Chinatown and Little India

This is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. We were impressed by the size of the building. It was huge. The doors inside were closed, so we couldn't enter. The interior opens every day at 4:30AM, 10:30AM and 7:30PM for the monks to pray. We enjoyed looking at the exterior.


Sri Mariamman Temple is a Hindu temple built in 1827. It is the oldest Indian Temple in Singapore. the statuary on the exterior is typical of Hindu temples, but still very impressive.











" The Masjid Abdul Gafoor contains a sundial above its entrance. It is the only mosque with a sundial throughout the Islamic world. The sunburst has 25 rays decorated with Arabic calligraphy which denotes the names of 25 chosen Prophets. It was completed in 1907 and has a unique blend of Moorish-Islamic and South Indian architectural styles. I loved the green, yellow and white color combination. All the stars and crescents adorned the mosque beautifully.

Adventures in KL

After living in Malaysia for almost five months, we finally ventured down to Kuala Lumpur, affectionately known as KL. We left Saturday morning and drove for four hours with only two stops - Ms. A had a hard time sitting still. Miraculously, we found our hotel. (The roads were challenging, the map was great, but I'm terrible with maps, Ms. A was talking non-stop and our hotel was being renovated, so we didn't recognize the building from the internet picture.) Our hotel had no windows (a unique experience). It was in the heart of Chinatown, excellent food and great shopping. The back of the hotel emptied out to Petaling Street. The street is closed at night and it comes alive with tons of vendors selling their goods.

The next morning we took a taxi to the Petronas Twin Towers. We wanted to see the view from the Skybridge until we hear the earliest availability was 6pm (we were there at 9am) and was saw the miniature city waiting to go up. We decided to check out the shopping in the base of the towers and then take pictures outside. The towers were awe-inspiring! We had a fun time trying to get us and a full view of the towers in a picture.

We walked over to our next stop, the Menara or KL Tower. It was a nice walk that allowed us to see a bit more of the city. In front of the tower there are some fountains. Ms. A had a blast playing in the water. We also purchased a collapsible ball which Ms. A opened and closed. :)

We took a taxi over to Merdeka Square to see the world's tallest flagpole. It is also the location where the Union Jack was lowered for the last time in 1957 and Malaysia gained her independence. Malaysians have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of this event this past year. Ms. A kicked her new ball around entertaining us and other visitors.

After the square we took a taxi over to the Berjaya Times Square, a mall with over 900 shops and restaurants. It also has an indoor roller coaster which was breathtaking to see. We had lunch on the third floor and we could hear the roller coaster above us on the 5th - 7th floors.

Monday, we drove to Zoo Negara, or the National Zoo. We were tickled to see the name of the snack shop, so we took a picture of the Nelson Corn in a Cup. Ms. A was thrilled to feed an elephant a sugarcane! She kept telling us that the elephant wanted more food. He even kneeled down on his back leg hoping for a treat. I felt bad for the elephant because he could smell the sugarcane, but it was out of his reach. When we saw the storks she asked if they could go on her arm, she remembered holding the macaws and pigeons that we had seen previously in Malaysia and Greece. We tried to explain that they were too big, but she didn't believe us until we got closer. When she saw them, she quickly rushed to Reed and asked him to carry her. :) I had Reed take a picture of the macaque because Sara, my sister, studied Black Crested Macaques in college. Reed has a unique attraction to unusual signs, hence the warning sign about throwing stones at the primates. :)

Our last stop were the Batu Caves. One word: WOW! I'm a wimp when it comes to stair climbing, so I wasn't too excited to climb up 272 stairs(plus more inside the cave), but I did it and it was amazing. Ms. A had an unfortunate run-in with some of the monkeys. While Reed was taking pictures of the monkeys playing in the garbage can, a monkey got too close to Ms. A and she tripped over a nearby monkey. When the monkey recovered, he went over to some of his friends and they gained up on Ms. A. When Reed and Ms. A saw what was happening, Ms. A , in a panicked voice asked Reed to pick her up. he quickly complied, but the monkeys didn't back down. Reed was able to keep them at bay, while he and Ms. A made a rush to leave that area. Ms. A wasn't hurt, just scared. She pulled us out of the cave. Hopefully, this won't scar her for life. She had a fun time chasing the pigeons. :)

Athens

Here are a few pictures from our holiday visiting Greece in September 2007.

Athens was beyond words. I studied Interior Design in college and had learned about the Greek effect on design and have seen pictures of their beautiful art and architecture, but to see it in person was beyond description. I cried when I saw the Parthenon. A dream of mine was fulfilled.

Acropolis and Parthenon view from Filopappou Hill - Our favorite picture of the Acropolis

We used Athens as our base. While we were there we stayed at the Adams Hotel which was perfect for our traveling needs. The Acropolis was a fifteen minute walk from our hotel. We were in the heart of Athens. We couldn't have found a better place to see this amazing city.

THE PARTHENON!!!

Acropolis Erechtheon

Caryatid Porch

Theatre of Odeon of Herodes Atticus

The Temple of the Winds in the foreground. I love this night view.

Remaining Columns to the Temple of Zeus

Agia Triada

Agias Marinas

John Theologos

 Kapnikarea church

Little Mitropolis Church

We loved the Children's Park near our hotel

This girl loves to spin

Hadrian's Arch. On the northwest side (towards the Acropolis), the inscription reads: This is Athens, the ancient city of Theseus).The inscription on the southeast side (facing the Olympeion) reads:
  (this is the city of Hadrian, and not of Theseus)

Temple of ZEUS. Fifteen columns remain standing today and a sixteenth column lies on the ground where it fell during a storm in 1852.

Being Cool in the Agora (ancient shopping center)

Ancient Agora Stoa of Attalus II. It's been restored and was fasinating to walk through.

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion) at sunset

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion) Interior Detail

Temple of Hephaistos (The Theseion)

Egypt - Giza, Cairo and Saqqara

Since I started blogging after our trip to Egypt, I thought I'd add pictures of our trip.

Cairo was a busy city with the most crazy traffic I had seen up to that point in my life. Our tour guide was giving us some background as we drove to our first stop. She ended just as the vehicle turned and there was the Pyramids of Giza. It was phenomenal. Reed entered Khafre's pyramid, while Ms. A and I looked at the camels, pyramids and funky ants (they looked like a cross between ants and scorpions).
The other sites were interesting. We visited Coptic Cairo, which is the ancient city. It is believed that Joseph, Mary and Jesus lived there when they left Jerusalem. One of the churches we visited is built on the location of one of their hiding places.

Giza

Blowing Kisses

Reed went inside the Pyramid of Khafre

Posing by the Pyramid of Khafre

Pyramid of Khufu {The Great Pyramid}. Ms A enjoyed seeing the camels.

It was pretty hot and Ms A tired out quickly.

The Sphinx

Another view of the Sphinx

Ms A love dancing with all these bangles. The sales girls loved dressing her up and watching her dance.

Khan El-Khalili - the largest and oldest bazaar in Egypt

Madrasa of Sultan Hassan and Mosque of El-Rifai

Hanging Church interior

The Mosque of Muhammad Ali was impressive. Rasha told us the basic tenets of the Muslim faith. It was very interesting.

Mosque of Mohamed Ali

Playing

 Clock Tower and Washing area

Interior. I love the lights

Minbar - where the Iman teaches

Minaret

 Saqqara and Memphis were interesting to visit. In Saqqara we were able to see an unusual tomb. It has paintings and carvings that depict the everyday life of the Egyptian whose tomb it is. Typically the tombs are decorated with deity, to see a glimpse into the personal life is very rare. Memphis has a statue of Ramses II which was discovered buried along with several other statues. It also has the second largest sphinx in Egypt.

Ramses II with Rasha, our AMAZING Guide!!

Zoser Pyramid

Alexandria

More pictures from Reed's Sabbatical.

We spent two weeks in Egypt. I found a great site which worked with us in adding days to our tour, so it would be easier on Ms. A. Their tour guides were fabulous. We loved Rasha, our Cairo guide. Ms. A was so sad when we had to leave.

We spent a day and a half in Alexandria. We visited the location where Pharos was built. There is a citadel at the location of the ancient lighthouse. It was built using the stones from the lighthouse.

We also visited the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. It was built to commemoration of the Library of Alexandria. Ms. A was disappointed that she couldn't go in the library, only children above the age of 6 can enter. Reed and I took turns entertaining her while the other checked out the library. She was so excited when we came home and could go into our library.

Outside the library

Bust of Alexander the Great

Part of the library

Interior. It was HUGE!!

Citadel of Qaitbay

Seashore