When Uncle Tom "Comed"

My uncle had a brief stopover in Singapore a few weeks ago during a work trip to India and the Philippines and asked us to take him around. It was great fun, not only because we got to hang out with him, but we saw parts of Singapore we had yet to see.

Olivia loved the visit and actually still comments about the time when Uncle Tome "comed"

Our first stop was in Little India, where celebrations for Deepavali were still in full-swing. We visited the Veeramakaliamman Temple and saw the colorful banners and lights on display in the streets.

The candles, placed by visitors to the Hindu temple, are meant to "brighten the world."

Next stop was to Orchard via the subway to show Uncle Tom the huge shopping malls and also for lunch. Poor Olivia got grumpy until she was surprised with a treat. Candy really does solve all the world's woes.

After Orchard, we did a brief stopover at our new condo. I'm saving pictures of our place for later. After that, we went to Marina Bay Sands and also visited the Merlion, near Marina Bay. Uncle Tom made a lot of friends while we were at the Merlion Park. 

 Near Merlion Park and the famous Fullerton Hotel.

 Famous Singapore Merlion with business district in the background.

 Marina Bay Sands.

New friends!

View from the top of Marina Bay Sands.

Our beautiful little buddy with her "Ikea Pig"

 Panorama of downtown Singapore business district.

 Visitors at the top of Marina Bay overlooking the harbor with all the cargo ships. Singapore is one of the world's busiest ports.

 Beautiful girl!

Singapore Flyer.

After Marina Bay, we had a quick dinner, and then drove to the zoo. We didn't think it would be quite the adventure, but turns out, our GPS was actually leading us to the Malaysian zoo. We got stopped at the border and went through quite the "ordeal" in order to turn back to Singapore. First, we were led to an office, they took our ID's, a and then laughed at us when they heard why we were there.

After that, we had to drive through three secure gates in order to get back to Singapore. We did, however, make it in time for the zoo. The Singapore zoo.

Pictures we took on our iPhone when we shouldn't have. First one is of millions of motorcycles headed back into Malaysia. Second is of the approaching border checkpoint when we realized we couldn't turn around. Third is of the immigration checkpoint. Don't we look scared? 

Finally, the zoo! Our Olivia is such a trooper, isn't she. We sure drag her around everywhere! But I think she had fun with Uncle Tom and when he "comed" to visit.

Theemidhi Fire Walking Festival

We went to this event almost a month ago, but better late than never to post about, right? I didn't know before moving here, but Hindus around the world have a major celebration every year known as Deepavali, or the Festival of Lights. The streets around the area here in Singapore known as "Little India" are decorated in banners of bright lights and you will see people everywhere dressed in their finest clothes.

Here's a link to more information about Deepavali: Hindu Festivals. Toward the end of this celebration there is a festival where men will walk barefoot across coals at the Sri Marimman Temple. We were able to go watch with a friend and dragged our poor Olivia with us in the hiking backpack. She is a trooper!

Enjoy the pictures. We couldn't get very close because the crowds were amazingly tight, so a lot of the pictures are of the surrounding festivities versus the actual fire walking.

New House

I'm way behind on posting. I'll make it a goal this week to put up some pictures from the past few weeks. It's been a busy time. We had a sick girl, and then moved into our house and got our boat shipment from the states.

For now, I'm just going to post one picture. Money to the person who can figure out what everything means! I didn't realize I needed a decoder ring to use my washer. And yes, I have consulted the manual. It tells you how to turn the washer on, but gives no instructions as to how to actually wash your clothes. I've told Troy he needs to give me some sticky notes to put by all the symbols, because he can decode some of it.

xoxo, Nicole

Shopping

Here's a little game. Guess which person in our family picked which "comfort" item when we went grocery shopping this last week. Double points if you can guess the price. We're slowly learning that sometimes it can be hard to find reasonably-priced items here that we're used to paying low prices for in America. (As a hint, these aren't priced as high as some items you can buy cheaply in America. Still more expensive, though).

 Ready for the answers? Troy picked popcorn. Niki picked the pumpkin, and Olivia picked corn on the cob. Hers was cheapest at under $1. The pumpkin was $9, while the three bags of microwavable popcorn were about $7. 

Haircuts, Beach & Deepavali

We had a busy Saturday last week. It was the first chance we have really had since we got here to look around and play without feeling the effects of jet lag, so we took advantage of the day. First on the agenda was to get our girlie a haircut. 

Not so sure at first, but after getting treats and a balloon and watching "Dora," we think she's a fan of haircuts. Had to include the bottom pictures. They're of Livvy in the "alligator" (what she calls the elevator) and also a shot of the millions of escalators you can ride in the mega-malls here in Singapore. 

 After a haircut, brief drive to Sentosa for the beach! How would you like your first beach experience to be in Southeast Asia? Seriously, our girlie has the life. I love the picture of her and Troy below. He's got a pretty cute little girlfriend there.

You'd think the beaches would have spectacular views here in Singapore, but it's funny, all you can see are cargo ships!

 After the beach, we decided to check out Little India. Right now, there is a celebration called Deepavali going on. It's commonly referred to as the "festival of lights." The streets in Little India right now are decked out with all sorts of beautiful light displays and everyone is wearing beautiful new outfits.

 A large and very hot tent where all sorts of goods and clothing are being sold in Little India.

 We were sweating like crazy. Poor Livvy was dripping wet. She feel asleep through most of our sojourn through the tent. I bought a cold water bottle just to keep on her neck to keep her cool.

Our girl perked right up, though once we got some water and food in her and showed her the "pretty" dress we had bought for her in Little India. She loves this dress. We had major tears when we tried to take her out of it. She wore it for three straight days and wanted to sleep with it at night. Made her daddy happy that she was so pleased. Wonder if he'll buy me a dress next if I act that way?! :)