Stylish Singapore

Our visit to Singapore was very short.  Mark and I arrived one night and immediately departed for Melaka, Malaysia.  We returned to Singapore 10 days later for three nights.  I had been to Singapore 27 years earlier on my trip around the world.  Mark had been here in 2003 for work.  However, neither of us really remembered much from our brief visits. 

Peranakan Museum: Typical kitchen

As in Malaysia, December is Singapore’s rainy season.  Undaunted and armed with umbrellas, we set out to explore the city.  We took in the Peranakan Museum.  This is a fabulous ethnological museum (named for the ethnic Chinese who had settled in the Straits area and intermarried with the Malay and Indian inhabitants) and walked around the Arab district.   

Amy joined us in Singapore on our second day (around 1:30AM in the morning).  It was great to see her.  Although tired, she was delighted to have finished her exams and escape the 39 degree weather she left in Seattle.

Lovely street off Orchard Road

After sleeping until 1100, the three of us explored Little India, the Muslim quarter, Clarke Quay, and Orchard Road (Singapore’s Fifth Avenue).  We also walked around the spice and butterfly gardens, and Singapore’s historic area.  Like Malaysia, Singapore food is delicious and we found a fabulous restaurant called the Islamic, across from a mosque not far from Arab Street.   

Amy with some friends

Unfortunately we encountered a downpour on our only night together that put a cab bash on our plans to take the night safari at the zoo.  So instead we headed back to our hotel and just hung out.

Before we left for Bali the following day, we explored a bit more of Singapore and then we met up with Jen Marks at the Singapore airport.  Jen was one of Mark’s NROTC students during his tenure as the Marine Officer Instructor (MOI) at MIT back in the early 1990s.  Jen will be accompanying us to Bali.

Catching up with Tock-Ling

For me, one of the highlights of our brief visit to Singapore was having a chance to catch up with a friend from my Northeastern University days.  Tock-Ling Chua was one of the first international students I worked with during my time in the International Placement Office at Northeastern.  Upon graduation, Tock-Ling took a job with Texas Instruments.  We caught up a few years later when I came through Singapore in my earlier Asian travels.  What a delight it was to see him again!  Yes, old friends are special.

Singapore takes it's rules seriously

We are off to Bali seeking sun.  Hopefully we will find it there. 

Marvelous Malaysia

We didn’t really know what to expect when we decided to travel to Malaysia.  I have a friend, Faith who is from there and a colleague of Mark’s has also lived there.  Other than that and the recommendation of June and Deasy, two women we met during our Ha Long Bay cruise, we decided to add Melaka (Malacca) and then Penang to our itinerary.

The Spice Route

Su and Ila in Melaka

We arrived in Melaka late in the evening having traveled from Bangkok to Singapore and then hopped on a bus to Melaka.  The following day we found our way to the Selvim, an Indian restaurant for lunch.   We shared a table with a group of hospital employees who graciously treated us to lunch.  Served on banana leaves, I had the Friday vegetarian special:  globs of this and that with rice and chi tea.  Yummy!  I soon found out that Malaysia has a marvelous mix of cultures:  Chinese, Indian and Malay.  The three groups live in relative harmony.  The dominant religions are Islam, Christianity and Buddhism.  In fact, you can find a church, mosque and temple all on the same street!



There is so much to see and do in Melaka, but at the beginning of month six of our travels I have definitely slowed down.  One day, we spent lounging at the Marriott Renaissance hotel pool, reading our books, and of course, playing on the Internet and making reservations for upcoming destinations.

Sunset at the Portuguese Settlement

Despite our laziness, I think we made a good effort at getting around Melaka.  One day, after taking in some of the sites, we ended our night in the Portuguese settlement for dinner. We had walked the entire day, so we had meandering from our hotel to the settlement, a distance of about 10K.  We opted for a taxi to return. Walking in Melaka is a bit tricky; the concept of pedestrian rights has not made it to Malaysia.  In fact it is fascinating how few people we saw walking.  Beware of the scooters that rule the roads!   We visited the Sultan’s palace (yes, Melaka had Sultans), the Dutch square, St. Paul’s Hill, the Dutch, British and Chinese cemeteries, and the famous Jonker Street.  Jonker Street is known for its antique stores by day and weekend Night Market.   We went to church at the first Anglican church of Melaka.  One evening we cruised down the river that meanders through the city.

Aside from the friends we made at the Selvim, we also had the pleasure of meeting Su and her niece Ila who run a small soda fountain on Jonker Street.  The two women were delightful.  Su made multiple dining recommendations.  Indeed we loved the Northern Indian tandoori restaurant she recommended!

Mark and Lee

As you can tell, food is a passion in Malaysia.  This is also true in the other Malaysian place we visited—Penang.  Once again, we were blessed by meeting someone who would make our trip extra special.  We met Lee on the bus from the airport.
Lee, a native of Penang, has been retired for 10 years.  I mentioned that I was delighted to be in Penang having read a book about the city.  As it turns out, Lee had met the author of the book, The Gift of Rain, a week earlier at a Literary Conference in Penang.  Our friendship was sealed.

Georgetown waterfront in Penang

Once again, armed with Deasy and June’s recommendations, we toured Penang’s sites.  It was easy to see why The Kek Loc Si Temple is a must see.  The temple is enormous and ornate.  The shrine has been lovingly restored.  Penang Hill, mentioned in The Gift of Rain, was a hill station during Britain’s colonial period.  The temperature on the hill was 15 degrees cooler than in the city!  The Hill also houses a small aviary and a collection of tropical plants.  We also visited the home of a Cheong Fatt Tze, a man who became as wealthy as Rockefeller.  Tragically, in 1916, Cheong died of pneumonia on his way to meet with Rockefeller to set up an Asian bank.

Tropical Spice Plantation

Tropical Spice Plantation

One of my favorite sites in Penang was the Tropical Spice Garden.  The Garden is located about an hour bus ride out of Georgetown on the Northern Coast of the island.  What a beautiful site.  Nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, and cloves coveted by the Europeans grew easily in Malaysia.  Malaysia was renowned for its role in the spice trade being both a geographic crossroad and being so fertile.

Thanks to the warmth of the lovely people we befriended and the beauty of this country, we had a wonderful time in Malaysia.

Cambodian Contrasts

The international airport in Siem Reap is three years old, clean, air conditioned and elegant.   Likewise, the main road from the airport to our hotel is lined with very large, brand-new, internationally known chain hotels.  This is not the way I pictured Cambodia.  Our hotel, though more local in style, is also lovely but the road it is on is made of rutted, soft sandy clay.  Cambodia is a country of contrasts.

 

We are only here for a few days.  The cost of a flight to Siem Reap exceeds any of the flights we have taken so far.  Cambodia wants travelers but it seems only those who are well heeled.  

The hotel we stayed was on a rutted, dirt road, just off the main drag.  The Auberge Monte Royal is a charming oasis.  Our room had a four-poster bed, bright white down duvet, a lovely lanai, a delicious breakfast with 6 choices of fresh fruit and all the amenities of a modern hotel.

Buphon temple Buddha

Bas Relief from a temple

Following a delicious breakfast on the hotel lanai, we met our tour guide Dee and driver Rosa.  Our three-person tour, set up by Barbara, was, thankfully, in an air-conditioned minivan.   Rosa offered us bottles of cold water.  Dee and Rosa took good care of us during our stay.  Cambodia was scorching and humid even early in the morning.  We spent two days visiting various wats.  The most famous wats are those in the Angkor Wat complex.  These wats were built for King Suryavarman II as early as the 12^th century.  However, it was King Jayavarman VII in the 13th century (aka Jaia 7) who is credited by the Cambodian people for building temples that honored both Hindu gods and goddesses and the Buddha.  Jaia 7’s religious tolerance allowed both religions to coexist and created peace in Cambodia.  Unfortunately, religious tolerance was not continued under his nephew and successor, Jaia VIII.  Jaia VIII had all the Hindu gods and goddesses removed and replaced by statues of Buddha. 

The first morning we explored some wats in Bauphon, on the outskirts of Siem Reap.  Seven man-made lakes surrounded this complex.  These lakes represented the seven oceans within the kingdom.  Man-made lakes surround many of the wats.  We also visited the Jungle wat, a wat taken over by the jungle and used for the filming of Indian Jones.  We did a lot of climbing. 

Angkor Wat

On our second day we concentrated on the Angkor Wat complex. We admired the bas-relief on the temple at Angkor Watt.  The bas-relief is a pictorial retelling of Hindu mythology.  We marveled at the architectural genius and engineering feat evident in the Wats.  We ruminate on the lives that must have been lost constructing these magnificent monuments.  What have we constructed that would stand this test of time?

All were spectacular; but after awhile, though each was fascinating, I began to get temple weary and confused.  Happily we took a break and visited a silk farm.  I found the visit fascinating.  

Artist sponsored by Save the Children

However, what I realize I like most about traveling is the people we meet.  We saw a group of children drawing as we exited one of the temples.  Their art class is a project of Save the Children.  It was a pleasure to see the children and I enjoyed watching them draw.   

One woman who touched my heart was Sophea Pheach, a Cambodian woman who left her country as a child when her family became political refugees during Pol Pot’s regime.  She grew up in Uruguay and was educated in France.  A few years ago she returned to Cambodia to found an orphanage.  From there she has continued to help her fellow Cambodians by establishing a silk farm employing over 110 locals, many of them orphans and poor local girls, and making gold silk that is turned into museum quality tapestries, clothing, bedding and accessories. Sophea’s determination to preserve this traditional Cambodian handicraft and helping her country is both admirable and inspirational.  Check out her site at http://www.goldensilk.org/index.html  

and a wonderful review of her business and one of a kind silk products at http://luxurytravelreview.com/2011/11/07/interesting-inspiring-visit-to-cambodia-golden-silk-farm/

In front of Angkor Wat

Mark and I also met a young man, Ping, in a temple who spoke to us of his struggle to get an education.  As the child of farmers, he is not able to pay for his schooling.  He was in school at a monastery but had to return home when his father was injured.  He longs to attend school but is now too old to attend the monastery school.  He has found a monk who works with him on English.  He is unable to marry since he cannot find a good job.  This reminded me of the predicament we heard about by some of the men we met in Jordan.  It seems that the current employment situation has had a direct impact on their marriage prospects.  

As I said earlier, our visit to Cambodia was extremely short.  We had a brief glimpse into the poverty that still exists there as we took a taxi to a restaurant that was outside the heavily trafficked tourist area.  On the way we saw people living in squalor along the riverbank.  With the recent memory of the flooding in Thailand, we wonder how long these people will have their homes before flooding washes theirs away also.

As I reflect on my time in Cambodia, I once again realize how fortunate I am.