Sunset in Singapore

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Singapore Snapshot - a Chinese gate and red lanterns.

I love walking through a foregn city - exciting whilst soothing,

Snake proof boots and clothing?

Problem
You are walking, jogging through the humble with the worldwide hash, or taking a tourist trip to ruins such as Machu Pichu and Ankor Wat. Temples in jungles. Hm. First, how dangerous are snakes? According to the WHO, an estimated 100,000 people die of snake bites every year. The figure could be higher, as many cases are not reported. The people most in danger are those whose work takes them into the outdoors by day and night, such as fishermen. But that doesn't mean you are safe.

Answers
1 Read up.
2 Snakes can spit or bite with fangs like hypodermic needles.
3 Go through your own wardrobe looking for thick materials.
4 Invest in thick and thigh high leather boots.
5 Make gaps creating layers of air. Use cushioned fabrics to form a defensive moat. Keep fang tips away from your skin.
6 Look for branded goods and clothes.
7 Watch where you step.
8 Make a noise.
9 Throw stones before you advance along paths.
10 Don't touch sticks (brown snakes), nor sit or stand on logs (crocodiles).
11 Carry a defensive knife, machete or object to poke into a crocodile's eye or cut a snake's head.
12 Don't get distracted by taking photos and posing for photos.
13 First check what's behind you and around you.
14 Keep watching for approaching animals.
15 If animals are still its often wise to play dead or move away slowly. Animals have a chasing insect and can outrun you. They also strike at anything nearby, the way you would instinctively hit out at a buzzing bee or mosquito which zoomed past your ear and tried to land on your face.
16 Read official advice from local government or health publications from experienced and local people to counteract anything from individuals such as me.
16 Note your nearest hospital and phone number.
17 Don't swim alone.
18 Have a plan.
19 Photograph the dead snake so hospitals can provide anti venom or email it to hospitals so they can give advice on the phone. (Don't get near a snake or other supposedly dead creature for a photo in case it revives or has a mate lurking to defend it. Photograph it with a zoom lens.)

Tips
Take a look at these:
http://www.snakeprotection.com/home
http://www.snakeprotection.com/snake-gaiters

Apparently, more snakes are killed by people than people are killed by snakes. Does that make me happy? No.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and author.

Football museums in Maderia, Manchester and worldwide

Problems
Where to take your sporty kids and husband on holiday? How to make conversation with a taxi driver whose first question is which football team do you support?

Answers
Football museums are great outings and good topics of conversation. You can plan a visit, dream of a visit, talk about the venue.

1 Cristiano Ronaldo Museum, Funchal, Madeira (Portuguese island)
2 Football Museum, Manchester, England

Story
When I was teaching English to an English-speaking pupil in England who had no interest in essay writing I asked him to write me a two page essay. I suggested several subjects, inducing, his family, his school, the area where he lived, music, gardens. Blank looks. So I asked, "What are your interests? What do you do at weekends all day?" His only interest was football. After a moment registering what seemed a dead end, I said brightly: "What would you like to write about - your favourite footballer, your favourite team, the rules of football?" He brightened up, but could not find a sentence to say.

I persisted. "What football programme do you watch? Can you write down the time and name for me so I can watch it? What's the name of your favourite team?"

I wondered whether I had achieved my purpose. I had. The next week he came back with a long English essay, four A4 pages! All about football. I was delighted.

I am now geared up to give a speech or encourage a speaker, using football, football museums and statues of footballers as the subject.

Football Sculptures To See
Bust of Cristiano Ronaldo at Cristiano Ronaldo airport, Madeira
Splash (was outside the original site of the Football Museum which was in Preston and has moved to Manchester. See Wikipedia shows pictures of the Bobby Moore sculpture at Wembley Stadium, London, England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_association_football_statues

The Sir Tom Finney, a pub in Penwortham, near Preston.

Tips
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_Museum
Urbis Building, Cathedral Gardens, Todd St, City Centre, Manchester M4 3BG, UK
Phone: +44 161 605 8200.
Opened: February 16, 2001
Hours: Open today (Friday March 31 2017)· 10AM–5PM.
The museum contains the Lowry painting: Going To The Match.

At the end of the Wikipedia article you will find links to the Hall of Fame for many other countries and areas such as Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Scotland.

Summary of Sites To Visit
UK
The Sir Tom Finney, a pub in Penwortham, near Preston.
Statue Splash (still in Preston?)

Portuguese
Bust of Cristiano Ronaldo at airport, Madeira
http://www.complex.com/style/2014/06/the-most-important-soccer-statues-worldwide/headbutt

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please like, follow and share my posts.

I like Madeira's airport bust of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the CR7 museum website

Problems
A caricature of somebody looks weird. A bust doesn't look like them.

Answers
As the artist said, you can't please everybody. The bust pleases me. I love statues and busts of people. I was not interested in the footballer before but now I am.

I was interested to learn that Madeira's capital, Funchal, also has a museum about the footballer, local hero, partly because he is a rags to riches story.

The Museum is called CR7, the CR standing for Cristiano Ronaldo. Their website is in Portuguese and English. Just click on the letters EN at the top right to get the English.

However, it's pretty easy to read at least the headlines and captions in Portuguese, especially if you know French or Spanish or Latin or Italian. (I have fluent French and I have been learning Spanish and Italian on Duolingo - after a year of Italian and a year of Spanish I shall move on to Portuguese.)

Translating the words on the website at a glance
Cristiano - Christian
Ronaldo - Ronald
museu - museum
oro - gold
ballon - ball

CR7 Museum, Funchal, Madeira
The museum would be a good introduction to football even if you previously had no interest in it. The museum displays:
the gold boots; and
golden ball; interactive
exhibits allowing you to take a Selfie with still or moving objects and pictures of the world's favourite footballer.

Can I really make such a claim? Yes, go to the site and you will see his awards from football organisations.

Fast Facts
Madeira - Portuguese island

Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo
From Wikipedia

See Photo of Cristiano Ronaldo
English: Cristiano Ronaldo
Photo Date 28 November 2015, 11:31:26
Source Football.ua
Author Дмитрий Журавель

Tips
1 Photo opportunity - Madeira airport.
2 Museum, Funchal
3 Facebook page on the museum
https://www.facebook.com/MuseuCr7/

Museum website
https://museucr7.com
Reviews from TripAdvisor
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g189167-d5993654-Reviews-CR7_Museum-Funchal_Madeira_Madeira_Islands.html

Portugal
I always found the Portuguese friendly. After investigation I discovered that the reason wasn't just personality of people living in relaxing warm environments. (The Italians are also warm and friendly.) Personality was augmented by happy history. The Portuguese have been friendly towards the British for centuries. The British were enthusiastic buyers of Port from Portugal, pink, sweet Mateus Rose in those attractive hourglass bottles which could quickly be converted into inexpensive bedside and lounge lamps the nineteen sixties. The friendship goes way back to the time when The Spanish rulers were waging war on Portugal and England so the Portuguese and British had a common cause.

Saved while researching - come back for more in five minutes.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Singapore's National Gallery Illuminated At Night

In Singapore, the National Gallery is as much a work of art as its contents are.
This is often the case worldwide; it should always be the case worldwide,

Photo copyright Angela Lansbury
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

German Words To Learn: My Opinion Of This Task

Problem
How do you remember similar sounding or looking German words?

Answer
Find a similar sounding or looking reminder sentence.

Tips
German - English
(die) Ansicht - (the) opinion (answer me - give me your opinion, and I said it Ansicht)
Anforderung - requirement (And order a person on a rung lower to fulfil this requirement)
Aufgabe - task, subject of a sentence (out given or given out a task)
Aufgaben (tasks, object(s) of sentence)
(die) Breite - (the) breadth
einfach - easy (easy - did it once, one - ein is one - one minute and it's done, fulfilled)

English - German
breadth - (die) Breite (both words start BRE and end with a T/DTH
change - Wechsel (change money - WE Can Help SELl
(the) depth - (die) Tiefe (tiles deep in a swimming pool, t/d pth/f
instruction
opinion
(the) task - (die) Aufgabe

Now go back and check the words opinion and task in the headline of this post:
opinion - Ansicht
task - Aufgabe

See more in duolingo.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and languages, author and speaker.
Please like, follow and share posts.

Madeira, Madeira wine, Portugal and Aeroporto

Problem
Madeira, Portugal, Portuguese - what do we know about them?

Answers
I remember sitting on the sledge going downhill on Madeira as a child with my parents. Somewhere we have a picture in an old album which proves it and acts as an intermittent reminder.

Madeira
Madeira is an island known for Madeira wine. (You might recall the amusing, suggestive song, 'Have some madeira m'dear', from Flanders and Swan.) Madeira wine was created by a happy accident. The long journey by ship in the heat did not destroy the wine but improved it.

Madeira is a fortified wine - not distilled like a spirit. Alcohol is added to increase the strength. The same applies to another well-known Portuguese fortified wine, Port (from The port of Oporto in Portugal).

(Other fortified wines you may know are Spanish Sherry, which comes from the sherry triangle around southern Spain, Jerez, on the border with Portugal (where I went to a Bodega. I find Madeira and Port rather strong. My favourite fortified wine is Muscat de Beaune de Venise from southern France. Fortified muscats from around the world include Rutherglen Muscat from Rutherglen in Australia.)

A grand hotel is on the hill. You can take a ride downhill.

In case you hadn't noticed, Madeira is Portuguese (not Spanish).

Portuguese Language
Portuguese is similar to Spanish, two of the world's easiest languages for English speakers. Airport is Aeroporto. What could be easier than that.

Portuguese Names
Cristiano - Christian. Ronaldo - Ronald. Portuguese adds a lovely lilt to names and other words in the language. An extra syllable. An extra vowel. A slightly sing-song intonation.

If you want to go to Madeira, and learn a few words of the lingo first, you can pick up some Portuguese on Duolingo. Where else does the Portuguese language pop up amongst the population and place names? South America. Macau (now Chinese).

Wikipedia informs us that:
'Portuguese (português or, in full, língua portuguesa) is a Romance language and the sole official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau.'

Famous Footballers, Personalities and Airports
Which other landmarks are named after famous people?
John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, England. Named after John Lennon of the Beatles.
George Best airport, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Tips
Ten Fast Facts:
1 Madeira is Portuguese.
2 Language: Portuguese.
3 Airport: renamed Aeroporto Cristiano Ronaldo.
4 Drink: Madeira wine is fortified wine.
5 Food: Madeira cake - a kind of sponge cake.
6 Capital: Funchal.
7 Where: - island.
8 Top activity - downhill sledge ride.
9 Top hotel
10 Tourist fact - popular cruise ship stop.

Try Madeira cake and wine in your home country and compare prices and flavours on arrival at the island. Allow time for a photo with the statue to open your slide show or photobook of your trip.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Some_Madeira_M%27Dear
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool_John_Lennon_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Best_Belfast_City_Airport

Useful Websites

http://duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_language
https://translate.google.com/

https://www.visitportugal.com/en/destinos/madeira
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/madeira-wine-two-hundred-year-old-found-fortified-cellar-new-jersey-liberty-hall-union-a7835881.html
http://www.kean.edu/libertyhall/about/history

duolingo.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madeira

http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/port-and-portuguese-wine-labels-and.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-to-ask-for-food-and-drink-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/learn-your-first-ten-words-in.
http://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/how-do-you-say-please-in-portuguese-is.

visitportugal.com

visitbrasil.com

http://www.visitmadeira.pt/en-gb/homepage

earwormslearning.com

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English, learner of 12 other languages.Please like, follow and share links to my posts.
See my other travel blog:
http://www.luxurytravelforless.co.uk

Madeira Airport, Renamed, Gets Footballer Cristiano Ronaldo's Bust

Madeira airport has been named after Cristiano Ronaldo, star of Real Madrid. The man was invited to the opening (with his mother and his girlfriend) and to see the bust of himself.

There's a fantastic photo opportunity. A very striking sculpture. When Ronaldo arrived and after he left children were keen to get selfies with the brass bust.

More on Portugal, Madeira, and places named after famous people in the next posts.
Good photo on the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39434585

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,a author and speaker. Please share my posts.

Need to Pay Bills When Away?

Problem
You need to pay bills when you are away.

Answers
Make a yearly list of big bills such as income tax, council tax, flat maintenance (school fees, uni fees, mortgage etc).

Redirect post (mail) with bills to a family member. Or give a door key to a family member, if they are reliable.

A standing order can be set up to pay a regular amount.

However if the amount varies, you need something else called a direct debit which allows the payee to specify how much you owe them.

Ideally have an online banking account so you can pay bills. You need a record of your pin number, disguised.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

German language - solving how to remember

Problem
How to remember German verbs and words?

Answer
Create sentences and phrases

Story
LOSEN
For example the German losen is not lose but solve. How do I remember? German lose a problem - they solve it. The first three letters of the German word LOSen and the start of the English word SOLve.
Beachten is German for consider. So I recall beaChteN means CoNsider. Con or even CN will remind me.

Tips
German - English
beachten - consider
eklare - explain (like the French word eclair, as chocolate eclair, make clear, explain which you are eating a chocolate eclair)
losen - solve

English German
consider - beachten
explain - eklare
solve - losen

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English language and languages.

Tea, from India, China, Singapore, Japan, with hot or cold water

Problem
Which tea - so many! (So many, la! That's what the locals say in Singapore.)

Answer
A little of what you fancy does you good.

Stories of Hot and Cold Tea
Tea warms you on a cold day in England. Water to hydrate you. Warmth to warm you. Volume to fill your stomach. Caffeine to give you energy. Gratitude to their server. Rest by sitting on a chair. Time out from troubles. Distraction from problems.

Can tea cool you on a hot day? The Indians drink hot drinks. Hot drinks, like hot foods in hot countries, such as curry, cause you to perspire. The theory is that the perspiration helps you to cool.

(I carry a paper fan or create one by creasing a piece of white paper into a concertina.)

In England we drink tea hot. But in Singapore tea is cold or more often luke warm.

Chinese Tea
The Chinese Singaporeans think cold drinks are bad for you.

If you ask a waiter for a glass of water, the server in a restaurant will ask you, "Do you want your water warm or cold?" Expect that. Then if you hear them mutter, 'Warmorcoal?", or "hottacoal?", you will know what you are being asked.

Japanese Tea
Green tea seems to be the health fanatics favourite for this year. But so many fruit flavours are avoidable. (See my previous posts.)

Ice
I think ice is potentially bad for you, not worth the risk. Why?
1 Firstly, you are warned to avoid ice being added to bottled drinks in countries where it is unsafe to drink the water. Bottled water has been purified, but ice could be from a tap.
2 Ice dilutes drinks.
3 Ice is occasionally the source of poisoning. I have read of at least two cases of mass poisoning at weddings. Ice was previously used to cool raw fish! New regulations require ice to be transported covered and contained, not loose where it can pick up contamination.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Strawberry Tea in Singapore - picture of the packet

My pukka picture of P O K K A - oh, dear, spell checker turned it into poker!
I normally try to stick to water, for the benefit of my teeth, but I can't resist trying a new flavour of fruit drink, and a new local speciality.

They say a picture iw worth a thousand words, well, here's the picture.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Strawberry tea and strawberry teas in England and Singapore

With temperatures in London, England, predicted top e higher than Spain, it is time for us to drink more water and think about strawberries for tea.

Strawberries can also be made into teas to drink.

In Singapore you can have strawberry tea, or blueberry tea, in a little carton from a brand called Pokka. I found them quite drinkable and thirst quenching.

Reading the box, I see that Pokka is a Japanese company.

I did an internet search for strawberry teas to drink in England. Many brands and mixtures, Twinings and others.

The Story of A Strawberry Allergy
Strawberries had a long season when in I was 16 and I developed a strawberry allergy. Lucky it disappeared when I was about 21 years old.

Tips

http://www.adagiotea.co.uk/flavors/strawberry.html (Strawberry black tea)
https://www.twinings.co.uk/tea/fruit-herbal/mango-strawberry-20-tea-bags (Twinings teas on website and in most UK supermarkets)
http://www.fairprice.com.sg/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PromotionProductsView?promotionPage=true&storeId=10001&promoCategory=ExclusiveOnline (Fairprice supermarket in Singapore: Bottles of strawberry and other flavours of tea)
British tea in the USA:
http://www.britishfoodshop.com/tea

Also look for: scone cream teas with strawberry jam and clotted cream; crockery with strawberry theme; strawberries at open air concerts in the UK; tea in themed tins for Xmas and at airports.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
For photo of strawberry tea in Singapore - see next post. Please follow, like and share posts.

French words on menus

French - English
baguette - bread shaped like a large sausage, up to the size of a forearm, with crisp hard outside, white centre full of holes, goes dry quickly
bain marie - double boiler, water underneath not touching food or liquid above, used for melting chocolate, from the name Mary
casserole - stew or stew pot
consommé - thin soup or broth
crudité - crude or raw vegetables, often cut up
rsvp - responded s'il vous plait literally reply if you please
velouté - white sauce, stock from chicken fish or veal, thickened, sometimes with cream or butter, frothy soup, known as one of the 'mother' sauces

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and author

Encouragement When Discouraged Learning Languages And Music

Story
I was starting to get sad and depressed and frustrated and felt i was confused at wrong answers in the later Duolingo exercises.
I wonder whether they found feedback about this in the learners' forums and decided to encorage people to stick with the courses and enjoy the system.

Now I am seeing little cheery faces with messages such as:
Well done (after a few correct answers).

When I get two or three wrong answers I  get the encouraging message:
Even when you make mistakes you are learning.

I am thinking about making a reversible or rotating sign sayng this.

I could keep it on my desk top for any activity all day every day.

I could use the sign when teaching others.

I could place it on my electric keyboard when learning to play music.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel tier and teacher of languages.

Adding foreign Accents On Phones

Why do you need accents? What is their purpose? To distinguish one sound from another, and two words whose spelling is the same although they are pronounced differently.

Problems
1 You want to add a foreign accent to a word in a text on a phone. Strictly speaking the way you speak is your accent, the little dot or line or hat above a vowel or the squiggle over the letter n in Spanish, written by hand or typed, is known as a diacritic. That is the word to type in your search in Wikipedia or on the internet.
2 You are answering questions on a language course, such as Duolingo, where you are marked wrong when you have not inserted the accent.

Answers
1 On both a laptop and a mobile phone you make the selection of accents appear by holding down the key for longer.

 On a computer keyboard or laptop you may need to select the key for the accent by pressing simultaneously or selecting the number above the accent chosen.

According to Wikipedia, certain words such as resume can be typed without the accent.  

Tips
1 Search on the internet for adding accents.

2 Search on the internet for adding accents - adding the brand of your phone. For example, Apple, Apple 4s, Apple 5s, Apple 6s; LG, Oppo, Samsung, Sony Xperia.

3 On a mobile phone the instruction is to slide your finger. Sliding can be difficult on a small screen.

If you take your finger off the key for a vowel and try to click on the pop up of vowels with accents, the pop up disappears before you reach it. Removing your finger signals to the screen that you have finished. Keep your fingertip in contact with the screen.

Useful Website

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and English teacher. See my books and profiles on Amazon, Lulu.com, Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube.

Memory aids for German words to collect

Problem
How do you remember German words especially ones with similar spellings which confuse you?

Answers
Look for a letter you can associate with the English meaning.
Look for a word association.

German - English

Entwickeln - develop (like English word entwine - but add a wick, burning midnight oil to develop it, and l-n, developing it alone)

Sammeln - collect (save stamps and collect words with double letters; save similar lettets in pairs, el in sammeln and le in collect - another word ending ln, collecting alone)

Sendung - program (I am sending out the program although it is full of dung)

Schutzen - protect
It was used in the sentence The roof will protect us.
I thought of the memory aid word association: the roof will shut out danger. That was enough to recognize the German word in a test. To create the word in my mind i would need a memory aid for the second syllable: 'To protect SHUT out citiZENs.

Tips
Write the new words in the back of your diary. Read the words on the train.

Look up to check your station at the end of every page or line depending on the length of you journey to be sure to get off at you stop.

Author
Angela Lansbury, English teacher and tutor of foreign languages.

Power Cuts and Spoiled Frozen Food

Problem
When you are out or away for n evening, a weekend or a week or months, water comes through the window and soaks your carpet which smells. A power cut destroys your frozen food. What to do?

Answers
1 In theory you could set up a remote to shut the windows when it rains - and fix the electric trip switch.
2 Leave a key with a neighbour and ask them to check your trip switch whoever theirs blows.
3 Leave a light over the door. Whenever the light goes off it should alert the neighbour that the power is off (and the landlady if she calls regularly to collect her post from the post box (Americans call it a mail box).
4 Clear valuable food from the fridge. Or give it to the neighbours. Or ask them to keep it in their fridge. If their fridge is short of room after that, they can use your fridge - making sure their less valuable products are not destroyed in a power cut.
5 If you have family or friends nearby, you could give them the key to your flat, and ask the neighbours to ring your relatives when there is a power cut.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer,a author and speaker.

German Language Learning - easy ways to remember words

Problem
How do you remember German words?

Answer
Look for word links.

German - English
Anteil - share (imagine 'an or one tile' on the wall has just a share of the wall space)
Ereignisse - events (both words start with letter E and the third letter is also letter e ErEignisse - EvEnts, also letter n in EreigNisse and eveNts)
Geschwindigkeit - speed (Get going like the wind)GE sch WIND ig keit
Reperatur - repair (REP starts both words and both have an a in the middle and an r at the end.
Versorgung - supply letters S and U in both words VerSorgUng and Supply
zustandig - responsible (you in the zoo, stand up, be upstanding and be counted)


Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and languages.

Translating Signs - Danger in Malay and Indonesian

I saw a sign warning pedestrians to keep out and wondered what the words meant, in case I saw them again without the translation.

Problem
What do the words actually mean?

Answer
The English says
Danger keep out

The Malay says
B a h a y a jangan dekat (I had to insert spaces because the automatic spell checker prefers the more frequently used word b a h a s a which means language

The Malay language is very similar to Indonesian with a few words different, just vocabulary. The language is easy to read because it is phonetic - the letters convey the sounds. (Phone is Greek for sound.)

Google translate tells me the translation is:

B a h a y a - danger / hazard
jangan - do not
dekat - get close

I shall eventually use Duolingo, a free website, to learn the language.

Stories
Always use anything free as soon as you find it, because you don't know how long it will remain free. When ISBN numbers first came out they were free. I could have applied for ten or even 100 ISBN numbers. Now they cost of money, a lot of money if you want to keep publishing books.

Tips
I write down Malay words in the back of my diary.
I shall eventually use Duolingo, a free website, to learn the language.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Sorting Out Your New Home or Hotel Room

Problems
Can't find anything?

Answers
1 Just put everything in the most logical place. Put things needed together next to each other.
2 If in doubt, make a list and a label.

Stories
I moved into a new flat and a neighbour came in and offered to make the coffee. I replied, "Let me do it. You won't know where to find .." She replied, "Yes, I will. It'll be the same as my mother's house, and mine. The coffee cups will be in the cupboard above the kettle and the coffee will be to the right of them? Doesn't everybody do the same? If yours it's like that, I'll move things for you."

What do you need most?
Keys.
Cleaning stuff. (Out of reach of children.)
Toothbrush and medicines.
1 Vital documents.
2 Passwords and pin numbers.
3 Food and drink and utensils for eating and drinking.
A change of clothes. Clothes for cleaning and going out. Swim or sports wear. Night dress.
Vital local information - hospital and 24 hour shops and supermarkets and delivery services.

Tips

What Not To Do
Leave anything behind.
1 Check every cupboard, bed, under the bed, bedclothes and pillows. Check behind bathroom doors. Check basins.
Do not rush to breakfast leaving vital items. Do not leave behind your door keys or your gold wedding ring or diamond engagement ring on the washbasin. Let me rephrase that as a positive command. Take your door keys. Check and take all rings.
Don't put anything on a washbasin - put it in a zipped pocket.

What To do
Be up early enough to get to breakfast without rushing out of the room. Plan a safe place for jewellery.
List items in each suitcase or box and mark the outside of the box with a number and photograph the numbered box. (If a box is missing you'll know!)
It helps your calm to be organised from the start.
Sometimes it is good to move things around, just to see by trial and error what works best.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Clock Changes - how to remember

Problem
How to remember when to change the clocks?

Answers
1 Buy one radio controlled clock and fix it on the wall facing you above the breakfast table in your kitchen.
2 Set an alarm for the spring and autumn changes.
3 Place a note on your cork pinboard above your desk showing the next time change. For example, On Sunday March 26th 2017 London, UK is seven hours behind Singapore. New York is further behind. Check your city's calendar. When I am in New York or East coast USA I put a sign above my hone showing times to phone the UK.

Stories
When we lived in Rockville, Maryland, and had family in London, England, we used to have a window of hours when we could phone the UK. To make it easy to keep in contact, we phoned the same time every weekend.

Tips
1 Mark your paper diaries and calendars.
2 Make notes in your online calendars on phones and laptops and office computers.
3 Make these reminders for the next change - in the autumn (Fall) for the next spring, in the spring for the next autumn (Fall).
4 Make your diaries on January 1st for the year ahead.

Americans say: Spring forward, fall back.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
Please like, follow and share posts.

Copyright and Captions for Photos of People and Locations

Copyright differs for photo, text, video and varies from one country to another. Check on your area and consider the following idea.

Copyright and Photos
Most photographers want to keep copyright of their photos. To get the rights to the photo without having to constantly pay a fee, you would have to reach an agreement.

Some photographers specialise in actors and others who need or want to be able to keep using a photo without paying further sums. You might find their advertisements in publications featuring actors. Or just do a search.

If a photographer prints off pictures and you want to pay for this, the time and trouble, and the paper, that's a different matter. The question is whether you could continue using the photos printed or distributed by somebody else, or by yourself, during that photographer's lifetime and if they died or sold their business to somebody else.

A photographer might, not unreasonably, want to publish a book of all the photos they had ever taken. You might want to have an arrangement allowing the photographer to continue to have rights over the photo, so long as you had rights to use it. So one of you owns the right but shares it with the other, or both have equal rights.

I presume if you go to a stage school photo shoots are arranged for you.

What are you paying for?
First, you are paying for the photographer's time.
Secondly, their studio and equipment.
Thirdly, it's a business - they may be paying tax, secretary, website etc.
Fourthly, it can take hours to go through many photos to choose the best one. Many more hours to edit it. Get rid of red eye. Remove blemishes. Adjust colour balance. Crop the picture. Increase contrast.
Storage and filing.
Captions - each photo must be stored and retrieved, by name of person, date, location, subject. Each photo must be distinguished from the next by number of subject.

If you are storing your own photos, you will find the more captions you write at the time the easier it is to find a photo later.

CV
You also need an up to date cv of all your experience. If you are a retired or older actress or model, you may have lost track of the dates when you did work. So you want to update your CV and/or include pictures and clips.

Once your photos are on the internet, some websites take away your copyright. You know longer have exclusive rights, and cannot charge others to use the photo.

Don't take my word for anything. I am merely telling you what to watch out for and what you need to check.

Stories
How to identify a photo? I once saw a photo of a monument in India printed in a magazine. I thought - hey - that's my photo.

However, when I went back to my photos I saw that it wasn't. The people in the background were different. If you can put your own family or friends or dog, or car in a photo, you can prove it's your photo.

The opposite happened to me with a photo in Brides magazine. I sent the text and a choice of photos. When the article was published and they sent me a copy, I saw that they had a full page spread of a photo labelled Spanish Tourist Board. I keep looking at the photo and wondering why they had chosen it.

I conceded that it was colourful, all in focus, attractively framed. A good photo.

Later I received a message from an unhappy sounding girl asking me to phone the magazine about my text and photos. I worried for hours. What had I done wrong? What could they have done wrong? Had they lost all my photos and had to use one by the tourist board?

It turned out that they had used one of my photos but mistakenly attributed it to the tourist board. I asked them to print a notice in the next edition acknowledging that it was my photo.

Nowadays, you can print your own photographer's name small as part of the photo. Unless the user crop it out, your photo remains captioned.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

Me A Model? At My Age? Maybe Yes. Maybe No. Agencies in Australia, UK, Singapore

Australian Model Agency 

I have a friend, William, who appears in TV serials in Australia. He is signed on with an agency. They got him work on TV. Great success.

UK Work
Film Extras
I once answered an ad for extras in a film in the UK. We sat around all day in a church as part of a crowd at a wedding. We had to come with a hat. Most of the time you did nothing except sit silently.

No Pay
We filled in a form at the beginning. Everybody was asking everybody else, 'How much are you getting paid?' People were reeling off lists of film shoots they had been in earlier that month. I was at first too embarrassed to admit I was not being paid.

Payment
However, when I finally said I was not being paid, one of the older men who I thought would sneer at me instead was very kind and protective. He was indignant on my behalf and told me to say I came from his agency because I would then be paid a small sum of about £20. That was not much for four hours (plus travel) but a lot better than nothing.

Spotlight
I was asked to join Spotlight after my late uncle died. I had phoned them to cancel his subscription and to explain that he had died and they asked if I would like to join. This would have been really right for me a couple of years earlier when I would have loved to be featured in a professional listing. Unfortunately, at the time when I was in touch with them it was not a sensible use of money because I was a full time, on call, carer for my late father and I did not want to work, to be away from home. 

You had to pay an annual fee for membership which included a listing in their directory. If I remember rightly, to be listed you had to supply a professional photo or two, ideally one face close up and one full body.

Now I'd like to fulfil my dream and be a character actress. My favourite actress was the little old lady in The Ladykillers. She was in the film with Peter Sellars, and Alec Guinness.

Singapore
I passed a sign for a model creation agency in Singapore. I thought I'd go in and find out if they had any opportunities for an English voice over.

I filled out a form and was told to come back for an appointment. Because I had other engagements that day, I made an appointment for the following day. Meanwhile, I checked them out online.

It then transpired that I had to pay about 600 Singapore dollars - the sums were quite complicated, so much for the photographer, plus the make up artist, and the hairdresser, and that included so many photos for them to send out, plus several for me to keep, but after the first mailing out another set of photos would have to be printed, but I would not have to pay for these, it would come out of my first salary.

What if I did not ever get a job? Would that be a debt? I was told I would not have to pay the second sum. However, nothing in writing. I can't prove to you what was said, and that was what put me off the whole deal.

Apart from the actual cost, I was concerned that they could not give me any written account of the sums involved, just wrote it out on a piece of paper. To me that did not seem professional. The sums might increase. I had no way to be sure of the total.

They admitted they had very little chance of finding work for a Caucasian of my age, except for occasional government ads which features people of all races when promoting services for the retired.

I asked why I could not use my own photographer and they said it was a question of copyright, as well as having suitable photos of the kind they needed.

I looked at reports online for scams. One website I looked at said that any agency which insisted that you use their photographer was a scam.

CV and Portfolio
I would still be interested in putting together a portfolio including professional photos. If you look at online agencies you can see what is required. 

Some charge a monthly fee to reveal job ads. The ones I looked at required one face photo and one full body shot. If you a modelling any other part of your body, such as hands for nail polish advertisements, you are advised to include those. Some sites have a minimum number of photos. Others have a maximum.

Another promotional activity is to have a showreel of yourself, demonstrating your skills such as accents or singing or clips from previous amateur or professional productions.

Your CV will include age, height, weight, vital statistics (bust, waist, hips), language, accent, race, maybe shoe size. So if you don't know your weight and hip size, you might want to find out.

First, the photo. You need a professional photo (with copyright, meaning permission to use it by printing it or online for self publicity without paying the photographer for every use). It should be in focus. Ideally several shots, serious, smiling, assorted expresions. Clear background. Also any unform you may have (with permission to wear it).  

Angela Lansbury, travel writer

Singapore's Storm Drain and Shelter From Rain

Singapore is a tropical country. It rains in rainy season. It rains every season. We are glad of the rain when it drives away the haze. Rain also waters the unattended aloe vera plant on the balcony.
Water prices are going up. Will this drive up prices of other goods, such as coffee in a cafe?

Problem
How do you avoid or divert unwanted rain in Singapore?
What could go wrong?
1 Swimming: You leave swimming until the afternoon and then it rains.

2 Taxis: You postpone calling a taxi until it rains, then taxis are unobtainable.

3 Rain Through Your Windows. All over your computer screen, laptop, mobile phone, office chair, newspapers, right the way from under the window to the far side of the room!

4 Storms trips the electricity. Food such as fish in the freezer, fresh milk in the fridge ...

5 Wet pavements when walking

Answers
1 Swimming Time
Swim in the morning.

2 Taxi Demand
That should change soon with variable pricing which increases costs when demand is high, so only those prepared to pay more take a taxi.

3 Rain: Leave a notice on the back of the front door: Take umbrella; shut windows.

4 Tell everybody how to turn the circuit breaker back on again.

5 Raffles built the five foot ways along the fronts of shops, covering the pavement (Americans say sidewalk).

Finally, some good news: All over Singapore shelters are built along streets between station.
Photo of storm drain Cashew Road, Singapore by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Books on Lulu.com and Amazon. Please share my posts.

Art on Singapore's underground - Earthcake at Promenade on the Downtown Line

Above ground Singapore's city centre has skyscrapers festooned with creepers,and indoor and outdoor plazas with water features, ponds in the Community centres and condos, jumping fountains in shopping centres, and cafe centre,sheltered from outside rain you still see and hear fountains. Running though the city are storm drains which look empty one day,like raging rivers the next.

Below ground, sheltered from the damage of rain and sun, the train station walls are bedecked with art.

The Circle line's Promenade station has disco balls. The Downtown line was added below and here the walls display Earthcake by Ana Prvacki.

Tips
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promenade_MRT_Station

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Two dogs on my blogs - Kembangan park near Changi Airport

Take a break. Sometimes one just sits. Restful. Peaceful.
Two dogs with their two owners in the park outside Kampung Kembangan Community centre, between the Community Centre and the MRT station Kembangan.

If you are at Changi Airport, see the Butterfly exhibit (free). Then catch the East-West green train line four stops to a green open space. Three stops from Expo which is the next stop into the city centre from the airport.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Fish in A Singapore Community Centre Lobby - and Community Centres

Problem
Who looks after the fish?

Answer
Somebody in the community centre, because a sign tell you not to feed the fish, which, the sign says, are fed by staff.

So restful.

Stories
You find fish in artificial ponds in many public buildings, especially community centres and private condominiums. These fish were at Kampung Kambangan Community Centre.

Kampung means village in the Malay language. The MRT stop is on the green line which goes to and from Changi airport on the east side of the island of Singapore.

I have been there two or three times in the past year. From the point of view of a tourist, the nice thing about this community centre is that you can see the name of the community centre from the MRT station.

Much better than the usual stress of finding a map, working out which way is up, where to cross the road. The second advantage is there are no roads to cross.

You walk from the community centre across the landscaped park. Plenty to see and read.

Tips
A website lists all the community centres in Singapore. You can make a trip around hotels, the YMCA and YWCA centres, or the Community Centres and look for information on activities and courses ranging from sports to music and language learning and an English language Toastmasters club.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and author.
Please like follow and share my posts.

Double bananas - more thought

I asked my Singaporean friend if she had ever seen a double banana before. She seemed unconcerned, uninterested. "Yes," she said. "They are quite common."

So why do we never see them in England? Firstly, because we don't get the bunches of small bananas. We import large ones, presumably not from Asia but other countries where larger ones have been developed by planting or genetics or natural selection.

Secondly, EU regulations would reject anything odd. In fact EU regulations on bananas are a notorious joke in England. People say we want to get out of the EU because they tell us the shape and size our bananas must be.

Supermarkets also reject off shapes and sizes, claiming that the customer is fussy and won't buy. But every now and then along comes a whistle blower and recycler who demands that misshapen cheaper fruit, broken biscuits, odd shaped chocolate, should be brought back and offered at bargain prices to those who are not fussy and can't afford top quality.

Besides, a lot of broken biscuits and funny shaped food can be used either as pet food, or plant food, or compost, or for those who are too old or young to care, especially when mixed into items such as cakes and casseroles. Providing the food is safe, a chopped up carrot can be any size and shape in a casserole. Likewise, bananas of any shape and size can be mashed up in banana bread, a favourite food in Singapore because bananas are plentiful and cheap.

My Singaporean friend told me odd shaped or double bananas are frequently seen in Singapore. After we had eaten it and looked at the photo, I thought, we ought to be able to sell that on ebay. Too late. But what if we get another.

"Impossible," say the family. "It's a banana!" In the heat they don't last long. We should at least have saved the skin and dried it. Alas it has gone now. Bin bags are emptied every day in Singapore. You can't leave leftovers lying around in the heat. You will soon get waving strings of ants dots across the work surfaces and cockroaches scarring across the four into holes in sitting boards and under fridges and furniture.

So out goes the rubbish, and by bye to the double banana skin. But at least I preserved the picture so we can all enjoy it later.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share my posts on bananas and other subjects.

Bizarre Double Bananas

I was given a bizarre double banana. Or rather I was offered a chance to take a banana off a bunch of bananas in Singapore. I initially refused the double banana and opted for another. Was a banana which has split into safe to eat? To me it looked like the genetics was out of control, a freak, a doubling of cells, like attached twins, like cancer.

Then I went back and took the double banana. I wanted to photograph it - before I ate it.

Was it safe to eat? If I am still doing blog posts a week from now, the answer is yes.
Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Please share my posts.

Butterflies To See In Singapore

Problems
Where to see butterflies? I saw a white or yellow butterfly flying over the flowers near a swimming pool and pond in Singapore in March 2017. Earlier I had seen huge butterflies in the free exhibit in Changi airport. Where can you learn more about butterflies?

Answers
The answer is the Butterfly Exhibition at the Science Centre in Singapore. I picked up a leaflet from a rack in the YMCA near Dhoby Ghaut MRT station in Singapore, along with several other leaflets on the latest attractions. I noticed that the leaflet was not the usual oblong. Only when I got home did I open the leaflet and realise it was in the shape of a butterfly. I love novelty leaflets and pop up cards. So attention getting, inventive and memorable. The exhibition is at the Science Centre.

Stories
See my previous posts on the butterflies at Changi airport, the butterfly count in the UK and more.

Costs
For my own convenience I am summarising my findings from their long list of admission charges for schools and teachers and others. For the Science Centre alone (without the extra cost, ten Singaporean dollars in March 2017) of the butterfly exhibition), foreign visitors and work pass holders and anybody visiting in busy peak hours which means weekends and public holidays and school holidays, must pay the regular price. However, Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PR - an official status requiring application by working foreigners and their spouses and payment of taxes) can get free admission in the off peak periods.
For more details see:
http://www.science.edu.sg/schoolprogrammes/Pages/EPOpeningAdmission.aspx

Tips
1 Wild Butterflies
You can see butterflies in the wild - or rather the city in Singapore. The climate is hot and 'summery' all year.

2 Changi Airport Butterfly Exhibit
A free exhibition in Changi Airport - allow an extra half hour or so to walk all around the two floors and up and down the steps and to read the exhibits and take photos. Add on another half hour to find the exhibition area!

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

3 Science Centre, Singapore
The Science Centre Singapore charges an admission fee and the leaflet says there is another $10 (Singaporean dollars) to see the Butterfly exhibition.
Science Centre
15 Science Centre Road
Singapore 609081
www.science.edu.sg
Infoline (+65) 6425 2500

4 Butterfly Park
http://www.jungle.com.sg

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g294264-d338375-Reviews-Butterfly_Park_Insect_Kingdom-Sentosa_Island.html

Author
Angela Lansbury travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Hide and seek architecture with drains and pipes and flowers and colour

Problems
How do you hide a drain? How do you find a pipe?

Answers
To hide a drain - plant flowers all around. You might have to climb over the flowers to reach the drain.

How to find a pipe
Instead of hiding a pipe with colour co-ordinating with the walls, make the pipe a feature with bright red (or soothing green). Red warns people not to interfere with the pipe.

Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.

Autor
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please share, follow and like my posts and profiles here and on Facebook, Linked-In, YouTube etc.

Palm trees - what's that fruit?

Problems
I photograph palm trees but can't identify the fruit. Orange. Brown. Green. Red. A palm tree is not just a palm tree. A palm can have a brown and green trunk, or red such as the lipstick palm. The palm can produce coconuts, dates, oil. The leaves may look like feathers on a pole, or small fans on top of a pole, or one large, low fan growing from the ground.

My latest mystery photo is of red fruit. What are they?

Answers
I photographed the tree from ground level and then cropped the photo. I did a search for photos.

Stories
Having no luck with nay picture search, I tried the words palm tree red fruit. I immediately found photos. The first solution was that my picture looked like red palm oil.

Then I found the McArthur palm.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
More posts on blogger.com, various blogs, as well as profiles and posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube.
Please follow, like and share posts.

Today's Easy German Words - Arriving Somewhere Whilst Travelling

Problems
1 How do you fill the time whilst waiting at a station?

2 You are too jet lagged to do anything.

Answers
Learn a language on Duolingo. At least you will have made some progress with your day and your life.

What is the word progress in German?
Fortschritt
How do you remember it? Go forth or forwards. FORT - progress go forth
Fortschritt - the letter r appears twice in both words pRogRess foRtschRitt
progress ends with double ss progreSS and fortschritt ands with double tt fortschriTT
Germans take the s sound from the end of progress and put it in the middle
progreSS fortSCHritt
now we can recognise the German word
fortschritt is progress
all we have to do is say it three times until we can create it from the English
fortschritt - progress
fortschritt - progress
fortschritt - progress
progress - fortschritt
progress - fortschritt
progress - fortschritt

As I was saying, we are making progress, fortschritt.

That was a diversion, an interesting diversion, from easy words of the day which I picked out from a set on Duolingo.

(Italian is even easier. The Italian for Diversion is d i v e r s i o n e. The Italian for progress is progresso.)

Today's Easy German words:
German - English
die Firma - the firm or company
Garantie - guarantee
Industrie - industry
jeder - everybody (notice the D in the middle j e D e r everyboDy and the er evERybody jedER
Logistik - logistics
Leiferung - delivery (the middle the word is L (e) i f - L I V and the German g looks like a English y
m e h r - more (sounds similar; letters M and R are in more words. Look again. E is in both words. M E h R - M o R E; it sounds like a mare or horse but no letter a, letters H and E as in the english word H o R s E.)
Produktion - production
Service - service
Versicherung - insurance (what looks after you when you are sick - very good sickness insurance)

English - German
delivery - Leiferung (just remove the de from delivery and start with L; add liv life deliver life L.FER..g
firm or company - die Firma
industry - Industrie
more - m e h r
guarantee - Garantie (remember that German nouns have a capital letter)
production - Produktion
service - Service
insurance - Versicherung (such s u C H a good idea - a very good idea VER Sich ER ung )

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and other languages.

Another colour changing building in central Singapore - the Cathay

Problem
How do you photograph buildings which change colour at night?

Answers
You have these options:
Take several shots over a minute or two. Then print two or three alongside each other showing the greatest contrast in colour.
Take a video, slow and soothing as the colours gradually change and cars and bicycles and people move past.
Take several shots. Edit them and show them one after another as a slide show.
Play with animation on a slide show system such as Powerpoint or Keynote (on the Apple devices such as the Macbook) or Mosaic. Use special effects to show the pictures going from left to right, fading in and out, sliding over each other sideways or up and down. One of the effects buttons will show you several options.
Take several shot and animate them at speed to show the colour change faster and more dramatically.

Stories
I was crossing the road towards the Cathay building when I saw the pink colour wall fading. Was it really changing colour? The effect was so slow that you could not see the colour changing. Yes, after a minute or two (the lights were very slo to change for the pedestrians) I saw that it was turning from white to blue.

I started to take a photo, but the traffic lights changed in my favour. I glanced left and right and the road was clear and for a split second I was tempted to stop in in the middle of the road and take a photo. No. Don't.

It isn't worth it. It's never worth risking your life for a photo. You can find another place for a photo. Further along the path.

I remembered the time I had tried to photograph the statue of Captain Cook in New Zealand. I stood in the middle of the road. Another photo. Another. Another. Noise - an approaching tram!

As I tried to step to one side to avoid it I found another tram coming the other way. The sound of one masked the other. With two trams I had not much choice. No time to dither. I had to run one way or the other immediately - and fast - faster than the approach of the tram.

I just made it.

(Unlike the time in 1984 when I was knocked down by a car in Corsica. But that's another story.)

So, you'll forgive me if I don't have the perfect photo.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Mothering Sunday UK is Sunday 26 March 2017

Problem
When is Mothering Sunday? It varies year to year, and Mother's Day in America is not the same as the UK's Mothering Sunday.

Answer
How do I know that Mothering Sunday in the UK will be Sunday 26th March in 2017? Because restaurants are sending me offers by email.

Stories
I heard from the cafe at Cobbs Farm shop in England.

Tips
Enter important dates in your calendar on your laptop or mobile phone. Add a second date a week or more earlier to remind yourself to book a lunch, a card, or flower delivery, or book a last minute holiday.
http://www.cobbsfarmshop.co.uk/events.asp?contentID=206

Last Minute Cards
Need a card? 123 Greetings online, very handy if you forget and need to send something instantly. I particularly like the Happy Birthday with animation and c cappella (like a Barber Shop quartet - four male voice with no accompaniment).
http://www.123greetings.com/birthday/birthday_fun/happy_birthday_song_a_cappella.html
I also liked the card called Beak Boys reminiscent of the Beach Boys.
http://www.123greetings.com/birthday/happy_birthday/the_beak_boys_birthday_song.html

You can send a birthday or anniversary e-card with a customised message such as the venue for the lunch or a weekend away or holiday. Just tell the recipient to keep the date or dates free, and say details will be in the card.
http://www.lastminute.com
You can set the card up to be delivered at the right time, local time for the recipient, even if you are on a different time zone.

More Lunches
http://cinnamonclub.com/mothering-sunday-2017/ Indian food. Upmarket. See my previous review of this restaurant on this blog and on TripAdvisor.


Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Cambodia - Checklist of Things To See

Problem
So much to do so little time. Where first?

Answers:
Checklist:

We thought it was a three hour trip through the jungle but Ankor Wat seems to be in the country's second city and Siem Reap. You arrive at the airport 6 km away - hotels may provide transfer. The Ankor Wat complex is about 7 km away.

1 The National Museum has videos, static and interactive exhibits and provides an introduction to the temples (or a refresher).
Museums include at least two others featuring the war.

2 Ankor Wat
Also several other similar complexes:
Tour to
Bayon (Royal ...)

3 killing Fields memorial and Wat Thmey
Several people say it's free but another says the price includes headphones for commentary.

4 Terrace of the Elephants

5 Angkor Silk Farm

6 Lotus farm
Something different. 15 minutes out of town.

7 Shopping - Kings Road shopping village - dearer but good if you want to support locals.
A large number of combined shops and art galleries.

8 Night market.

9 Evening Cultural show.

Tips
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Attraction_Review-g297390-d6556656-Reviews-King_s_Road_Angkor-Siem_Reap_Siem_Reap_Province.html
http://wikitravel.org/en/Cambodia

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Researching Cambodia and Ankor Wat and What To Wear In Temples

Problems
What should you pack or buy in advance? What should you book?
World famous sites - such as Ankor Wat, Cambodia, trip of a lifetime. Is it safe? Where do I keep my passport - on me or in the hotel? What do I wear?

The name was means temple.

Answers
Picking a reliable hotel in advance should enable you to be briefed. But what about packing?

So far my research on Wikipedia and TripAdvisor suggests:
Ankor Wat and other old temples are not just historic ruin, they are considered holy sitee with a dress code and if you are wearing beach clothes you won't be admitted.

1 Avoid undergrowth and look where you are treading - there could be snakes in temple ruins.
2 A light scarf to cover shoulders is not enough, a piece of clothing covering shoulders is needed.
3 Sarongs are unsuitable for climbing steep steps as they reveal women's legs to those below. Wear trousers or leggings (which would be hot.
4 In order to wear cooler clothes for part of the day, either carry two sets of clothes (which weighs you down) or cargo pants (trousers) with zip off legs. (You might be able to buy them locally - but will they have your size?)
5 I suggest carrying a couple of safety pins to secure scarves or sarongs or clothes which get torn.
6 A safety pin did not work on my wrap skirt - just pulled out as I walked, leaving a hole. A better solution would be ribbons or better still ribbons on elastic.
7 Alternatively a flared skirt which enables you to mount steps.
8 A Punjabi outfit with matching trousers would be another option - if 'trousers' are allowed.
9 I have culottes.
10 What about the wrap tie farmer's trousers which I bought in Singapore and never wear?
I must admit they are hard to tie on, can't be removed easily when you go to the toilet without ragging fabric own dirty floors, Besides I never feel secure. I think they will gap or the ribbons will untie and the whole outfit will fall to the floor!

I shall be adding more thoughts as I continue researching today.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please like, follow and share my posts.

Colourful Towers and Cars in the Sky in Singapore

Problem
I see a wonderful building changing colour as I watch on Scotts Road as we walk from the Orchard direction towards Newton MRT.

The two towers change colour as I stop to photograph the building. From royal blue through white to red. I love it. What is the building called?

Answer
I photograph the front with the name. Unfortunately when I get home I find that the picture of the facade across the road in dim light taken in the evening with a handphone is not clear. However, I know exactly where the structure is situated.

So I later look it up on the map. It's called the Hamilton. I remember the name. It reminds us of Lewis Hamilton, the racing car driver. No coincidence.

I decide to search and research the building. On their website I learned nothing about the light display. I was surprised to see that the twin towers of the building contained fewer than 60 flats.

Car Parking En Suite In The Sky
The big surprise was the ensuite garage in the sky for each flat.

Long ago I stayed at a hotel which was alongside a car park. They had arranged for the bays to be numbered so that if you reserved a car parking space it was on the same level as your hotel bedroom. I thought that was a novelty and a clever idea and a convenience. But the idea of matching car parking to the level of your home bedroom did not seem to catch on elsewhere and did not spread worldwide.

Have a look at the Hamilton website. You have to enjoy a really swanky car to want to have it parked visible beyond a glass window alongside your apartment's living room.

In Singapore just owning a car is a luxury. You have to be able to afford the Certificate of Entitlement as well as the cost of the car. Yet the roads are full of cars.

http://www.hamiltonscotts.com/en/latest-news
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hamilton

Photos and video by Angela Lansbury. Copyright 2017.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

German words of the day - great versions improving

German - English
Basis - basis
beide - both (same initial letter, b; d and t and th sound similar)
beste - best
Bestimmung - purpose (my best plan, move forward)
Erfahrungen - experiences - what you gain when you go out and fare well
Planung - planning
toll - great (wonderful, superb)
Unterschied - difference (think of underlying difference, the letter d, also DIffEr-schIED letters d and i and e)
Verbesserung - improvement (think getting VERy much Better, better is almost the same as besser ing like ing is a condition or state)
Versionen - versions
wir entwickeln - we are developing (think entwining)
Wissen - knowledge (think of wise-ness, wisdom)

English - German
the basis - die Basis
best - beste
Bestimmungen - rules and regulations (their best efforts at seeing we do what we must, go where directed)
great / wonderful - Toll (memory aid - ring the toll bells because it is great, toll the great bell)
knowledge - Wissen
planning - Planung
version - Version

Note the capital letters for German nouns, including those which are not proper names.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and teacher of English and languages.

Colour and Colour Blindness - How It Changes Photography and Life

Seeing colours is wonderful, something one tends to take for granted. I still have old black and white photos of holidays. Nowadays my travel photos are different. Photos of colourful flowers are more important.

Story
In a recent speech contest I spoke about my late Uncle Ronnie who was color blind. When he was dying I visited him in Barnet hospital and took him flowers. He was not interested in flowers because he could not see the colors - even the shapes were obscured by his inability to see color.

I saw being color blind as a blight on his life and started to appreciate what a big part color played in my life.

Only when I asked him about his life did I see that being color blind contributed to his focus on his other senses so that he became a BBC orchestra violinist.

What was more remarkable, being color blind prevented him from being a pilot. At the time he was upset. But pilots in the Battle of Britain lived only four years. His life was saved because he was colour blind.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Appreciating Colour - red and green signs in contests

Problem
In Toastmasters Clubs the speech timer uses red and green boards to show the green you've spoken enough and can go on or go and leave the stage and red for you've reached the time limit and must stop.

Traffic lights are relatively easy to distinguish because the top one of the three lights is red. the middle one is yellow. The lowest one is green. But if you turn the lights sideways on a desk instead of standing them upright, the colour blind speaker loses the vertical clue.

However, people who have red green colour blindness cannot distinguish colour boards.

Answers
At HOD Toastmasters Club in London, England, at the request of a previous president, who was colour blind, we now print the word green in black on the green card, and the word red in black on the red card.

Author
Angela Lansbury, author and speaker.

Where To See Colourful buildings which change colour to light the night in Singapore

Problem
How to bighten a sad day - when you have a long journey or lose your way.

Answer
Photograph a colourful building, such as this one, changing colour in Singapore.

Stories

Two buildings which I have stopped to admire and photograph in Singapore:

The Hamilton building is a skyscraper standing beside the Sheraton Towers hotel in Scotts Road running north just along from the centre of Singapore, Orchard Road. This is a private development. The block's oblong lines are stark, but relieved by colour. At night the lights change colour.

Going further out of town, the Nee Soon East Community Centre, a public building, is soothingly circular and equally colourful with changing lights.

For me, seeing colour is a blessing a big part of my life. I wear colourful clothes. What I like about Singapore and the far east is that the tropical climate makes flowers bloom all year, so the scenery is colourful. Housing and clothes are made to match their surroundings.

Tips
To reach the Sheraton Towers Hotel and see the Hamilton building you could take the MRT train from Orchard to Newton. Alternatively take a bus. Or you could walk.

To reach Nee Soon East community centre, take the MRT to Yishun MRT. The community centre is on maps but even when you are out in the roadway by the giant junction it is hard to remember which way to go. Passers by don't all know the community centre. However it is opposite the bus garage interchange.

See my later post on the Hamilton.
Photos by Angela Lansbury, copyright.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

German words which are clear and confusing - in banks

Problem
1 How do you remember words? In a bank you may want to check your bank account, and ask how much money is in it.

Answer
Look for similarities. Similar letters or similar sounds.

German - English
Kreditkarten - Credit card
Finanzierung - credit, financing (looks like finance)
Frist (eine Frist) - deadline (a deadline)
Geld - money (originally it would have been gold with gold and silver coins)
Konto - account

English - German
account - Konto (German nouns begin with capital letters, unlike English words, where only p r o p e r names have capital letters) (P r o p e r was turned into paper by automatic spell correction.)
credit - Finanzierung
deadline - Frist (I think of rush to be first past the post before the race is over and you've missed your chance, like the hare and the tortoise)

Tips
Watch out for in the account which is auf - in this context meaning in, not from.

To test yourself, use Duolingo website which can be used on a laptop or as an ap on your mobile phone. You will have to go through the course from lesson one onwards in order. Unlike a paper textbook, or phrase book, you cannot skip around from one chapter to another.

Angela Lansbury, author and teacher of English and languages. Please share my posts.

Check the date, day of week, time, place; south and east

Problems
How do I find my way to a meeting? (I have been to several venues in London, England, and more than 50 clubs in Singapore.) Americans are confused by Stratford on Avon and Stratford in East London. Plus Oxford Street which is in London, leading several miles across the city in the direction of another city called Oxford. Americans looking for Oxford Street in London have been known to ask for Oxford (dropping what they think is the superfluous word street).

Answers
Re-using Agendas With Directions
In London, England, and in Singapore, I print the evening's agenda which I am emailed earlier in the day. I write on it the travel directions, nearest train station, exit from the train station. (In theory I could photograph the route but I never do.)

I file the clubs by name, A-D, E-K, L-R, S-Z. Pull out last visit's agenda. Add today's updated name and phone number of President or person to whom I have spoken on the phone.

Currently in Singapore phone calls using WhatsApp are free and do not use up your monthly phone call allowance. However, I've been warned that eventually WhatsApp may start charging.

Everybody wants a paperless office to have less clutter and save trees. However, most clubs provide printed agendas and instead of throwing them in the waste paper bin, when I return home from a club, I save the agenda. Then on my next visit, I pull out the previous programme and follow the directions.

Train Maps
I used to have another system. I wrote on the back of the train station map the lines and stops for places I visited frequently.

The Singapore MRT (train) maps have a translation in to Chinese. I am always meaning to learn Chinese from the map translations, but I never do.

Could I use the translation to ask for directions? In theory I could ask somebody in a hotel to circle the translation. Or simply check the number myself. Then, when meeting somebody who doesn't speak English, I could show them my destination in their language, print right and left, shrug my shoulders and raise my eyebrows. See where they point.

I don't. I find somebody who speaks English.

So, to make the map less bulky in my jacket pocket, or when sticky taping the train map to the inside of a diary or club directory, I tear off or cut off the Chinese translation page.

Stories
In Singapore in March 2017 I managed to go to Nee Soon East Community Centre, when my meeting was at Nee Soon South community centre. I had a conversation with the admin office on the ground floor of Nee Soon East. No meetings today, they said. The club meets Thursday. (This was on a Monday.)

I was disappointed. I thought I had wasted my time taking a journey to a meeting on the wrong day. My whole evening was wasted as it was too late to reach the alternative club meeting that night in the centre of the city about an hour away.

Then I got a phone call. A girl's voice asked me, "Where are you?"
I replied, "Already in your building. But the staff in the office say there's no meeting today."

(Community Centre staff have told me 'no meeting today' before. Usually when a contest is on a weekend and the usual meeting is midweek, so I was wary about taking the opinion of office staff, when I'd already had "see you tonight' messages on my mobile phone.)

Once in a Singapore suburb on the Changi line I was half an hour early for a meeting at a Community Centre. The person allowed to collect the room key had not turned up. As is frequently the case in Singapore, I was half an hour late, yet I was the first person to arrive.

The girl I spoke to when I was in Nee Soon East agreed to come to the first floor to find me. I get tired of waiting and asked various people, "Where is the lift?" (Americans say elevator.) Three people were visitors and did not know. Eventually I found the lift. I watched the lift going up and down to the top, third floor, but nobody arrived.

Eventually, I and the girl made phone contact again. I could not remember her name, but searched my phone for the last call from an unknown number.

She said, "I could not find you."

I said, "I am on the ground floor of Nee Soon East Community Centre." She said, "I am on the third floor of Nee Soon South Community centre. You are in the wrong Community Centre."

Her venue was only one train stop away. (Plus the five minute run back to the station. Waiting at the lights to cross forward then right at the union by the MRT station of the six lane motorway through the suburb.)

Then puffing up the stairs of the overhead bridge. Cross the bridge.

I arrived at the meeting, trying not to look flustered, but serene, just in time for my slot, ironically a keynote speech about the importance of time. As Woody Allen said, showing up is half the battle.

Ruislip, London
The same thing has happened to me in London. Once I went to Ruislip Gardens when I should have been at Ruislip Manor. The hostess has her phone off during meetings. (Any group should have a designated person with their phone on vibrate so they can answer queries from people who are late or lost.)

The book group was run by people who did not take kindly to members who turned up after the discussion but in time for the tea break, smoked salmon sandwiches and coffee or tea.

Worries Wine Diners
On another occasion in London, we were late for a wine dinner. We went to the wrong street in London, same name street, but different postcode. If we had checked the nearest tube station (underground rail station) with the host we would have known we were on the wrong side of London. The wine dinner organiser had turned off their phone. It's really helpful when attending a meeting to get the phone numbers of all the other members and their spouses so that next time you get lost you have somebody to call.

Singapore Success
I had followed this phone number gathering procedure in Singapore. I had previously had trouble finding Braddell Hight Community Centre which is near Serangoon MRT station, not near Braddell station. I have also had to be careful in Singapore with Bukit Timah, Bukit Merah, and Bukit Panjang. Other similar sounding names in Singapore are Jurong Green and Jurong Central. Like Ruislip Gardens and Ruislip Manor in London, two adjacent areas in Singapore had different but similar sounding names, Nee Soon South and Nee Soon East.

Fortunately, all ended well. In Singapore, despite the irony of my speaking about being on time, when I was not on time, I won the vote for the best speech.

Tips on Maps
When I changed my phone, being offered a new phone with my phone tariff, I had to delete aps to make space and reinstall them. I found I also had to re-learn what to do.

To return from the meeting at the Community Centre to the MRT station the quickest way, taking a short cut walking through a housing estate instead of along the main road, I typed into my mobile phone map. Up came the symbol for Google maps. I clicked on the symbol for driving or walking.

The map on your phone screen shows a symbol indicating where you are now and you can see that you are walking in the right direction.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.