Singapore: Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple

Many of my Singaporean friends can’t believe that I actually like local coffee (it is different from Starbucks, but – frankly – not by much; it is still coffee). I guess it’s that they don’t see too many Westerners that adapt to the local lifestyle (and coffee is part of it). They would speechless if they found out I sometimes get on a bus and ride until I see a hawker centre that looks good and jump out for a bite to eat (it’s enough for many of them that I even ride buses). It would really floor them if they knew I actually took field trips to obscure local spots of interest.

Some friends of mine organize outings to interesting places every once in a while. I joined them a few weeks ago to visit Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple. The temple was originally built in Pasir Ris, in the northeast of the island, at a location where, as the story goes, several statues of different deities washed ashore years ago. The person that found them built a temple, predominantly a Chinese temple. But a Hindu statue was among those washed ashore, so a Hindu temple was worked in. A large percentage of the surrounding community was Muslim, so a mosque was built in, as well.

The original temple was a makeshift structure, really a series of what looked like shacks. But, rising rents required the move to a new location – just a couple of miles southeast down the road to Loyang, which is in a more remote area, closer to the airport.

So, we all started with lunch at the rebuilt Chinatown Food Centre, a massive structure one storey above the hustle and bustle of pre-lunar new year Chinatown. We then jumped on the train to go towards the northeast of the island, where we would take a bus the rest of the way to the temple.





Unlike its predecessor, the new temple was built with a bit of planning (and apparently money). It is fascinating. The Chinese Buddhist/Daoist section dominates, probably 60 percent of the total width. A sliver, maybe ten feet wide, was dedicated to the mosque. Less than double the width of that was the Hindu portion. Each stood side-by-side, and worshippers could be seen at all three, extending the Buddhist tradition of lighting incense to the Muslim and Hindu sections, as well.




It was the weekend before Chinese New Year, so the place was abuzz with preparations for the holiday. The Chinese section is familiar in its Buddhist/Daoist setup, with icons of gods, different places for offerings, reverent memorials for ancestors, the incredibly ornate carvings on the pillars, walls, and ceilings, and the ubiquitous incense smoke. Adding to the experience were the hundreds of worshipers, taking time out of a pleasant day to pay their respects in their own tradition (other than special occasions, Chinese worshipers do not have a set time to visit temples – they go when the impulse hits them). It is an interesting, if not well-known, little part of Singapore.




We ended the day with coffee and some local goodies at the hawker centre across the street. It was about as native a day a non-Singaporean could have. In fact, I was probably more Singaporean that day than most of my local friends.

Singapore: Chinese Garden

Another less hidden place of interest (I don't know if you call it a gem) in Singapore is the Chinese Garden. This replica of a Chinese garden (it contains a Japanese garden, as well; I don't really know the difference, but I think that Japanese gardens contain bonsai trees while Chinese gardens do not) is in the southwest of the island. I had wanted to visit and even got so far as the gates last year before I read the sign that said the garden would be closed for that weekend. So, I filed it in my "to do" list, and a year later was back on the MRT heading to, conveniently enough, Chinese Garden station. Off the train, through the turnstiles, and 300 metres down the path, you cross the bridge into the garden.



It really is a nice space. This is one of the places my local friends say, "Yes, I went there...when I was six!" But, it is worth a trip out on a nice day to enjoy the scenery. You have large, arched bridges that cross inlets from the sea, winding paths through forests and sculptures, old sun dials (and a more modern one - can you tell what time it was?), a garden with the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, a well-populated turtle pond, and statues of historical Chinese figures, from philosophers such as Confucius to warriors like Yue Fei, on whose back his mother tattooed four Chinese characters meaning: "Serve the country loyally." There are also the twin pagodas on the water and the 7-storey pagoda at the entrance to the garden.








I liked the garden with the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. Each year was represented with a stylized statue of two of the animals, with a plaque showing the particular years of the animal (I was born in 1968, the year of the Monkey), and the characteristics of people born during that year. The oxen (pictured here) were adorned with red ribbons, in anticipation of the new year celebrations that would take place nine days later to usher in the Year of the Ox.


I found one particularly neat feature. Singapore has built a "model" of the solar system, spread out over the island. The sun is located at the Singapore Science Center, and the nine planets are then placed in public spots in scale according to their distance from the sun. I found Venus in the Chinese garden, and Mercury is in the Japanese garden. Each of the planets occupies a space along its orbit somewhere in the city-state, with Pluto rounding out the solar system all the way to the east. I thought that was a nice touch.


It was a nice Saturday evening, so I decided to take the PCN back towards town. It was a longer walk than expected, but it led me to Bukit Batok Park, with its thick forest and quarry lake, stuck right in the middle of a residential and commercial area. Another hidden gem! Singapore is full of them.

Walking the Ridges

Singapore has a number of hidden gems, if you are willing to look for them. One is the Park Connector Network (PCN), a series of trails and elevated walkways that connects several kilometres of public spaces in various places across the island. I had seen parts of the PCN from the road several times, and I decided to pay a closer visit.

I started with the Southern Ridges, which wind through the southwestern section of the island, connecting Mount Faber Park, Telok Blangah Hill Park, Hort Park, Kent Ridge Park, and West Coast Park. The trailhead is at the base of Mount Faber Park, just across from the port (and Vivo City, the largest mall in Singapore). Mount Faber is also where you catch the cable car to Sentosa Island. The first climb up Mount Faber is the toughest part of the the trip! It was a steamy day, and I was sufficiently warmed up by the time I got to the top.

The PCN is actually a series of walkways, each with a distinct style. The Mount Faber section is a "mountain" trail, winding along the top of the hill and through woods until it opens onto the Henderson Waves. The Henderson Waves - Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge - is a towering walkway above Henderson Road that links Mount Faber Park to Telok Blangah Hill Park. The Waves give way to a hilltop trail, which turns into series of traversing metal walkways taking hikers down the hill to the Alexandra Arch and into the Hort Park, a gardening-themed park. From there, you wind your way back up hills and into a treetop walk in Kent Ridge Park.




The Henderson Waves bridge is spectacular. The design is a unique wave form made up of seven undulating curved steel ribs that alternately rise over and under its deck (description and external photo courtesy of National Parks Singapore). The decking of the bridge is finished with a beautiful yellow balau wood, giving it a homey feel. The curved ribs form alcoves with built-in benches, giving hikers places to sit back and enjoy the views from 78 metres above sea level (and 36 above Henderson Road).




The hilltop trail on the far side of the Waves brings you to a beautiful multi-layered pavilion before taking you zig-zagging through the trees to the Alexandra Arch and the Hort Park. It had already been a long morning, so I quickly went through the Hort Park to the eastern part of Kent Ridge Park, home to Reflections at Bukit Chandu, a memorial for the 1,400 soldiers from the Malay Regiment who chose to fight to their death against 13,000 Japanese soldiers in February, 1942, during the fall of Singapore. This looks like an impressive memorial, but I did not stay, so it will be subject of a future blog.




I hear from my Singaporean friends that there is nothing to do in Singapore. I disagree. If you just take a little bit of initiative, you can find all kinds of interesting outings that can fill a half day and give you a better appreciation of the city-state.

The Long Journey Home

Thirty hours is a long time to travel, and I was not looking forward to the return trip to Singapore. I was happy to be heading back after a fantastic three weeks in the US, but even when I held on to the prospect of getting the upgrade (I didn’t), I was still less than excited for the trip. I am a big believer in the journey, as much as the destination, but I have done this trip enough to know it is something you just grit your teeth and get through.

So, I didn’t think much when my day started (a bit late) at 5.00 am in Dallas (7.00 pm in Singapore) on Saturday, January 3. The flight to Chicago is on United Express, with tiny seats only made worse by my neighbor’s inability to fit completely in her seat. But, the flight was over in less than two hours, and even the 25 degree weather I endured while walking across the outside bridge to the jetway (it was in the 50s in Dallas and the 80s in Singapore, so I had already packed my coat) was tolerable.

But, that’s when the trouble started. I wasn’t far enough up on the upgrade list and was relegated to the back of the plane (well, to Economy Plus, which does offer more legroom). Before we could taxi away from the gate, however, a passenger suffered an apparent heart event, as the flight attendant quickly grabbed the AED and ran to the back. Soon, Chicago paramedics were on board. Thankfully, the man retained consciousness and was able to communicate to his attendants as he was removed from the airplane. We were delayed from departing for more than an hour, but it was nice to know he was apparently okay and in good hands.

The flight from Chicago to Hong Kong goes almost directly over the North Pole and then down over Siberia, Mongolia, and China. It is discouraging when you look at the inflight map and see that you are already over Siberia but still have more than six hours to go! We finally touched down around 6.30 pm Hong Kong time (same as Singapore), so I had been up for nearly a day and traveling for about 22 hours. Little did I know that I was only halfway home.

The Singapore flight was delayed more than two hours, rescheduled for a 10.30 departure. So, I relaxed for several hours in the lounge, falling in and out of sleep (I have a hard time sleeping on planes). Finally, time to board. About 50 of us got on the plane before we were asked to disembark, as an engine test was required before we could take off. This apparently had occurred in San Francisco, the plane’s origination point. We all got off, and they ran the test, which took about ten minutes. Then everyone got on the plane, and we headed out. After a stop-and-go taxi of an hour, the captain came on the loudspeaker and told us we had to return to the gate, as the problem had not been solved. So, back to the gate! It took a while, as we had taxi’d to the apparent farthest point on the tarmac from our gate. Once we got back, the captain said that we would need to stay on the plane while the maintenance team identified the problem and fixed it. This would allow us to more quickly depart once the repairs were completed. But, after another couple of hours, the ground crew determined that the problem was more substantial than previously thought, and the flight was canceled. That meant everybody off, through Immigration, to baggage claim, through Customs and to the airport hotel. This at nearly 4.00 am! I will admit that the process was pretty efficient, once we walked the 15 minutes to Immigration (the shuttle train had not started running for the day). I was in my hotel room by 5.30 and asleep by 6.00 am. After six hours of rest, I was back to the departure gates, where United put me on a Cathay Pacific flight back to Singapore, departing at 2.20 pm. I would get back to Singapore about 6.00 pm and to my house at 7.00, 48 hours after I woke up in Dallas.

I was not looking forward to 30 hours of travel, as my original itinerary called for. Forty-eight was nearly a killer. It was nice to get horizontal for six hours, but I would rather avoid this type of experience again.

Christmas in America

I was lucky to spend three weeks back in the US visiting colleagues, friends, and family. It was a fantastic time! I made it to Dallas, Austin, Lake Brownwood State Park for an good old friend's wedding, Amarillo, Albuquerque, Santa Fe for my annual Hearts Game (Webb lost), back to Amarillo and then back to Dallas. Along the way, I saw friends from high school, college, and post-college days. I went to a Cowboy game and bought two pairs of cowboy boots (I have no idea when I will wear them in Singapore). I hung out in the Driskill Hotel in Austin, the rim of the Palo Duro Canyon, and all kinds of places in between. I enjoyed weather from sunny 70 degrees to snowy (and blowy) 25 degrees, sometimes within just a day or two of each other (in the same place!). I listed to a ton of great Texas music. And I got to eat good ol' American food: cheese fries at Snuffer's in Dallas AND Southlake, CFS at Porch in Dallas, Babe's in Roanoke, and the Stockyards Cafe in Amarillo, burgers at Hut's in Austin, Coyote Bluff, Wendy's and Sonic in Amarillo (don't laugh - we don't have those over here) and Del's in Tucumcari, biscuits and gravy at the Wagon Wheel in Goldthwaite, Lucky's and Original Market Diner in Dallas, and Alex's house (with my homemade gravy) in Amarillo, pizza at Louie's and Fireside Pies in Dallas and Luigi's in Amarillo, steaks at Bull Ring in Santa Fe and (my favorite) Bob's in Dallas, and - of course - Mexican food! Mi Cocina in Southlake, Abuelo's and Leal's in Amarillo, tamales on the Square and Los Potrillos in Santa Fe. No wonder I gained 10 pounds!

Of course, the best thing about being back was seeing my family. I spent time with them in Amarillo, and we wen to spend some time with my cousins in Albuquerque before making our first visit to Aunt Beverly's gravesite since her death in September. She is interred with Uncle Bill in the beautiful setting of Santa Fe National Cemetery.

It was a great three weeks.

Weddings, Singapore-style

Singapore is a multi-cultured town (city, state, nation?). And I have been lucky enough to experience two distinct cultural events recently – a Chinese and an Indian wedding.

Chinese weddings are complex, multi-layered affairs. I won’t go into all the events that take place in conjunction with a Chinese wedding – just know that there are all kinds of rituals and ceremonies that involve various friends and family at different times. One of the most significant is the wedding dinner, which includes invitations for extended family, friends, and colleagues. These are extravagant affairs that include eight-course dinners in a traditional Chinese style and are sometimes held a year after the actual wedding.

I was invited to the wedding dinner of a work colleague, and I was excited to attend. The invitation noted twice that it was not polite to be late, so I made a mental note to “NOT be late”. This was directly opposed to all the advice my native Singaporean friends gave me – it will all start late, they said. I showed up on time anyways, greeting my colleagues there, and went to my table.

Which was just me. I sat at a round eight-person table and watched the same slide show over and over, narrated by a single Chinese pop song (I later found out it was Korean) on repeat mode. It wasn’t until another colleague joined me 20 minutes after 7.30 pm (the start time) that I had someone to talk to. Good thing the single-song soundtrack kept me company.


A few other in-the-know friends came in before 8.30, when the bride made her entrance (an hour late). The bride was beautiful, of course, dressed in white (you can see her in the back of the picture above). She and her groom made her way down front (we were in a hotel ballroom with probably 40 tables for eight laid out). That was the signal to start serving food (I will remind you that it was 8.30 and I had not eaten since lunch).

And the food was wonderful. We had several courses of delicious Chinese dishes, including prawns, pork, chicken, and fish. I have attended a few such dinners here (mainly in business situations), and I always enjoy them.


Once settled, the bride (after a stunning wardrobe change!) and groom made it through the crowd to greet everyone, with their parents in tow. It was a very nice gesture to complement the superb meal. But, the dinner appeared to go on and on, so I left before the last course, as it was approaching 11.00 pm on a Sunday night.


Two weeks later, I had the good fortune to attend another wedding celebration, that of one of my Sabre colleagues at the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple (loyal readers will recall this is the ending point for the Thaipusam khavadi procession I described last January). She is a Chinese Singaporean, marrying an Indian Singaporean, and I attended the Indian ritual (she also had a Christian ceremony in a church). This was fascinating. It started at 10.00 on a Sunday morning, and there were three distinct ceremonies – one for him, one for her, and one for the two of them. I was afraid the ceremony would be outside in the humid morning, but we were upstairs in air conditioned comfort. And we had seats. Some of the other 3,000 (!) who were invited (most from the groom’s side, although not that many attended) stood the entire time.


It was hard to tell what was going on, since all of it was in Tamil (an Indian dialect) and was accompanied by relentless drumming by the trio sitting up front. Once the separate ceremonies concluded, a man went on stage with a microphone to explain what had occurred and what was going to happen. He first gave his lengthy speech in Tamil, and by the time he started in English, the bride and her entourage were making their way down the aisle for the final ceremony, which was the cue for the drummers. I didn’t hear a word of the explanation.


The bride looked beautiful! And with her husband, they made a handsome couple. There were several other rituals in the ceremony, including a curious game where the bride and groom plunge their hands into a pot and fight over a ring and conch shell (I still don’t quite understand). At the end, the bride and groom received us all on stage in a twist on the receiving line. A delicious vegetarian Indian meal ended the day.



Two down, one to go. I will have to see if I can find my way to a Malay wedding, which are supposed to be beautiful events, as well.