket around the chicken with the pandan leaf. The pandan adds a distinct flavor and aroma. Pandan extract is also used to flavor cakes and desserts. Pandan is a member of the screwpine family just like the srikaya fruit I’ve mentioned before.

Pandan plants

There was also a cacao tree.

The unripe green pods contain cacao seeds from which chocolate is made.

After visiting Fort Canning we went to the National Museum. It’s under major renovation but in the basement (for free) you could visit a display honoring the 700 years of Singapore history. It was really interesting. One of the more interesting displays was about the privileged European class daily schedule circa 1860. Highlights included: 6-9am a morning walk or ride followed by breakfast. There was lunch, dinner, billiards, games of sport and, oh, yes, they would go to the office for a few hours.

Photo of the days’ schedule

As we were leaving we were stopped by a volunteer who asked if she could ask us a few questions. Naturally we said yes. She proceeded to ask us about the museum: What we remembered, liked, thought of the signage, etc. She then asked, “Where are you from?” B answered, “Jakarta.” She said, “No, where do you live?” Again the answer was Jakarta. She followed up with, “Originally? Were you born there?” We explained we had lived there 6 months but were originally from the US. That is what she wanted. She listed US on her form. Our reward? A nice ‘I Love Museums’ pencil. 

Mini Vacation Part 2- The Zoo

Maybe not the best day to visit: Chinese New Year Day. It was very crowded, but not initially too bad. We got there early. There was a tram that looped around the zoo but the entrance fee was substantial so we decided to save the $5 SGD (~4 USD) and just walk. It was overcast so not excessively hot. Walking worked out just fine.

Notice that the two tickets are both different connected parts to a larger mural!

On entering we learned that one major exhibit was closed: Australian Outback. Oh, well. There was still plenty to see. Some animals I remember include: Angolan giraffe, Rothschild giraffe, pygmy hippo, babirusa, oryx, Prevost’s squirrel, Malaysian porcupine, Sulawesi crested macaque, patas monkey, false ghavial. There was a nice sign about crocodilian snouts.

 The zebra exhibit was sponsored by KFC (yes, the one born in Kentucky!). They are huge in SE Asia. We see KFC establishments all over.

I thought this guy was exceptionally pretty: the oriental whipsnake. I am always drawn to bright green snakes. It’s arboreal, can grow to nearly 6.5 feet, is particularly fond of lizards and tree frogs and is found in Southern and SE Asia.

Both Bornean and Sumatran orang utans ( spelled this way!) were to be found, both in family groups, in free-ranging habitat. There was an overhead system so the animals could actually cross over the heads of the visitors. One of the Bornean youngsters had one hand and one foot on a vertical rope and was swinging himself round and round and round. Wasn’t he ever going to get dizzy? Wish I had video of that!

I thought the look on this brown capuchin’s face was cute.

Walking the zoo grounds we noticed a large amount of vegetation not only in the exhibits but in the public areas as well. The zoo could easily add “& Botanical Park” to its name, but there already is a great botanical garden here. Hmmm

They do have docents at the zoo (and perhaps other types of volunteers), though we didn’t see any type of volunteer until we were leaving. There were 3 young people with crafts projects for kids near the entrance.

My zoo docent friends will understand this. When zoo docents look at the collection at a zoo, I imagine most, like me, are looking either for more of our favorites or for the really rare animals. Most of us travel to other zoos whenever we can and we’ve seen a lot. While the average visitor may pay little attention to the exhibit areas themselves beyond noticing size and vegetation, zoo docents may find themselves looking at layout, barriers, safety precautions, and ways visitors can enter the area or feed or harm the animals. I know I do this.

So did I see any interesting things? Yes! Here are my first impressions at the Komodo dragon exhibit. There is a dry moat, the public side of which was fairly steep. The public side of the moat would keep the dragon in the exhibit. However, I don’t believe this moat would keep humans out of the dragon exhibit. From what I could see, one could climb down. It looked possible. After an easy walk across the moat one could climb up into the exhibit. With a quick look I saw nothing to stop someone. I hope there were electric wires or something I couldn’t see. Or maybe the locals know to be wary of Komodo dragons and would not even try to enter the exhibit? Additional notes:  A sign said it took them 34 years to have a successful Komodo hatching here. I wonder why it took so long. They need to update signage which only discussed the bacteria in the Komodo mouth. Now what about the dragon? He/she walked from the rear of the exhibit out to the edge nearest the public area and posed for pictures. Wasn’t that nice? Maybe he/she smelled a docent?

The other area that stands out in my mind is the Fragile Forest dome. There we found Malayan flying fox fruit bats (Pteropus vampyrus) in a huge free-flight area along with butterflies, a bunch of birds and there was at least one ring-tailed lemur. (I believe there were also sloths in here but I didn’t know it at the time.) I do remember a Victoria crowned pigeon and some small doves, but my focus was directed at the lovely bats.

The Malayan flying fox is the largest species of flying fox. The wingspan can be 5.5 feet plus. For those that don’t know, they eat only fruit, flowers and nectar. Pay no attention to the species name. It was really neat to see the bats actually flying around the exhibit, but the lack of barriers between the public and the animals was a little scary.

A man was touching a lemur’s tail hanging down from an overhead branch. His wife mentioned gigi (in Bahasa Indonesia it means teeth) while he was doing it but I don’t think that discouraged the man. The bats came so close to the public area anyone could throw things at them or even touch them or hurt them. We did see people posing with their face an inch from a bat’s face while it gummed a piece of fruit. It never occurred to me to do that when we were standing close to the same bat. We snapped a few photos but we mostly just stood there in awe of the fact they were right there, no glass, no screen; so close to such a fascinating group of animals. Within seconds there were 20 people clustered around to try to snap selfies before the closest bat flew off. We moved on hoping no one would get bitten. Here are a couple of shots:

It was very difficult to capture one of the bats in flight. This one is about to land.

 

  Not so good about sharing fruit!

Above shot shows how they use their feet to eat!

On the topic of safety, I did notice flotation rings at each spot where there were water moats- especially near the primates along with a sign of the emergency number. Have some visitors tried to swim out to the primate "islands?"

I am aware that technology allows zoos to re-create any type of habitat for the animals, but I was still surprised to see a polar bear exhibit this close to the equator. I should know better. The Bahasa Indonesia text on the sign (below the English) was very interesting. We tried to translate the text but needed the English cheat notes. Polar bear in Bahasa Indonesia is Beruang Kutub.

Near the polar bears there were raccoon dogs and a wolverine- a very active wolverine! They had put out some sort of enrichment which the wolverine was really enjoying

We ate our lunch in a room decorated in the height of animal fashion!

 

As we were leaving, the Chinese New Year entertainment at the zoo had begun. There was a sort of acrobatic group working in a “lion” costume. They were performing up in the air on supports with tiny platforms on top. The lion dance is a traditional dance in the Chinese culture and is frequently performed on Chinese New Year. It is different from the dragon dance if you’ve seen one. To tell the difference you need to count the number of performers. Two are typically required for the “lion,” and they are inside the costume, while many more are necessary for the dragon and the performers are outside the “dragon” holding it up on sticks. The young performers gave this lion a very puppy-like mannerism. Cute.

 

Mini Vacation Part 1-General trip notes

We decided to spend the Chinese New Year long weekend out of town so off to Singapore we flew. We spent the first official day of the holiday at the zoo. Because of the holiday, we learned the hard way that many small shops were closed for the entire weekend; including a quilting shop I had hoped to visit. A giant craft store was closed on Thursday but open again on Friday. We had a little trouble getting cabs especially on Thursday because of the holiday. A lot of taxi drivers were taking the holiday off to spend time with family. At the hotel a couple of taxi drivers didn’t want to go to the zoo. Too far I suspect. On the way back from the zoo, there was a long queue  to get a taxi. We still managed to get around alright.

For one dinner we walked down the street to ION, a shopping center, a few blocks away. We had Thai for dinner. I had pandan chicken. B had a mixed seafood. We both had Thai milk iced tea. Tasted like canned evaporated milk was used. Very sweet. Loads of sugar. Glad we tried it but we probably wouldn’t get it again.

At some point I had to capture this "condensation shot." It follows us everywhere.

 We had a pretty good view from our hotel room. By day and by night:

 

A little friend appeared in our room! The eyes are made from creamer cups.

Our trip home set a “new land speed record”. From the time we landed and were pulling up to the gate to the time we were in the apartment – 1h10m. This included getting the door open, off the plane, through immigration, retrieving our bag, walking through customs, finding Oky who then went to get the car, climbing in and paying for parking and then driving back to the apartment. Get the picture? From B’s office to the airport alone on Wednesday, when we left, 1h,20m.I still can't believe it.

Socks, Quilting, Pak Hendra. MAJ

My friend who is teaching me how to do this was back in town a few days and then took off again. I had to navigate through the heel on my own. Let me just say that this was extremely difficult. I pulled out the stitches over and over again trying different methods for decreasing stitches and finally found the one I liked. I could just not transition from the heel itself to the straight up knitting to go up the leg. I worked it over and over. The wording on every set of instructions I read just did not make sense to my brain. Finally, I figured out something (or the correct thing (I’m still not sure)) but I managed to make the transition and created my own set of notes on how to do it. I probably don’t speak kitting well enough yet.

Here’s the progress so far: The other sock is just past ending the heel. I still haven’t found another set of needles so I am still switching back and forth from my paperclip holders I made and the needles. B seems to think I should stop pretty soon and make these “slipper socks” but I may make them into knee socks. That would mean I probably wouldn’t wear them here, but I would get the practice.

Recently I learned how to make 3 different types of 3-D quilt squares. Quite a few ladies canceled out at the last minute leaving me with the “teacher” nearly one on one. It was great. I am working on creating a pillow using various types of these squares. Our next “class” will probably be next month. I was a little concerned about lugging my sewing machine to Robyn’s house, but it was actually pretty easy— Pak Oky carried it for me. He won’t even let me carry heavy grocery bags! The lower right quilt square gets those little pleats hand tacked after the square is attached to other squares so for now that one isn’t finished. In the photo the square with all of the pleats folded in the same direction needs to be blocked a little. The seam looks really crooked in the photo but it really isn't.

One day Pak Hendra was in our apartment looking at a new water leak. He had to return later in the day and on his return he asked if he could take a photo of himself by our window. It seems that he liked the background of the filtrage(sheers). Most people in this building apparently have ones that hang flat, they are not pinch-pleated and double or triple the width of the window so there are no folds. I said, “Of course.” (Tentu saja.) I snapped a couple myself. Here is Pak Hendra, our tenant relations manager for the building, in front of our sheers.

 

 In loving memory of MAJ: 

Mall walks and Chinese New Year

Despite the fact that the average temperature here right now is swinging all the way from 75F at night to mid-upper 80s (if cloudy or raining) and around 90 or more if the sun is out, we are seeing these strange items in the stores. My initial thought is always that if you’re traveling somewhere colder, yes, you might need a coat. But that’s not necessarily always the case. Early in the morning we see all sorts of folk on scooters zinging around town in “winter” coats. This is winter here after all.

We learned recently that there is at least one A&W root beer location here.

And also, we came across a Tupperware kiosk (under the BreadLife sign). That was surprising. Does Tupperware in the US still sell modular mates and what-a-bowls? You can pick some up here.

It’s Chinese (Lunar) New Year this week. B’s office is decorated, the streets are decorated, the malls are decorated. Lots of red and orange. It’s the year of the goat or sheep depending on what you believe. There seems to be a lack of consensus on this subject.

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It's still the rainy season

Still in the rainy season. Last Monday, we’d had rains and were still having rain and there was a lot of flooding in specific pockets of town. I really did not want to stay in that day so I ventured out despite the conditions. We did drive through standing water in 3 locations. At the last and worst spot, I considered turning around and giving up, but my driver Pak Oky felt that we’d gone through the worst of it and he was right. I took this shot at flooding spot 2. Sorry it’s a little blurry but my attention was more on water than on the photography. In addition, I didn’t want to make Oky nervous by taking too many photos. The water was probably only 12-18 inches at the most ( hope).. Our front tires are making the wave.

Flooding got worse overnight Monday and Oky couldn’t even get to work Tuesday morning. His mother-in-law’s house had been flooded. The area in which we live had only one small flooded area.

Last Thursday I spent about 4 hours in the car. I went to a friend’s house and traveled to B’s office to pick him up then back to the apartment. We had an early Bahasa Indonesian class then an early dinner out and returned to the apartment. How was the time spent? 50 minutes to the friend’s house, 1 hour to B’s work, 45 minutes to the apartment, nearly an hour getting to the restaurant for dinner and an hour plus returning to the apartment. As I write this, I believe there was another stop during the day that took the total time closer to 5 hours, but I can’t remember what it was. (B comment: Jakarta has the most start/stops anywhere in the world per driver per year – 38,000+. Also, on average, people in Jakarta spend 400 hours per year in the car. That’s 2.5 weeks or 4+% of one’s year!).

I snapped a few photos that night returning from the restaurant. I'm sharing one.

Yes, another food discussion

Isn’t there always a food entry?

 

For the coffee nuts out there- I won’t be trying the Kopi Luwak (see earlier postings) but I really wanted to find a regular coffee I liked. There are so many different types, from so many different regions of Indonesia, I was overwhelmed. One day I stood there reading all of the information on about a dozen of them and selected 2 to try. One was a “house blend” that seemed to be a winner. Low acidity and other good qualities. The second was Java Arabica, a really local coffee. I liked what it said on its side panel as well. It turned out that I really liked the Java Arabica. After I made the first pot and was admiring the qualities of this coffee, a tiny print statement on the lower front of the bag said “with chocolate undertones.” Well, no wonder.

I got inspired by something I saw on Pinterest so I made a batch of these special cookies for Valentine’s Day week and sent them off to work with B. The construction was a little more complicated by the lack of a heart shaped cookie cutter! Turned out pretty well though and they were tasty butter cookies.

We tried an assortment of traditional Indonesian “sweets” on our walk to the nearby mall last Sunday. We’ve discovered that most of these little items taste a lot alike. B is not a fan. They come individually wrapped in stiff plastic sheets and are squishy enough sometimes it’s hard to cut the tape off to open the package. Typically the consistency is a gummy jello-like concoction flavored mildly with coconut. The white and yellow one had banana in it. I did like that one as well. My favorite is the orange and white one. The orange is coconut/sweet potato and the white part is coconut only. The whole thing is jello-like, but gummier. The green rolled up item(another green food) is filled with toasted coconut so while the inside is tasty, the outside is sort of a gummy (green) crepe. The white and green one was mostly mild coconut gummy jello but filled with toasted coconut.  I must confess, however, I will never eat an Indonesian “cupcake” again. Icky! There are not words. Nothing remotely like what the word “cupcake” means to my palette.

And still one more entry into the “green food” category:

I tried this one myself. A green apple slush basically. This drink was pretty sour, especially at first. On later sips, the sugar level drowned out the initial sour punch. I couldn’t finish it.

Rujak salad- Ibu Tin created a traditional rujak salad for us. She did not add ketimun (cucumber) as we’d used what we had in a vegetable salad, but the following items were included: kedongdong (hog plum), mangga (mango), jambu air (rose apple), nanas (pineapple), bangkoang (jicama), gula jawa (palm sugar), cabe (chiles), garum (salt), kacang tanah (peanuts), and shrimp paste ( can’t remember the Bahasa Indonesian for that). One of these days I will stop putting in the English translations. Ibu Tin asked me how spicy to make this dish. She showed me some chili peppers the size of a small fingernail and said they were very hot, so I said just use one this time. It turned out my heat tolerance must be increasing because I thought the final result was pretty mild. Next time- 2 tiny chilis. Apparently we did not take a photo of the rujak salad. We must have been too eager to try it.