Are We Going to do Anything Fun Today? (Let's Do Something Flippin' Awesome!) : We're Baaaaaaaack!!! Part Two

And now for the Emma and Nathan Portion of our October/November Blog...

EMMA

November 5

Dear everyone,

On Friday, October 3^rd, we went to Wat Saket, and climbed 300 steps to the top of the Golden Mount. It was okay. It wasn’t really a great view from the top. Just a lot of buildings and cars. However, for a little ways up they had like a forest garden thing going along the side of the stairs. I thought that was cool because there were a bunch of hidden statues that you could look for. Also on the way up there were areas with bells in rows that you could ding with a coin, or clang their clapper. There was a huge gong that had a big log suspended in front of it that you could use to bang the gong. It was so loud it made really loud vibrations. At the top you could go inside a building and there was a bunch of statues of Buddhas. There was one side of the building that had Buddha statues for each day of the week and each statue had different hand positions. The Sunday statue was the Reclining Buddha position. There was a water dispenser that had really cold water that was really awesome. There was also a green Buddha statue that was like the Emerald Buddha. There were a bunch of shrines in the temple. You could take some really steep steps up to the roof where the golden chedi was. It was really bright and hot up there. We had to take off our shoes to go in the temple and we went up there in socks and it burned our feet! They had music playing up there. There was another big gong up there, but it wasn’t as big as the other one. It had a big mallet that you hit it with. It was SO heavy. I like mallets! On the way down, I put my hair in my hat because it was so hot. Anyway, on the way down, we saw this monk, and he asked me where I was from, so I said, “America.” Then he said, “Oh, all the way from America. What’s your name?” I said, “Emma.” Then he asked, “Are you a man or a woman?” I said, “I’m a woman.” Then he said, “You look like a man.” So I pulled my hair out and waved it so he could see my long pony tail. He was just like, “Ooooohhh, okay.” Thanks dude. Then I left.

On October 11^th , I went to a cat themed party. It was for this girl that goes to my church. Her name is Lucy. The party started at a restaurant called the Purr Cat Café. When we went in the actual building, we had to put on these weird slipper things. Then, we had to wash our hands. After that, we went into the actual eating area. THERE WERE SO MANY CATS!!!!!! Well, not SOO many, just a lot. They were mostly the big, fluffy cats with the squished up faces. They are SO adorable! It kind of freaked me out a couple of times when the cats would crawl behind me, and jump up on chairs. There was this really cool cat walkway that was hanging from the ceiling. There was also a little stairway that led up to it, so that the cats could actually climb on it and walk around. However, it was only wide enough for single file. One time, there was a cat just laying in the walkway, and another cat wanted to get by. So every time it tried to walk past on the railing, the lazy cat would paw at it. Also, the cats kept digging through our party bags. So Lucy’s mom finally emptied one, and a fat gray cat hopped in. I think it fell asleep too. One time, a cat was sitting on one of our chairs, so a worker had to come get it off. However, it just hopped back on. This happened around 4 times, and then the cat sat on our table, so the worker just gave up. The cat would let us pet it a lot. It was SO soft! The restaurant mainly sold dessert and breakfast, so we all got dessert. I got what they called a Purr Cat Brownie. IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! It was 2 brownies with an ice cream of your choice. Lucy’s mom also brought long pieces of string that we could dangle in front of the cats’ faces for them to play with. They went WILD for them. It was really funny to watch them jump and hop for a piece of string. After that, we did a book exchange, and then went to Lucy’s apartment. I brought Three Times Lucky, and took home Anne of Green Gables. At Lucy’s we played a game kind of like mafia, and then watched the newer Parent Trap movie. It was REALLY FUN! I also want a cat now.

Ringing the giant gong on the way up the Golden Mount to Wat Saket

One of the shrines in the gardens on the way up the Golden Mount.

View half way up the stairs to the top of the Golden Mount.

Golden Chedi on the top of Wat Saket

Buddhist Shrine in the center of Wat Saket

NATHAN

On October 23, Dad and I left for the airport to go to Singapore. We boarded late because the crew was late. We flew Tiger Air. There were rows of three and it was hard to play my computer because it was cramped. When we got to Singapore we took a bus to our hotel. The hotel was pretty nice. It was called the Rendezvous Hotel. Dad went to dinner with some colleagues while I waited in the hotel room. I worked on some school work and read a book while he was out. I also fell asleep and forgot to order room service, so after Dad got back we went and wandered around the street near our hotel. Eventually we ended up stopping at McDonalds for my dinner and then getting Slurpees at 7-11. They don’t have Slurpees at the 7-11’s here in Thailand. They already had Christmas decorations up in the street.

The next morning we went to Gardens by the Bay. It was a huge garden complex. We got tickets for their two domes and their Skyway. The first dome was the Cloud Forest Dome. It basically was a huge dome with a huge man-made mountain with a waterfall and plants everywhere. When we walked in, it was amazing. It was air-conditioned, misting, and the water fall was spraying everywhere and it felt awesome after being in the dry heat. We then took an elevator up to the top and then walked down. The whole mountain was covered in plants. Inside the mountain they had exhibits about cloud forests and caves. They also had walkways that went around the mountain/hill. It was super cool. Also inside the mountain they had a clock doing a countdown to Christmas. After the cloud forest we went to the flower dome. It was basically a huge dome filled with all kinds of plants and flowers. They had some sculptures of animals made out of plants that were really cool. They also had a cool desert area where they had a ton of cacti and these really fat trees that hold a ton of water. It wasn’t as cool as the cloud forest, but I still liked it. We then went to the Supertree Grove. The Supertrees were basically huge metal redwood trees. They absorb energy from the sun and use it to power stuff in the Gardens. The supertrees were covered in plants. We went on the skyway which was an elevated walkway between the two tallest super trees. It was super high off the ground and it was really cool to be able to see the whole garden from the walkway. After the walkway we walked to a restaurant called Satay by the Bay where we got some satay which is basically just a shiskebab. It was really good. Then we took the MRT back to the hotel and Dad went to his talk. I worked on school and did my seminary class. Then when Dad got back we met one of Dad’s friends and we went to the Singapore Flyer which is the biggest ferris wheel in the world. It was awesome. Since we went at night the ferris wheel was lit up. They don’t stop the flyer so you have to get on while it’s moving. We could see the whole Singapore skyline from our car. It has changed since we were there last because they have reclaimed a ton of land. The Merlion Statue is actually inland now. Anyway the whole trip around the ferris wheel took about half an hour. It was really cool. After that we went to Chinatown. I really liked Chinatown and wished that we had spent more time there. We ate at an Indian place in Chinatown. It was okay. After that we stopped at a small Chinese Garden and then headed back to our hotel.

Then the next morning we checked out and had the front desk hold our suitcases. Then we went to see the Merlion. When we got there it was super hot and super bright. I forgot my sunglasses so I’m squinting in all the photos. The Merlion was also super crowded. It was crazy, but still really cool. It’s exactly how I remembered it. Then we walked down to the Helix Bridge which is a cool bridge made of interlocking helixes. We also passed the Durian (a concert hall with an interesting roof that looks like half a giant durian fruit) on the way to the bridge. We then crossed the bridge to the Art Science Museum. The Art Science Museum was like a ghost town. There was hardly anybody there and they only had one exhibit open and then another exhibit about inventions and the museum. The first exhibit was a Chinese photography exhibit. There was a really cool moving picture collage of a whole bunch of buildings that made up a mountain. The picture moved and it looked like the pictures from the newspapers in the Harry Potter movies. Then we got into some of the weird pictures that I have no idea how they got into the museum. For example, there was one where it was two guys with their eyes closed and bubbles in the background. It was weird. There were also other photos that I could’ve taken with my camera. (They didn’t look professional or like art at all.) It was strange. After that we went through a mall to get to the MRT. The mall had an indoor river and a gondola ride. We didn’t ride it though. Then went got our suitcases and headed to the airport. The airport had a movie theater and a video game area. We flew Tiger Air again and it was cramped again and they didn’t feed us or give us water again. We got back 15 minutes early and took the Airport Skytrain Line to Makassan station which isn’t too far from our house. The train was super crowded and we almost couldn’t get out. We then walked 15 minutes to our apartment. The rest of the day we hung out and showed everyone our pictures. It was super fun!