Sunday in Singapore with a Myanmar New Year Celebration

It rained again on Sunday in Singapore. However, for the most part we found ways to work around it and enjoy some activities without getting wet. Our day started by going to church. The service we planned to attend didn’t start until 11:30 so it was not an early start. On our walk to the MRT station, we were glad to avoid any rain. We got off at a different station to go to the church. It surprised me to…

Singapore’s Marina Bay Offers the Luxury Side of Life

Saturday morning we woke up to another rainy day. However, in the morning it wasn’t too heavy. After breakfast we decided to head back to the Marina Bay area and the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The options for a rainy day were either museums or shopping. Neither had much appeal so we just decided to go back to the hotel and see how the wealthy lived and vacationed. It wasn’t actually raining when we walked to the transit station. When…

Singapore’s Flower Dome Provides a Unique Experience

Since we arrived in Singapore, the last stop of our visit to Southeast Asia, it hadn’t stopped raining. Nevertheless, we headed down to the famous Gardens by the Bay, and earlier in the day we kept dry inside the Cloud Forest, a dome covered tropical garden. We would spend our afternoon time inside the neighboring Flower Dome. First, however, we needed to get something to eat. When we came out of the Cloud Forest, right in front of us was…

A Rainy Day Under the Dome of the Cloud Forest

So far on our journey through Southeast Asia, we had been pretty lucky with the weather. That’s not to say that the weather had been perfect. It hadn’t. However, we had expected to see more rain. Fortunately the rain we experienced happened mostly in the evening or overnight so we were able to see what we wanted to see in the daytime. Then we arrived in Singapore, and our luck changed. It rained. All day. Thankfully we were able to…

The Malaysia Countryside Seen Through a Bus Window

Having spent three days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, it was time to travel on to Singapore, the final destination of our Southeast Asia trip. Singapore is an island off the southern tip of Malaysia. Flying into Singapore was certainly feasible, but getting to the airport and going through all the security and immigration seemed like a lot of hassle. We decided to take a bus. We looked into a train, but no trains travel that route directly. There were several…

Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers and Its Unique Skyline View

Kuala Lumpur is not on a lot of American’s radar. Likely many people would have trouble identifying the country it represents. Despite its relative obscurity, the city has managed to have a skyline that puts it in the record books. Currently the second tallest building in the world is in Kuala Lumpur. That building, the Merdeka 118, has been recently constructed and is still not yet ready to receive visitors. However, another building, the Petronas Towers, does receive visitors. This…

Kuala Lumpur, Gaining Understanding of Its History and Culture

Kuala Lumpur has an impressive skyline. I’ll tell you more about that next time. The point is when you look at the skyline the city seems to stretch for miles. It is a city of a little over two million people so it’s not small. I say this as it surprised me to discover that some of the central areas of the city were not far from our hotel. After I found a self-guided walking tour on the internet, I…

From Vietnam to the Batu Caves of Malaysia

When we were planning this trip, we knew that Vietnam would be our main focus. However, since we were in Southeast Asia already, we felt like it was a good opportunity to explore some other areas. We decided Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia would be a good place to start. With the kids returning to the United States, it was time for us to venture out on our own kid free. Our flight from Ho Chi Minh to Kuala Lumpur wasn’t…

A Glimpse of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s Largest City

After spending nearly a week in Da Nang, Vietnam, it was time to visit the largest city in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, formerly named Saigon. Our visit was a bit different than to Hanoi or Da Dang. We had come to Vietnam because our daughter-in-law is Vietnamese. Her home town is actually south of Ho Chi Minh. Initially we planned to visit her home town as her parents have built a home there. Her parents planned to be there during…