Hutongs

At first glance Beijing seems very modern with tons of large buildings and crowded freeways, but off of all of the major streets are hutongs, old neighborhoods that seem to lack most 21st century conveniences. All of the buildings are one story and made of gray brick. There were very fragrant public toilets every few blocks, so I began to wonder if the houses had indoor plumbing. Apparently, these areas are being demolished to make way for modern housing, so it was great to see them. Some of the hutongs have undergone gentrification and are full of restaurants and stores, so they'll probably survive.

The food in China

The Chinese food in China is really good, better than any I've had elsewhere. We ate some interesting street too. I really enjoyed these crab apples coated with sugar. They had scorpions on skewers too, but we opted not to eat those.

thoughts on China-part 1

There are so many things I'll forget to say about our trip to China, but I'm going to try to write short posts about my impressions. We went to lots of tourists sites like the Lama Temple, Confucious Temple, the drum and bell towers, the Forbidden City, and Jinshan Park. All of these had buildings that were built at least 400 years ago. But instead of feeling old it felt like a movie set. Everything has a fresh coat of paint and is so well cared for that it felt like it could be weeks old.

juice

Signs you don't see in the states

Are we eating enough?

In a recent email Grammie asked if we were eating enough. I have no way to describe the amount of available food in Singapore. I am sure that there are 100 food stalls within every 3 block radius of Singapore. It is unreal. There are places called hawker stands which cook up local cuisine for fair trade prices, so tonight we ate rice with tofu and vegetables with gravy (curry sauce) for $4.90 Singapore, about $3.50 US dollars for the whole family. We spend more and get meat and sometimes we spend a lot more to get western style food, pizza, etc. But we get plenty, actually I'd say, too much to eat. :)

Mothering rooms

So one thing that I love about Singapore is that in must public places they have a mothering/nursing/baby room. They are right next to the bathrooms and have a diaper changing area, comfy chairs for nursing, a sink, water cooler, and some have a pump sterilizer.

Golden Hair

I sat down on the subway next to a 4 year old-ish Chinese boy today. He started to talk and play with Wyatt, which thrilled Wyatt. After a minute the boy says, "hey, you have golden hair!" I think it describes Wyatt's hair so much better than blonde does. So from here on out Wyatt's hair will be described as golden.

The Old Singapore

Singapore really boasts about its modernity, but I really like all the old uneven bits of it.

Singapore Zoo

I'm not a huge zoo person. But if you ever get to Singapore, a trip to the zoo is really worth it. Especially, if you have a toddler. We went on a rainy morning which may have made all of the difference, as the animals were super active. We got our picture taken with Orang Utans, saw cheetahs chasing each other, and a leopard walked up to us (luckily for us there was a piece if glass between us). But the real highlight isn't the animals, it's the kid's water park that's inside the zoo. Many places in Singapore have "water features" for kids to play in, but the zoo really out did itself. Bill and Wyatt played for over an hour after the hot afternoon sun came out. I played photographer and stuck my feet in.

Pictures!!

Central Fire Station

Last week as Wyatt and I were walking past the fire station I saw a sign that read, "everyone welcome Saturdays 9-11." So this past Saturday we thought we'd take Wyatt to look at some fire trucks. But, wow!, once we got there, it was so much more. We got to see lots and lots of fire trucks and firemen. Wyatt got to spray water from the fire hose and we went for a ride in the bucket of the ladder truck, 5 stories up. We got to see the firemen go down the pole "American" style and "Singapore" style. Of course, they explained why the Singapore style is better. :) It was pretty amazing and Wyatt let out lots and lots of happy squeals. They do this every Saturday morning so I'm sure we'll be back.

The botanical gardens on Sunday

So Sunday we went to the Botanical Gardens which is in the heart of Singapore near several high end malls and most of the foreign embassies. But it was amazing inside as it felt like you left the city. The gardens were extensive and so well taken care of. There was a great children's garden that we took Wyatt to just in time for him to fall asleep. Which is ok because it was designed for kids a little older than him. There were tons of families there with kids and dogs. I saw the more dogs today than I've seen since arriving...so probably 10 dogs...very few people seem to have dogs as pets. It probably has something to do with apartment living. Anyway, I'm sure we'll be heading back there lots in the coming weeks. We spent no time in shopping malls this weekend which I think is a truly remarkable feat for Singapore.

Pulau Udin on Saturday

This weekend we went to the island Pulau Udin which is still part of Singapore but the antithesis of the mainland. There are less than 100 residents, all of whom live in wooden shacks with metal roofs. All electricity is run off of generators. But, they have very modern and extensive boardwalk through a wetlands area and then along the sea. We took the 15 minute bumboat ride to the island. Then we rented bikes and began to petal to the national park. Wyatt rode in a seat on daddy's bike and I hauled all our stuff in another basket. I was having a very Sound of Music moment. We walked the wetlands and saw tons of mangrove trees, mudskippers, and big and little crabs. Once we got back to town, we sat down for some Chinese food and watched the sea. Unfortunately, none of the Singapore beaches are terribly clean. They all have reminders of the disposable society we live in and are full all kinds of plastics. But the day was fantastic and Wyatt loved all of his new experiences, as did his parents.

Formula 1

So this weekend Singapore is hosting the Formula 1 night race. Ok, I really don't know anything about it except there are cars that look like play cars and they go really fast. But I am really excited about it because we'll have a view from our apartment. We'll have to crane our necks, but we can see part of the course. And its like a four day party on the streets below us. Tonight we went out for our usual after dinner walk and were greeted with a drummer and crazy acrobatic dancer. Wyatt watched intently. I better watch him more carefully tomorrow, as he may try to imitate the back flip.

flora and fauna

So last weekend was all about natural Singapore. We went to the Bukit Tumah Nature Preserve which is the largest area of original rain forest on the island. It was pretty amazing. Lot's of different trees. The highlight though was seeing wild monkeys. It was so obvious that monkeys are like squirrels to Asian folks who paid absolutely no attention to them. And even more obvious that we are tourists from all of the picture and video taking. Wyatt actually paid attention to them though as they were way more active then the monkeys he's seen on the zoo. The next day we went to the Night Safari which is basically a zoo that you go to at night. It is touted as the highlight of peoples trips to Singapore in several guide books. We felt it didn't live up to the hype. Maybe it's because we saw the monkeys the day before.

Singapore sleeps in

Once again I'm too early. When I first arrived in Singapore I went to the Cold Storage (grocery chain) at 8am and was surprised to find that they opened at 9am. Well, today I headed to the other grocery store at 8:45am, thinking I'd be there at 9, when they opened, but no, they open at 10am. Unless it's a western chain, stores don't post their hours. When I ask when a place opens, I always get a vague answer...like 9:45-10:30ish. Because I work on Wyatt's sliding schedule which is just like that, you'd think I could accept this ambiguity. But, no! I find it very annoying.

note to self....always check the quik release on the stroller

So Wyatt and I were out for a walk around Fort Canning Park and I managed to find all of the ramps because we had the stroller. Wyatt lasted about 15 minutes before needing to get out and be held. That's pretty good for him. I still marvel at all the happy babies I see being pushed in their strollers and wonder if Wyatt will ever find peace in his. The most use he gets out of the stroller is playing with the wheels at home. This he can do a few minutes several times a day. So we get to a point where I have to go down a huge flights of stairs or turn around and walk back the way I came which was too long and too hot to really be an option. I turn the stroller around and with Wyatt in one arm, head down the stairs. About six stairs down, the front wheel pops off and bounces into the street about a 25 feet below. Luckily there was no traffic. Once we get to the bottom though there is plenty of traffic and my wheel is hit by a taxi causing it to roll back to our side of the street and into the driveway of the Ministry of Information. As I round the corner after my wheel I see an armed guard chasing after it as it amazingly boomerangs back to me. I yell a million apologies, grab it and throw it in to the stroller where Wyatt could be sitting. For some twisted reason this event has somehow made the hassle of pushing an empty stroller around worth it. :)

argh.....ahhh

This week has been a little (and at times very) frustrating. We have a very slow internet connection that has caused me to feel WAY more isolated than I'd like to feel. There's no quick looking up any thing or sending a quick email. And apparently Singapore is the only country that has problems with its proxy server and uploading pictures to this blog. So I'm disappointed that none of my entries have pictures. Bill is suppose to work on it (in all his free time.) But I've spent a few days this week feeling lonely and frustrated at the lack of playgrounds in our area. The closest one is a 20 minute taxi ride. But today I discovered an indoor children's gym and we go to a class on Monday. It looks super fun and I'm hoping to meet some mamas there. We are living in an area where you see very few babies on the very crowded streets. It's not at all like Silverlake where every fourth person has a kid. Wyatt does cause quite a sensation where ever he goes. Today at dinner a girl asked if it was ok to take a picture with him. People here love to touch him and even kiss him, which freaks his parents out a little. There seems to be 3 standard questions: how old? boy or girl? and name? It's funny to me that someone might think Wyatt is a girl, he seems so boyish to me. He's been eating less dirt though as it's too hot to visit the parks unless we get there early in the morning. Plus there are 4 or 5 different ant varieties that are very prevalent and enough I won't let my son eat ants or let them crawl on him.

our first weekend in Singapore

Yah! Bill was off work for two days and we made the most of it. We went on the Hippo tour which allowed us unlimited bus rides on 2 routes through the city, a river cruise, and a lift to the resort island, Sentosa, just off of Singapore. Saturday we made our way around the city learning about the buildings and neighborhoods of Singapore. We stopped in little India for a while. Saturday night we took the river cruise. On Sunday we took Wyatt to the beach on Sentosa island even though it was raining. It was his first time and he LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it. He would run into the water and back out squealing with delight. He ate sand, tasted seaweed, it was a so much fun to watch.
Sorry for not writing more or individual emails. I'm exhausted and the last few nights Wyatt is basically demanding that mommy and daddy lay down with him to go to sleep and so we haven't been getting up after that. This past morning he slept until 7am..so we may be back to our normal schedule and then I'll catch up.

Settling In

It's a 9 hour time change from Los Angeles to Singapore, so this week has been all about resetting Wyatt's internal clock. We arrived on Tuesday and Wyatt went to bed at 1pm local time and woke up at 2:30am. It's Friday and this morning he woke up at 5am. We're making progress. One advantage to getting up so early is that Bill and I are taking walks around our neighborhood. We are right on the river and there is a great path along it with many foot bridges and tons of restaurants. We have yet to see any of them open. :) The apartment is more baby proof than when we got here thanks to a trip to Carrefour (basically our Walmart). But we have one major issue. The bathroom is connected to our bedroom and separated by a sliding frosted glass door. Which to anyone childless probably looks great. But essentially it means that once Wyatt is in bed, Bill and I wake him up if we shower, pee, brush our teeth, etc. We have yet to figure out a creative way around this.

On our way

After months of delay, we are finally making our way to Singapore. Uncle Rod dropped us off at the airport. A whole new world has been opened up to me: business class. We sat in the lounge and waited for the plane instead of at the gate. Drank free drinks and Wyatt ate free melon. Our business class seats on the plane were HUGE and folded flat to make a bed. Wyatt made quick friends with all of the flight attendants and even one of the pilots and after about 2 hours he fell asleep and slept for 10 hours. Of course, he took over the bed and mama still got very little sleep. I had a lot of fear of flying with him for 16 hours, but he was great. I've been close to deliriously tired today. I keep thinking that the ground is moving...so off to bed and more tomorrow!

Over Your Head visits Frogtown

Last Saturday a crew of 11 showed up to help me finish my bathroom remodel that I started and then realized I was in way "over my head". They completely took over the house and yard and had an RV parked on the street. We worked at least 12 hours a day, mostly on filming the show, for 5 days. The actual tiling part probably took 12 hours total. It was totally invasive and, at times, overwhelming. But I had a great time and would love to be on more HGTV shows especially if it means getting the house finished. I now understand the lure of working in entertainment....even if it's reality TV.