Upon my return from Chiang Mai, I resumed the busy life of a Singapore tourist and tried to see and do everything. First, Durian.

The national fruit of Singapore is the Durian fruit. It is yellow and spiky and sort of smells like a noxious gas leak. It was actually specifically forbidden in our hotel in Thailand because of its contagious pungency. McDonald’s, which likes to mix “American” with every culture, has a Durian McFlurry which I decided to try.

I got through one bite and then literally could not make myself eat any more. It’s like mixing antifreeze with ice cream. Here is the “first bite” picture that Aunt Lo took. It tastes way worse than my face looks.

Singapore has two domes of plants–the Flower Dome and the Cloud Dome. They have imported plants from all over the world and merged them together somehow into absolutely breathtaking spectacles.

The current theme of the Flower dome was sunflowers. They were playing the Wizard of Oz music.

And the waterfall in the Cloud Dome is the highest indoor waterfall in the world. It was filled with plants I saw in Ecuador with Diane. 🙂

There are driftwood sculptures throughout the Flower Dome that are really cool.

Including a dragon!

I have seen so many beautiful orchids over the past week that I decided to dedicate an entire section to pictures of them. In addition to the flower and cloud forest domes, they have an entire huge orchid garden in the botanical gardens of the city.

These orchids were specifically created for Angela Merkel. In fact, they have orchids for a great number of world leaders and artists upon the occasion of their visits to Singapore.

And for those of you not satisfied with Angela’s policies, here is one dedicated to the less controversial Princess Di.

In Singapore, I went to what might be my new favorite museum in the world–this is a REALLY big statement for me–the Asian Cultures Museum. As everyone knows, we often view the world through a very Eurocentric perspective and this includes a laser focus on Christianity. The Asian Cultures Museum contains religious iconography from all the myriad religions practiced throughout Asia and makes it easy to see how they responded and influenced one another. The museum shows pieces that were made for European audiences, so you can sort how Asian cultures responded to European beliefs early on.

For example, this Madonna and child below was created for Europeans by a Buddhist artist in Sri Lanka. The carver knew what he was doing, but he still included elements from his own religious beliefs. Mary has the 3 layers of beads–trivali–that are characteristic of statues of Buddha and her robes also flow like those of a Buddhist monk.

The Japanese relief below is the Pieta–Mary holding the dead Jesus–but it was damaged over time. One of the reactions of the Japanese to the encroachment of Western culture in the 17th century was a banning of Christianity. This is a fumi-e, “picture to trample,” because suspected Christians were asked to step upon the sacred picture to prove that they weren’t adherents to the religion. It was probably originally brought as a devotional item, then confiscated and used as a fumi-e.

The whole museum seemed so Singaporean because this city-nation is such a true melting pot. The density of the population means that you have no choice but to live with diversity. Muslim, Hindu, Chinese, Malaysian, etc., people do not just live in the same neighborhood, but they live on the same apartment floor, go to the same schools, use the same transport system. America is a melting pot, but it’s so large that you can choose to only live with people who are like you. In the subsidized housing in Singapore, my uncle said it is a requirement that there are a certain number of members of each culture in each building. This seems smart. When people know members of other groups, they don’t become as afraid and they aren’t able to generalize or hate as easily.

I’ll put some more pictures from the museum and if you want you can ask me about them. A challenge: one of the works of art below was highly influential on Rembrandt. Can you identify which one it is?

I also went to the Artscience Museum to an exhibit called “FutureWorld.” There were interactive art pieces there that were pretty fun. Here are a couple: you could create a “town” with other people–if you look closely at the second picture, you can see a car with my name on it.

You could also “fly” into a star nebula by choosing your stars with your phone. They have hanging LED lights that simulate being surrounded by moving stars. It’s just like being on the Enterprise. I went back through it twice.

On my final night in Singapore, we went downtown to look at the city at night. It is so different! It’s really hot during the day, so walking outside is sometimes a bit arduous, but at night the temperature drops and it’s just lovely by the water. We saw the light/water show with music. This just reaffirmed my love for performative fountains. What looks like smoke is actually water droplets with lights shining through. So cool.

A couple of pictures of me with the skyline (without and with a flash).

And the Marina Bay Sands hotel.

I cannot convey how thankful I am for the generosity of my family, especially Aunt Lo, to allow me to come visit them and to entertain me for two whole weeks. They showed me all the best stuff, cooked veggie food for me, put up with my incessant questions, and just really were the best. This was a trip of a lifetime for me and I was so sad to leave. Thank you all so, so much!

Also, I will miss sweet Baxter!