Monday, March 22, 2010

Lot One

I had never been to Lot One before.

This shopping mall is located at the Choa Chu Kang MRT stop in Singapore. It has many favorite stores and my daughter did not even mind shopping around a bit. There were Converse, Royalty Sports, Bata (where she first found the shoes she ended up buying!), a skate shop, our favorite Hang Ten . There are many other stores as well. In addition to shopping there is a food court, a money changer, an arcade, a theater and a Public Library branch And for added motivation for the littlest shoppers to behave, there is a water playground located on the roof!





That I'd like to see.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Admiralty Park

I've never been to Admiralty Park.



I discovered this fairly new park on our last day in Singapore. Earlier in our trip we cycled past some signs that state "Don't Feed the Monkeys".





I found this rather curious and had to go back to take some photos. When I went back to get the shots, I knew I had seen a path of some sort. So I went back around and found the entrance to the park. There is a small pond and a hiking trail leading into the jungle.





And there at the head of the path were several monkeys. People were even walking past them with no notice on either parties' side.





I am rather sad to say that I did not get to venture down the path like I really wanted to. But I've already got that on my list for the next trip.


That I'd like to see.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Domodedovo Airport Moscow

I had never been to Domodedovo Airport Moscow.



We flew into Moscow en route to Singapore, two very different countries! As we prepared to leave, a little girl at church reminded me she had been born in Moscow and asked if I would take some pictures for her. I have already emailed them to her but thought I'd post them here as well.










I was not impressed with the airport at Moscow. We had to get off our plane while it was being cleaned. This meant we spent our 1 1//2 hour layover going through customs, in order to get back onto the very same plane we had been on. The staff in Moscow during our short stint there were not very friendly. The bathrooms, at least where we were, stank (on both sides of our trip.) And the process of getting through customs was not fun, to say the least.

We were traveling in a group of eight which included three women and five children ranging in ages 2-13. On our return trip, as we got in line to go through customs, it seemed to move well. Until we got into the small enclosed area where we went through security. After going through one of the two scanners, there was only one person checking each document. There was no line, only a mob type situation waiting to get through.

Then, we heard that our flight was being announced for all passengers to report immediately to the gate. But there was nowhere to go. We were still standing waiting to have our documents checked. As we finally got through this security check in, we made our way to the gate. All the while they are still calling for all passengers on our flight to report immediately. We found that another reason we were all still standing outside the gate and thus the plane, is that each of us and our bags were being hand-checked. Needless to say this took a very long time. I am thankful for security in travel, but it would be nice if the folks doing the checking were a little bit nice about it. I was sad to have experienced nothing but a stereotypical Russian atmosphere during my time in the Domodedovo Airport. Maybe it's just because it's still really winter there. Hopefully, if we ever travel this route again, we will find some Russian airport workers with a little more cordiality to their attitude.

That I'd like to see.