A Much Better Week

Well, I'm happy to say that this week was much better than last week. First of all the HAZE that was increasing on a daily basis has, due to a change in wind direction, cleared up significantly. We still don't see a clear blue sky, but we can certainly see farther distances, sharper shadows, and colors, that last week were so greyed-out. Fires are still burning on Sumatra but the Indonesians seem to be putting them out, not starting new burns, and it has rained hard twice. Could that have been from 'cloud seeding'? Who knows. Hopefully if the wind turns back to blow this way again, it won't be as bad.

Another reason I've had a better week is that I got out of the house more (due to the better air) and I've met and hung out with two other very interesting women. Bill finally put me in touch with the wife of one of his Berkeley colleagues who is also on this Singapore project and she and I met on Monday and did a guided historical walking tour of British Colonial Singapore. We had a great guide and spent 3 lovely hours walking, visiting and learning about how the British in 1819 purchased the island, how it became an important trade center, how it was ruled, etc. Unfortunately (for me) Marianna returned home to the Bay Area just a couple of days later, so I went back on Tuesday to do a historical walking tour of Chinatown and learn about the arrival of the Chinese and their place in the Singapore story. Again we had a great guide and saw and learned many things but best of all I met and have been hanging out with another woman from the tour, an American who lives in Germany. We got along great and got together to explore while our husbands worked.

This is a view of Chinatown shophouses in the foreground and a public housing block in the background. Our tour guide said that the upper sky bridge on the 50th storey was open to the public so we just had to go check it out.  

This complex consists of 7 residential towers in an 'S' shape with a connecting bridge at the 26th and 50th floors.  There are 1,848 units. The public can access the top bridge for a slight fee by swiping a Metro card on the ground floor of one of the towers. 

At the top is a fabulous view as well as 5 or 6 different 'areas' to hang out in such as:

'THE BEACH'        

'THE CLIMBING CUBES'

There are lots of trees and greenery on these connectors as well as on the balconies. 

This complex went up in 2009. In Singapore, 85% of the people live in public housing, although this is definitely the most high-end of them all. 

Waiting for Clean Air

If you've been reading Bill's blog, you know that we are almost a week into a 'hazardous' haze event here in Singapore due to forest burning in neighboring Sumatra. It's also been in the news -BBC, NPR,
SF Chronicle. Imagine, little Singapore in the US news, unheard of!

Bill sent me an email from work yesterday saying that: "There is suddenly a lot of excitement here about the research opportunity that this haze presents."

He also said he would be bringing home a couple of 'N95' masks, probably the only ones effective against the micron-size particles characterizing this event.

I had to laugh. Here I am this morning trying out my mask looking at the haze outside. In the foreground is a portable monitor Bill brought home that is measuring our indoor particles. No doubt we will be taking it for a walk to enjoy the 'fun' of having a real-time instrument with us as we sightsee.

Other than the fact that it is grey and depressing when you look around you and there is a tiny bit of smoky smell in the air, I don't feel anything in my eyes or throat, and hey, it is cooler because the sun is blocked out. They are advising the elderly, infants and persons of poor health to not do vigorous exercise. (Those chain-smoking seniors in their running shoes pushing jog strollers are out of luck!) 

On another note, there are numerous neighborhood services if you are feeling poorly. Maybe this Ear, Nose and Throat clinic will soon be adding some sort of remedy for the haze discomfort.
  

A City in a Garden

Singapore again. Warm and green. Humid and tropical. Can't stop the plants from growing.

We are living on the 11th floor of a 24 storey hotel in the south-western part of the island, not far from where we lived a year ago. As a matter of fact, we use the very same MRT (Metro) station. We arrived last week in the dark middle of the night but here is the view that greets us "good morning" every day.  Dense hi-rises with lush trees and vegetation.

Singapore calls itself 'A City in a Garden'.

A typical tree is populated by dozens of other plants such as ferns, orchids, vines, epiphytes, moss, etc.














The Botanical Garden and its amazing Orchid Garden are breathtaking. This is where we headed to first on the day after we arrived.

We took lots of photos of flowers,

but leaves are beautiful too: