Arriving in Los Angeles late Sunday, Aug 8th, I was met by Charlie Corner who is a Hollywood producer of the forthcoming film “War Dogs.” The day of my birthday, Aug 9th, I spent with him and his lovely wife Debra and their children Michael, Grace, and Vincent having a picnic at Malibu beach club complete with Debbie’s fried chicken and super apple pie. Later that evening, I met up with Ariana Bensusan who brought a large box of assorted chocolates, at Los Angeles airport to start our adventure in Asia. There were copious amounts of food served on the plane and I had 2 servings of ice cream with granola in it. I had to get my fiber in!!!
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| A picnic with the Corner family |
Our super business class flight, complete with fully reclining seats that turn into beds, took about 17 hrs after which we landed in Singapore around 4:30 am on Aug 11th. After checking into our hotel, the Grand Copthorne Waterfront, we decided to go on a city tour to familiarize ourselves with our surroundings. We went to Little India, Chinatown, the Marina Bay area to see the Merlion (a local statue) and the durian-shaped opera buildings, the nastiest smelling fruit in the world. In Chinatown, we stopped into Thian Hock Keng Temple, one of the oldest Buddhist-Taoist temples in Singapore and listened to worshipers chanting. The tour then stopped at a local jewelry factory and went by the famous Raffles Hotel where the “Singapore Sling” drink was created and where stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Somerset Maugham stayed in their heyday. The last stop on the tour was to the beautiful Singapore Botanical Garden where we saw the Orchid exhibit. As the afternoon brought rain, a nap followed the tour.
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| Ariana at the Botanical Gardens in Singapore |
For dinner on the 11th, we went to the celebrity chef restaurant Guy Savoy and the new hotel Marina Bay Sands. I ordered an appetizer of mosaic milk fed poularde, foie gras, and artichoke with black truffle vinaigrette and for dinner, had browned calf sweetbreads with classic braised trimmings and braising stock. For dessert, we shared a medley of raspberry, cherry, and chocolate tarts. The hotel is comprised of 3 towers with a boat-like structure crossing the tops of all 3 buildings 56 floors up. After our fantastic dinner, we went up to the viewing deck at the top of the hotel to see the skyline of the city and admire their infinity swimming pool and glass-sided hot tubs.
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| Gladys with the Sung Family |
The following day, Aug 12th, we booked an early morning trip on the Cheng Ho Imperial boat. The boat ride took us around the harbor where we saw dozens of tankers and ships being loaded with freight by cranes. The highlight of the tour was a stopover on Kusu Island to visit a famous temple where thousands of people come each year to pray for health, children, and prosperity. After being soaked by rain, we arrived back to our hotel to change. We then went to a local mall where I found my favorite snack, gluten rice balls with red bean paste. At dinnertime, Cynthia Sung-Clark and her daughters Serena and Melanie met us for mealtime. The Sung-Clark family and I met 10 years ago when Cynthia and her husband Neil went to China with me and Susan to adopt a little girl at the same time we went to pick up Antonia. After dinner, we all went on the Singapore Flyer, the world’s largest observation wheel (aka. Ferris wheel).
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| Gladys at the Asian Civilization Museum |
Friday morning, Aug 13th, we slept in! After a leisurely breakfast, we went to Tekka Marketplace, a huge outdoor food market. There, we tasted fresh jack fruit which I love but Ariana did not like so much! From there, we went to the Asian Civilization Museum where we were able to see various exhibits of Asian cultures with a special exhibit called “Sumatra: Isle of Gold.” For dinner, we met back up with the Sung-Clark family for dinner at Loy Kee Chicken Rice where we ate Laksa chicken and Sour Sop drinks. We also had to try the local favorite, Chicken rice. After dinner, we went to the night safari at the Singapore Zoo. There we attended a performance of some of the animals and rode a tram around the exhibits seeing lions, tigers, giraffes, and various other creatures. Commentary on the tram was provided by a very dramatic lady who I was convinced must have thought she was auditioning for the next big Hollywood epic! Ben and Jerry’s finished the night and then it was off to the hotel to pack for Bali!
Due at the airport at 7 am for a 9:30 flight, our morning on Aug 14th started early!!! On the plane, I ate Kway teow with soya chicken, a rice noodles dish with braised chicken and Chinese black mushrooms and drank a Singapore Sling. Two hours later, we touched down in Bali and took a short ride to Burt and Maureen’s house. Tomorrow we will be leaving for our dive trip and will have no internet capabilities until at least the 26th when we will be heading to Ubud. More news of the trip at that point!
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