Travelin Shoes

My daughter who lives in Singapore, was home for a month for business purposes.  She returned to Singapore on November 18.  This year we have been able to secure tickets for her to come home for Christmas and a family vacation.  She is due to return to the States on Christmas Eve.  That seems like an awfully quick turnaround to make a trip halfway around the world, but I guess she still young enough to do so.

Our daughter who is living in Singapore came to the States for a month, arriving on October 18. She had to return on November 19, just missing Thanksgiving Day. But she was very thankful for a good trip home, on a route she had not take in the past. She flew Continental from Houston to Tokyo, then to Singapore, just one stop! And she had three seats to herself on the long flight, so she was able to lie down and get some sleep.

For the next few weeks my daughter and I will be driving all over South Texas together.  She has been serving as a missionary in Singapore for the last 15 years and is home making reports to the congregations that have supported her.  She is also seeking their continued support for another five years in the fields of Asia.  Fortunately none of the trips is very long, and our time in the car together will give us an opportunity to talk and enjoy one another.

Our daughter who has lived in Singapore for the past 15 years, as a missionary, is coming home today for amonth long visit. We will picking her up at the airport at around two this afternoon. There will be a van load of well wishers go with us to get her!

She will be visiting family, but also making reports to the congregations that support her, and seeking their continued support for another five year hitch.

On our vacation trip, two of the men from the church in Singapore offered to give my wife and I a night tour of the city. We took them up on their offer.

They came by at seven to pick us up in John's car and we proceeded downtown. Our first stop was at the recently opened Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum. The temple is a magnificent structure that takes up an entire block in the very busy part of the city. It is five stories high, with the shrine to the Buddha tooth on the fourth floor and a beautiful garden on the fifth floor. There is quite a bit of debate in the city as to whether the tooth really belonged to Buddha, but there is no doubt that the temple is a sight to see.

Next we went to Mount Faber, the second highest hill on the island. At the peak there is a very nice park and garden that allows observation of the resort island of Sentosa, the downtown district, and one of the housing estates near downtown. It was a rather romantic spot, and we saw lots of young couples there among the gardens.

Next stop was at Clarke Quay near the waterfront, which has been developed recently into the district of restaurants and shops and entertainment. It was really hopping the night we were there. One of the attractions that I tried to get my wife to ride was the reverse bungee, but I had no luck. It looked like an amazing ride.

We then drove out to the east end of the island where there was another district of nightlife. This one was right along a beach, and again we found a lot of young couples walking and sitting on the beach overlooking the strait that separates Singapore from Malaysia. It was amazingly quiet in that area.

Somehow our guides got turned around as they were trying to take us to a country club not too far from the beach area. We drove around for 20 or 30 minutes, but never did see that site.

The next stop was back toward the north and the Sembawang district. We went to see the temple of the God of wealth. It too took up a full city block and was very ornate. But it was not as impressive as the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

By this time it was after 1:30 in the morning. I told our hosts that we were ready to go and visit the temple of the is one of rest. So they took us home, but it was a very nice evening.

My wife and I went to Singapore for a couple of weeks visit with our daughter who lives there. It was a very relaxing visit, with no time pressures and lots of things to see and do when we wanted to do something.

 

Our arrival was on the afternoon before the National Day celebration, which commemorates the island nation’s independence. This was the 42^nd birthday. We spent the day with our daughter and two grandsons that had been visiting her all summer, as well as many of her friends in the resort at Sentosa. We played in the surf at the beach, rode the street luge, went up in the Merlion that overlooks the sea, and ate. It was a nice day.

My six and seven year old grandsons just spent a week in Shanghai visiting friends. They and their aunt are now back in Singapore, where my daughter lives. They called on Skype this morning, Houston time, to report that they had arrived safely. The boys were very tired, but the had to tell me, "GrandDad, we ate snake, and duck tongues and pig bellies."

I did not even know they were Chinese.

My wife and I are heading to Singapore in a few days. We are going to visit our daughter and to pick up our grandsons who have spent the summer over there. I went to get a few pairs of shorts yesterday. I don't wear shorts around in public here very often, but it is so hot there and we will do a lot of walking, biking and being active that it makes sense to wear shorts over there. I will need to take some sun screen, because I have the whitest legs anywhere.

 I bought some shorts by Starter that are designed to draw the moisture away from the body and keep one cool. They were on sale, so I bought four pairs. I hope they work!