Singapore Botanic Gardens & National Orchid Garden

Dan, Anne and I took a nice long walk on Saturday morning in the Singapore Botanic Gardens.  The Gardens which consist of 157 acres - about 1/5 the size of New York's Central Park - are near the center of the city and are open free to the public from 6am to 12 midnight.  Many Singaporean families come to the park on the weekends for picnics and in the early mornings Tai Chi classes are held throughout the park.

Also in the park is the National Orchid Garden with over 60,000 orchids and some 4,000 species.  All in all some very nice scenery for a little exercise.

Kuala Lumpur - or to us locals - Just KL

Anne and I took a weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  KL is the capital of Malaysia and a very large city with many of the same features of Singapore.  Although Malaysia has a larger Muslim population that Singapore and not as many people of Chinese heritage.  While the hajib is not uncommon in Singapore the Berka is not a usual site.  In KL there were many more women in the full berka and we were advised to wear clothing that covered our shoulders and knees.  The National Mosque in KL is a beautiful building with a blue accordion style roof.  There are also many Hindi temples in KL.  Anne and I visited the Batu caves which are a holy site for Hindus.  With 272 steps, the temple is a the top of large hill.  A giant gold colored god stands at the bottom of the stairs and pilgrims make their way to the top to make offerings to the gods.

We also visited a Chinese temple that is a very popular place for weddings.  Over 10, 000 couples were married there on the very auspicious date of 08/08/08.  Group weddings began at 8:00am in the morning and went until 11:00pm that night!






We took a tour of the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory in KL. Reported to be one of the finest pewter manufacturers in the world, they definitely have the largest pewter beer stein.

The National Monument of Malaysia is a large bronze statue that commemorates the soldiers and workers of Malaysia who won the countries independence in 1957.

There are 13 Sultanates (states) in Malaysia, each ruled by a royal family.  Each Sultan takes a turn in ruling the country with each ruler serving 5 years as Prime Minister.







While KL is not as cosmopolitan as Singapore they do have many shopping malls, clubs and restaurants and of course the Petronas Towers.  The tallest twin towers in the world, they have a sky bridge on the 54th floor.  The towers are only accessible to people who have business in the towers however a limited number of tickets to the skybridge are given out each day.  Anne and I opted not to stand in line for the tickets but to have a drink at the Trader's Hotel Sky Bar and take a photo!