Walks Through Singapore

When I was growing up in Singapore, the population was only 2.5 million people.  Almost 45 years later, the population is now 5.5 million, with projections to grow to almost 7 million within a few years.  To put this in perspective, the City of Phoenix, the 6th most populous city in the United States, has a population of about 1.5 million people, occupying a land area of slightly over 500 square miles. Singapore only has 300 square miles.  Another comparison is New Zealand, with a land area of about 103,000 square miles but only a population of less than 5 million people.

The message I am trying to put across is that this is a very populated island.  Most people live in high-rises, either government-subsidized apartments or private condominiums.  There are not a lot of open spaces but the government has cleverly created parks and park connectors where there are still open spaces for recreation.

Whenever I return for a visit, I am like a tourist.  Many places where I grew up don't look the same:  New buildings, roads, trees, etc.  I only know how to take certain buses and the subway.  If you ask me to drive, I'm sure I will be lost.  Fortunately, I am still have many friends here.  One group that I've gotten to know take long walks, about 2-3 hours, around 10km or 6 miles, in different parts of Singapore on Friday mornings.  The best part is following the walk, they ended up at one of the food centers and enjoy some nice local food.

The first walk took us through the city center, up Fort Canning, where the British used to have a base, then ending up in Chinatown.  I used to be very familiar with this area but no more.

Cannon from the old British Colonial Days

Wall Mural at Fort Canning

Modern Apartment Building in Chinatown

A popular tourist street in Chinatown

Chinese Temple juxtaposed against modern commercial buildings

Typically the group size is about 10-12

 My second walk with the group took us to Sentosa Island.  This used to be a British military base but has been converted into a big recreational island, with casinos, aquariums, hiking trails, hotel, etc.  It's interesting because there used to be just villages on this island but it has changed tremendously.

We start early, at 7am, before it gets hot

Cycling is popular here

You can take a cable car from Mt Faber or drive to the island

An obstacle course for team building

Beautiful hiking path through the forest

The British had the cannons facing the wrong way when the Japanese came in WWII

Montreal

Our last stop on our Canadian trip was Montreal.  Quebec City and Montreal are in Quebec, a French-speaking province.  Most people in Quebec speak French, although they study English in school.  Most people would think that Montreal is the capital of Canada, but it's not.  Ottawa is the capital.  Here is a Brief History of Canada.

The unique thing about Montreal is the French influence.  It's a beautiful city, combining the old and new.  The people are wonderfully friendly.  The food is great.  To top it off, we went to a big tent circus show called Luzia by the hometown Cirque du Soleil at the Old Port.

Entrance to Luzia, the Cirque du Soleil show at the Old Port

We stayed at a small hotel in the Latin Quarter called Auberge Le garden d'Antoine at 2024 rue St-Denis, MONTREAL Quebec H2X3K7 (CANADA), Phone : +1 514 843 4506.  It costs us about US$100 a night and it included an adequate continental breakfast.  Our breakfast host, Mathew, was very friendly and accommodating.  One of the things I wanted to try in Montreal was their bagel.  There is a lot of debate as to which bagel is better:  New York or Montreal.  I must say I like the Montreal bagel because it's thinner and softer, therefore, easier to eat.

I also hear a lot about poutine (French fries topped with gravy and cheese curds).  Here is a picture of it:

Poutine

St. Paul Avenue, where a lot of restaurants are, near the Old Port

Captivating Statue on St. Paul Avenue

Michael Jackson-theme Street Performers, in front of Notre Dame Church

Notre Dame Church

Stores along the Old Port

 We took a cruise on the St. Lawrence River with a different view of the city from the river.  Nothing exceptional except we saw this group of condos, that have a unique design.  It's called Habitat 67
It was designed by Israeli/Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, as part of his Master's thesis in Architecture at McGill University.   He designed many iconic buildings around the world, including the Marine Bay Sands Hotel in Singapore.

Habitat 67, along the river

One of the many beautiful flowers in the Montreal Botanical Gardens

Waterfall at the Montreal Botanical Garden

An Exceptionally Beautiful Garden!

Acrobat at Luzia, a Cirque du Soleil show

Makes me cringe watching this contortionist

Quebec City

The second part of our Canadian trip takes us to Quebec City.  Why Quebec City (QC)?  I've heard and read a lot about QC, it being an old walled city.  In fact, it's the only city in North America that has a wall around it.  More importantly, my friend, Michel (pronounced like "Michelle" in English, because it's French) lives there.  I met Michel when we were both in Vietnam in 2010, staying at the same Camilla Hotel in Hanoi.  We were one of the few "westerners" there so we clicked.  We had many dinners together, even after I moved out of the hotel into my own apartment.

Michel was a music professor, specializing in voice, at Laval University in QC.  He has since retired but he was volunteering as a voice coach to the National Vietnam Choir when I met him.

We flew from Toronto to QC, about an hour and a half flight.  We had a quick salad lunch at Michel's house after he picked us up, then we are off to see the old city of QC.

Michel's beautiful garden.  We ate meals in an enclosed patio, overlooking this garden.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Inside the Notre Dame Cathedral

One of the streets selling art

St. Lawrence River with Îlie d'Orléans (or d'Orleans Island)

Along the waterfront

A slide used for tobagonning in the winter

A busy tourist street

On the second day Michel took us to the Îlie d'orleans, an island on the St. Lawrence River.  It's about a 30-minute drive from Michel's house.  All of a sudden, you are in the countryside.  Michel took us to different points on the island and showed us different things.  We also stopped at a restaurant for lunch, a fruit stand, where we bought some freshly picked strawberries, and a blackcurrant farm, where they served wonderful ice-creams.  It's an amazing place and the people were just so friendly.

Restaurant on Îlie d'Orléans

Church on Îlie d'Orléans

Park next to the St. Lawrence River

Montmorency Falls, just outside QC

Surprisingly for Candy, this was her favorite place in Canada, especially Îlie d'Orleans, the island on the St. Lawrence River.  Another surprise was the number of beautiful parks around the city, one of them a long stretch along the river.  We stopped at one of the parks near Michel's house after dinner on the last evening.  It was getting dark.  We were surprised to find a woman walking alone and not afraid at all.  This would've never happen in the US, especially in a big city.  Michel also told us that sometimes he forgets to lock his door.  QC is a mid-size city that you have most of what you need, including a reputable university.  However, it retains the feel of a small town, where the people are friendly and the place safe.

O Canada!

My girlfriend, Candy, and I took a trip to Canada this summer, in June 2016.  I planned the itinerary so that we'll stop first in New York City to see my son's family, Shawn, Ella and Esme, who is almost 1-year old.  After about 4 days in NYC, we flew to Toronto, where my close high-school friend, Herman and his family (Doreen and Joshua) lives.  They migrated to Canada in 1988 and love the country.  It's what makes Canada a wonderful country.  They truly appreciate their diversity, because most of them are immigrants from somewhere.  Unlike America, where the right-wing conservatives are threatening to build walls to keep out immigrants, Canada is opening its doors to refugees:
Canada Welcomes Refugees

Our first stop, after Herman picked us up at the airport, was having a light lunch at a won-ton noodle restaurant in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, where many Asian immigrants live.  This is a small restaurant that serves only won-ton noodles, beef-tendon noodles, and dumplings.  That's it.  A small menu with only about a dozen variations of the main items.  It's similar to the type of won-ton noodle stands or restaurants that you find in Hong Kong, Malaysia, or Singapore.  It's a thriving business because at 3 pm in the afternoon, it was still a busy restaurant.  I mentioned this because it goes to show how immigrants are able to retain their originality while thriving in Canada.

Herman took us to Niagara Falls the first day.  It's only about an hour drive and it's a must for anyone visiting Toronto, if you have never been there.  It's a sight to be seen.  You have the American and the Canadian Falls, not far from each other.  We were on the Canadian side and we could see both falls.

Panoramic View of American Falls (left) and Canadian Falls (right)

We took a boat similar to the one below to as close to the Falls as possible.  It was quite an experience, being able to feel the power of the water rushing down.

Maid of the Mist boat that goes to the bottom of the Falls

See how close the boat got to the Falls

A few miles from Niagara Falls is the town of Niagara-By-The-Lake.  It's a small touristy town, with many shops and hotels catering to the tourists.  It's in the middle of an ice-wine industry.  There are many ice-wine vineyards in the area.  Ice-wine is different from regular wine in that the grapes are harvested in the middle of winter, when they are frozen.  The wine is sweet and very tasty.  Here is more about ice-wine:   Ice Wine

The next day we took a tour of the Roadtrek Factory in Kitchener, Ontario, about 1 1/2 hours from Toronto.  Roadtrek manufactures Class B motorhomes built on a Mercedes Benz van chassis.  It has a  good reputation for quality.  I am in the market for a Class B motorhome so that I can travel somewhere outside of Phoenix during the hot summer months.  It comes equipped with beds, shower, toilet, galley, etc, pretty much self-contained.  Traveling around the US and Canada is a beautiful experience, especially in your own motorhome.

The next couple of days were spent visiting the different neighborhoods in Toronto.  First, we went to Markham and Scarborough, where there are big Asian communities, especially from Hong Kong.  You can almost get by here by just speaking Mandarin or Cantonese.  There are several big malls that are almost all Asian businesses.  It's like a mini-Hong Kong.  I understand many of them migrated to Toronto and Vancouver just before Hong Kong was returned to China by the British.  Feeling insecure with the Chinese government encouraged many of them to leave.

On another day we took a walk around downtown Toronto.  It's a lively area with many shops and restaurants.  The old Chinatown is in downtown and we walked around there as well.  We went up to CN Tower, where we could see most of Toronto.

Toronto Blue Jays' Stadium, seen from CN Tower 

Part of downtown and Lake Toronto, from CN Tower

City Hall.  The pond in front of the sign becomes frozen in the winter and becomes a ice-skating rink.

One memorable thing we did to excess was EAT.  There are so many good restaurants, especially Asian, that we ate out every night.  Out of five nights, we went to three buffet dinners - a Japanese, Italian and Chinese restaurants.  We almost had to crawl out of those restaurants!

Our last dinner in Toronto was at a Chinese seafood restaurant, specializing in King crabs and lobsters.  Around the inside of the restaurant, are two levels of fish tanks, one level holding lobsters and the other level of tanks holding King crabs.  Reservations have to be made at least 1 week in advance.  You are allocated only 2 hours to finish your meal.  The crabs and lobsters are cooked Chinese style.  Needless to say, they were delicious.

Toronto is a wonderful city.  What impressed me is the diversity of the population, the friendliness of the people, and as you drive around the city, you can see the robustness of its economy.  There are many Canadian, American and other International companies, along the freeway.  Thanks to Herman, Doreen and Josh's hospitality, our stay there was a most memorable one.

Monument Valley and Hunt's Mesa

I realized that I have not updated my blog at all in 2016.  That's mainly because I have not taken any major trips.  Sure, I took a 4-day ski trip to Telluride, Colorado, and a long weekend trip to New York City but I have mainly stayed in Arizona since coming back from Singapore in late December, 2015.

One trip that I was looking forward to is to Monument Valley and Hunt's Mesa in northern Arizona and southern Utah.  This was part of an Arizona Highways Photo Workshop (AHPW) in which

I was one of the Volunteer Trip Leaders (VTL).  There were 15 participants, two VTLs', and one photographer, LeRoy DeJolie.  This is home for LeRoy, his Navajoland, where his ancestors lived.  LeRoy has been working with AHPW for 20 years and leads many trips to iconic places on the Navajo reservation - Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelly, Antelope Canyon, etc.  This is an area of immense beauty, with its unique red rocks and geologic formations.  The Navajos have been wonderful custodians of these geologic treasures, considering some of these places sacred as their ancestors have for so many generations.  It's a very sparse, barren area, thinly populated and until few years ago, some of the Navajos lived in hogans (pronounced ho guns) with no electricity or running water.

Tourists from all over the world come to see Monument Valley.  LeRoy was not only our photographer, he was our guide as well.  He knows all the right places to take the best pictures at the right time.  This is not your run-of-the-mill tour.  It's a photography tour infused with a lot of history and culture.

Our participants came from all over the United States - New York, Florida, New Jersey, Michigan, California, and Arizona.   One even came from France.

We started our tour at about 7 am, May 17, from a Holiday Inn in Phoenix.  A chartered bus driven by our driver, Cricket, took us to Flagstaff and stopped for lunch at the Cameron Trading Post.  This is a very busy tourist stop for tourists traveling to and from northern Arizona.  A specialty here is the Indian fry bread.  I had an Indian taco, which is Indian fry bread, with taco toppings - cheese, tomato, lettuce, and ground beef.

Navajo Taco

After Cameron, we headed to Kayenta.  On the way we stopped at a place where there are dinosaur tracks.  Then we stopped in Tuba City, where we visited the Navajo Code Talker Museum.  The Code Talkers were instrumental in the American winning the Pacific over Japan during World War II.  They use coded Navajo language to communicate among the American forces.  The Japanese were never able to decipher the coded messages.

Dinosaur tracks

Tuba City Trading Post where the museum is located

At Kayenta we checked into the Hampton Inn.  About an hour after we checked, we were ready for our first shoot.  Our first location is El Capitan, about 30 minutes away from Kayenta.

El Capitan

We were supposed to have a morning shoot but it rained.  After breakfast and a critique session, we headed towards Hunt's Mesa.  We had an outfitter, John Holiday, and his team of cousins and nephews, take our group in 4 four-wheel drive vehicles up to the mesa.  The terrain is very rough.  You can only go up there by foot, horse or 4-wheel drive vehicles. 

About 100 yards from the mesa, LeRoy asked us to walk up to the top, but looking down.  He gave a short speech about how sacred the place is to the Navajos and how his ancestors had lived here for generations.  At the top, he asked everyone to look up.  The group just went "ooh" and "wow".  It was a majestic view of Monument Valley

Panoramic View of Monument Valley

Monument Valley with rain clouds

Weather conditions over the next 24 hours were perfect for photography up in Hunt's Mesa.  The sky opened up, adding a little blue to the abundant rain clouds.  We spread out to different points on the mesa to capture different shots of the valley.  Later in the afternoon, it started raining lightly.  A wonderful steak dinner was served by the outfitter.  We retired to our tents after dinner because there was nothing else we could do with the rain falling.  At night a full moon came out.  It was as if someone turned on the night-light so that we can see where we were going.  Then the stars sparkled in the sky.  Some tried to capture the milky way but it was too bright.

In the morning the scene in the valley was something rarely seen.  Because of the rain the night before, there was a thermal inversion, which means fog filled the valley.  You could see some of the tips of the monuments but not the valley.  It was as if we were up in the clouds.  A rare and beautiful sight indeed.

Fog in Monument Valley

We stopped at various spots to take pictures as we came down from Hunt's Mesa.  One of the places was where Forrest Gump, the fictional character from the movie of the same name, stopped running.  It was also an opportunity to see Monument Valley from a different location and perspective.  

Forrest Gump stopped running here

Gooseneck State Park

We had dinner that night at the Swinging Steak restaurant in the small town of Mexican Hat in Utah.  We spent the night at the Gouldings Hotel in Arizona.

Early the next morning, at 4:45 am, we were ready for a tour of Monument Valley.  We loaded up onto two open-sided trucks and were driven by two experienced Navajo women guides.  Our first stop was a place called Totem Pole, where we arrived just before the sun rises.  The 30 minutes after sunrise is known as "sweet light" to photographers because this is when you have perfect lighting condition for photography.  Below are 3 of those shots.

Later we stopped at a few popular locations:  John Ford's Point, Three Sisters and Tear Drop Arch.

We left Gouldings at about noon and headed home to Phoenix.  The group decided to stop in downtown Flagstaff for lunch and then continue south, arriving in Phoenix at about 6 pm.  Most of the out-of-town participants were staying at the Holiday Inn.  A final get together over dinner and drinks concluded this memorable trip.

I wrote a blog for AHPW that described Hunt's Mesa as a sacred location for the Navajos.  Here is the link to that blog:   Hunt's Mesa - A Sacred Place

2015 - Year in Review

It is New Year's Day 2016.  I've been reflecting on the events that transpired in 2015.  As always, there was a lot of travels but there were also a lot of things that happened close to home.

1. I lost two brothers in 2015, one in March, the other in November.  Both have been quite ill for a while and eventually, succumbed to their illnesses.  Out of a family of 7 siblings, there are only two of us left.  My sister and I.  Me being the youngest, it's hard to imagine that I am now the  oldest male and has the responsibility of providing leadership to the family. 
2. My first grandchild was born on August 1.  Esme was born in New York City, weighing 8 pounds 9 ounces.
3. I started the year with a ski trip to Telluride, Colorado from January 8-12.  It was 4 days of wonderful skiing at one of the most beautiful ski resorts in the country.  I am going again in 2016.
4. Next was a short 4-day trip to San Francisco with Candy.  We had to use up an expiring Southwest Airlines ticket that we previously scheduled.
5. I gathered the family for a "meet friends and relatives" trip to Singapore in February.  My son, Shawn, and daughter, Cynthia, brought their spouses to meet my close friends and family.  We had a nice lunch buffet at a local hotel.  They all had a great time enjoying the local foods and spending time with the cousins.  On this trip I was supposed to travel to Yunnan Province in China but with my brother's health deteriorating, I had to rethink my travel plans.
6. Following my brother's passing on early March, I took a short 5-day trip to Yangoon, Myanmar.  I had planned on going to Bagan and Mandalay but did not have enough time.
7. I stayed in Phoenix in April.  In May, I drove to Utah's Big 5 - Zion, Bryce, Capital Reef, Canyonlands, and Arches National Parks.  This was the first time I visited these beautiful parks, even though they are located just north of Arizona. 
8. After the Big 5 parks in southern Utah, I drove to Salt Lake City and met an old friend, Kurtis, and his family.  Kurtis was my client/friend for many years.  I spent two days in SLC.
9. My friend, Edward, and his family from Singapore, met me in Salt Lake City, and from there we drove to Yellowstone National Park.  Again, this was the first time I've been to Yellowstone, even though I've lived in the western part of the US for almost 40 years.  I took full advantage of my National Parks Service Senior Pass, which allows me and my guests to enter any US National Park for free.  It costs me only $10 and it's good for life.  Only US Permanent Residents and US citizens 62 and above are eligible for the pass.
10. In June, I took Candy on a two-week trip to Spain and Portugal.  We visited Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Madrid, Toledo, Porto and Lisbon.  
11. After returning from Spain and Portugal, I traveled in Alaska from June 23 to July 16.  I did not go on a cruise or tour.  It was all independent travel.  The highlights were traveling on the Alaska ferry through the Aleutian Islands to Dutch Harbor and spending 5 days in Denali National Park.
12. I had to suffer through the summer heat after returning to Phoenix in July.  But, it was for a good reason.  I was awaiting the birth of my grandchild.  She finally arrived on August 1st.
13. I joined Arizona Highways Photo Workshops (AHPW) in July and went on my first workshop (Black and White Photography) in Flagstaff, Arizona, in mid-August.
14. A few days after that, I visited Cynthia and Steven in Cincinnati.
15. We went to see the new addition to our family, Esme, in late August in New York City.
16. I was getting hot and restless in Phoenix so mid-September, I rented a car and drove to San Diego to cool off and get some fresh cool air for 4 days.  It was nice to be able to ride my bike and run along the beach and ate some excellent Asian food on Convoy Street.
17. I went on my second AHPW workshop, "Fall in Northern Arizona", from September 28th to October 2nd.  The trip covered Flagstaff and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
18. Another AHPW workshop, this time locally in Mesa, Arizona, called "Macro Photography", on October 10th and 11th.
19. AHPW had a Symposium on November 7th and 8th in Phoenix.  I helped out as a volunteer.
20. Two days before I was supposed to leave for Singapore on November 12th, I received word that my brother, Tiang Hwee, had just passed away.  I arrived in Singapore, after a 30-hour journey, the day before the funeral on Sunday, November 15th.  He was cremated and buried at sea at Changi Point in Singapore, following the funeral.
21. We took a break from the hectic funeral schedule so my sister-in-law Susan, her sister, Sally, and my niece, Teresa, traveled to Bangkok for a four-day shopping and eating trip from November 21st to 24th.
22. I also went on a weekend trip to Johor Bahru on December 5th and 6th with my nieces Jamie and Suzie and my sister.
23. I've never been to Bali so I took advantage of the fact that I was only about a 2-hour flight away, and went there alone from December 10th to 13th.  I will write about my Bali trip in the next post.
24. A few days before I was scheduled to return to the US, my sister-in-law Susan, her sister Sally and her husband Mike and I took a bus and went on a short trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  I have not been to KL for many years.  We just hung around the Chinatown area and mostly ate some of the local street food and shopped the outdoor market.  It was a nice change of scenery.
25. One of the reasons why I went to Singapore was to attend my good friend, Eric's son, Shaun's wedding.  That happened on December 19th.
26. I returned to Phoenix on December 21st and my son, Shawn, his wife, Ella, and baby Esme were  already here.  I was picked up by Cynthia and Steven.  It was a wonderful family reunion and a glorious way to end the year.