We have fallen into a routine this week. The 2 children go to school in the morning and Mary Jo and I go off on an excursion during the day. We come back after lunch for our nap and usually eat at the apartment in the evening, perhaps going out for a coffee afterwards.  

One day our excursion took us to the Botanical Garden and back, a 40 minute walk each way plus a walk through the BG. (This is the second time we have been there. Several days ago we went with Lisa and the kids.)  We walked 4-5 miles and, with the heat and humidity, were rather tired afterwards. On Tuesday we took a guided walking tour through Chinatown, about 3 hours. One of the women on the tour is from Kansas, retired from Boeing in Wichita. She comes to Singapore every two years or so for a holiday. She finds it a safe, convenient and interesting environment which is all true. We had lunch together after the tour. She is also a hiker, has done more than half of the AT in increments, with a friend. They hike separately but end up together at the end of the day. Thursday we took a Singapore Walking Tours walk that featured the days of the spice traders in the early 1800s. We finished with a lunch at a Malaysian Restaurant, eating some rather obscure foods. While in Singapore we have had some great food: soba noodles, noodles made fresh at a restaurant with an theatrical show of pulling the dough to create the noodle strands, some fantastic sushi, green tea ice cream, etc.

We have gone to a Lunar New Year program at Louise and Nora's school. Various dances and songs given by the various classes, including Nora's kindergarten and Louise's second grade class. Not dis-similar to events we have been to in the US. Next week the kids start a several week New Year vacation.

There are lots of preparation for the new year under way. Lots of fantastic and (to a Western sensibility) ridiculous decorations involving rabbits. It is suggested that, to deal with Singapore's low birth rate, the coming Year of the Rabbit will be useful. Then, many babies conceived in the Year of the Rabbit will be born in the following Year of the Dragon, providing a strong vigorous, dragon-like baby.

One of the pictures shows Nora at the school Lunar New Year program.

At the Botanical Garden

Neighborhood restaurant

Interior of a mosque

Lunar New Year program, Nora is second from the right

Greg met us at the airpot at about 7PM. Great to see Greg, Lisa, and the grandkids. Walking around the Orchard Road area the next day one feels the energy of the place. Lots of new construction, lots of people going purposefully here and there. Temperature not too hot today, in the 80s, somewhat humid.

I have been reading about the travels of Yu Yonghe to Taiwan in the 1690s, and related history. I learned that when the Ming dynasty collapsed in the mid 1650s, supplanted by the Qing forces, a surviving general retreated with his forces to the then obscure island of Taiwan, where he was threatened (and eventually defeated) by the Qing forces. Is that not "Deja vu all over again".

Prompted by Greg, I bought the app "flashcards" for the iPAd. I then took a test of 141 Italian words and scored < 50% ! Bad. Today I scored 66%. 

Mary Jo and I have taken a walk in neighborhoods along the right bank of the Singapore river. Here are a few pictures, plus a picture of Louise climbing a swing set at her apartment.

Louise, climbing a pole

This is a restored shop, in old Singapore

Botera statue of a bird

Salvadore Dali statue representing Isaac Newton

We are finishing 3.5 pleasant days in Taipei. Our hotel, Les Suites, is small but elegant, perhaps my favorite hotel in the world. (We stayed here 2 years ago with Greg and Lisa.) We have wandered around in a relaxed fashion, taking the very efficient Taipei metro. We went to the National Palace Museum with art and furnishing taken from the Forbidden City in Beijing by the Nationalist Army in 1949 when they fled to Taiwan. We also wandered through several night markets. The night markets offer open air shopping and eating. They are crowded with people shopping for clothes, luggage, tools, and food. The 2 pictures show an actual night market and my impressionistic attempt at drawing one.

The streets in Taipei are on a rectangular grid with very wide avenues, smaller streets branching off, even smaller streets and alleys branching off of these. According to Jerry, there is concern about an aging population with insufficient young people. Should more babies be encouraged, or immigration? It seems to me that the streets are already overcrowded. 

Mary Jo saw a woman pushing a "dog stroller" with a small dog inside, wearing a dog sweater. Unfortunately I did not get a picture.

One of our excursions was to Xin Beitou where there are some sulphurous laden hot waters where one can take a thermal bath. Also lots of hotels and walking trails. It is where the Chinese official Yu Yonghe travelled to Taiwan in the late seventeenth century and established a sulphur mine. One can get there by the metro and from there one could take a bus to Yangmingshan Park, where we were 2 years ago. We did not do it as we had not allotted enough time.

Friday was, for me, relaxing, having given my second and last lecture on Thursday. There was a dinner afterwards at a fancy restaurant with Western-style food. Friday evening Jerry, Nai Hua, and another former student, Lu, took us to dinner. A warm occasion as we all said our goodbyes. Today (Saturday) we take the train to Taipei, for the next phase of our trip.

In Taichung, and I think in other cities, a garbage truck drives around picking up trash from buildings on a daily basis. The truck plays a tune that I hear frequently as it passes near. The tune has a pleasant, plaintive quality but is mildly annoying after being heard for the nth time.

There are many small neighborhood temples scattered throughout Taichung; perhaps one for each district, according to our host Jerry. There are even one or two on the University campus. I think this is the case also in Taipei and other cities, perhaps throughout the country. These temples are places where someone can come to make a wish, pray if that is the right word, get a glimpse of the future. There is an image of some perhaps fierce-looking god, and various small dishes of food, and some other items. The temple is the size of a small house, open at the front, perhaps with some stairs leading up, and open to the public. According to Jerry these temples are funded by gifts from the neighborhood.

(Later) The bullet train from Taichung to Taipei was exactly on time and very smooth. From the window one saw towns, some mountains, small farms with a crazy quilt of rice fields. According to an sign in the carriage, the train reached the speed of 285 km/hr = 177 mph.

Wednesday we all went to the city of TsingHua, south of TaiChung, where I gave a talk. During my talk, Mary Jo sat in an office and read Middlemarch on the iPad. Then, after lunch, to Lukang which is an old port city. There we walked through some old streets, similar to the old Hutong area in central Beijing, and visited the Lukang folk museum. This museum is housed in a 19th century mansion, or more accurately, complex of buildings, owned by a wealthy family. Lots of this and that in the museum. The mansion was quite interesting.

Jerry is impressed and amused at Mary Jo's knowledge of Taiwanese food. Jerry talked about a certain breakfast dish, and Mary Jo remembered it and said she liked it very much. So, Wednesday morning we went to a "hole in the wall" eating place carved into the corner of a building. Open on the street side with heavy plastic sides, full of people, a lively scene. We had bowls of hot soy milk into which we dipped sticks of fried dough. The fried dough was lighter than that found at Ocean City or Myrtle Beach, and the combination was amazingly good. 

On Monday, Mary Jo mentioned a certain food that she remembered from her time in Taipei many years ago. The local grocery store did not have it. So, when we were at the university in TsingHua, someone gave Mary Jo a package of this item that had been purchased for us. We had it for dinner after our return from TsingHua and Lukang. It turned out to be some large rice balls with meat in the center and a gravy to be poured over the top. These are comfort foods that are a good contrast to the rather elaborate meals that we have been eating.

Thursday morning Mary Jo and i took a cab to the big Sogo department store, bought Jerry a small gift (place mats), and walked back to the apartment. At first view the urban scene is chaotic, a sensory overload. After a while the sights sort themselves out and our walk back helped us do this. The picture shows some ducks, getting ready for a Peking duck dinner.

We spent Saturday resting in the hotel, walking a little in the neighborhood, and shopping in the enormous Harbor City complex. This shopping complex is adjacent to the docking area for cruise ships and there were always several at the piers. The cruise ships, and the shopping arcade, seem to contain mostly Asian tourists while the shops sell well-known Western brands. Thus, an example of Asians buying Western designed goods (which may be manufactured in Asia). In the evening, a drink and light supper at the top of the Peninsula Hotel, adjacent to our hotel.

Sunday we were up at 4:30AM for a 5:15 bus to the airport for our flight to Taiwan. We were met at the Taipei airport by Jerry Shih, our host, driven to Taichung, and comfortably established in his apartment.Seventh floor, modern building, great Japanese toilet with heated seat and built in bidet with control panel. Jerry lives there by himself; his wife and kids are in Dallas. Napped, walked around the neighborhood. In the evening we went to a 'night market' where Mary Jo enjoyed some 'stinky tofu'.

Monday Jerry took us on an excursion, with Nai Hua (my former student), to Sun Moon Lake. This is a lake in the mountains, built during the Japanese occupation for hydroelectric power, later a retreat beloved by Chiang Kai Shek, and today a popular and beautiful tourist destination. Walked a bit on one of many trails, had lunch at fine restaurant in the lovely Lalu Hotel overlooking the lake. 

Yesterday we took the old Star Ferry across Victoria Harbor from Kowloon where we are staying to Hong Kong proper, and then took the 'peak tram' to near the top of Victoria Peak on Hong Kong. At the top is a park. We took a one hour walk that circles Victoria Peak. Nice paved trail, interesting foliage, very foggy off the mountain so the views were not great. Then lunch, and decided to walk back to the start of the tram. The way down was *very* steep, took over an hour and left us with rather wobbly legs. All told we went 5-6 miles. Then back to the ferry and Kowloon and a good nap before a late supper.

The Hong Kong side, at least near the water, is full of skyscrapers, overhead walkways, international businesses. The Kowloon side seems flatter, much shopping, restaurants, a nice waterfront park. Many people on both sides. One can buy a Rolex watch at one of the many Rolex stores, or a Rolex imitation from one of the many people standing on the street. We both read an article in the latest New Yorker on a fashion designer that runs the store Bottega Veneta. The store offers a hand bag for about $7,000. We went to a local Bottega Veneta store to have a look. Nice, well made, no logo on the outside of the bag, no sale. Dinner at a restaurant with a characteristic animated atmosphere.

Boarding the Cathy Pacific (CP) flight in LAX we walked through the luxurious pads in business class to join the huddled masses in the rear of the plane. But the seats in this 15 hour flight are comfortable with adequate leg room. Also one can have ramen noodles any time during the flight! I am a fan of CP.

My 15 hours were spent sleeping, listening to some music, reading the autobiography of Booker T Washington (I recommend it highly), standing and flexing some muscles, eating the offered meals plus ramen noodles, and composing this blog entry on our iPad. I also drew from memory a sketch of the Hong Kong skyline as seen from our soon-to-be room in Kowloon at the YMCA hotel where we will stay. If the sketch, composed of course using the iPad/brushes app, works out I will post it on the blog.

                                                                  Our airplane