Singapore has many delights. One is that we need no screens. Our sliding door open 7 feet each, and it is like an arch between rooms, the LR and the deck, the DR and the deck. It really is lovely. One thing is though, that when you travel you have to remember bug juice. We are in the tropics, but in Singapore they fog for mosquitoes. Every Tuesday! No bugs. Rarely frogs, crickets, worms, butterflies, moths, and of course mosquitoes. They fog to prevent dengue fever, but unfortunately much else is fogged too.
But the little geckos survive. That is a gecko on our LR wall. We live on the 23rd floor! I can hope he is here because the fog does not come up this high. Adventurous little geckos! He is about 6" tip to tail. I always jump, but it is because they are unexpected, and they dart. Like seeing mice.
Five photos of Little India. It is Diwali now. (Also called DeePAvali) Eight days of celebration. It is a Hindu and Jain Festival. Kind of like New Years. Festival of Lights. They celebrate their rich culture and history, of the stories of Ramayana, Lord Rahmen, Lord Krishna, Lukshima, Good over Evil, Light over Darkness, Wisdom over Ignorance. They have many traditions: a ritual bath before sunrise, families together, exchanging sweets, decorating their house with light, candles, mandalas of coloured rice. The one time of the year that firecrackers are allowed in Singapore. Those yellow bottles
are cow's urine! You buy it (?) and sprinkle it around your house(!?). Remember cows are holy. (I do not have India on the top of my list of places to visit. I just can't get my head around cow paddies everywhere, in the Indian heat!)
We have company coming this week. John and Dixie Logie. They are ski buddies that we met at Silver Star. They live in Brockville. They come next Thursday, having been in Vietnam for two weeks. After four days with us, they are going to Bali for two weeks. It is exciting.
We leave (a day before the Logies leave- they will have to find their way around for their last day) Monday for Nikoi, Indonesia. Gordie Wade said a buddy of his who travelled here a lot, said it was super. It sure looks great. A private island!! We take a one hour ferry from Sg to Batam, Indonesia, then they pick you up and we go another hour in their boat to get to the island. It is monsoon season and windy. I hope I remember to take along my Gravol!
Time is flying. It is November, and Sg is hyping up for Christmas. It just doesn't make sense in this heat, to see Christmas trees, and hear Christmas music. OMG The arrangements of the old favourites! Where did they find them. There sure is no Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It is all electric and kitchy.
I went to hear Handel's Messiah last week. It was wonderful The orchestra is good, the soloists were good ( they had a counter-tenor singing the alto solos). I have played it at least a million times (?!) and recorded it many times, but had never gone. I just loved it. Some (not many) stood for the Hallelulia
Chorus. How British! I wonder if they do Messiah every year. It is almost cult in TO. The TSO plays it 5 times a week, with sing along performances. The people in the audience brings their score, and sing along with the choruses. I saw a few scores in the audience. We stood for the chorus, and didn't Tim start to singalong !!!! OMG. I just about croaked. Him singing anything is VERY sketchy, but in the concert hall? alone? I died.
From the grave, I sign off.
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