Expect to see a lot of dragons.  In fact, someday I might have a red door with a guardian stone dragon.  They scare away evil spirits, bring you fortune AND they are a symbol of potent and auspicious powers.

If you arrive, at the West entrance you will enjoy a walk across a white bridge that has a lovely view of the lake and the twin pagodas.  I watched a few boat races from the bridge.

I went to a photography class once and she told me the best way to improve your photographs was to practice.  She suggested taking 50 photos every day.

Today I fulfilled my 50 photo requirement.  In fact, it’s safe to say I will take at least 50 photos every day until I leave Asia…  Yesterday’s practice session was HOW to get mediocre photos when the sky is WHITE.  It’s so much easier to get the look I want when the sky is blue…

In this next photo you can see a giant lantern in front of the building.  Once a year (except for last year) the Chinese Garden puts up lanterns to celebrate the mid-autumn festival.

My favorite lantern this year? Twin dragons floating in one of the lakes surrounded by lots of floating lotus flowers and leaves.  Here they are before the lights came on…

If you come to the Chinese Garden you should climb the 7 story pagoda (visible above my head).  Look closely, that is a dragon shaped tree behind me.  I don’t think I’ll ever have one of those in my yard but it is obviously appropriate for this location.

I love Asian architecture, especially pagodas.

One last look before I head to the top.

The whole walk up I was wondering why the pagoda is only 7 stories.  8 is the lucky Chinese number.  Why not build one more?

Here’s the view from the top.  There was a lovely breeze so I stayed up here for a long time.

The white bridge in this photo leads into the Japanese Garden.

I liked the windows of the pagoda too.  Here’s the view from the 7th floor looking out.

And the first floor looking out.

These golden dragon lanterns lined the walk up to the pagoda from the East Gate.

I watched the sunset by the lake next to the twin pagodas.

Then I met my friends and we walked around and enjoyed the lanterns.  There were many lanterns, but these are favorite friends so I was talking more than I was taking photos at this point…

I finally got my blue sky for a few moments at twilight…

One last shot of the auspicious floating and glowing dragons!

What a great evening.

It looks like your own private ice sculpture.

It’s so pretty you almost don’t want to eat it.

Except you can’t help yourself.

By the way, that’s mango and strawberry puree drizzled down the sides with fresh mango and strawberries nestled on the plate.

If you’ve been to the North Shore on Oahu and had their delicious shave ice with ice cream on the bottom and loved it…this makes that taste like trash. I’m just sayin’ it’s that good.

Are you in Singapore? Go find this in Chinatown.  Right now.

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert (味香园) 67 Temple St Chinatown, Singapore 088389 6221 1156

While you are there, try the pomelo and mango sago too. You may be full but you will not be sorry.

If you move to Singapore and you like Haagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s, Dryers or Tillamook you will be tested…

…when you see the price. How much do you really want it?

However, if you are feeling homesick, I strongly recommend buying some ice cream. It’s still significantly cheaper than a plane ticket.

Just be sure to savor every bite. (Did you notice the Dryers container is about 1/2 the size of what you see in the States)?

Tillamook is totally worth the cost. It’s actually FROM Oregon (my home state) and I don’t buy it often but it is absolutely cost effective for my resulting happiness.

I still scream for ice cream. Would you?

However, be careful when you return to the U.S. after living in Singapore. When I was there last December every time I went down the frozen food section I was tempted to fill my entire cart full of ice cream because it seemed so cheap! $3 for Ben and Jerry’s and $4 for Tillamook? What a deal! I need to buy it all! And while I managed to avoid filling my cart, I could not resist buying ice cream every time I went into a grocery store, even if I just bought some the day before.

A photo timeline of sorts. Maybe even 30 photos.

Here is my photo timeline of National Day 2011.

On national day in Singapore, first comes the waiting. I got to the Marina Bay early and saved seats for our group.

I wasn’t the only one waiting…

Look closely to see crowds all around the Marina Bay.

I also wasn’t the only one waiting in a red shirt…

To entertain me while I waited there were a few live bands on this stage…

Then the skydivers dropped falling at speeds over 200km/hour with some type of red smoke flying behind them. At first it looked like only one…

Then there were many…

And their red smoke showed their crazy turns and stunts…

Until they each landed one by one on the floating platform stage…

Next up? The sunset…

Then my friends arrived. YEAAAA!

In general Asians take more pictures than I expect and they like all types of poses and props. In honor of National Day we did the same.

Next recite the pledge (or pretend to recite it if you don’t know it even though you have lived in Singapore 3 years) while a GIANT Singapore flag circles the bay via helicopter. This is at 8:22 every year.

Then watch the parade of military fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, and people.

Followed by a musical show including some of the history of Singapore. Unless you happen to see the musical show the previous evening while checking out the lay of the land. In which case you may decide to fiddle with your camera in hopes to get the most fabulous firework photos that you have ever taken.

AND finally the FIREWORKS! We had a fabulous seat thanks to 1) my friend Jennifer getting me tickets to the Marina Bay Sands event plaza and 2) my early arrival and fabulous seat saving. However, despite my camera fiddling during the show my photos of the fireworks aren’t great because we were just TOO CLOSE for my wide angle lens. Our spot was that good!

Birthdays are a big deal to me but I’ve certainly never celebrated like this before, maybe when I’m 46! So, Happy Birthday to you Singapore it was quite a party! I hope we get to celebrate together again someday!

How do you end an evening like this? With my fabulous friend and fellow foodie Sarah Furner and a Frenchie Burger at DB Bistro. Just in case you did not know, Morbier cheese is amazing. If you get an opportunity to try it do NOT say no.

Followed by a molten chocolate cake with chocolate gelato and vanilla ice cream. Yum.

An excellent ending to an excellent evening.

I’ve never seen so many birds. Perhaps I’ve never seen this many old men. I’ve most certainly never seen this many birds with old men.

Some men loved to show off their birds. I watched this man give his bird a bath.

These two birds on this perch were my favorite, perhaps because they were not in a cage and definitely because they constantly chatted and teased each other in between “Hello?” calls and whistles to me. I wonder if they are always like that or if maybe this bird just gets especially feisty after a bath?

There were also birds and all manner of bird keeping items for sale.

In the next photo, notice the lovely porcelain food and water bowls that were in most of the cages.

And for those who are reading this and know me well, yes, walking through the park I debated between buying as many birds as I could afford and freeing them or just running through the park opening as many cages as I could. Some of these cages are just too small and it seemed cruel… Then I wondered how long it would take for the freed birds to be captured again and if they would immediately fly away if I opened the door? But my rebellious thoughts stayed only as thoughts and I strictly observed and photographed the bird/man society.

However, even though I don’t like seeing animals in cages (except jellyfish), I still enjoyed seeing this culture that is so different than what I think of when I look forward to retirement.

Are some of the young men in Hong Kong really thinking, “I can’t wait until I retire so I can get a bird and go to the bird garden every day…”

What do I hope retirement means for me? I have grand plans of travel, so I can see more new and interesting things like these men in the park.

What do you want to do when you retire?