Notes from Southeast Asia September 17, 2023
Why travel? Such a lot of work and effort to plan and then make it happen. But of course, once we leave home (and all the “things” we think we have to get done before we depart) we remember: the newness of everything, the not-knowing of where to go or how our experience will be. The discovery, really calls us to live in the present, exercise our muscle of flexibility, and remember to pivot as gracefully as possible each moment a new challenge arises.
Two new “wake ups” I’ve realized thus far:
- Nineteen hours on a plane is a long time
- Singapore is a beautiful place, clean, safe and expensive (also cheap in some ways)
Public Housing Singapore
Public housing isn’t a scourge here. Eighty percent of people live in public housing and there are no homeless on the streets. Our bicycle guide (who is 34 and lives with his mom in public housing) told us there are three differences in public and private housing:
Public housing has (1) no pool,(2) no gym and (3) no fence around it. Interesting huh?
Singapore has to plant a tree for every tree that is cut down. It is green here everywhere. Plants grow on buildings and on walls and the air if full of O2. The beauty of life is thriving.
Street food now has been moved from street stalls (which were unsanitary) into food centers where now you can go and have 157 choices of what to eat. There are 17 Hawker centers around the city and the variety of clientele is matched by the variety of delicacies.
Our farewell last night was at the Garden on the Bay with Supertrees and a Cloud forest and a light show playing “Blue Moon, Marvelous Night for a Moon Dance, Clare de Lune, Moon River, and more. (image at top of page)
On to Bali today!!!
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Kate is leading the Southeast Asia Immersion Retreat and Tour.
More photos are available on Instagram/
