East Coast Park

As I said in the last post, we found Mustafa Center.  I gotta tell you again, that I did not enjoy it.  These are some beautiful displays there:

The problem is, do you see how close together everything is?  One thing butted up against the other?  The ENTIRE store - all however many stories and a block wide and deep - is exactly the same way.  Can you imagine?  It is beautiful in the jewelry area, but not so much in clothes, food, and kitchen stuffs.  I suppose it might have something I need, but I doubt I could bring myself to stay in it long enough to find it  :-(

Little India is crowded:

You cannot take pictures without cars blocking your view:

I suppose the Indians are just used to living like that, but for a person with claustrophobia, it is miserable to go to.  However, there are good things to say about Little India, one being the colors are vivid and beautiful:

And Raelee got another gift as usual.  That tow head girl and big blues turn many heads and flicking the lashes gets many gifts.  I think her daddy has a big job ahead of him  ;-)

On to other things.  Elfie is a friend that comes every day to watch over what Raelee does.  He races back at night to tell Santa if Raelee is good or bad.  Then he comes back and hides from her.  She has to find him in the morning so he can watch her.  He has hid in some really goofy places:

He was sleeping in the Christmas tree:

On top of the air con:

And in the dryer of all places:

That could have been dangerous, but lucky for him it was not going  :-)

Some days like the rest of us, Raelee has had enough.  Saturday morning, she rested.  She grabbed her coloring loot, her wrapping paper, scissors, tape and went to the laundry room.  We were in the middle of washing and had piles of clothes sorted.  She nested on a pile of dirty clothes, door politely closed with a 'leave me alone' attitude.  After a few hours of solitude, she was ready for the world again.  

Later in the day we walked over to East Coast Park and showed the girls around.  On the way, we saw our rainbow tree:

And papa got to play 'swing motor' again:

I think he quite enjoys this part of his job  ;-)

Sunday, we decided we wanted to go back to the Science Center.  Rather I should say Raelee decided we needed to go back to the Science Center.  She gets to have fun too, so off we went.  

However, we had this to contend to:

Do you remember THIS post from last year?  I feared the worst, but my dear hubby had figured the way out of the maze.  We think at this point it has been his one year mission - not ever getting trapped in the triangle again.  He has indeed paid attention to exit routes, as he got us out of the area quite painlessly and efficiently. 

We finally made it to the Science Center and had some fun:

By the time we got done at the SC, it was late.  Steve suggested we go to the hawker stand on East Coast Park.  I reminded Steph there was a good chance they had some sand castles there.  Lo and behold, they had better than that - a sand castle professional who taught us to make a sand castle!


To read what this was really about, read HERE

He used Raelee to help him teach:

I LOVE her face here:

Mommy and Raelee gave sand castle building a shot:

And with the Master's help:

And with papa's help:

I know, it is blue - I am pressed for time  :-(

But they accomplished a small castle in  minutes!

Great job girls!  We will be going back to create a master piece on Sunday.  Stay tuned  :-)

Today is China Town - we must finish our shopping.  

We Found Mustafa's

7 floors of pure h-e-double toothpicks:


Isles that are 2 feet wide 
Shelves stacked to the ceilings
Wall to wall stuff
Old not so clean building
Isles of boxes of stuff
Elbow to elbows of pushy people
Body odor that will knock you over
Very little English spoken
and teeny, tiny, jam packed, cramped places


And nothing I could live without.


I told you I was not a shopper.

We left and went to Tekka Center (a wet market)


I found the air I had lost at Mustafa's and elbow room.


We found pR some dresses.  They cost a lot - 3 for S$10.00.  Yep you read that right.  *shakes head in disbelief again*


And that was the extent of my shopping in Little India.  I hate that place.


I need to find one good thing to say about it...


So... the smells and spices mingled together (without the b/o) is wonderful.


AND I love what the Indian women and girls wear - vibrant colored elaborate, glittery, sequined and beaded clothes.  I will look up names for the clothes when I get over the claustrophobia I am still experiencing from today.


There, I found TWO things.


And that is all I have to say about that.

Arab Quarters

On Wednesday we went to Arab Quarters.  I had some friends that were going there, and we had made arrangements to meet at the MRT.  Who knew the MRT had so many places to exit?  The funniest thing was that Raye had a friend meeting her there as well.  Steph and I were waiting on everyone to meet us and I had no idea Raye wasn't with her friend.  Steph and I patiently watched for Jacqui and Raye at the MRT.  While we waited, we saw a lady pacing and looking around anxiously.  I thought momentarily it might be Raye's friend, but then I thought no they would be coming together.  

When Raye called to see where we were, she said her friend Andrea was already there and should be near us - and I knew immediately it was that woman.  I yelled across the way "ANDREA!  Come over here!"  She looked all around, back behind her then looked at me and said "ME?"  Still talking to Raye, I said "Yes!  You!"  and then motioned for her to come over.  I told her I had Rae on the phone and I introduced myself after we hung up - and she still seemed a little rattled.  We all had a good laugh over that one.  Andrea probably thought I was insane stranger that knew her name... Ok, no ratting me out... lol... 

The girls were shopping and we all separated for a bit before meeting up at Arab Quarters.  

I am not the best guide, but when I get lost, I find pretty things:

We passed up some of the drinks:

And passed on the snacks as well:

And I still remembered to look up:

And over:

We found some great dining room chairs:

And we finally figured our way out of there (we called a taxi) and met up with the girls again to go to a Turkish restaraunt:

We ate yummy food:

Ok, so I don't know what we ate, but the red stuff was good and the poofed bread was good.  I also ordered some marinated chicken on skewers and it was... good.  Raelee liked the red stuff, the bread, her chicken wings, mommy's rice, my rice, mommy's steamed veggies and my steamed veggies.  

I told you we cannot get enough food in her!

This is some of my favorite stuff in Singapore, the red lacquer - I simply love it. 

Hey, what happened to that beautiful pearly shimmer it has?

 It is almost as pretty as the Peranikan dishes that I love:

I know, two opposite ends of the spectrum, but aren't they all pretty?

Raelee found a wooden flute to buy:

And mommy taught her how to play:

We don't know how it happened (could it be all those shops on Arab Street?) but we got separated from the others.  We were sad, but we connected by e-mail later and all was ok.  We ended up going back to the Malaysian Heritage Center - Steph's first time, but my third (?).  It is a great place to visit and Steph got to see first hand how the master makes batik.  He does amazing work and even sells them to the prime minister or president (don't remember which - I have slept since then) of Singapore:   

Steph found a pomegranate growing in the wild:

Good eye, Steph!

I found a good use of 55 gallon drums that my neighbor in the states collects:

And we found a shop selling hookah pipes:

Don't know what the guy and the gal on the right were doing... lol... but I wanted you to see the hookahs above them so I couldn't chop them out.

And I love seeing the bottom of the dresses the Arabs wear:

I love the Arab Quarters and the area.  Always lots to see and do - and plenty to take pictures of.

And the neat trinkets you find (like the doll house rugs) are great too.