On to Singapore

We spent the last few days of our vacation in Singapore, a fabulous, if not tiny, country. We had a wonderful time!
We spent a day wandering about different parts of the city. Orchid Road is a large shopping area with thousands of shops – including a couple of great book stores – in English! Needless to say, we spent quite a bit of time there. Then we wandered about the downtown section of the city – location of the famous “Singapore Lion”. The name Singapore came from a prince, long ago, who, upon landing on the island, saw an animal he thought was a lion (never has been a lion on Singapore). Anyway…he called the land “Singa Pura” which means Lion City and it stuck.
We went to the National Museum of Singapore (to escape the rain for a while). It was absolutely a fantastic place to visit. They had a lot about the history of Singapore, its discovery, early years, how it evolved, but the most spectacular part about it was HOW it was presented. They had two parallel histories presented at the same time, one track from the perspective of industry, the state, the “official” tract and then the personal tract, stories about the people alive at the time, how things affected them, how they lived. It was fascinating and very well done.

Raffles Hotel

No trip to Singapore is complete without a visit to the famous Raffles Hotel, home of the famous Singapore Sling. This hotel started out as 10-room colonial style bungalows on the beach. Interestingly…the hotel has not moved from its original site…but the ocean is now some 500 meters away. It has enjoyed popularity throughout its history and has been THE place to stay in Singapore. You’re definitely paying for the atmosphere!

Singapore Zoos (note the plural)

Finally, I’ve made it to my favorite place of all here in Singapore…the ZOO! Actually, they have 2 zoos here – one for during the day and one for the night. Night Safari was spectacular.
First, a bit of information about the zoos. They have created the enclosures in the zoo very creatively, using the natural flora and fauna throughout to support the jungle environment – very effectively I might add. Natural barriers abound and, at first glance, it looks like there are only trees separating areas, keeping the animals apart (and secure from the people). Actually, there are walls there but they’re totally disguised. The walls are built to look like jungle and then they’ve allowed the jungle to grow right up to it. It’s hard to notice the wall unless you actually look. Deep and wide moats are also used, with brush growing up, disguising the fact that there’s a 20 some-odd foot canyon in front of you – it appears that there’s nothing between you and the animals. As an added precaution, electric fences are in place also but again, you need to look (especially in the night zoo).

BATS!!!!

The Night Safari has over 900 nocturnal animals living with the wildlife park. There are 3 different walking trails you can take, meandering through the Himalayan expanse to the plains of Africa. The views were spectacular and while it was dark, there were plenty of lights available to see your way and view the animals. The highlight of the whole trip was the bats (you knew I was going to say that). This exhibit was contained with giant nets surrounding the enclosure. No glass, however, was included. Instead, there were triple doors, inviting you into their night world. You stepped inside to whirring wings and chirps as the bats swirled above you on their search for food. I loved watching them fly about, squabble with others over a choice fruit and then settle down to clean themselves or watch us wander about. You could feel the air movements as they flew past – nothing short of breathtaking.
I must admit the picture leaves much to be desired but it was the only one that even remotely came out.

Singapore Zoo - during the day

The Singapore Zoo during the day is also a rare treat. The jungle environment is used to the fullest extent, to give wonderful enclosures for all of the animals. They have quite a few areas that you can walk through, getting very close to the animals. The Australian one had you right up next to the animals – I’m afraid it’s one that would never make it in the states – someone would step over the small fence for sure – or feed the animal some plastic something. It was pretty special to be so close to kangaroos and emus. The round fence pole you see in the picture is it...that's what keeps people out and animals in (for this exhibit at least).

Begging Otters

The river otters were precious – they looked like they were one moment away from starvation! They put on a great act.

Elephants, in the rain

They put on a huge show with the elephants but once again it was raining and raining and raining (it’s that darn season again, told you they need to change the name) and they cancelled the show. We did get to see a bit of it, the animals worked together to move some of the logs about. The funniest bit was when they were cleaning up when they called it quits – one keeper was working with an elephant to move a log and the elephant dropped it in a particularly large puddle. The keeper was soaked (not that he wasn’t already but this was pretty muddy). Not sure if the elephant had a motive or not…

Candi Dasa

Candi Dasa is a small fishing village on the east coast of Bali with delightful ocean views and plenty of places to take in. We stayed in the delightful WaterGarden Bungalows, the place with the pond right outside our door. Talk about relaxing!! It was heavenly. The bungalows were arranged in such a way that while you could see the one next to you, there was an aura of privacy with all the plants found in between. The deck out front was wide and spacious – delightful for doing yoga – calm, pleasant, relaxing. The place came with our own geckos for keeping the bugs down and koi in the water. If you’ve checked out the pictures of Bali I’ve posted, you’ll see some of my koi along with the wonderful four-poster bed!

Water Palace

We took a tour the first day we were there. They have lots of guides available to take you anywhere you want. We took off to visit a few of the landmarks in the area. One of the stops was the Taman Tirta Ganga – a “resting place” built by one of the Kings. It is now referred to as a water palace with traditional Balinese architecture with the influences of both Chinese and Western design.
The most famous pool is filled with warrior statues and pads you can walk about on, weaving through the various statues. The water is unbelievably clear and the surrounding area is picture perfect. People come and spend the day here because there is also a swimming pool that anyone can use. It’s also the location of many weddings, what with the gorgeous views, fountains, pools and a fabulous bridge.

Ujung Water Palace

Seems that the kings (or rather raja) of the time absolutely loved water palaces. This palace was the one that was actually lived in by the last raja (and his 20 some-odd children – quite crowded I’m sure). Unfortunately, the palace was almost completely destroyed when the volcano erupted in 1963 but the palace was rebuilt. It’s again in a gorgeous setting, sitting on a hill, overlooking a beautiful bay. The palace itself must have been gorgeous in its time. It’s interesting…for privacy they met out in the open. One of the constructions was a covered but completely open room, located in the middle of the “ponds”. There was only one narrow bridge out to it, and it was easily guarded at its entrance. It allowed the raja to meet with other, being secure that no one could overhear their discussions.

Rice Field Hike

The next day we took off on a 4 hour trek through the rice fields. Our guide picked us up at our bungalow and drove us up into the mountains where we would start our hike. Our guide was delightful with stories to tell and an amazing amount of knowledge of the area, rice farming and the people. We wove our way through the fields, walking between paddies and along the water ways. The people of the area used the same tracks and we often ran into women carting large loads on their heads. Why is it that the women always seem to be the ones that carry these loads?
The labor to keep these fields going is intense. It was amazing, watching the man wrestle with the ox to plow the field. It’s such a small field, the animals are huge, yet they move them from one plot to the next without destroying the dirt-made retaining walls.
Our trail took us through small communities. The family compounds were generally small with everyone working on something. Children helped the younger ones bathe, washed the clothing and were frequently found following small animals around. We stopped at one single home where the guide knew the people. They had a snack for us, drinks as well as some things to buy (of course). We did get a mat the woman had made. She worked on one while we were there and the man played one of their xylophone type instruments. A pleasant place to relax from the hike.

More on driving...

I realize I spend a lot of time talking about driving in all of these countries we visit. We honestly don’t realize how good we have it until we start seeing what other people live with all of their lives! It’s honestly unreal.
To begin with, they don’t have the tire-width ditches that are found in Japan…but they do have huge ones, usually covered with a walkway, sometimes not, and generally full of trash (I also take back what I said about being clean. It really depends on where you are.) Remember…we’re in the tropics…includes tropical rains… even more than the storms in Japan bring… now, they have great ditches designed for carrying away lots of water but... they don’t work because they’re full of... right, you’ve got it - Trash!!! The streets are always flooded when it rains (bad for driving AND walking). Let me tell you, it rains A LOT in the rainy season (might have something to do with the name, maybe they should rename the season). I sometimes thought that the car/boat thing would have worked well here.
The drivers are crazy. If you want to go somewhere, honk your horn and go. The laws are different in Bali. If someone pulls out in front of you, it’s YOUR job to stop. If you hit them, it’s your fault. If your gaijin, it’s your fault. If they hit you, it’s your fault. Thankfully the roads are so awful that everyone has to drive pretty slowly. I think about 50 km/hr (roughly 30mph) was about the fastest we ever got up to. Now, add some motorcycles/scooters to the mix. They go WHEREVER they want to. If you leave a 5 inch gap between you and the car in front or on the side, they go through it. At every intersection they all weave up to the front of the line then start out en-mass!!! It’s quite a sight to see. Add the water they’re dodging and you have quite a field of bikes to dodge.
They also have interesting roads. I don’t know why, but u-turns are built into the system all over the place. It’s one of those things about going when you want to – if you’re on the main road you wait forever for the cars doing the u-turns. You learn NOT to be in the middle lane unless you’re wanting to make a u-turn yourself.
Thankfully, once you’re out of the main towns, the driving becomes much easier and closer to normal. We took off to Candidasa, a delightful town, off the beaten track, away from the tons of tourists making the scene on the beaches of Bali. Granted, there weren’t as many shops to visit or bars to go to or people wanting to sell you something, anything, as you walked along the beach but somehow we managed to find plenty to keep us busy.
And the picture...it's a 2 lane street.....

And yet some more on driving...

Driving in town is absurd. We had a navi system with a very bad map of Bali. We ended up in strange places. Maggie (the navi system has a name) said to turn left. OK, it looked a little narrow but, hey, we live in Japan, narrow is normal. We went by some houses and small plots and the road narrowed and we drove on. The walls grew taller, the road grew narrower and still we drove on until we reached a T intersection. OK…intersection is too grandiose a word…try our car-wide path joining another car-wide path at a 90 degree angle. I got lots of practice putting the car in and out of gear while Jeff kept letting me know I had an inch to go. It was amazing that we honestly made the turn. Once we got past it, 50 feet further on, we were indeed on the street in front of our hotel. Maggie was right on – it was the most direct way to our hotel. We chose to ignore that route in the future.
The picture of the exit hardly does the experience justice. The car filled the entire space - there was no opening the door, let alone getting out.

Kecak Dance

We had the chance to see some different kinds of Balinese dances and music. Out of all we saw, our favorite was the Kecak dance. It is considered to be one of the most stunning of all of their dances. I’ll start with a little background on this dance (at least the tiny bit I know about).
They have up to around one hundred men in this dance, men, young and old, who all live within the temple area. They wear only a sarong (a wrapped cloth like a skirt) and act as the living backdrop for the performance. The most amazing thing about it is the way they totally work in unison! They chant throughout the performance in a syncopated rhythm – it’s a kind of “chak-chak” sound they make (you’d really have to hear it). Now, add to this the choreography for the dance. They sit in a circle around the “stage” where the story is acted out. They move totally together, coordinating the movements of the upper body, heads, arms, position held, swaying back and forth. It’s amazing to watch…and even more so when you realize these men are volunteering to do it. They practice evenings to get the chant and movements down perfectly. They truly worked as one – as I watched I never saw the startled movement of someone catching up or realizing they turned the wrong way – they were in perfect synch! It was the most stunning part of the entire performance.
In the center of the circle, a fraction of the story of the Ramayana is acted out. It’s a Hindu story about Prince Ramayana and the endless struggle of good vs evil with many gods appearing to influence the humans in different ways. It’s well done and easy to follow but I honestly was most amazed at the men’s performance!

Trance Dance

Following the Kecak dance they hold a Trance Dance. They come out a light a large pile of coconut husks, allowing the husks to burn to coals. Then a man comes out on a hobby-horse made out of palm leaves and he tramples through the red hot coals, scattering them, snorting and neighing and not seeming to notice these hot coals he’s scattering about (the audience was also quick to scatter as we realized the coals were coming in our direction.)
I found a clip on YouTube that is of the Trance Dance…if you’re interested, click on the words "Trance Dance" in the title.
You’ll even get to hear some of the chanting, though the synchronized movements of the men isn’t included (they only chant during this dance).