Check the temperature at your destination: charts, clothes, insects, fans, timers

32 degrees centigrade. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

 Temperature

Today in Singapore the temperature is just under 32 degrees centigrade which is over 90 degrees fahrenheit. How do we know and remember that?

Charts

You might like to print out a temperature chart and stick it in your diary. 

Check your diary's information pages. Some diaries have a conversion chart which you never noticed or have forgotten.

Many newspapers have temperature charts worldwide on the back pages. In the USA some papers show the temperature in the different states. In winter in the north, traditionally the Canadians fly south to Venezuela, which is on the north coast of south America. We used to fly from the UK via Singapore and Australia to New Zealand in the long summer break in July or August to take our son skiing in New Zealand. The Australians fly in their long summer over Christmas to London in the UK.

Packing For Heat and Cold

What does this temperature mean when you start packing? Firstly, if you are flying to a tropical country or packing for a holiday, have some layered clothes so you can be cool at your hot destination. This includes a protective hat.

(See later post.)

Warm Wrap

However, pack a light, warm wrap so that at night, or in an air conditioned hotel, you can cover up. 

You might also want to cover up against insects. In Singapore we have signs warning about malaria and dengue from mosquitos. (A friend of mine has just come down with dengue.)

It is handy to have a unisex jacket in case your partner complains that their restaurant seat is under the air conditioning whilst you are fine in your seat.

We Wipes And Tissues

You may want to shower or wash frequently, or carry disposable wet wipes. Or tissues so you can wash and dry.

Quick-Dry Washable Clothes

In the fortnight before I pack, I note which clothes dry quickly overnight, or feel cool in hot weather.

Folding Umbrella

You might want to carry a small folding umbrella in your hand luggage. Especially if your handbag or backpack is not waterproof or you want to protect a mobile phone or computer as well as passports and documents.

Printed Documents

I print out my travel documents, the ticket, airline seat, any directions to the lounge, the regulations on the amount of wine and perfumes you can import. 

Flower & Fruit Regulations

Check if you can take flowers, or potted plants, or corsages, if going to or from a wedding or birthday party. 

Insects, Repellents and Perfumes

To avoid attracting insects in tropical or hot months You might prefer insect repellent perfumes. Consider lavender, or lemon (citronella).

You might also want to pack some kind of insect repellent, suncream, and sting relief. Preferably not a large spray which might be confiscated or explode. A small cream, ideally in main luggage. Rather than in hand luggage where it could get confiscated. 

But what if hand luggage goes missing or is delayed, with your insect repellent inside? 

Hotels And Insect Protection

Heat means insects. We arrived at our hotel in Bali, Indonesia, and insects flew straight into our bedroom. The time was too late at night to unpack because we were tired and it was bedtime. Or you wait for luggage to be delivered by the porter, before you have time to unpack? Ask for insect repellent (which might be a burning coil) and protective nets.

In a home or hotel room it may be cheaper to open two doors or windows to create a draft, or to use a ceiling fan or floor fan rather than running the air conditioning.

If the fan makes a noise, you can use the fan before and after your zoom call. You can improvise a paper fan from a concertinered piece of paper. You can stiffen it with a lolly stick.

Crumbs and Wrappers

In the UK in winter and in cold countries you could leave the wrapper from a chocolate bar on the table, an unwashed cup, an empty drinks can, or crumbs on the work surface or under the dining table. In Singapore you would come back an hour later in your hotel bedroom or your home as an ex-pat and find a line of ants. 

I disturbed a cockroach having a drink or bath in my wet swim shoes.

Hot weather is great for sunbathing, having set your phone alarm to limit the time. Hot weather is great for swimming outdoors, (having set your phone alarm or counted the number of widths and timed them).  

In Singapore it rains in the afternoon in April and May. So you need to swim in the morning. I swim before breakfast so as not to swim on a full stomach. 

Once you know the temperature, day and night, indoors and outdoors you can prepare and pack well.

Useful Websites

http://www.weather.gov.sg/weather-currentobservations-temperature/

https://www.calculateme.com/temperature/celsius-to-fahrenheit

Where your cashew nuts come from - and what cashew fruit looks like

Cashew nuts in Cashew Heights, Singapore. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Problem
Why are cashew nuts so expensive? Where do they come from? Can I grow them?

Answers
A cashew nut tree is in the Cashew Heights condo complex, on Cashew Road, leading uphill from Cashew MRT station. Many roads in this are are named after nuts.

What is a nut? A nut grows as a single item protected by a hard shell. Think of a walnut, a brazil nut, a hazel nut. Unlike seeds such as sesame seeds which are smaller and softer sand scatter.

I saw them lying on the ground. The nuts looked dark and dirty. I thought of picking one up, washing it off and eating it. But it was rock hard.

Looking at the cashew nut, what at first sight seemed to be a cashew nut hanging from a pear, turned out to be the hard shell of a cashew nut.

So you can grow cashew nut trees in Asia, in the tropics, in Singapore. The trees grow big. You need a lot of space. A smaller variety of tree produces crops faster, in three years.

Cashew nuts mainly come in quantity from Brazil, Vietnam, India and the Ivory Coast.

The fruit is also used in drinks and chutneys and jams. Both the cruit skin and nut casing can be astringent and cause allergic reactions, which is why the nuts are not sold in the shell. Now you know.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashew
https://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/growing-cashews.html

Cashew nut and cashew apple, both of which are edible - with some warnings. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

No Reading Glasses - Borrow Some?

Problem - dark and no glasses
I wake in the night and go to type an idea on my computer. I should have left my spectacles on the computer so they were there when I needed them. But I was reading in bed. Now my spectacles are in another room and I don't want to wake somebody else by looking for them. Even just walking from one room to another or turning on a corridor light can be a disturbance.

Solutions - lights and reading glasses
Maybe I could install low-level lights in the sockets to aid walking to the bathroom or backwards and forwards in the night and the dark of early morning in the northern hemisphere. I should have a second, spare pair of reading glasses by the computer.

New Glasses In One Hour
In Singapore and the UK you can have simple reading glasses made within an hour. Take in your prescription choose a frame, go off for a coffee and come back and your glasses are ready.

This might work, or not work, if you need simple glasses for reading, or if they can do long-distance glasses which you need for driving.

Dark, Dawn
In Singapore and Asia the sun comes up suddenly at dawn. In the USA, Europe and the UK, further from the equator, we have four seasons and dark dawns in winter time. When get up early it's dark outside and in.

Light Wakes You
Normally the light wakes you, the dark sends you to sleep. I think the light in the bathroom is too bright. It wakes me. I should install a second dimmer light just for night use.

Borrowed Reading Glasses
Meanwhile, back at the computer, I see somebody else's reading glasses. Why not give them a try?

I first discovered this works at a wedding when I could not read the menu and somebody at my table loaned me their glasses for a minute so I could check on the choices for the main course whent he waiter came round to take the order. Problem was solved.

On another occasion I picked up somebody else's glasses by mistake. I could read - but not see at a distance. They weren't my glasses! But they did work for reading.

I don't want to strain my eyes using somebody else's glasses. My eyes are different, one better than the other. However, I want help now. Go on - try it!

Yes, sure enough, I can read and type this. I know that it's not a good idea to use somebody else's glasses on a permanent basis. It will re-set my eyes which are used to my varifocals. But it's a temporary solution to my problem. It could solve yours.

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

Packing for the temperature at your destination, sun, ski and cancer

I just checked the temperature in Singapore. The site I tried allows you to toggle between agrees c and f and gives the humidity, which might not matter much in London but matters a lot in Singapore. In April 2016 the temperature in Singapore varies through this week from  29 on Monday to 33 C on Thursday, which is only 86 on Monday but in the nineties by Thursday. Humidity is 75%.

In the USA I used to look at the back page of USA today which gave the temperatures in every state. UK papers are the same.

We would also look at snowfall when planning a ski trip in Europe or the USA.

If going to the tropics, remember to take a large brimmed sunhat or hat with a visor. You can use this for swimming, over your swim cap, just adjust the clip at the back of most baseball hats.

A hat with a neck protector can be bought in outdoor shops, eg a trekking shop in Kathmandu, Nepal, but probably the same in most countries.

To protect your feet agains melanoma, especially if you have white skin which is more susceptible, you can buy swim socks. Most flip flops, apart from being slippery, expose both your toes and the top of your feet.

More Information on Temperature
https://www.google.com.sg/?client=safari#q=singapore+temperature&gfe_rd=cr
More on Melanoma
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/79115.php
Sunscreen Clothes and Swim Socks
http://www.coolibar.com/home.jsp?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=sunscreen%20clothes%20b&utm_campaign=Clothing&gclid=CIe7h-iTqswCFU4faAodYMkPsg
Sunscreen Swim Socks
http://sunprotectivedesignerclothing.com/-p-187.html

Angela Lansbury, B A Hons, travel writer and photographer, speaker and author.