A Temple, A Mosque & A Temple

Ok. I'm REALLY falling behind on my blogging so the text will be short but the pictures will still be fun to share!!! Last weekend, we went back to China town. Since we didn't make it there until late in the day on our first trip, the museum was closed. So we went back last weekend and walked through the Chinese Cultural Museum which outlined how the first Chinese came to Singapore. It was fascinating to see how they lived and the number of people that lived in small little closets. Very interesting and the museum did a great job of making you feel like you were actually looking into the past. Very Cool.

Then we went to the Hindu Temple in China Town. Apparently we timed it just right because there were lots of men with painted faces (some wearing sheets) walking around with incents burning. There was also a man playing a very interesting drum and another with some sort of horn instrument that reminded me of a snake charmer. It was quite fascinating except for two things. First is was so foreign from anything we know, that it was impossible to have any idea what was happening. And second the "music" and the incents got to me after a bit. It was a neat experience, but, what a headache!!!

Next we went to the mosque in China Town. There are rules about what you can and cannot wear. At first we were just going to glance in and leave, but when i started reading that we might be able to get a guided tour from the MIO (mosque information officer) I thought, what the heck, let's at least ask. Well, it turned out he was available and very nice to us, so we put on our "robes" and went inside. We weren't allowed to walk on the praying floor carpet, but we did get to see everything else. Lisa and I even got to check out the Woman's Praying room (no men allowed).

After that, we went to the Buddist Temple. This was my favorite. First of all, it's HUGE. it has 4 stories with a large praying wheel and meditation garden on the top floor. In between the main temple and the top floor are room after room set up like museum exhibits with all different likenesses of Budda. My favorite is the fat belly budda with the big droopy ears and smiling face. The saying goes something like; "hide all your troubles in you belly and put on a smiling face for the rest of the world". Words to live by.....

We had a great dinner in the middle of China Town sitting outside along one of the street vendor allies. THe boys tried fried baby squid - although no one liked it much - and we had a great day.

On Sunday, Dave left for China. He was traveling there for work and got to do the sidecar tour he was so excited about trying.

Lisa and I took the boys to the water amusement park. It was drizzling all day so we figured we might as well be wet. The park was fun and the boys had a great time. I think they would say the highlight was watching the expression on my face when we rode the "slide up". Yikes - it was a fast one for sure!!!