adventure – Reb's Walks!

Greece, 30.Sep.2025, Tuesday

Today was a day mostly away from history and culture. We went out on a catamaran to see the gorgeous Greek water, a particular wish of Eli C’s.

First, however, Rick and I got up in time to see the sunrise from the Venetian harbor of Chania.

A man and his coffee cup 🙂

Eli W decided to stay back from the boat trip, he’s not such a swimmer and he really wanted to explore the town on his own. He said he had a really nice day exploring the old town and found a pair of linen pants that suited the hot weather.

Eli C, Kaziah, Rick and I went, meeting up with 4 other people and it was just a treat of a day.

Below is our catamaran from the top of Fort Gramvousa – I’ll write about that in a bit. Our boat felt quite sizable when we were on it, but next to the ferry pulling in and unloading a ton of people, we look tiny. Rick and I climbed up, but Kaz and Eli wanted all the swim time possible. The water is wonderful with so many different hues of blue.

Our first stop was the Balos lagoon, whoops, I forgot to get any pictures. But Kaziah did. Here’s Eli reveling in the warm turquoise water.

We swam to the lagoon from the boat and played a bit around the boat, had lunch on the boat which was great and then continued to Gramvousa Island. Ok that island did have some fun history to add to our day of leisure.

The Gramvousa Island fort defended Venetian trade routes and was also a strategic base in the event of a new Ottoman-Venetian war for Crete. Greeks fled the Ottomans on the mainland to Gramvousa and Gramvousa then became a hive of piratical activity that greatly affected Turkish-Egyptian and European shipping in the region. During that period the population of Gramvousa became organised and they built a school and a church. The church was called Panagia i Kleftrina and was dedicated to the wives of the pirates. Only pirates were allowed to enter. The pirates did have a code they lived by – they only stole food and cargo/money, but never killed anyone and always left the boat to the sailors/passengers.

In ancient times the island was known as Korykos, which means leather bag. The island was renamed “Gramvousa” in honour of Vousa, the wife of a pirate chief and the only inhabitant of the island to evade capture when the pirates were forcibly removed in 1828 by British and French ships after Greece gained independence and had naval support from Britain and France.

Currently there’s a caretaker who lives there with his wife and 2 kids (not an extravagant life) because he likes the isolation. Tons of people get off the ferries during the season, but then free!

We went out to dinner that night at a place Valentini had suggested for “authentic Greek” that Kaziah directed us to. Unfortunately, we’re not authentic Greeks so it wasn’t a successful meal except for a couple of amazing appetizers, but cats were coming around and I wanted to give them Rick’s fish. It didn’t have sauce and would have been benign. To the family’s dismay, I took a chunk and dropped it to the cat looking up at me with pleading eyes. We were sitting on the porch next to the sidewalk, so we were outside. Then there were 2 more cats. We had worried about that. I then read online that many people took their left overs and gave them to the stray cats that were everywhere. The family wouldn’t let me do it. Not sure why.

The next day, we asked our guide about this situation. She said yes, people give food right in the restaurants and take their left overs for stray animals. We saw signs in the old city of Chania near restaurants saying please don’t feed the cats, we give them the food at the end of the night. I didn’t see a single cat that didn’t look well fed and they looked healthy too.

When I looked online to see what it said about Greece and cat culture, it supported this idea that they’re cared for and appreciated. “In Greek culture, the regard for cats is a mix of ancient respect for their utility and independence and a modern appreciation for them as a beloved and ubiquitous part of the landscape. Cats have served as pest control, symbols of luck and resilience, and companions cherished by locals and tourists alike.”

It was a treat of a day – again!

Note on corruption – wow, completely consistent, these people do not have any regard or trust in their government. Cristos who drove us to and fro the catamaran said that these current protests for the rail accident are small, but continuing. He’s friends with the lawyer who represents the parents of the victims. He’s seen crowds of a million in Athens and 10,000 in Chania protesting this accident and the government coverup. Legally and politically, once you’re in the system you can’t be touched. So even if they knew directly whose pocket has the money that was supposed to fix and update the trains and the signals – they couldn’t touch them. But they’re continuing to try.

Fié Allo Sciliar, 10.July.2025

Day 5 of hiking

Today was some serious up and downing and an exploration of the remnants of WW1. One of our team was a military guy and he’d been studying the area so was really pleased to get to explore.

So – again, Italy was fighting against the Austrians and Germany during this war. Even though a lot of the people in this area considered themselves Austrian. Hard, to say the least.

We walked all the routes laid out for the day and it was truly beautiful. For something different.

We took a shuttle to Bai des Dones for a chairlift to our trailhead. We met a local guide, Christina, who talked about WWI and the geological formations around us. Luca was very knowledgeable as well so could fill in those of us who were at the back, trying to read the signs and learn what was happening. I wasn’t very interested in the machinery of war, but more so in the lives of those in the midst.

We saw trenches, bunkers, and tunnels.

Where we were going to hike to see from the top seemed incredibly far, but it actually wasn’t the hardest hike of the week. Just long.

Martin presenting our day

I took a video of the surrounding mountains, incredible (word of the week) and on the next to last mountain in the video is our hiking destination after exploring WWI. Really?

These are the Cinque Torri, a group of 5 rocks where the weathering has left a distinctive grouping. Giant and people were rock climbing all over the place, but especially the one on the right.

But first – WWI. Again, remember that they were fighting, largely against their will, their neighbors. The second note made it clear:

In the trenches, these are obviously restructured on the original. But they looked out over steep mountain drop offs.

Getting paid and needing food

Cortina is the closest valley to this bunker and the trenches. The outdoor competitions of the Winter Olympics are going to be here in February 2026. A lot of infrastructure is being built, especially because of climate change and needing to be able to make enough snow.

This is what they were looking at from the bunkers. Impossible to defend or to really attack, though bombs were dropped. This territory was not fought over in WWII.

Headquarters – rough. And looking out from another bunker

Three dogs in this photo – in many of the photos, there are dogs. Comfort? Looks like it since two are being held here.

And now – I’ve skipped a whole lot of info re artillery. But this gives a snippet of the population’s attitudes and lives in the midst. And now we’re on our way to hike. Still a bit disconcerting for where we’re aiming – yes that little white speck on the top. But I’m psyched since I did a shorter hike yesterday.

Climbers

Hiking up to the top – there’s Cinque Torre – it looks so small!

Made it to that little white speck!

Someone at the very tip top of another mountain nearby.

We went down a bit to our last incredible rifugio. Then we started basically a full scramble, hardest hike of the week down to a little mountain lake. The knees had a lot to say on this one. But almost everyone did it!

This photo was the best I could do looking back up what we’d descended. It was a lot steeper than it looks. We were all very pleased to make our way down it!

This does the best (for me) at showing the gorgeous juxtaposition of the many colors of flowers and grasses against the bare mountains. I never stopped marveling and appreciating the colors.

The lake at the end of this beautiful trail that was our reward after the scramble.

Elizabeth recovering

Then back to our hotel via bus, except for maybe 5, including Rick, who did the last mile back on foot. I was psyched to do the – yep – steam rooms at The Wellness Hotel Fanes.

Rick booked it and made it in time and we did the round about sauna. It was seriously hot, but cool. Glad I got to do it with Rick. Everyone but one couple were circumspect and wore towels, so it wasn’t just the puritanical Americans…And the whole sauna really did do a very slow rotation. Good thing Rick had warned me because the first time he thought maybe the heat had gotten to him, not realizing that it rotated.

We had a final group dinner with the guides, very fun, favorite memories in a fingersnap and then we continued the ongoing conversations during dinner. Really, the best group I could imagine.

Fié Allo Sciliar, 8.July.2025

Day 3 of hiking

We left our wonderful hotel today to venture further into a new valley. We had three choices of routes, and everyone took the long route (I think, can’t remember). The San Casiano Route, 11.4 miles, 1700’ gain, 3,100’ loss. So beautiful. Every day we just marvel.

We started with a lift taking us to the Gardena Pass, one of four mountain passes that encircle the Sella Massif. We were then hiking the Puez-Odle park, an UNESCO World Heritage site. We passed through the village of Corvara and could see into the Badia Valley, “considered to be the heart of the Dolomites region and the indigenous Ladrin people.”

Mountain rhododendron, the flowers are incredible. So many colors, shapes, all tiny.

After a long hard climb, we caught sight of our rifugio for lunch. So happy to see this!

View coming back down after an incredible meal, in the Santan Cristina Gherdeina area. And Ötzi is sighted again!

Our hotel tonight was the Alpenroyal Grand Hotel. One night, but really fun because by now our whole group was getting into this sauna/steam thing. And this hotel had an outdoor pool that was warm and with targeted jets around some of the edges. Hard jets! So you felt like you got a massage. Which Rick and now a few others did, but I was happy with the pool and saunas. I’ve decided I like the steam rooms the most.

On my way to the restaurant, I’d noticed a coat of arms sign with 1370 written on it, and then I saw a full family tree from the same family all the way up to today with a line with people born in the 1950’s and 60’s. Amazing. I’d known that most of the hotels and rifugio’s were family run, but this was one long line of owners!

Dinner on our own, nothing planned so 8 of us ate together, Marla/Ken, Sara/Stuart, Carol/Matthew and Rick and me. So fun and great food again. Started to see a theme here.

Fié Allo Sciliar, 7.July.2025

Day 2 Hiking

We walked outside our hotel on the Völser Weiner Route, our first hike of the day. It was 5.4 miles, 1500’ elevation gain, 900’ loss. This gain loss is what I’d heard a lot about for the Dolomites. Sometimes it did feel like a steady serious uphill or downhill, but except for our next to last day, it was never super hard. It was definitely manageable and the miles were never that long the way we were scheduled. That being said – you could do seriously long hikes if you wanted to, trails go ALL over these mountains.

A note re our hotel – and turns out all of these hotels – they’re “wellness” centers. What does that mean? Goodness, spa, sauna, steam, pools. And in this ancient hotel, they’d carved out spaces in so many directions that Rick and I took at least 30 minutes just to explore and see what was what. It wasn’t until we left after 2 nights that we found out there were two more steam and sauna rooms that we’d completely missed. Rick went for a massage yesterday and Sara texted me asking if I wanted to go to the sauna. Ok. Happy to do it with someone else. You can’t wear bathing suits in the sauna so our group by consensus said we were all going to wrap our towels around us. Sara had come up to see our room and when we were looking out the window we saw at a distance a bunch of people drop their towels and get into the fountain pool. Hmmm.

So we went down and to the sauna and baked. A lot. Then we really wanted to go to the pool but didn’t have suits. We finally decided, with some prodding on my part, to go to that same fountain pool and if no one was there we knew, we’d go behind the statue and hop in. We did and felt quite brave and pleased with ourselves. And what a great way to recover from the sauna!

Here’s Luca doing his artistic debriefing of the second day’s options.

We walked outside our hotel of our hotel, down the hill and the first site was a memorial to WWI with bits and pieces the artist had found on the hillsides. WWII was not fought in this area because they’d realized how futile it was to try to fight in the nooks and crevices of these mountains. Refugees and resistance fighters were able to hide here.

Our hike today set the frame of all the days. We were going valley to valley around the Schwerin massif, “an enduring symbol of South Tyrol.”. But first, orchards, vineyards, dairy farms…

Tyrolean helmet

Looking back down over the church and our hotel – the building just to the right of the church. This is a lot of town are, nestled into a side of a mountain.

Carol and Matthew on the way up, past beautiful meadows and then into the woods.

And our next lunch rifugio with Sara and Marla to welcome me 🙂

And after another amazing lunch, we were off to a mountain lake for swimming.

Here’s the Schwerin massif at the center of 5 valleys. We would see 4 and peak over the top to the fifth over the days of hiking.

We came back into town, but I had some energy and really wanted to see that little church we could see out our window. It looked so far away, but Elizabeth, the youngest amongst us, had already explored early that morning and said it was a wonderful church built on ruins. And that there was a wonderful jeweler in town and worth seeing her shop. So church first.

This plaque explains some of the archeology that was happening around the church. There was a little chapel outside the cathedral that was closed and had a sign “churches, museum and aperitif tours”. Bewildering combo, but this site explained that the chapel was the archeological museum.

I climbed up the hill towards the church passing this site. I went inside and there was a space carved out from the rock that was tiny. How 80 people could fit in here was bewildering, but it did feel protected.

It watched over the town.

In town looking up at church

On my way back, I went into the jeweler hoping to find a wedding ring for Rick. Yes, 36 years later. Several years ago, he’d put his ring into my hands for safe keeping. I have no idea what happened, but it was lost. We were in the Romantik hotel, in a darling little town, on a totally amazing trip with some of our oldest friends (college, Quaker meeting, NY roommate) and wouldn’t that be a cool place to find a ring?

I was completely sweaty from the day, but went in and the goldsmith was a darling woman, so appealing and she did have rings. So I went back and had a shower and asked Rick if we could look for a ring for him. And we found one! We both think it’s perfect and I love seeing it on his hand. The goldsmith had to make a new one to his size so we had to go back at 7. In the meantime, we went to have a cocktail/mocktail on the patio at the hotel. Funny little statues around the place – actually a ton of art all over the hotel, but here’s a snippet.

We then had a dinner out at a woman’s house. She and her husband cook dinners for the group all local food, from her garden or within a few k of her house. She announced a wine that was within 1 k and another that was 7 k away. She’s been recognized – magazine covers around the kitchen – for her part of the Slow Food movement. Another astonishing meal. So efficiently served and delicious. The apricot cake was my favorite.

Rick decided to get some quiet time (there’s very little on this trip) and stayed home, picked up the new ring and had a quiet dinner at the hotel.

Elmau, 1.July.2025, Tuesday

Elmau. Today was a hiking day. Last night I actually slept again, a first for a second travel day. I like it. Rick’s sleep adjustment was going more slowly. We took time again for sitting, had breakfast and then we were off. Our walk took us from Elmau to Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Oh my goodness, the beauty just doesn’t stop and the drama of looking up from the woods to see these towering stark mountains never stopped catching our eye.

After walking a good while, in and out of forests, we came on this valley, all owned by the farm seen in the background. Very unassuming, but incredible. All the little wooden buildings, protecting wood, hay, machinery were small and well kept and spread throughout the valley. We never really understood why they weren’t all grouped, but clearly there was a reason since it was true on every farm.

<img_4719.jpeg> Note: still need to track down some of these photos…

I’m sorry I didn’t get a better photo, but a beautiful wooden cross caught my eye just past this incredible farm. I belatedly realized that there was a lot of writing for the plaque and did get the translation. Amazing bravery.

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Then after in and out again, we suddenly came on this small ski hamlet. So pretty and there was a lift that came up from Garmesch.

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I thought, a cool long walk past the town, happily a fair amount in the forest so not horribly hot, but then we went down a path to the Partnach Gorge.

Oh my goodness, I had no idea what we were walking into. First – to get there we had to cross a see-through grid bridge hanging by swaying cables. Oh so not my favorite. It wasn’t a choice from the map Rick was following (my phone’s battery was NOT holding up, so just using his) since we had to cross a gorge to get to where we were going. I held onto his backpack, kept my eye way up on the mountains and calmly hyperventilated only once letting a whimper escape and we got to the other side. Exposure therapy? I’d be happy to not ever repeat. It looks like there’s land right under it, but nope, big drop off.

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But the reward!!! Wow, wow, so cool. We really didn’t know what we were getting into. We just knew we had to keep going in this direction. Turns out it meant that we were going to go through the Partnach Gorge. We paid 20 euro and went through the gate. I didn’t know if it was to a lift that would take us back up to the top of the ravine? What? Turned out it was a 700meter long gorge with tunnels and caves carved into the rock and skirting the side of the gorge, straight drops down into the water. Incredible, the feat of engineering that made this possible. The water everywhere in the creeks is beautiful and so clear – the color is from the limestone that it passes through.

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We walked into Garmisch and the first thing we saw was the ski jump from the 1936 Olympics that Hitler presided over. Such a weird feeling to see this remnant, to know what was coming so soon to the world. They still use the jump, but like many other places, the snow is decreasing and the heat rising, so summer sports are gradually becoming more of a tourist attraction than winter sports.

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There was an information office there and we asked about things to do. I really wanted to take the cable car up – goes to the top of the highest mountain in Germany. But when the woman pulled up the live map of weather at the top, it looked like “weather coming in from Austria, quickly could be hail, cold, sleet”. Hmmm. So we just felt lucky we’d been able to do it yesterday.

We continued walking into the town and again, so appealing with the cleanliness, the paintings, cafes. I took a few photos with a few translations.

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We stopped and had lunch and then caught a taxi back to Elmau. Per usual when you’ve walked for miles and think you’ve covered so much terrain, the ride back went really quickly.

Again, a leisurely dinner, time to read, watch a video (Clarkson’s Farm 4th season!) and slept again, wow, great sleeping transition this trip.

Elmau, 30.June.2025, Monday

Today was a leisurely wake up – and I actually slept last night with no help! That’s often the case with the first day after flying over night, then the next few nights are adjusting, but for today, it’s great. We took time for meditation – so many wonderful places here to sit quietly, listen to the river and the birds. Then breakfast and off on e-bikes.

Wow, Bavaria is incredibly beautiful. We were glad to be riding bikes and exploring. The paths and dirt roads were great and I do love having that little motor so that you can up the strength when you hit an uphill. Even with the motor, I was still quite tired by the time we made it back to the hotel. We took the whole day, I think we were out by 9 and back by 3 or 4. Riding by lakes and valleys, in and out of forest and next to farms. All so beautiful, it was hard to believe people live here and think it was normal. And it was hot! I guess most of Europe is under a heat dome. Luckily, we’re in the mountains so that it cools down at night and we can open the doors wide on both sides of the room so it cools down.

There are so many sweet fountains, probably safe for drinking, though we never took the chance.

I actually forgot to take a lot of photos of the lakes we were riding around, all beautiful. Here’s a bit of one.

Really sweet little chapels, we didn’t/couldn’t go in any, but could see a few benches, not sure when/how they’re used.

The town of Mittenwald was the one small town on the route and by the time we got there, I was ready to have something to drink. We walked around this Bavarian town, with houses and buildings decorated in paintings. So cute.

It was the first time Rick had been in Bavaria. I realized that that incredible town Tricia and I saw last year was actually typical, who knew? I just want to walk the streets with my head up looking at all the art.

The town is famous for its violin making, from the 1600’s to today. The original violin maker was M Klotz, 1653-1743. Long life!

We then decided to go find the cable car that goes up the mountain at the end of Mittenwald to see what that was about. We rode bikes through the town finding our way to where we could see the cables. Wow, incredible what people can do and it gives amazing access to views and climbing that wouldn’t happen otherwise. We did see 2 people climbing all the way up, but man, bleak in the sun once they were past tree line. But worth it once you got to the top.

At S/E/W/N corner was a different placard showing the mountain range with names and heights. Incredible how surrounded this spot is.

And there were so many different tiny mountain flowers poking up out of the rocks.

We climbed up and around the tops of the mountains near the welcome cafe, but then I started wearing out. No English anywhere in Bavaria. A policy? I don’t know, but literally not a word printed. We went in the cafe and people were eating pretty decent food, but I was hitting the wall and couldn’t even manage the translation app. So we went back down and found a cafe below and got soup and water and that was perfect. Revived, I could get back on the bike and off we went again on our way back to the Schloss.

We immediately got showers, so hot and sticky and then had quiet before dinner. A perfect day!

Singapore, 24-25.Feb.2025, Monday

Last night I decided enough huddling – and signed up with Viatour for a bike ride at 9am and then a water tour at 5 that included seeing the light and laser shows that everyone talked about when I asked what I should do.

It was my last day and I was determined to do more. I figured the bike rides in Vietnam and Cambodia had been real highlights – turns out it was the best thing I could have done. I’m doing this from now on wherever I go!

Today was so great, I’m now a firm believer in doing guided bike rides. You see so much and we had an amazing guide. I was one of two Americans, mostly British, Australian and a smattering of others.

Again, like in Vietnam and Cambodia, I ended up being fascinated by our guides talk around the political system. Singapore is a parliamentary republic, with elections, but Singapore has been governed by the People’s Action Party since 1959; consequently it has been described as being a de facto one-party state under the PAP. In the last general election held in 2025, the PAP won 87 out of 97 seats and 65.57% of the popular vote, meaning the PAP won its 16th consecutive term in government.

Our guide was clear about the pros and cons, with the pros meaning that everyone has housing, education, medical care and safety. Those are big wins. The one big issue that came close to really pushing the government, was LGBTQ rights. There were protests in the 2020’s (which are not usually allowed) large enough that parliament repealed anti-gay laws and put in place anti-discriminatory protections. Our guide said that it’s basically don’t-ask-don’t-tell, but that one of the highest politicians is outright gay with a partner. Singapore does not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. However, transgender rights in the country are progressive in the region, which included Singapore being the first country in Asia to legalize sex reassignment surgery in 1973. Drugs are not tolerated at all – and the population seems to be ok with this. Punishment is very corporal, with caning being the primary tool, left over from British colonization.

So a really interesting mix of progressive policies, taking care of ALL people, but no tolerance for infraction. A lot of people are moving here from Hong Kong, after the Chinese take over, and they seem to find the politics friendly.

One thing our guide said is that Singapore was very Asian in that jobs/education were very hierarchical in perceived value. He had been in finance, focusing on sports, national and Olympic and had what was regarded as a high-ranking job. However, he wanted to be out of the office moving around. He kept his position as the head of the Olympic committee for Singapore but decided to do guiding. He loves guiding – or at least said and acted like he did!

He realized that the valued hierarchy of law/dr/finance of Singapore really missed because the country is clean, safe, and well run because of the thousands who do the menial work of trash collection, cooking, etc. He said he has shifted his understanding of the gifts that all people bring to the society.

The buildings are the most striking part of Singapore, the remnants of history – here apartments in Chinatown crafted form the old store below, many families above, but now with a clear roof to protect from weather, clean and so inviting.

From the Atlas bar, incredibly beautiful, we didn’t go in, just stopped in to se. Some of the bar’s iconic and extensive brasswork – evocative of the Roaring Twenties, or what Ms Keller calls “the golden age of drinking” – and a 15m-tall gin tower containing the bar’s collection of over 1,400 gin bottles.

Outside in the garden were evocative sculptures exploring some of the challenges of living in this society. This one was my favorite: Trying to think outside the box.

Heading towards the Sultan Mosque, an interesting blend of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European cultures all in Kampong Gelam.

The whole bike ride was just a wonderful exploration, from the historical to the crazy modern and creative skyline. The photo below was of the botanical spheres, photos from the inside coming later.

This unbelievable building – a set of 3 towers holding up the plane like structure is the Marina Bay Sands – Hotel and SkyPark. Consistently ranked as one of the world’s most spectacular pools, visitors flock to the SkyPark for a unique experience. It is the world’s longest infinity pool (142 meters) and the largest outdoor pool at this height (650 meters). I did not go up, actually didn’t have any interest, WAY too high.

During WWII, Singapore primarily fought alongside the British and Allied forces against the Japanese Empire. The conflict, culminating in the Battle of Singapore, saw Singapore fall under Japanese occupation after a swift and decisive campaign in 7 days in Feb 1942 and they remained under occupation until the end of the war.

The man who “found” Singapore and in a brief few days negotiated trading for England. Sir Stamford Raffles, a British administrator for the British East India Company, is recognized as the first British person to set up a trading post in Singapore. Raffles landed in Singapore on January 28, 1819 and established a trading post for the British East India Company after negotiating a treaty with Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong of Johor.

I couldn’t get a great photo, but Hotel Raffles names after above is a famous stopping point where the Singapore Sling was invented.

A typical tourist shot, but fun. This is the iconic image (the statue, not me) for Singapore, Merlion. Using the fish in its design alludes to the idea of Singapore’s beginnings as a fishing village, while the lion refers to the sighting of a lion in Temasek by a prince from Palembang, Sang Nila Utama, as narrated in the Sejarah Melayu, leading him to rename the island Singapura (“lion city” in Sanskrit).

The Telok Ayer Market was THE place to go for Satay, the next most famous food in Singapore. I missed on that special dish, but got to see the market and loved this inviting sign for a desert.

So – a wonderful adventure on our bike tour. I then went straight over the tram to the Gardens by the Bay, with more than 1.5million plants from every country except Antartica. The two giant domes held first the Cloud Forest and then the Flower Garden. Unbelievable. The Cloud Forest had the highest indoor waterfall except for the one at the Singapore Airport. I tried hard to see that one too, but my timing didn’t work. But I explored all the levels of this forest and it was truly a marvel.

There’s an enterior elevator in this hill that takes you up many stories and then you walk your way down exploring the different levels of flora.

A whole series of images and scenes of Thailand were in the flower dome, though there were many many areas represented.

I then went back to the hotel after hours of exploring these scenes and got ready for our river cruise. It didn’t turn out to be so much of a cruise, but still fun to get out and see from the water side. We then went back to the Gardens by the Bay for the Supertree light show. Crazy.

We walked through the gardens until we got to the Supertree gardens and then found a space to lie down and look up at the light show. And it was in incredible light show. I took a million photos and videos because I was incredulous.

So cool against the clouds swirling and reflecting the light.

By the end, we were utterly impressed. The people I’d been chatting with on the boat tour – we were together here and then to the next light show as well all marveled as we walked back to the meeting spot.

The next show was from the water front and was fun and interesting as well. A lot of time and effort went into making these shows and the place was packed as we waited to see.

So a fitting end to my Singapore adventure, a perfectly fascinating and satisfying day!

Singapore, 22.Feb.2025, Saturday

I landed in Singapore last night and couldn’t really see anything, but the driver said to make sure I downloaded the GAP app – their Uber and to definitely use the public transportation. He also said I could walk at 2 in the morning if I wanted because Singapore is completely safe – clearly taking great pride in his country.

When I woke up and started to think about my day, I felt like a limb had been cut off with everyone gone. I love traveling on my own, so that was a bit of an adjustment to realize how upended I felt. I made my self do things out of force of habit about traveling by myself, but I was so disconcerted, I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the little club room that linked to my hotel room, not even venturing to the restaurant. Homing like a pigeon to the safe space. Good grief.

I decided to do the hop-on hop-off bus tours. It was raining off and on and I was tired – still not sleeping, but not because of jet lag. And that’s all I did today! I listened to the bus’s spiel while seeing things, but a lot of times whatever they were talking about was gone by the time I made the connection. I wasn’t firing too many cylinders.

First, though, I had to get some money. I was told by the front desk to just walk a block down to The Orchard – a shopping mall. I figured that would be easy enough. The driver the night before had said to go to the basement of the mall and there was an ATM there. So that’s what I did, there were 5? 6? levels down below the walk in floor. Then I started walking looking for an ATM. There were so many halls, directions, stores, that within a short time, I had no idea where I was or even how to get out. I actually had a bit of a panic reaction – crazy. The only place I’d known at all similar was the Twin Towers where all the shops and food court were below level – but there I knew all the subways, directions, etc. Here – nothing. And there were so many escalators that I had no idea where the one was that I came down on. It was a totally crazy place. I’m writing this now, so I obviously found my way out, but I have NO interest in shopping!

This sculpture was outside the mall and caught my eye as I was recovering from my mall panic. It’s a giant nutmeg – recognizing the nutmeg orchards that used to be all over the island until a blight killed off almost all of them.

The most interesting thing I saw on the bus rides were the buildings and the glimpses of history. Honestly, I never got off either bus, too tired, it was really hot and rainy here and there. But I picked up some things.

Clearly the original prime minister of Singapore upon liberation was far seeing and brilliant. Singapore was freed of British occupation in 1967, and Lee Kwan Yew served from 1959-1990. He set in place the public housing principal – people can be happy and successful if they have homes. A commitment to green and conservation – 46% of the land is green, from tiny gardens to the giant Botanical Gardens. A single party governance that is committed to decent living with health care, housing, education, and stability. And clearly a market economy.

There are four groups of people who make up Singapore and everyone seems to take great pride in the mingling of the four even as there are distinct historical areas for three of them – the Malay, the Indians, the Chinese, and the Eurasians.

This gorgeous building is the police building. The Old Hill Street Police Station (now known as the MICA Building), home to the Ministry of Communications and Information and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, is a colonial landmark located at the junction of River Valley Road and Hill Street. It officially opened in 1934, and was the largest government building in Singapore at the time. The building has a total of 927 windows that have been painted in shades of rainbow colours. The main courtyard has been converted into an air-conditioned atrium, and is sheltered by a 29-metre-high glass roof. It had a dark history as it fought the Chinese secret societies gaining traction at the time of its building. Now – the arts.

There was a Hindu temple with public housing buildings rising up behind it. 80% of the population lives in public housing and 90% of those own these apartments and homes. And it’s nice! A variety of buildings and apartments. People are in a lottery when they come of age and as their circumstances improve, they can get in the lottery for a better apartment. However, once their income exceeds $12,000 month, they can no longer opt for a different apartment. And if they give up their apartment, they can never enter the lottery again. They can bequeath their housing to children.

This is from my hotel room. Green everywhere. 46% of the land areas are green and all are strongly encouraged to have plants and most balcony’s and roofs had gardens. Individuals and organizations talked about how the green helped the environment and helped keep Singapore cool. It was pretty remarkable given that it’s a city-state of buildings.

As I said, I was tired and disconcerted enough that I had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the hotel around my bus rides. I was NOT going near the mall again.

I’ll get brave tomorrow.