Singapore Fun Fotos 7 plus Pulau Ubin

We will be leaving Singapore soon, so I have kept my phone camera handy for the sights I see nearly every day.  Some places I have covered before, but they are still amazing sights.

An early morning jog showed me dawn on Marina Bay:

The Louis Vuitton Store before opening:

The lotus-shaped Art Science Museum

The downtown skyline 

A VERY rare sight, just near the Chanel store:

After winding my way past the skyscrapers, these sculptures near Raffles Place fascinate me:

A sky-high mural depicting the world in living plants:

Part of a wall mural of glass fish.  You just want to touch it!

This Dali Sculpture "Homage to Newton" is permanent, near Boat Quay:

And this one, "Horse Saddled with Time,"  is part of a temporary exhibit on Orchard Road:

Later that day I cleaned up and visited an Art Exhibit of the Singapore Watercolor Society.  Here are a select few (yay, they don't mind if we take pictures!)  Here is an artist from Beijing with her painting of Cock's Comb blossoms....her daughter wanted to take a photo the artist with me

The Marina Bay view:

Tiong Bahru:

Horsecart:

The David Elias Building that I have included in an earlier blogpost:

Most amazing is this student 2nd place winner...I would definitely buy this if I could:

I stopped into the lobby of the Fullerton Hotel (had to dodge a Maserati on my way in...) and saw this "bouquet" with teddy bear driver, celebrating the upcoming Grand Prix race. Imagine the fun they had making this!!

Next day, took a trip to Pulau Ubin, an unspoiled island off the Changi coast.  You take a bum boat (fare is $2.50) over to experience what the islands all used to be.  Years ago, we took the kids there and rented bicycles to see the old quarries.  It still looks the same except there is now a boardwalk to enjoy the wetlands.  My camera didn't take very good photos, so I will just give you a taste:

The bumboat view:

The boardwalk:

A famous critter that lives here is the Fiddler Crab.  He is a little guy who with that big claw that attracts mates and scares off rivals.

Mudflats...all the black spots are little fiddler crabs, waving their claws:

Spot the lizard!

Some beautiful vegetation - the seed pot of the Attap Palm. These seeds are used for the local Malay dessert called Ice Kaching.

And the special treat, a sighting of the indigenous wild pigs that roam the island.  Despite their wil look, they are extremely tame and came close, hoping to be fed.  But all of us hikers that day were god citizens and kept our snacks to ourselves.  There were about 5 adults, several juveniles and 2 little striped babies:

One last glimpse of an old quarry:

And the trip back on the bumboat:

That's all for now - A few more posts coming soon!

Return to Hawaii

When our son told us that he would be leaving Hawaii soon for a military deployment, we decided to take one more trip there.  We brought along our godson from Montana to celebrate his 21st birthday.

We spent a couple of days in Oahu. Here are some shots:

the big banyan trip on Waikiki:

One of the many tourist trolleys:

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2 great guys:

A patron-powered bar-on-wheels:

The famous statue of Duke, the man who made surfing famous:

After a day of snorkeling on the North Shore, we went to Mass at the the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace.  The building is quite old and not ornate (as cathedrals go) - but has the special distinction of being the place where Father Damien was ordained.  He is the priest who went to Moloki to work with the lepers - and he has since become a saint.

We flew to Kauai for 4 days:

The first day we took a sunset cruise to the iconic Na Poli coast.  You can only see them by boat or helicopter - I took lots of photos, so here are the best ones:

Spot the turtle!!

One day John and Johnny  went diving, so Alex and I drove up to the north shore for shopping and snorkeling:

We found an organic market to get snacks and gifts:

An taro fields (taro, from which they make poi)

Late in the day, I drove to pick up the scuba divers.  Here is a beautiful tree-lined lane:

Some friendly goats who greeted me along the road:

and St. Raymond's Catholic church, "the oldest church on the island:"

The "Yellow Submarine" dive shop:

And the happy divers:

A bit of what they saw that day (in addition to sharks, monk seals, and a big pod of dolphins)

Early in the morning I got up to see the Hawaiian greeting of the dawn.  Enjoy!

We drove up the switchback road to the top of the Waimea Canyon.  Beautiful views!

And visited the art colony of Hanapepe...gallery after gallery of amazing art:

On our last night there we went to a luau (the Smith Family) - great food and great fun!

Mrs. Smith serving Mai Tais:

We had to hurry out of Hawaii in advance of the two hurricanes bearing down on us (which turned out to be pretty tame, but we had left already...)

so we had to say "Aloha" for the foreseeable future...

Ah, Hawaii!