Visit to Singapore

This decorated a bench at the National Museum - a tribute to democracy, it seems.

Why Singapore? Mainly, I have a college friend who married her college sweetheart, who was from there. They settled there where they raised their family. I had heard about this little country that could for many different reasons (Singapore math!). I had reconnected with June through Facebook, email, and a college reunion and found that we still had a strong bond, so I decided to visit. 

I found a fare that took me from Kona back to Guam via Singapore (and Manila) for about what it would be direct from Kona to Guam. When I put out the call for anyone who would like to come with me, my buddy, Sherry, responded. By pure luck and good timing, we were there for the Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the National Gallery. I had been seeing a lot of her on Facebook and was thrilled. She is very inspiring and I am just posting here a few of the photos, but it was one of the best things we did there, and also one of my best art experiences of my life (wow, high praise!)

We knew we were in the right place when we saw these poles all covered in polka dots.

Can you tell what we're feeling? Awe and joy.

This was pretty incredible. You look inside this box and see these pumpkins going on and on because of the mirror effect.

Part of a video piece.

Using a panorama to try to get the effect of SO much to take in.

Note to self: Write a blog piece about why I loved this so much. After the exhibit, June took us to lunch on the 5th floor from which we had this view. 

Our lunch was a selection of salads, and also healthy juices. It was elegant and healthy! Loved it. 

Oh, by the way - our hotel. Turns out it was in the "red light" district, but we found it to be an interesting neighborhood, not at all scary. Lots of lights and "red lanterns." I mistakenly booked this hotel (Fragrance Hotel - Ruby) as I booked it thinking I could get out of it without penalty if I found a better one. It turns out it was non-refundable. Lots of problems with the booking - I thought I booked 2 twins but they gave us a double (and a small one) so we had to upgrade to get the 2 beds. Here they are. The hotel itself was clean, and we were only there to shower and sleep, and the staff was very friendly. 

Small, but clean and comfortable.

Yes, that is the shower very close to the toilet.