Greetings from Singapore, where we are currently witnessing a terrific tropical downpour!

After a couple of days recovering from the grueling transpacific flight to get here, we are finally feeling more or less back on schedule. We arrived late Tuesday night, and immediately went out to have the seafood horfun that Shuwen was craving. Marc was cranky because the cheap Northwest folks only provided one meal (and no snacks even) on the 8-hour leg from Tokyo to Singapore. Horfun is a thick rice noodle with a slightly burnt taste, that comes with prawns, fish, and squid. Delicious! We then came home and went to bed.

The next day, we slept in a bit and started the day slowly, lounging around in the morning. To keep awake in the afternoon, we made a trip to the Peranakan museum in the downtown area. Peranakan was originally a term for the offspring of mixed indigenous and foreign couples, usually from southern China or India or Indonesia. The indigenous groups were mostly Malay or other local inhabitants. It seems that the term Peranakan is now used more generally since there has been a lot of intermixing of ethnicities in this part of the world. In any case, the museum was good in the sense that it was not too big and overwhelming while still offering some nice displays and descriptions, especially with regards to wedding customs.

On Thursday, we went for a walk at the Botanical Gardens and again mostly took it easy. The most amazing part of this walk was the sound of the insects in the tropical rainforest section. Mostly it was a low humming sound, but in this one part, it was a strident scream, almost like a siren. There were also insects making "munching" sounds, like they were feasting on the greenery up above. Some were indeed feasting on Shuwen's sweet blood, so we got out of there fast enough. We visited Ah Ma (paternal grandmother) for dinner and met a young cousin of Shuwen's (Andrea, now 19 months old and very cute). She hardly ever smiles, but Shuwen managed to coax one out of her by licking a pear.

Friday morning was spent visiting the Jurong Bird Park, which was fantastic.
We have put up a few of the better pictures we took there, including one of the park restaurant's promotional menu. Needless to say, we passed on that meal! Besides the colorful birds, we enjoyed the sound they made, and saw a show about Birds of Prey (vultures, hawks and eagles).

Again, Shuwen was eaten alive by ravenous mosquitoes - they don't seem to like Ang Mo (white person) blood so much.

Marc has been struggling to get back into running in the heat and humidity, as has Shuwen. That was especially true this morning, when Marc attempted a long run, and only lasted about 15 miles before calling it quits. We'll enjoy Dim Sum for lunch and then go to visit Wai Po (maternal grandmother) and family tonight.