The ten of us head out early for the airport on a mini-bus limosine. The Singapore airport has the quickest arrival and departure procedures of any airport I have ever seen. We fly Thai Airways and the flight attendants look gorgeous in their traditional long, narrow Thai skirts in purple or pink silks. After a change of planes in the phenomenally beautiful and new Bangkok airport, we land in Beijing in the afternoon. Our driver is nowhere in sight after we pass through customs and baggage claim but a quick cellphone call locates him just outside the terminal doors. He was recommended by friends who adopted from China last year. We pile into the twenty passenger luxury bus and head for central Beijing. The roads are great. The skyscrapers are many. The city is big.
On the ride to the hotel we plan for the driver to pick us up from the hotel in the morning and take us to the Great Wall. I wanted to go to Mutaniyo not Badalang. Mutaniyo is a little further away from Beijing so there are fewer crowds, more mountainous area, and it has both a chairlift to ride up to the wall and a long, shiny, metal luge to ride down. The boys are all into the thought of descending from the Great Wall on a luge ride. Our driver, however, is not so sure.
"No, too far," he says.
"How far?, " I ask.
"Oh, maybe three, four hours."
"Really? I thought it was pretty close to Beijing and was more scenic, fewer crowds, luge ride...."
"No, I think best you go to Badalang."
"How far is Badalang?"
"Maybe one hour and a half."
We quickly peruse our quidebooks and determine that the mileage from the City to both locations is not that different.
"No, I think we really want to go to Mutinayo. Can you take us there or should we check with another driver?"
"Yes, I can take you there but we will not have so much time for lunch and afternoon for hutong tour by rickshaw and tea demonstation and acrobatics show and dinner."
"That's okay. We'll just start with the Wall, okay?"
"Okay, so next day we do tour of the Tianamin Square, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, the boat tour...."
"Hmmm...." We exchange glances.
"We will see you tomorrow for Great Wall and then we'll see about the rest. Okay?"
"Okay, no problem."
"We arrive at the Park Plaza Beijing near Wafungjing Street. It is new, sleek, Asian, lovely. We dine at the Oodles, the noodle restaurant downstairs at the hotel. There is a Starbucks across from the lobby and the main shopping street is just a block away. Great location. Great interior.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
World War II Battle Box & A Singapore Sling
Another late sleep in as we continue to adjust to a twelve hour time difference. We manage to head out around 11 a.m. for the Battle Box, the underground army headquarters for the British command in Malay in WWII. It was here that the British made the decision to surrender to the Japanese and from here they began their death march to the bridge over the River Kwai.
Inside the Battle Box, our Sing guide told us the story of the difficult decision by the British command to surrender as we walked through the underground bunker. The bunker is staged with lifelike wax images of the British commanders. With water, food, and military supplies dried up and heavy Japanese bombing hitting Singapore, the decision was made. The Japanese would accept no less than unconditional surrender. According to our guide, Winston Churchill was very unhappy with the decision but the civilians of Singapore and Malay were extremely grateful as heavy civilian casualties were occurring due to the Japanese bombing and the concentration of Allied resources in Europe. Our Sing guide was seven at the time the Japanese attacked. He remembers hiding under the stairs and eating nothing but sweet potatoes for two years.
After the Battle Box, the boys came back to the Kays and rode scooters and played games outside. I went shopping on Orchard Road with Hilly while Abby finalized plans for our trip to Beijing and Bangkok. Orchard Road is a famous shopping district with a broad boulevard lined with tall trees, large malls and department stores. We were told that the Sings love to shop and eat and there are certainly enough malls and restaurants to prove it.
After shopping, we headed to Raffles for the famous Singapore Sling, raw peanuts throw on floor and met a friend of the Kays who is a dentist in Singapore. Very nice evening and Jay met us after flying in from Tokyo where he has been working for three days.
Inside the Battle Box, our Sing guide told us the story of the difficult decision by the British command to surrender as we walked through the underground bunker. The bunker is staged with lifelike wax images of the British commanders. With water, food, and military supplies dried up and heavy Japanese bombing hitting Singapore, the decision was made. The Japanese would accept no less than unconditional surrender. According to our guide, Winston Churchill was very unhappy with the decision but the civilians of Singapore and Malay were extremely grateful as heavy civilian casualties were occurring due to the Japanese bombing and the concentration of Allied resources in Europe. Our Sing guide was seven at the time the Japanese attacked. He remembers hiding under the stairs and eating nothing but sweet potatoes for two years.
After the Battle Box, the boys came back to the Kays and rode scooters and played games outside. I went shopping on Orchard Road with Hilly while Abby finalized plans for our trip to Beijing and Bangkok. Orchard Road is a famous shopping district with a broad boulevard lined with tall trees, large malls and department stores. We were told that the Sings love to shop and eat and there are certainly enough malls and restaurants to prove it.
After shopping, we headed to Raffles for the famous Singapore Sling, raw peanuts throw on floor and met a friend of the Kays who is a dentist in Singapore. Very nice evening and Jay met us after flying in from Tokyo where he has been working for three days.
Sentosa Island Fun
The Singapore Science Museum is terrific! An outdoor water play and learn park, an outdoor kinetic energy play park and wonderful 
interactive learning programs throughout. We went especially for the China Inventions exhibit they are currently running as well as an IMAX (actually in the round like the Planetarium in NYC) showing of a movie on the first Chinese emperor. Wished we'd had more time to explore, but the kids really enjoyed the time we had. Lunch at McDonalds which had a few Asian selections to the menu and off to the famed Sentosa Island.
Sentosa Island is a resort at the southern tip of Singapore. We took a cable car over the beautiful harbor (biggest container ship harbor in the world, did I hear?) to the top of Sentosa and the kids rode a luge down t
o the beach. Abby and I drove down in the car and meet them at the beach. We walked to a club on the beach, the original is in Spain, and settled into rattan couches for late afternoon drinks. The kids swam and played on the beach. As the sun set, we headed further down the island to Underwater World, the highlight of which was walking under an acrylic tunnel and watching dozens of sharks swim above us within inches. Very interesting and Atlantis type experience which we topped off with dinner on the beach at a brick oven pizza restaurant.
The kids want to come back to Sentosa!
interactive learning programs throughout. We went especially for the China Inventions exhibit they are currently running as well as an IMAX (actually in the round like the Planetarium in NYC) showing of a movie on the first Chinese emperor. Wished we'd had more time to explore, but the kids really enjoyed the time we had. Lunch at McDonalds which had a few Asian selections to the menu and off to the famed Sentosa Island.Sentosa Island is a resort at the southern tip of Singapore. We took a cable car over the beautiful harbor (biggest container ship harbor in the world, did I hear?) to the top of Sentosa and the kids rode a luge down t
o the beach. Abby and I drove down in the car and meet them at the beach. We walked to a club on the beach, the original is in Spain, and settled into rattan couches for late afternoon drinks. The kids swam and played on the beach. As the sun set, we headed further down the island to Underwater World, the highlight of which was walking under an acrylic tunnel and watching dozens of sharks swim above us within inches. Very interesting and Atlantis type experience which we topped off with dinner on the beach at a brick oven pizza restaurant.
The kids want to come back to Sentosa!
Slide into Singapore
Our first day in Singapore, we eased into our trip in the city called "Asia for Beginners." Arriving at our friends, the Kays after 2 a.m., we slept in quite late and after Sri Lanken tea fixed expertly by the Kays housekeeper Mem, we headed to The American Club. The city is pristine, clean and perfectly planted with tropical greenery everywhere you look. The Kays live in a fancy district in a marble high rise. It has an infinity pool, koi pond and tropical gardens at the entrance, private "lifts" to each residence--step into your own apartment. Theirs is four bedroom, five bath with spectacular 270 degree views of the city in every direction. They also look down on One Tree Hill, a pretty neighborhood of two story homes and gardens, surrounded by high rises.
Aside from the armed guard at the lush tropical entrance, we could have been at any fancy, private club in a big U.S. city. The guard is not typical of buildings in Sing, apparently the American Club could be a target of terrorism anywhere. The American Club here has even more facilities than your usual big city club. A lovely outdoor pool with the Sunday blow up slide ten feet high at one end and families having lunch around the pool. A breakfast buffet of which we partook that had full Western breakfast, made to order omelets, made to order crepes as well as Chinese and Indian buffets. The boys went bowling while the girls, Abby, Hilly and I had pedicures. Actually, don't tell anyone but the hubby joined us at the spa Sen for a little reflexology. There are squash courts, fitness facility, children's rooms, libraries, video game rooms, and more and more and more.
After our afternoon at the Club, we took a driving tour of Singapore. Little China, Little India, Raffles, the Fullerton, the wharf area with boats and shop houses lining the waterway, Orchard Road shopping district. Lovely. Clean. Everyone speaks English. The Garden City it is called. Beginning to see why. Off to bed.
Aside from the armed guard at the lush tropical entrance, we could have been at any fancy, private club in a big U.S. city. The guard is not typical of buildings in Sing, apparently the American Club could be a target of terrorism anywhere. The American Club here has even more facilities than your usual big city club. A lovely outdoor pool with the Sunday blow up slide ten feet high at one end and families having lunch around the pool. A breakfast buffet of which we partook that had full Western breakfast, made to order omelets, made to order crepes as well as Chinese and Indian buffets. The boys went bowling while the girls, Abby, Hilly and I had pedicures. Actually, don't tell anyone but the hubby joined us at the spa Sen for a little reflexology. There are squash courts, fitness facility, children's rooms, libraries, video game rooms, and more and more and more.
After our afternoon at the Club, we took a driving tour of Singapore. Little China, Little India, Raffles, the Fullerton, the wharf area with boats and shop houses lining the waterway, Orchard Road shopping district. Lovely. Clean. Everyone speaks English. The Garden City it is called. Beginning to see why. Off to bed.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Bukit Timah Bookin' Time
We booked it up to the summit at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve our second morning in Singapore. It was a hot and steamy climb and on the way we saw monkeys, large lizards, and brilliant dragonflies. We were glad to get to the top and glad for the downhill return. From there, we ate at Crystal Jade a delicious Chinese restaurant with soup dumplings. The boys enjoyed biting a tiny hole in the top and sucking out the delicious chicken soup. Sesame bread, chicken with red chilies, dumplings of all shapes and sizes. From lunch, we took a cool taxi to the "world class" Singapore zoo. It was small but very nice with many "free ranging" (almost or, rather, all-moat) animals including large orangutans. One of the orangutans was sitting on a tree branch high above a walkway and was having a great time plucking off branches and dropping them on the pedestrians below. We took a ride on an elephant at the zoo and headed from there to the Night Safari. The first of its kind, Night Safari, takes visitors on a tram ride through a wildlife environment after dark. Some of the animals range freely separated from each other only by the cow crossing grates in the road while others are separated from the tram only by virtually invisible moats. Because most of the animals are nocturnal, we saw many moving lions, tigers and bears (also possums, leopards, giant four foot fruit bats flying about our heads, and beasts whose names I cannot pronounce or remember). At the end of the Night Safari, we went to a Wild Animal Show. Darkness of night surrounded us as we filed into the arena. The stage in front was formed by a natural rain forest. A lovely setting. I was so exhausted I slid down onto the concrete in front of my seat and, using the bench as a backrest, promptly fell asleep as I awaited the show. That is, until the security guard poked me awake. "I sorry, you no can sleep there." Well, fine. The game warden ran a very funny show about the endangered animals, poachers, how to save the wildlife and asked for a volunteer. Up popped our kids' hands, and the middle one was picked to come down and demonstrate the skills of one of the many animals saved from extinction. The irony of this selection became immediately apparent to all when she asked the little blond boy, "What is your name?" When he answered, a collective gasp rose from the Thai, Sing, Chinese, Malay, Japanese and occasional European audience. The crowd laughed loudly and seconds later the boy, having missed the irony the first go round, blushed the color of a dragon fruit (which we had for breakfast). "No worry, that is common where you are from, right little boy?"
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Runway Reverse
Arrived at Reagan National Airport, excited and ready several hours before our first flight and overnight in Dallas/Fort Worth. All looked good for our departure and the boys and I headed straight for BurgerMania.
After just a few moments of burger bliss, we began to notice large groups of passengers idling by their gates long past their departure time. I go check the departure boards again. Dallas/Fort Worth.........Cancelled.......Dallas/Fort Worth...........Delayed...........Dallas/Fort Worth..............Cancelled......Miami..........Cancelled.
Help! Apparently, as reported earlier in the week in the Wall Street Journal, flights all over mid-America have been cancelled for a week due to thunderstorms. Thousands of passengers delayed for days with no seats available for four days after their original flight.
"Excuse me, maam," I said to the gate clerk, "Will our flight be leaving soon?"
"Maam, the departure has been delayed for an hour. There is no way to tell if it will be cancelled. At this time, we expect the flight to leave in an hour."
"And, if it does not leave....can we get on a different flight?"
"I can get you on a different flight in four days. There are no other seats on any airline, in any city in the Eastern U.S. until Sunday. There are people camped out in airports all over this half of the U.S. Let's just hope your flight goes."
Bart and the boys chill. I freak, I pray, I pace the floor. If we don't catch our connection to Tokyo from Dallas before Sunday, we may miss our non-refundable flights to Beijing. Not to mention missing four days of our trip of a lifetime to Asia with the boys.
Two and half hours later, we hear an announcement, "All passengers on flight 345 to Dallas/Fort Worth, your plane is arriving at the gate."
"Whooopppeeee!!!!"
"All passengers please proceed to the gate for boarding."
Ten minutes of standing in a long line. We are just thrilled to be going. Spent most of that time talking to a senior Congressman from Texas who entertained us with stories and campaign coins for the boys. He has my vote.
"Passengers, due to lightning on the runway, the plane is pulling back from the gates. NO boarding may be accomplished when there is lightening on the runways. Due to legal restrictions in the District of Columbia, planes may not depart after ten p.m. We have forty minutes before that curfew. If the lightning stops, we can begin boarding the plane but we must depart the runway before ten p.m."
The clock is ticking. 9:25, 9:30, 9:36.
"Passengers, we will now begin boarding. The lightening has passed. The faster you can board safely, the better the chance we can get off tonight."
We line up, we pass tickets, we file onto the plane, we stow our overhead bags, we watch the remainder of the passengers behind us do the same. Slowly, slowly the plane fills. Quickly, quickly the clock's hands fly towards 10 p.m.
9:52 "Passengers, we are departing the gate, prepare for departure." The plane slowly backs away. 9:56. A plane to our left backs out just before us, turns onto the runway and heads down it. 10:02 by my watch. Our plane is slowly backing up, almost to the runway, it slows, it stops, a crackle... "Passengers, this is your captain. We almost made it. However, it is 10:02 and we must return to the gate. No one is more disappointed than your crew but, unfortunately, in D.C. we cannot leave the runway after 10 p.m. I have checked with the control tower and it is after 10 p.m. So, I am very sorry but we will have to return to the terminal."
Arrrgghhhh! What does this mean? A four day delay in our trip that we can never regain? After completing the boarding in reverse, line up in stuffy plane, unload carry on luggage, wait for passengers in front to disembark...we re-enter the terminal. "Passengers on flight 345, your flight has been rescheduled for 7:20 a.m."
Off to the lobby hotel phone, guess what? No hotels. Bart finally finds one in Old Town at 1:00 a.m. and we hitch hike on another hotel's van. Asleep by 1:30 a.m. Oh yea, the boys usual bedtime--not!
5:30 a.m. RINNNGGG!! RINNGGG! Your wakeup call. 7:20 "Passengers on flight 345 rescheduled from last night. The plane is at the gate. However, we do not have a crew. I am trying to locate a crew and will update you when I know more." 8:20 "Help, we will not make our 12:05 flight from Dallas to Tokyo if we don't leave soon." 8:55 "Hello, American Airlines? I am at Reagan National and it looks like our rescheduled flight to Dallas/Tokyo/Singapore may not leave again. Are there any other flights you can get me on?" "Maam, I don't think I have any seats on any flights to Dallas for three days." "What about Philadelphia to Dallas, Dulles to Dallas, Richmond to Dallas, NYC to Dallas....?" "I'm afraid there is nothing. Oh, wait, I can get you on a flight from Dulles to Tokyo leaving this afternoon. I have five seats but you need to take them now. If you do, your seats on the flight you are waiting for will be cancelled immediately. These seats will not wait. Maam, I need to know now."
"Yikes....," I'm thinking, "That flight could be cancelled too....what should I do?" I'm frantically looking for the hubby. "Honey, should we take seats on a flight from Dulles?" "Wait, look, it's the pilot from last night. He's entering our area."
10:00 a.m. Take-off! We gain an hour during flight, arrive two hours before our flight to Tokyo, I take two boys to the gate, Bob waits 1.8 hours for our bags, races through security and barely runs to the gate in the international terminal seconds before they close the doors. Ah, the drama. Who cares about luggage, we've got the clothes on our backs, three weeks of exploration and we are on our way!
After just a few moments of burger bliss, we began to notice large groups of passengers idling by their gates long past their departure time. I go check the departure boards again. Dallas/Fort Worth.........Cancelled.......Dallas/Fort Worth...........Delayed...........Dallas/Fort Worth..............Cancelled......Miami..........Cancelled.
Help! Apparently, as reported earlier in the week in the Wall Street Journal, flights all over mid-America have been cancelled for a week due to thunderstorms. Thousands of passengers delayed for days with no seats available for four days after their original flight.
"Excuse me, maam," I said to the gate clerk, "Will our flight be leaving soon?"
"Maam, the departure has been delayed for an hour. There is no way to tell if it will be cancelled. At this time, we expect the flight to leave in an hour."
"And, if it does not leave....can we get on a different flight?"
"I can get you on a different flight in four days. There are no other seats on any airline, in any city in the Eastern U.S. until Sunday. There are people camped out in airports all over this half of the U.S. Let's just hope your flight goes."
Bart and the boys chill. I freak, I pray, I pace the floor. If we don't catch our connection to Tokyo from Dallas before Sunday, we may miss our non-refundable flights to Beijing. Not to mention missing four days of our trip of a lifetime to Asia with the boys.
Two and half hours later, we hear an announcement, "All passengers on flight 345 to Dallas/Fort Worth, your plane is arriving at the gate."
"Whooopppeeee!!!!"
"All passengers please proceed to the gate for boarding."
Ten minutes of standing in a long line. We are just thrilled to be going. Spent most of that time talking to a senior Congressman from Texas who entertained us with stories and campaign coins for the boys. He has my vote.
"Passengers, due to lightning on the runway, the plane is pulling back from the gates. NO boarding may be accomplished when there is lightening on the runways. Due to legal restrictions in the District of Columbia, planes may not depart after ten p.m. We have forty minutes before that curfew. If the lightning stops, we can begin boarding the plane but we must depart the runway before ten p.m."
The clock is ticking. 9:25, 9:30, 9:36.
"Passengers, we will now begin boarding. The lightening has passed. The faster you can board safely, the better the chance we can get off tonight."
We line up, we pass tickets, we file onto the plane, we stow our overhead bags, we watch the remainder of the passengers behind us do the same. Slowly, slowly the plane fills. Quickly, quickly the clock's hands fly towards 10 p.m.
9:52 "Passengers, we are departing the gate, prepare for departure." The plane slowly backs away. 9:56. A plane to our left backs out just before us, turns onto the runway and heads down it. 10:02 by my watch. Our plane is slowly backing up, almost to the runway, it slows, it stops, a crackle... "Passengers, this is your captain. We almost made it. However, it is 10:02 and we must return to the gate. No one is more disappointed than your crew but, unfortunately, in D.C. we cannot leave the runway after 10 p.m. I have checked with the control tower and it is after 10 p.m. So, I am very sorry but we will have to return to the terminal."
Arrrgghhhh! What does this mean? A four day delay in our trip that we can never regain? After completing the boarding in reverse, line up in stuffy plane, unload carry on luggage, wait for passengers in front to disembark...we re-enter the terminal. "Passengers on flight 345, your flight has been rescheduled for 7:20 a.m."
Off to the lobby hotel phone, guess what? No hotels. Bart finally finds one in Old Town at 1:00 a.m. and we hitch hike on another hotel's van. Asleep by 1:30 a.m. Oh yea, the boys usual bedtime--not!
5:30 a.m. RINNNGGG!! RINNGGG! Your wakeup call. 7:20 "Passengers on flight 345 rescheduled from last night. The plane is at the gate. However, we do not have a crew. I am trying to locate a crew and will update you when I know more." 8:20 "Help, we will not make our 12:05 flight from Dallas to Tokyo if we don't leave soon." 8:55 "Hello, American Airlines? I am at Reagan National and it looks like our rescheduled flight to Dallas/Tokyo/Singapore may not leave again. Are there any other flights you can get me on?" "Maam, I don't think I have any seats on any flights to Dallas for three days." "What about Philadelphia to Dallas, Dulles to Dallas, Richmond to Dallas, NYC to Dallas....?" "I'm afraid there is nothing. Oh, wait, I can get you on a flight from Dulles to Tokyo leaving this afternoon. I have five seats but you need to take them now. If you do, your seats on the flight you are waiting for will be cancelled immediately. These seats will not wait. Maam, I need to know now."
"Yikes....," I'm thinking, "That flight could be cancelled too....what should I do?" I'm frantically looking for the hubby. "Honey, should we take seats on a flight from Dulles?" "Wait, look, it's the pilot from last night. He's entering our area."
10:00 a.m. Take-off! We gain an hour during flight, arrive two hours before our flight to Tokyo, I take two boys to the gate, Bob waits 1.8 hours for our bags, races through security and barely runs to the gate in the international terminal seconds before they close the doors. Ah, the drama. Who cares about luggage, we've got the clothes on our backs, three weeks of exploration and we are on our way!
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