Catching Up

I've fallen behind the last two weeks so it's time to play catch-up. The past couple weeks Jamie and I have started to do more touring and site seeing. Two weekends ago, we went to the 1st ever Singapore River Festival with some friends. We only attended the opening night for the lighting of the river (which for the most part was several of these boats floating around) but it made for a nice scene. The festival itself is two weeks full of music, drinking, and well...that's really about it. They do some shows as well but mostly drinking. They even had a floating bar and stage. The photo below is shortly after they turned the lights on. The building in the back is one of the many shopping malls. The area we were in was so full you can see the people lined up along the mall front watching the festivities.

I also had a chance to explore Little India with a friend. I must say that I have heard it's truely like being in India but since I have never been to India myself I can not confirm that. I will say that I sure wasn't in Texas anymore! Right now they are celebrating Deepavali (the word means "Row of Lights" and is celebrated all over by Hindus as an occasion symbolising the victory of righteousness over the dark forces of evil). At night the lights you see in the photos below are all turned on. Here they celebrate from Sept 20th to Nov 2nd, and have different functions during these months. The huge tent you see is filled with street merchants that sell everything from Christmas lights to handmade trinkets and keychains.

This past weekend Jamie and I went to the Botanical Gardens and spent the afternoon relaxing and walking around. There was so much to see I don't think we even got through half of it. I have been told that unless you want to spend the entire day, plan on going back two or three times. With all of the shopping malls you sometimes forget that a good part of Singapore is still rainforest.

We also made our first "Singaporean Purchases" this weekend. When I got here I was told that there are two things people who move to Singapore don't leave without. They are 1) Hand made carpets and 2) Teak Furniture. We purchased our first hand made carpet to go in our living room. It's a 5x7 silk wool blend and (as they are suppose to) changes colors depending on the way you look at it. We did not buy a piece of teak furniture per say, but we did buy this unbelievible hand carved wall hanging that is awesome!!! It is 3 ft by 3 ft and 2 inches thick, and made out of Burmese Teak. I am so excited about both, that I couldn't wait to show you guys. The photo of the carving doesn't do it justice, it's so much better in person.

Hope everything is going well for everyone and you are enjoying eating your "American Food"!! As you can read all is well here, although we are having a major craving for some Black Walnut!