Our visitor, a small kecko on the window in Singapore

 

Gecko. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Rainy Weather - Reminder for Travellers, Photographers and Swimmers - handy poem

Angela Lansbury in playing card costume and umbrella. Photo by Trevor Sharot.

 It rains all the day

It rains all the night

It looks like the clouds

Are having a fight

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring 

So let's go to town

When prices are down

Now where can we go

When rain's pouring down?

When waterfalls flow -

Exhibitions in town!

It rains all the day

It rains all the night

It looks like the clouds

Are having a fight

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.

When you see the sun

Grab camera-phones, run

When clouds scuttle past

You have to act fast

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.

When you see the sun

Grab swimsuits and run

Don't wait 'til its late

Or you've sealed your fate

When you see a discount

You will if you look

Tomorrow it's gone

So be quick and book

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring

It's autumn elsewhere

In this globe we share

Just open your eyes

It is no surprise

Remember this thing

It rains in the spring.

-ends-

Poem by Angela Lansbury. Jan 2023. Copyright.

You may quote a couplet which is fair use in the USA and refer back to the original post.

Remember post-Christmas discounts, Chinese new year offers and decorations and celebrations.

What to see in China, Singapore and Chinatowns in the Uk and USA - see my previous posts. Please share links to your favourite posts.

in whatsApp and on your blog posts.

It is snowing hard in London. London needs ... Singapore needs ... The world needs ... what Canada has and what America and Israel know

 

I spoke to family in North West London. England. UK. It is snowing hard.

They are in lockdown and can go out only for food. We did a video call on mobile phones. It was just like being in the room with them.

I said, "What you need is snow shoes, like in Newfoundland, Canada".

They can go to hospitals for maternity checkups, or giving birth. If they can get there.  What about the family in Singapore? They are enjoying tropical heat. Aren't they?

Singapore

Meanwhile, over in Singapore it has rainy periods on an off in the afternoons. It is pleasantly cool. Not the dreadful humidity and oppressive heat of summer. 

The vaccinations for seniors are scheduled to start mid-February.

Many of the older blocks of flats have a maid's room with a toilet, shower and sink. Some people have converted this into a kitchen, and the kitchen into a larger living area or second living room or dining room. I am wondering if lockdown continues worldwide, will we start converting rooms into study bedrooms to let out. Or turn all bedrooms into study bedrooms. 

If you are over fifty, you can set up separate bedrooms and separate study areas, whilst you are still healthy, so that if one person is sick or isolated, you can have desks in separate rooms and separate sleeping areas.

What does Singapore need/ What does the world need, if people are going to work from home?

Converting Homes

Homes need a balcony so people can have fresh air, get vitamin D from sunlight. and grow fruit and vegetables. 

Corridors need one way systems or dividers.

Store rooms need to be converted into office spaces or meeting rooms, or broadcasting rooms, like one person offices, to protect workers' privacy.

Converting Offices

With so many offices and businesses and shops closing down or having people working from home, will the opposite happen? Offices will have to be converted into dwellings, with kitchens and bathrooms. And a convenience store for food and cleaning materials on the ground floor. Maybe a doctor's office, testing centere and drug dispensary on the ground floor.  Maybe a teacher's room, so the teacher can work online and does not have to reveal her home.

But will Covid go on, where, and for how long? Who is looking at the problem, worldwide?

John Hopkins Univerity in the USA has Covid statistics and forums.

Useful Websites

USA

coronavirus.jhu.edu

SINGAPORE

go.gov.sg/gov.sg-220121

vaccine.gov.sg

ISRAEL

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9179677/Israeli-healthcare-group-says-coronavirus-infections-plunged-vaccinated-60s.html

In Singapore 1800-333-9999

About the Author

Angela Lansbury teacher of English (advanced and English as a Second Language or English as a Foreign Language, French and other languages, aspiring polyglot.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Member of many toastmasters  speaker training clubs and speaking contest judge.

Angela Lansbury, the author of 20 books including Wedding Speeches & Toasts, and Quick Quotations, has lived in the USA, Spain and Singapore. 

She  has several blogs and writes daily on at least two of the following:

travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com

dressofthedayangela.blogspot.com

translateforfun.blogspot.com

 Please share links to your favourite posts.

How to Find and Create Happy Captions For Your Photos

Umbrellas and parasols dress.

On Facebook I wrote:

Dress of the Day. Day 5. Beach Brollies. Chosen by Angela. Please add captions and comments. Puns, proverbs, philosophy, witticisns, idioms, whatever springs to mind.

Captions for this included:

Life's a beach.

You are my sunshine. 

Singing in the rain.

Raindrops keep falling on my head.

Parasol folderol.

Ringing in the sane. (A song with a Spoonerism on Singing In The Rain.)

Oranges and Lemons dress.

Captions for this included:

Oranges and Lemons (say the bells of St Clements - old song)

Feeling fruity

The tree was fruitless and then Fruitful

Lemon dressing (pun!)

Indian dance dress.

Elephant dress.

Captions and comments included:
White elephants.

Elephantine.




Day 1
Butterfly dress.


Captions and comments included

I have been posting dress of the day on Facebook and asking for captions. If you ask for anything you get lots of comments. I hope to build up a following.

I have suggested puns, alliteration, jokes, songs, proverbs, colours.

Useful websites For Song Titles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Songs_about_elephants
https://spinditty.com/playlists/Songs-About-the-Sun-and-Sunshine

Useful websites For tee shirts with umbrella(s) designs
https://www.redbubble.com/shop/brolly+womens-clothes

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

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am Immediate Past President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting on Zoom the first Wednesday of the month but  the third Saturday afternoon and occasionally on other Wednesdays our workshops are on app learncool.sg 

Incoming president Faith from July 1st 2020 could change dates and platforms so please contact the club.

learncool.sg

Or quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

For language lovers:Useful Websites

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

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

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

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html Please share links to your favourite posts
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
translate.google.com
duolingo.com

More later

Flags with Suns and Stars and Moons and A Prayer For Faith ToThe Universe

Some countries' flags show the sun.

Other flag show the stars. (New Zealand and Australia.)
















My friend, Faith, who was ill, asked us for prayers. Here is my prayer for her and everybody. She fell sick and did not answer the phone, so people started sending her prayers through Facebook.

Prayer to the Universe (For Faith)

We thank the world for granting us another day, with eyes to see the universe, to see the sun at dawn, the heat of mid-day, with the clouds which blow past, revealing the blue sky beyond.

Into every life a little rain must fall. We thank the universe for the rain which waters the plants,

We thank the universe for he sunset which tells us to stop work and rest, to hear the patter of rain or the power of thunder. When we see happy families we share their joy. When we yearn for those who have gone before, we look at the happy families and know that we are part of the chain and more laughing children will bring us flowers and ask us to share our knowledge if we only smile welcome. aT NIGHT WE SEE A VAST BLACK SKY but within it for centuries the little white stars have been winking in their proper places to juide us and tell us north from south, to help us on our way.

A million men and women before us have helped, men who drew maps, men and women who grew our food and made our clothes, and built our roads, and built the planes and trains and cars and cicyles, the colles and toys, the photos and videos, the cleaners who protected us and the doctors who healed us and the communicators who passed on the knowledge.

We have been blessed by hearing the moments of joy and sadness, and questions and answers and the cuationary tales, and the folly and wisom, the mistakes and remedies, the sinesses and cures. We have been dealt blows and survived them. Yesterdys struggle, so many of them, are already forgotten, for we have passed on the greet new people, new places, new times and new challenges and new joys.

The universe is so complicated. Yes, yet it is so simple.  The sun comes up so we can se where we are going. The sun goes down so we can rest undisturbed. The water and sun gorw the plants. Even the weeds such as the stinging nettle can be made into soup, and the dock leaves frown near the nettles so that when we step carelessly without looking and get stung, if we look around carefully we can find the dock leaves which will sotthe us.

We have a universe of people who could be friends or enemies.. We can find friends or make friends. We pray for our friends who are tired and sick. We pray for our friends, we pray that our enemies will see the truth, AS WE ADMIT WE WERE WRONG AND SEE The truth, we will find Faith, again, and not simply pray, because God helps those who help themselves. For hope.


About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a trave writer and phtographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.

Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a langauge evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am President of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting every Wednesday, on zoom the first Wednesday of the month but the other wednesdays are workshops on app learncool.sg
Or quicker, tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Time Zones
In Singapore we are on the same time zone as Malaysia, Hong Kong, and China (Beijing and Shanghai).
Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Bicentennial Experience - From Singapore To Singaporean - What You Can See

Singapore flag.

The Exhibition is new and it's free (to me as a Singaporean 'Permanent Resident', which I capitalise because it is not a comment but a government status). The exhibition is temporary. I had been very pleased when I signed up for the free preview of the Jewel shopping Mall, attached to the airport with a giant waterfal in the atrium, and was delighted with that visit, so I signed up for this event, too.

Getting There
My mistake was to go along with my husband's idea that the most direct and speedy route to Fort Canning was via Dhoby Ghaut station, one stop from Little India. I swanted to see the new escalators up Fort Canning and never made it. I think the planners have made a mistake, an omission. They urgently need an escalator up the other side from Dhoby Ghaut.

The route we took was from Dhoby Ghaut, past the noisy and dusty, dirty and depressing redevelopment of Park Mall. Then about four flights of steep stairs. No problem for my husband who treks up volcanoes, Everest, Kilimanjaro and more. To him a flight of stairs, or four , or ten flights. is just part of his useful daily routine. However, as I trudged up, gasping, I was thinking, how many poeple like us, over fifty, over sixty, over seventy - surely not seventy, life has cheated us, can cope with these steep stairs.

Visitors
When we reached out destination, we older folk were in the minority. We were addressed as 'members of the public' in a group with pre-schoolers, tiny tots, all holding hands with their Mums, Dads, nannies or minders.

Guides
The volunteer ushers were excellent. They managed to apologise yet be positive about our experience of the noise. One of them said, "The pre-schoolers are noisy but you will forgive them because they are so cute."

After a brief queue wait we were given a free booklet about Singapore's history.

The Guide, which we later read over coffee in the Hotel Fort Canning. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Film Featuring Pirates
We were ushered in to watch a film with subtitles. The excited babble from the children is such that I watched an entire run-though of the film before it stopped and started again and in a momentary lull as group A ahead of us (were group B) I realised the film had a quiet sound track. I moved to the front row, my usual policy to hear and see better, and by watching the subtitles and trying to follow and predict I could work out the gist and actual words of most of the commentary.

Cartoon Drawings
The history of Singapore is told is a cartoon, in the modern fashion, showing the pencil drawing the figures from the outline, adding in the features and finally the shading. Mesmerising. You can buy an app which does this for you. Quite expensive, a big investment or a commitment to monthly payments, if I remember rightly. I sat thinking, I must buy one of those caligraphy pens.

If you come in during the middle of the film and can't hear the commentary it may seen disjointed. But the whole history of Singapore is reapeated at least three times, once in this opening introductory cartoon, again in the booklet, and then in two more exhibits.

I felt this cartoon should have been screened off from the noisy babble outside, which would encourage concentration on the film.

History Brought To Life
Having watched it through one and a half times, I began to get the gist of it. I have learned about assorted parts of the history of Singapore and the area. Unfortunately, I seemed to have only a hazy notion of the order of events, dates, and names of people except for Raffles. However, this exhibiton sets out to bring everything into persepective.

By the end of the first film I had recalled that Singapore started as a dot on the map, uninhabited with ruthless nomadic purates in the surrounding waters, passed through the hands of assorted people, the Portuguese and Dutch were fighting nearby, a Malay leader sold it to somebody, finally the British East India Company headed by Raffles appears.

Actors, Accusation and Escape
Next our group moved into a room with a long three part screen and actors playing swashbuckling figures from the past march reolsutely, stop to fight, and march forwards, or run off backwards. The main story I remembered was the man who accused his concubine or wife of being unfaithful. Her father launched a battle, so our leader races off to Malacca in the north, a part of the land which became Malayasia, of which Singapore was a small part.

What horrified me was how murderous everybody was. Admittedly the moments where nothing happens don't make for action. Drama is drama by definition.

Wonderful Water Display
We then moved to a water display. Wonderful use of modern technology. In the centre of the room is a floor to ceiling fountain. Projected onto it are pictures. The brochure I have been given is getting wet from the spray so I quickly stuff it into my waterproof backpack.

After this we are given umbrellas for even more water.

Rain On Independence Day
We are in a 360 room. I went to the front as usual and missed most of the circle of events to my right, left and behind me. In an ideal world I would have been dead centre but raised above the crowd.

One character I recognized was Raffles.

Raffles in the exhibition. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

The highlight of the rain scene is the finale, Singapore's Indepence day in pouring rain braved by the crowds, and we are in the rain under umrellas, made to feel part of it.

I now see that this is not really an exhibition for tourists, but part of an ongoing campaign to create in the Singaporeans of today and the futruere - starting with pre-schoolers, a feeling of national identity. Solidarity with each other. Awareness the wars and battles with your neighbours can result in massacres.

WWII Massacre
Yes, here we are in a screen showing WWI, another on WWII. A personal acount from a survivor of a mssacres of the able bodied Chinese on a beach. One survivor, with his wrists bound, and knees bound by ropes, marched into the water (by Japanese captors) dived underwater just before the machine gunning started, and stayed underwater when  a search boat passed overhead. The water swelled and loosened the ropes so he was able to wriggle free. Estimates of the dead vary from 5,000 to 50,000.

Numbers?
(The same disaparity of figures occurs with the Holocaust. You take the figures of the missing from most recent census, birth rate and birth recors, and tax and employment and housing figures, and victims' families, which is the higher figure, the known dead, the estimates from the killers, which is the lower figure given when they are asked to account for war crimes or pay compensation. Numbers go up when you find unrecorded births, bodies of people not in the original list, parents and children with the same name. Numbers go down when you find miraculous escapes, people wandering as down and outs or in mental homes with amnesia who can't rmember their own names, families nor homes or even country of birth, adopted children whose ancestry is revealed, those who escaped and changed identity to forget or escape pursuers, or people counted twice because they appeared on two lists.)

Out of the indoor exhibition in the building to the open sided and open ceiling exhibits in the park outside.

Lunch - Prosecco Champagne?
First we stopped for lunch. A bit chaotic. Confusing. The first confusion was the offer of Prosecco Champagne. What? Champagne is a region of France. Prosecco is a region of Italy and a grape from that area. Maybe they mean Champagne style Prosecco? Or just bubble white wine? Both Champgne and Prosecco are protected brand names. Anyway, the price was behond our budget and we wanted to stay awake, so I was persuaded not to waste money on the drink nor even time trying to see the bottle - which would inevitably have led to the temption to try and buy.

Chicken choices
Our first choice of chicken in oriental style, satay, would have taken half an hour. So we opted for local style chicken in batter. A quick way to ruin your diet and the chicken.

Kaya Butter Sandwich!
Since we had a credit of two Singapore dollars I chose to try to Kaya toast. A great choice. Not only do I love totally unealthy kaya butter toasted sandwiches, this one had a thick filling and was excellent.

Yes, it is plain white bread, not good food for you, any more than the colorific filling. But I needed calories because For Canning was making me climb a lot of stairs.

Turmeric in the seeds area. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I did not learn anything new in the seeds area but it was very restful.

Outdoor Exhibits
My favourite outdoor exhibit was the seeds in Singapore. I loved the displays in the glass tubes and the surrounding greenery, which did not match the seeds.

Another exhibit was on history around the world at the same time as the history of major events in Singapore. For example, Gutenberg press; Galileo proving that the little earth goes around the big sun, not the other way around, the self-centred view that the big sun goes around the little earth. Also Mona Lisa. How clear are you on what happened in which century, where and when?

We decided to forego the walk to see the escalators, and instead went for coffee in the grand five star nearby Hotel Fort Canning. See next post.

Top Travel Tip
To use the new escalators and avoid lots of stairs, go to Bencoolen station on the blue Downtown line instead of Dhoby Ghaut. Yes, it looks longer on the map. But how long will it take you to climb several flights of stairs.

Verdict
Read up on the history of Singapore. The major street names, Chinese and British, are not covered. Mainly long ago history.
If you want to visit the Hotel Fort Canning, you could still start or end at Dhoby Ghaut MRT. If you can get tickets, see the exhibition.

Useful Websites
https://www.bicentennial.sg/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Fort_Canning
https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Hotel_Review-s1-g294265-d1822389-Reviews-Hotel_Fort_Canning-Singapore.html
singaporeair.com

About The Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Sepang Circuit And What To See, And Say - the rain tyres, the favourites, the medicals

Problem
What must you spend and book to watch the motorbike races at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia? What will you see?

Sepng Circuit, Malaysia. Photo from Wikipedia by Mondayblues.

Answers
Track Entry and Seats
The good news is that my motorbike enthusiast tells me that entry to the track and seat prices are down this year.

Accommodation
 The bad news is that during races the hotel prices and homestay prices double. The good news is that if you go with friends you have company and can also share accommodation. and it may be worthwhile renting an apartment.

Where To Sit
You need to book early to get the seats overlooking certain points of the circuit or to be with your friends. Nowadays, to prevent trouble, the supporters of different countries and teams are in different areas. This makes for great photos in newspapers and on TV, a sea of yellow for supporters.

Are all the entrants from one country friends? Are the competitors from different countries friends? Some are, some aren't. Sometimes the top people from different countries have known each other since they were all young hopefuls, not competing for vast sums the way they are now, and the friendships have endured.

Others are deadly enemies, refuse to smile or shake hands. One rider may think that another tried to force him off the track on a previous occasion - or rides dangerously all the time, endangering all the other rides.

A week before the race, the seat allocation for the supporters of  'the favourite' had sold out.

Who is your favourite? It could be the person from the country where you live, or used to live. It could be the person who has won the most previous races and has gathered so many points that whether or not he wins this race, he is still ahead of the other competitors on total points.

Apart from points, what makes spectators want to watch a particular rider and sit with that rider's supporters, wearing the team colours? It might be the style of riding. Some riders are in such control of the bikes that they seem to go around a corner almost horizontally and actually push the ground with their hands or arms to propel the bike more upright.

What About Rain?
As we discussed this before my friends left Singapore, from my window I could see grey clouds foretelling rain.

I asked, "What if it rains?"

Rain Tyres
The riders have a second bike with rain tyres. Can anybody have rain tyres?

My relative was in Hong Kong on business and extended his stay. He hired a bike which had rain tyres to grip in the rain.

It costs you more to buy a second set of tyres for rain. You need somewhere to store them. Why not wear rain tyres all the time, as a member of the public? Not practical, I was told.

What about the racers? The same applies.

But they don't change the tyres. That wastes time. They change the bike. The rain tyres are on the second bike. They can afford  a second bike at that level. The expensive bike. The cost of moving it and insuring it in transit. (But not unlimited numbers of bikes. Just one spare.)

The rain could stop. You might need to change back to the non-rain tyres.

Timing Is Critical
All the time the seconds are being logged, counted. Every little delay - means one person could win this race against a rival, or move up the league table, or break a record, their own previous best time, or a world record, or not break a record.

Stopping A Race
But if the track becomes a river, even the rain tyres won't grip and the race may have to be stopped. Who can stop the race?

The race might be stopped by the leader or favourite, by prior arrangement. When he signals, everybody pulls off.

You can also have marshalls who have a veto. They are in contact with each other.

Damaged Bikes
In a race, if a bike is damaged, you might use your second bike. If the second bike is damaged, the repair team have to literally work all night to have the bike ready for the next day.

Preview Of The Track
You can pay to view part of the track. You either walk across it or go around on wheels. You can be taken around as a pillion passenger on a scooter.

My Family's Memories
My relative has been at Shanghai and in the Malaysian programme race during the GP weekend practise sessions.

In his younger days a member of my family was in the MSS, the Malaysian Super Service, a support race. The riders use the same track, but the personalities are not world famous and do not appear on TV.

Ex-pats who were bike enthusiasts approached the Singapore authorities, the SMA, about car racing. In those days Singapore did not have a circuit to match the one in Malaysia.

However, the Malaysians were keen to have extra car racing days for the semi-professional having an hour or two's coaching by the big boys of the day.

The Malaysians had circuit open days and granted international race licenses. They sent a doctor down to Singapore. He gave all the hopefuls medicals, a blood pressure meter test, and so on.

The way the story is told, recalled, the doctor was very jolly, the whole occasion was very jolly. The doctor has his meter in one hand and beer beside the paperwork on the desk ready to drink and celebrate when he finished and passed everybody.

Thinking about it, as the Muslim Malays don't officially drink, possibly the doctor was a Chinese Malaysian, happy for a day out in Singapore. Or maybe the expats drank beer and in their embellished memories projected their celebration to include the kindly doctor. Think of it whichever way you like, if that brings a smile to your face.

Useful Websites
Singapore
visitsingapore.com
singaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)

Malaysia
visit-Malaysia.com
malaysiatourism.gov.my
www.sepangcircuit.com

Australia
australia.com/en
www.lonelyplanet.com/australia

Japan
see_japan.co.uk

See previous post.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

When Should I Take My Family To Singapore?

Problem
My friend, Haresh, in London wants to take his parents to Singapore. Another family living in Singapore want their son and prospective daughter-in-law to visit from the UK. Which are the best months?

Answers
It's hot and humid all year and the sun will set predictably around 6-7 pm. So no dark early nights when it's dark early in winter in London, good to get away to Singapore in the British winter.

No long evenings in summer, so you might as well stay in the UK in summer - except that Singapore hotels and private condominiums have outdoor swimming pools.

Swim Early All Year
Go swimming in the morning to avoid mid-day sun, and because you often get showers int he afternoon. Even if you wanted to brave it out and swim massive thunder will frighten you and the swimming pool attendants will blow whistles and beckon you out.

What to watch for:
Hotel prices (unless you are staying with family).
Xmas and Chinese New Year - best time for decorations. Xmas is fixed.

But Chinese New Year varies. Chance to try Singapore's Lo Hei.

I like the autumn festival. You can buy sweet Chinese moon cakes in China, Taiwan and Singapore.

Rainy Season.
Carry an umbrella at all times. Also a large scarf or light wrap in case you are wet from out door rain then caught out by chilly air conditioning in a hotel or office.

Haze
Haze is in the hot months when forests are burned in other countries such as Indonesia. Determined efforts have reduced this problem in the past three years but keep up to date with reports.

Buy an air ticket with stopovers and flexibility, so if the weather doesn't suit you, you can take a side trip or stay a shorter time on your way to Australia and longer on the way home a week or two later.

Useful Websites
http://www.weather.gov.sg/climate-climate-of-singapore/
https://santorinidave.com/best-time-to-visit-singapore

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

Strange things about Madeira, Volcanoes, Water, Waterfalls, the wet Westerlies, the world's islands and wet places

Problem
Where? Most people don't know of Madeira but don't where Madeira is. I had been there before but had forgotten the location. It's the fate of many islands, such as Singapore and Malta.

Black Volcanic Ash
The island is made of black volcanic ash. It was formed from a volcanic eruption. So were many islands. Think of: Hawaii.

Indonesia's Eruptions
Everybody has heard of Krakatowa. It was well documented by survivors.
Another of the Indonesians' islands was a greater disaster for local people and the whole world.  On Sumbawa an eruptions created the year of endless night, which reached as far as England and Europe in the early 1800s.

Red Earth
So the volanic eruptions leave black ash and black beaches. But Madeira also has red earth. Like Singapore and parts of Africa and Devon in England. I know. I spent a lot of time wiping Madeira's red dust from my shoes off the sills of the hire car. Then more time wiping the 'red' - or rather orange, stain off my white and turquoise trainers.

The World's Wet and Windy Places
Wet areas of Madeira and Singapore are on one side of the island. The winds blow one way because of the rotation of the earth. As the earth spins the air moves past. The air drops water vapour on the mountain tops so you get streams and waterfalls running down towards the sea at sea level.

The West and the West and the Westerlies
The west of Singapore, around places called Bukit, which is Malay for hill, gets more rainfall, more than the drier East near Changi airport.

Madeira Levadas - Water Channels
On Madeira the farmers built levadas or draining channels or waterways taking water to their land. The rainfall means green grass, bushes, trees.

Tropical Weather and Plants
Heat means tropical colourful flowers, and palm trees.

Madeira is south of England, hotter. Heat and wet means tropical plants, bananas, coconuts from coconut palms, cane for sugar and rum.


Useful Websites
lastminute.com
opodo.co.uk flight comparison website
tripadvisor.co.uk
tripadvisor.com
visitmadeira.com
Wikipedia.org Madeira
Wikitravel.org Madeira
Wikivoyage.org Madiera

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

Beautiful Botanical Gardens in Singapore

Botanic Gardens plaque. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Where can you go in Singapore that's romantic and doesn't cost a lot of money?

Answer
No need to go to shopping malls and coffee shops. Try the Botanical Gardens.

Botanic Gardens. Open Gateway. Photograph by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

At night, even in the rain, we came across three other couples on a short walk from the MRT through the gardens and out again near the restaurant. What can you do? Amire the plants, read the captions. Plan a route together. Walk along curving paths. shelter from the sun in the shadows.

Where is it?
On the Downtown (blue) railway line. Also another line. Just at the top of one of the exits brings you out right by the gates. No charge to enter.

It's a World Heritage UNESCO site as the plaques tell you.

What does the place have? Bamboo and other trees. A lake with dragons - no, not dragons but monitor lizards. I was a bit nervous about these. No fear.
(Continued in next post next day.)

Useful websites
http://www.visitsingapore.com/en/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer

What Impressed Me at a Singapore School?

Problem
We have a meeting at a school. I imagine it will be run down and depressing. Hard to find and reach?

Answer
Not at all. A bus stops outside. We are out in the rain between the gatweay and the front entrance. However, the covered path from the front entrance to the school building at the back has open sides but a roof as protection against sun and rain. Along the side of the open-sided corridor created, is a wavy line with historic photos and cpations explaining the history of Singapore and the school and all the inspiring pioneers and people and pupils.

Upstairs in the corridor is a panel of grammatical tips for good English, tongue twisters, common errors by Singaporeans, sentence structure.

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

In the audiotrium, the seats have swivelling trays so you can rest your notepad and pencil. The stage, of course, has a screen for audio-visuals. Up the side aisles, on the walls, are posters with inpsiring messages and sayings, quotations, from famous people.

Outside, turning in the opposite direction another wall has the history of common objects.

The school was in the East of Singapore near Bedok MRT (railway station).

What an inspiration. Not just artwork, but fascinating facts.

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

Rain in Singapore - The Good and The Bad For Travellers and Photographers

Problem
Non-stop rain in Singapore on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. The TV announcers were out in the streets under umbrellas, paid to smile enthusiastically.

Answers
What's good?
1 EXPENSIVE OUTINGS ARE AVOIDED
Stay home and save money (if you haven't already paid for a night out).
2 UMBRELLA SALES INCREASE
Shops get fewer shoppers in the rain. However, those which stay open can sell umbrellas.
3 INDOORS INCREASES BUSINESS
Indoor bars and other places attract passers-by. People already in the restaurant stay there and order more.
4 Outdoor bars and balconies with parasols attract a few hardy souls.
5 WASHING DISAPPEARS
People who draped their sheets and underwear over balconies to dry had to remove them and return skyscrapers to elegance instead of looking like slums.
6 PLANTS ARE WATERED - DROUGHT AVERTED
WateredPlants on blaconies and in gardens and in the wild are getting watered and the city and countrside stay green.
7 NO SWIMMING OUTDOORS
When it rains, especially if there is thunder and lightning, pool attendants will vanish, or prevent swimmers from entering the pool for safety reasons.
8 WATERFALLS ARE AT THEIR BEST
In long hot summers, some waterfalls disappear altogther. The rain means you can see waterfalls afterwards.
9 NO REFUNDS
Some events specify that they will not offer refunds if rain causes cancellation or part or all of the event. Why? Because the staff had to turn up to work and turn down alternative work for that date. Because rain is like 'act of God', not their fault. Because otherwise they would go out of business. Because they are in business to make money and they make the rules.
10 SONGS ABOUT RAIN ARE REVIVED
Songs about rain pop into my brain:
Singing in the rain

What's bad?
1 PHOTOGRAPHY - POOR VISION
The camera you hired for four days for New Year photography will not get the best shots. If you were a wedding photographer you would have to deal with it. You could take indoor shots. Or make a feature of rainy shots, or contrast before and after or same scene in sun and rain.
2 CAR CLEANING STILL NEEDED
You may be tempted to give up cleaning your car in the hope that the rain is doing the job for you. Rain is not necessarily cleaning your car. It may be depositing acid which eats into chrome. You need to wash off the dirt, salt, bird droppings and remove damp leaves from crevices, dry off smears.
3 SLIPPERY ROADS
You also need to check your car tyres have good tread to deal with gripping wet roads.
4 SHOPS & RESTAURANTS WITH OUTDOOR TABLES LOSE OUT
An Indian restaurant owner complained that since he has half his business from his outdoor tables, in rainy times he loses business.

WHAT'S GOOD?
In my lists, the good features of rainy days outweigh the bad. Is that because I am a psoitive person?

When the sun comes out you don't complain the weather is too hot. You are grateful for the sunlight and appreciate its advantages. You rush out with your camera.

CHEAP UMBRELLAS
Cheap umbrellas are sold in Seven-Eleven. Only four dollars for a small fold up umbrella which you can afterwards put in your bag. You can buy similar for only four dollars, different patterns, in the drug stores such as Guardian and Watson and some supermarkets. One member of my family who lives in Singapore says:
"You get what you pay for. Cheap umbrellas won't last long. But even if they only helped you out ofr one trip or one day, they are only the price of a cup of coffee."

Useful websites
http://brandinsider.straitstimes.com/audi/essential-car-tips-rainy-season/

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

Covered Walkways Encourage Walking To Stations In Singapore - please copy worldwide

Problem
I am about to go about but it's pouring with rain. If I'm feeling flush, I phone for a taxi. They are all busy. Uber provided a cheaper alternative. Now the private car alternatives to taxis have started pricing according to demand. Should I stay at home?

Answers
The nice thing about a good government is that it thinks ahead to what the citizens need and want and how they act and supplies their needs for the benefit of all. Sir Stamford Raffles famously built the 'five foot way', covered areas over pavements alongside the shop houses, as you can still see in parts of little India and Duxton Hill.

In those days many people walked or worked in the five foot way. Even today the shopkeepers put their trays of goods between the pillars and an old man with a sewing machine sets up shop out of the sun under the covered way.

Along came cars and careless city planners. Up go high rise buildings with no shelter for pedestrians, just cliffs of concrete and brick. In England Sough has roads like tunnels which pedestrians have no shelter from rain or sun, no ground floor shops, no refuge from heavy vehicles exhausts or splashing from big buses ploughing through dirty puddles splashing the payments (Americans say sidewalks).

However, the good news is that the planners in Singapore have considered how to get people out of cars and back into the new railway stations being built all over the city.

Last Spring 2017 I saw the covered way being built from the new Cashew station up the hill. A local resident told me it was to protect children from the local school walking to the station. Now I can see that the programme is extending to help adults and with a different purpose, not just to protect pedestrians from rain, but to change habits and to make walking to the station an easier option.

Reports say that the good results are:
1 More use of trains
2 Less use of cars - less pollution from road traffic, fewer traffic jams, faster road journeys for cars, and buses (and delivery vehicles and tourist buses)
3 Less use of buses means the same effect - plus fewer delays as people board and alight so quicker journey times.

I hope that the planners in Harrow will change their minds about are allowing giant towers of concrete alongside narrow pavements.

Disadvantages of Narrow Pavements
Cuts down the chance of expanding the road width later.
Claustrophobic
Exposes pedestrians to pollution
Pavements so narrow you cannot use a pram or bicycle without forcing pedestrians out into the road and preventing parents from holding the hands of children or the elderly.

Advantages of cover
Pleasanter to walk, run, or jog.
Shelter from both sun (exhaustion and melanoma cancer).
Shelter from and rain inconvenience and damage (wet clothes, dye running onto clothes and white paperwork, and wet shoes, soaked newspapers, and spoiled school books).
Shelter for sellers of food and drinks and protection from spoilage of food on sale and your snack pack lunch. (Shop signs in Takashimaya department store's basement food court deli stalls warned as yet uncooked and to be eaten raw fish and cooked fish (such as sushi) must reach home within an hour.)

Summary
Well done Singapore for the new (2017-8) covered ways.
England and other countries please copy.

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

Taxis or Grab Share In Singapore and Elsewhere - What's In It For You?

Problem

Taxis in London are expensive. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Taxi prices in Singapore have increased in Singapore. When I first went to Singapore in the 1990s taxis were cheap. I was living in the centre so most journeys were short. Now I live out in the suburbs, as do many more people as the city of Singapore has grown with new hosing estates along the railway lines.

Now we have ERP (charges for entering the city centre). Once it was free to order a taxi, Then a small booking fee. The booking fee increases. Extra charges for luggage or extra passengers. Your seven dollar taxi fee is now higher. How to reduce the cost of a taxi ride?

Answer
Compare costs
Taxi companies

Sharing A Ride
In Singapore use Grabshare. They claim to reduce the cost of a ride by up to 30%. You share a ride with only one other person, so only one small diversion or stop.

On line you can see ads for this service in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Take a taxi from home and you might even make a friend who is living in your local area. Meet up to walk and lose weight or to swim.

Take a shared cab or car  from your workplace or favourite shopping area and you might meet a friend who also wants to meet and share lunch.

On one trip I chatted to the girl in the front seat and we exchanged business cards. Networking en route.

You can take one other person with you for free. This is important. It means that a husband and wife can take a taxi together, no extra per person cost. Presumably the person you are sharing with has the same right. So that takes up the four seats in the car, driver and one in the front, three in the back.

The limit on family members or groups of friends does mean you can't fill the car with a family of four, or group of four.  Because there would be no room for sharing with another couple. And this is grab share!)

But you are reducing the cost of what you might otherwise pay per person on the train. However, there is no saving in cost if you have a free train pass (available in Singapore and London, English, to retirement age residents, and in Singapore to children under a certain age or height - see signs in Singapore stations.

Saving Time, Trouble, Slipping, Tripping
Taking a door to door shared cab does save you time over the free train ride. I have also called cabs because the Singapore rain was horrendous. Raindrops were bouncing high off the ground onto the hem of my ankle length dress. I was afraid deriving rain would buckle the papers in my fabric handbag. The pavements (Americans would say sidewalks) were filled with puddles.

I was afraid of slipping on wet grass and leaves. (My neighbour in London fell and broke a hip in January. Three months later, in April, she still had a hard time walking, and had had to move her bed into a downstairs living room because she could not manage the stairs up to the bedroom.

grabcar
Grabshare
Uber

Download the app onto your phone when you have a spare moment. For example, when waiting for luggage at the carousel on arrival in a new country. Then you can call them when you need them.

Warning, it's a good idea to set up at your home, second home or long-stay hotel. The ap asks if you want your current location to be set as home. If you install the ap for the first time at another destination you rarely visit, going to your home, this will come up as a default. You will have the option of changing it. But it's a real nuisance if you wanted just a one click system, have your hands full of luggage, or are already late for an appointment.

The installed ap showing where your cab is travelling is a blessing. You can see that your vehicle is on its way, the route it is taking, whether it is stuck in traffic or racing, whether you have time to dash back for a forgotten item such as a hat or umbrella. You can also be sure it has not overshot the entrance, or taken a wrong tun around your clockwise drive.

You can see if the car shooting past is your own taxi which has just overshot. You can immediately phone the driver to say: 'Stop! Go back a few feet. We are at the first entrance, a couple with two suitcases - look for the lady wearing a red dress and waving.'

Once you have signed up with one of the companies, you will get emails, messages or texts with advertising and offers. For example, reduced prices for a ride or a day if you have introduced somebody else to the scheme, seasonal offers for events such as Mother's Day.

Taxis (listed alphabetically)
Comfort / City Cab
tel: 6552 1111
Two companies, same ownership, Comfort and City, are first in the alphabet and four number ones in the second half of the number. The number starts six five, which is also the code for Singapore, the five is elated, than the number two. This memory aid would be useful if you had a new phone and don't have taxi numbers in but want to call a taxi in a hurry.

SMRT
Tel: 6555 8888
Easiest to remember. Dial the country code, 65, then repeat the 5 twice to make the four digit first namer. The following four digit number is entirely eights, eight being lucky on Singapore / Chinese culture.
***
Premier Taxis
6363 6888.

Prime Taxis
6778 0808
***
Yellow Top Taxi
6293 5545.

At the airport from arrivals you can find a counter where you can order a taxi, either a regular size or for a higher cost and extra large limousine if you have extra luggage.

A roundup of numbers, history and a few comments on costs by customers:
http://www.taxisingapore.com/taxi-companies/comfort-taxi/

Taxi Lost and Found:
1 800 225 5582
+55 6225 5582

***
Want to be a driver in Singapore?
This site tells you what you could earn:
https://driver.grab.com/SG_GC_DAX_Calc
***
Passengers to sign up for sharing a cab:

Malaysia
https://www.grab.com/my/share/

Philippines
https://www.grab.com/ph/share/

Singapore:
htttps://www.grab.com/sg/share/

In Romania taxis protested and demanded legislation. I am watching what will happen.

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

Mystery Noises Night and Day In Hotels, Homes, Buildings At Home, On Holiday, On Business

Problem
What's that noise?
Should I check or stay safe in bed or my chair?
Does it need attention?

Answers
Mobile Phones
Incoming calls on what's up or mails can trigger sounds or even vibrations which wake you. Solutions: Turn off sound to vibrate, leave mobile phone on the breakfast table. Leave phone on the laptop. Keep in room for emergency but on the other side of the room.
Fax machines can print out long messages, orders from China sent to wrong numbers, during their working day which could be at night where you are.
Wear ear plugs.
Set clock alarm and leave phone in another room.
Set clock alarm and have bedside landline for emergencies.
Ask family and fiends not to send texts or messages to landlines - especially when travelling to foreign time zones.


Animals and birds, domestic or wildlife:
Cats, dogs, squirrels running along a fence, birds, pigeons, foxes mating at night (screaching in your garden or the road outside), spiders cockroaches, insects in a plastic bag left on the floor, insects in a chocolate wrapper. Monkeys on the loose can climb up to higher floors of apartment blocks, onto balconies, into flats if windows and doors are left open.
Bears foraging fro food in bins or smelling sandwiches and food wrappers left in cars outside house or in the garage.

Birds such as kids in New Zealand jump all over cars in car parks by and eat the windscreen wipers.
Crickets.
Bird calls.
Birds hopping along balconies, perched on railings, perched on a plant singing or calling to other birds, sitting on a fridge on the balcony. (Singapore.)
Dawn chorus of birds.
Pigeon or sea gull perching on windowsill of hotel. (Fishguard, Wales.)
Dogs barking in distance.
Cows outside window in rural areas.
Cocks crowing.

Weather
Rain on windows and rooftops.
Thunder - you were woken by the lightning despite curtains being closed.
Dustbin lids and loose items being blown about.
Hailstones on roof.

Electrical and Mechanical
Door opens and shuts in the wind caused by draughts from open windows in bathroom.
Fridge door left ajar makes a beep.
Oven timer accidentally set beeps when the hour or 24 hours is up.
Timer on phone not cancelled.
Watch in bedside drawer bleeps every hour, not normally heard, but heard if drawer is open or contents are moved.
Air conditioning turns on and off with temperature changes at intervals throughout the night.
Lights in hall activated by late night or early morning neighbours or cleaners.

Cars, Vehicles, Accidents
Cars starting up nearby.
Car doors slamming as diners from restaurants go home at midnight or 1 am after you've gone to bed; then half an hour later, staff having locked up the restaurant will pick up their cars from side streets where they can park all day for free.
Electrical whine from milk floats doing dawn deliveries before rush hour.
Grinding noise from trucks / lorries collecting wheelie bins, lifting bins, shouts from the man at the back to the driver.
Bang of cards colliding at traffic lights.
Bang of moving car hitting stationery car.
Repeated bangs of aggrieved spouse damaging car of spouse or rival.

Story
Bumps In The Night
Floor shaking from earthquake - over my bed int he UK. I woke thinking it was a burglar. Nobody there. Decided it must be underground or overground trains. Read in the newspaper next day that there had been a minor earthquake tremor felt in London, England.

Plumbing
Noise when somebody else in building uses shower, toilet, or even washes hands during the night. Caused by air lock?
Nose from people throwing rubbish down internal chutes on back balconies. (Singapore condo.)

Tapping, Banging and Booms
Tapping - could be dripping tap.
Dripping from blocked gutter during or after rain. (Check gutter in daylight with ladder and torch and get it fixed.)
Window open causes curtain to blow about so that the curtain puller, a metal or wood or porcelain pull cord handle strikes wall or glass.

Thunder.
Overhead passenger planes.
Military planes on an air force or army exercise. (Singapore.)
Helicopters seeking criminals.
Planes spraying crops, detecting haze, routine patrols.

Sirens
Fire alarm.
Emergency.
Exercise for emergency.

Voices on Loudspeakers
Emergency.
Call to prayer during the night and at dawn in Muslim areas and Arabic countries (woke us during our honeymoon in Morocco.)

Reflected Noise
Sounds of people in gardens or garages next door or street outside sound as if they are in your home.
Noise on staircase outside your bedroom in hotel, or alongside your flat.
Noise of lift on your floor in hotel.
Clattering of staff serving early morning breakfasts in hotel.
Slamming of nearby hotel bedroom doors of guests leaving early for work to beat rush hour or for early flights.
Doors linking bedrooms in hotels although locked shut can give the impression that people talking next door or playing TVs are in the same room or your sitting room area.

Tips - Phone A Friend
When I was living alone, before going to investigate a noise I would alert somebody else. In the daytime I would call a neighbour or family member, or carry my mobile speaking to them as I walked.

At night I would leave a message on their answering machine asking them to call me back next day to check I was OK. I had one friend who also lived alone and told me: "If ever you are in trouble, call me any time, day or night."

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

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.

Rain in Spain, Singapore, everywhere, what to do, taxis, tours, restaurants, brollies, windows

If you look at your weather prediction charts you will see that in rainy seasons the good news is that hotels are cheaper. We booked cheap breaks in Cumbria, the Lake District in England. Over in the Far East we booked a holiday at a tourist resort in Thailand.

Problems
Rain - expected or unexpected? A little bit or rain won't hurt - but could change your plans.

Answers
Be prepared. Check seasons. In Singapore always have a small folding umbrella.

Stories
Thailand
In Thailand I was on holiday with my son and our boat trip was cancelled. So instead we booked a tour with a driver. Not the dearest tour which the receptionist wanted to sell us. The cheapest tour.

We had expected a closed air-conditioned taxi. And a driver who spoke some English, with a map in Thai. We pointed to the places on the bilingual brochure. He nodded glumly, demanded the money, and waved us to get in under the dripping canopy, which had a hole, and water running down a metal strut into the footwell. I quipped to my son, "Just like home, in your convertible car'.

Could we cancel? No. The driver wanted his money. The big tours were full or already departed. We did not want to sit in our hotel all day. The swimming pool was closed, umbrellas down, poolside bar not operating. So we went.

We saw a lot of rain on mountains and fields. We understood the local economy - the agriculture, that some crops might be ruined, that others would grow well. We understood the tourist industry for taxi drivers, for hotels, for tour operators.

We saw only about half the local sights listed on the tour. At least we saw some of them.

But our photos of temples were not the best. At the time we were disappointed and cross with the driver and each other. Years later we still laugh about it.

Singapore
Rainy season.

Taxis and Airport
In Singapore when we first went to live and work there we did not know that you could not get a taxi easily when it was raining. On one occasion my husband was going to the airport to catch a plane and we could not get a taxi. If you are in a four or five star hotel, the man at the entrance of the hotel taxi queue will give priority to hotel guests going to the airport.

By now we knew how to hail a taxi. You wave your hand downwards, like patting a dog.

But we were leaving from a ranted flat. My husband stood on one corner trying to hail taxis, all full, red signs. I stood on another corner looking for taxis with the green available sign coming from the opposite direction. He had the umbrella to protect his clothes and bag and paperwork.

After standing around on corners trying to hail a taxi, he ran back and got his motorbike to ride to the airport.

This year I could not have a swim in the morning because I delayed until it started raining. We were going out for lunch.

Lunch In Singapore
We planned to meet at 1 pm for lunch on Chinese New Year, a week long national holiday, like Xmas, starting with a Reunion Dinner at home and in restaurants (higher prices and crowds and fully booked restaurants).

I knew we should have arranged to meet at noon because if everybody is late for lunch at one, you don't all sit and order until 1.30 and lunch arrives at 2. You run the risk that last orders are at 2.30 and the restaurant closes at 2.30 or 3.

We did not arrive until 1.15 because:
Torrential rain started and we decided to wait ten minutes to see if things got better. No.

So we took the lift downstairs, arrived at the condo entrance, saw the rain, and went back for an umbrella.

Back down at the entrance, we saw a taxi dropping somebody off. We waited while they unloaded and paid, got in, gave directions to a driver. He did not understand the restaurant name, nor the street name. He wrote it down on his hand in Chinese characters. We got out.

We walked downhill to the station, much slower than usual, dodging people with umbrellas, puddles, slippery leaves, dead worms, live snails. At our destination, instead of walking off, we stood under the shelter to consult the paper map and satnav on a mobile phone. We could not stop people to ask them the way because they were running to get out of the rain. The short cut across the grass was muddy so we took the longer paved area around the field.

Fortunately, the people we were meeting were also late. If I were planning another meeting, I would leave half an hour early, take a book to read, walk around taking photos if it was sunny, have time in hand if it was raining.

When we came back to base, in no hurry, it had stopped raining. I took a lovely photo of a flower with raindrops on the petals.

Tips
Leave early for airports and restaurants.
Swim whilst it's sunny.
Beware of events around hotel on condo pools - weddings, paid for dinners, public holidays. Marquees will be erected around the pool during the day of an event. You may be denied access, or simply distracted by the numbers of men walking about carrying scaffolding and disturbed when they make a noise.
Swim early in the week and early in the day, before afternoon rain, the heat of the mid-day sun, and evening events closing pools.
Shut windows.
Bring in washing.
Take raincoats and raincoats and umbrellas and overshoes or spare socks.

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

Haze in Asia - how it affects daily life, business, tourism

Weather and circumstances can change overnight. It's good to have flexible plans. Last week, brilliant weather in Singapore. Now there's a haze. I'm glad I gook lots of photographs when the sun was out. A friend of mine who has a business in Singapore says she needs to stay in Singapore to look after her business. However, if the haze gets any worse, she will fly off to Australia.

Here's sunlight and blue sky and a colourful skyscraper, taken in Singapore, the way I would like to remember it.


From the tourist's point of view, it's not just a question of not getting the best photos in the haze. Even sitting indoors, you wake in the morning to the smell of smoke. Your eyes prickle. Your nose and throat fill with mucus to try to combat the incoming bad air. You keep clearing your throat.

You run around checking all the windows are shut: check the bathroom or shower room windows; the bedroom windows and sliding doors, the living room sliding doors, the kitchen windows.

What a disappointment. This window and door shutting exercise came the day after I thought one should open windows to allow in a refreshing cool breeze to combat the stickiness of a humid day.

A white grey sky is depressing. Instead of blue clouds, just white. Instead of green trees, ash grey. Distant skyscrapers seen through a mist, out of focus. Everything looks slightly dirty instead of bright. White buildings are ash grey. Only one person in the swimming pool.

Wait for what happened in previous years, reading haze reports, schools closed, sporting events closed. Outdoor events cancelled.

If you have a kitchen with grilles instead of windows, each time you go out to your washing machine or hanging rack in the scullery area you are breathing in smoke and have to keep the door shut.

Clothes hanging on washing lines smell smoky.

Businesses
Businesses are suffering. Nobody is going out shopping. Parents stay home to look after children who stay home instead of going out to play or to sports activities.

Restaurants
Fewer people are out and about. Restaurants with outdoor seating are not thriving.

Travel
Take the underground railway rather than sitting at bus stops breathing the smoky air.

Time to check flights out of Asia.

Planning Future Trips
In theory you could check each year's haze and plan to travel outside both the spring monsoon rains and floods and the hot summer heatwave and haze. However, this year late rains prevented fires in Indonesia from starting spontaneously or being started deliberately to clear the land for palm oil trees. So the haze season started later.

I am now editing photos I took in early August in good weather and brilliant sun which I took for granted.

For keen photographers, the moral is, take your photos while the sun is out. Never put off until tomorrow, a photograph you can take today.

For daily updates see:
http://www.haze.gov.sg
I have posts from previous years on the causes of the haze and its effects and prevention.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Rain and greenery in sunny, rainy Singapore

The rain in England and Ireland and Singapore and on one side of a mountain in many countries results in a luxurious cover of green trees, shrubs and flowers on the wild and cultivated land.

In Singapore you have jungle, a mass mixture of trees and shrubs and climbers, palm trees and all kinds of trees.

The cultivated trees and plants in condominiums and public areas are also a constant delight.

The lower two pictures are taken in the centre of Singapore, at the crossroads of Orchard Road and Scotts, facing the modern Ion shopping mall building covered in greenery, over the central Orchard MRT underground railway station, and the more tradition tower over Tangs department store.
Photos by Angela Lansbury copyright.

Fortune Cookies and Retail Therapy

When I am in London I often visit one of the indoor shopping malls. If you look at the forecast and see rain, that's the place to go. Crossing the road from Watford High Street station it is a few steps to the ground floor of Boots. This leads you into the Intu shopping mall. On the upper floor of shops is the information counter where you frequently find free fortune cookies. Sometimes they have an appropriate shopping message such as this one.

If you check on the back you can see the ingredients and the maker. The cookies are supplied by the nattily named www.cookies-4u.co.uk tel: 0870 711 8888 .

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