Water bottles and drinking water when travelling

You need moisture in Singapore where it is so hot that you are perspiring all the time. At a morning meeting I looked for a drink. No water provided. 

The days of giving everybody a small plastic bottle of water and coming to an end (October 2018). Even if you stay in air conditioned offices and use cars and taxis, only a proportion of the car parks are underground. You spend a lot of time in overground car parks or bus stops or open air taxi stands. So you need water.

Yes, going green, saving trees, not using plastic, all very well, but people need a drink. I went to two meetings in a day with no water provided.

I used to carry water bottles. Then I got backache. I ditched the umbrella and water bottle, just carrying too much. 

We are in transit over water in Singapore. Early days - no water fountains. Then along come the gyms and hotels and coffee shop. Now you are expected to carry a water bottle and fill it up from a water fountain which has paper cups or no cups. You can buy a collapsible cup.

Author

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

Colours to brighten your day - orange, pink or red building?

I stopped to photograph this bright orange wall with the windows. A friend asked me, "why are you photographing that?"

Mostly when somebody takes a photo it is obvious why you are taking a picture. If you photograph a beautiful bride or a huge bright yellow sunflower others understand why and might get out their camera.

I replied, "The colour! The colour!"
On a sunny day the colors are more vibrant.

Orange, red, pink? It probably changes according to the time of day.

Bright building in Singapore. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Look at those odd shape windows. Not set in a line. One square, one oblong vertical.

 I prefer curves. But the building could have been a straight slab with no windows, and all grey. In an otherwise dismal outlook, this bright building brightened the view and brightened my day. 

Author

travel writer and photographer, Angela Lansbury.

Cakes, which is the durian cake and which is the pandan cake - green or yellow?

Yellow or green? Yes, this yellow cake must be the durian.

The green one in my previous post must have been the durian. 

On top is a kind of cream, a bit like a blancmange. Advantage, more moist than the usual cakes which look like sponge cake. 

You need moisture in Singapore where it is so hot that you are perspiring all the time.

 Underneath is the cake. Maybe the flavour is only in the topping. Even so, not much flavour. Not enough for me. If you are scared of durian, try this. You will wonder what the fuss is about.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Durian cake in Singapore and durian comparison

I love durian cakes and ice cream although I don't like the fruit. This cake had very little flavour nor aroma. Could not offend. But not sufficiently exciting to make me want to buy it. I did not eat a second piece. Interesting. 

I am glad somebody bought it and I am glad I tried it. Saved me from wasting my money. Oops - I think the green was pandan and the yellow was durian. I also find pandan cakes have almost non-existent flavour which does not match up to the enticing colour.

The Japanese would say, "very subtle flavour". 

I thought the durian season was over, because McDonald's had changed their formely durian flavour McFlurry (flavoured melting ice cream in a drink carton) 'drink' flavours to strawberry and chocolate. Flavour of the month.

 I asked an assistant and she thought her branch changed every two months. I presume although they have some autonomy that the bulk buying of McDonalds meant the same flavours were available to all branches. You either stock it or you don't.

I have to say nobody else has supplied a durian flavour to match the one from McDonatds which I tried and wrote about previously.

How to send a rhyming greeting or wish

Problem
No time to send a card for a birthday or even a greeting or wish you were here? Here are some options:

Answers
You have choice of: foreign card (photographed and emailed),
1 Facebook greeting - with added emoji (miniature funny face symbol)
2 Send a picture of the recipient on previous birthday or you are them with the greeting
3 Write a rhyme. and send a picture for someone special if you have time

How To  Improve A Rhyme
It's easy to improve a rhyme
All you need is a little time.

I just made that up. To find a thyme, pick a key word to end your opening and closing sentences.
From your own head, pick out some rhyming words, going though the alphabet.
You can do this with one word or two, eg
love: a/b above , d dove
love you
above you

Check rhyming dictionary and thesaurus for more.

Try changing rhyming couplets to alternating lines ie
instead of end rhymes aa bb
abab

Count syllables. The easiest is to make all lines end with the same number of syllables
eg 8 or 10.
Another popular scheme is second and alternating lines shorter eg 9797.

If your lines are different lengths, it is often easier to lengthen the shorter ones than to cut the longer ones.

Author
Angela Lansbury
zon See my books on writing poetry on Lulu.com and Amazon

Dancing to music in public places and public spaces

Dancing in the public space between Bras Basah MRT underground railway station and Singapore Institute of Management.

I have seen dancing sessions outside shopping malls in Singapore. It attracts and entertains shoppers. A cheerleader and amplifying system is involved.

What I saw at Bras Basah station seemed more informal. Set up your own music, or dance to the music coming through the public address system. The music echoes around. You have a large space. You can fill in time while waiting for a class to start.

Useful Websites
http://journey.smrt.com.sg/journey/mrt_network_map/ (train station map Singapore)

aingaporeair.com (Singapore Airlines)

Author

Angela Lansbury

Almost human flashing traffic light

Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Seen in Singapore. I walked back to a car park past this figure. It attracts the attention of both pedestrians and drivers. My new Singaporean friend (who kindly gave me a lift home from a Toastmasters international meeting at Singapore Institute of Management nearby) told  me that she had seen other variations on this figure.

It is signalling a yellow warning with a series of small lights. Presumably they change to red aand green. I took the photo when the lights were yellow. It looks as though you can set the figure up anywhere when you are doing roadworks.

Instead of a real life policeman or woman standing in the middle of the road with a whistle, or a lollipop lady, you have an almost human mannekin.

There's always something surprising to see in Singapore, and indeed travelling anywhere. Travel -beats boredom, distracts you from depressing thought, produces genuine joy.

Useful Websites

Singaporeair.com

Author

Angela Lansbury