I didn’t get to see much of Singapore, it was raining very heavy, so my trip to the Singapore Zoo was cancelled. I was really disappointed, I wanted to see the free ranging Orangutans and I wanted to go on the Night Safari. At least I has a nice room at one of the Singapore luxury hotels. I had to budget really well in order to make reservations here. But, it was worth it. It’s my second day here and I’ve done virtually nothing. I hope the rain stops.

I did go down to the hotels restaurant and have some wonderful meals. Incredible really, in taste and variety. It seems that what they say about Singapore’s past-time is true, they love to eat and shop. To date, my most favorite meal, I know it’s only been two days, was the minced meat soup. It sounds simple, but the soup has fish balls, mushrooms, tofu, noodles, vegetables, pork dumplings in addition to the minced meat. So wonderful and tasty.

So, the minute it stopped raining, I made my way to Clarke Quay. I hooked up with a group of backpackers who I met on the plane here. Clarke Quay seems to be the playground for the trendy people of Singapore. The whole area is undercover and illuminated with Christmas lights. This lighting gave me the impression of a big shopping mall back in the States, except there were clubs and bars where the shops should be. I saw all kinds of beautiful, stunning people immaculately dressed coming here. I felt really out of place, so did the backpackers. My flip-flops really don’t cut it here. I wish I would’ve known, jeez! All the backpackers were wearing grubby shorts and tank-tops and none of us had our hair done up nice.

We decided to duck into the first bar and found out that everyone was dressed up due to a celebration of some sort and the bar itself was really a hoot. All the seat were wheelchairs, which led to many a wheelie competition between all the backpackers. A big contrast to the chic elegance of all the other patrons.  I had tons of fun despite being under-dressed. All the Singaporeans we met that day we extremely friendly and they told us they were envious of how we were dressed!

A typical picture people have of Hawaii is of its lush landscapes, whispering oceans, and soft breezes.  However, when Halloween comes around, the island puts on some spookiness, and gets into the spooky season.  If you ever do go to lanai hotels, or any other kind of hotels, you must go to the Haunted Lagoon.  Though Hawaii has a short history, insofar as recorded history goes, it does maintain many legends and stories.   In 1962, the story of the haunted lagoon begins.  In an effort to construct a Polynesian Cultural Center, part of the burgeoning pride associated with some of the movements of the sixties, a missionary was at the construction site, digging, when he saw a woman who was walking towards him.   He looked back down again, but when he looked up, the woman was gone.

He was not the last person to see the Lady in White or the Lā’ie Lady .   She is supposed to be the ghost of a young girl who made residence on Honolulu.  Even if you are in Hawaii only through Kauai vacation packages, you must make a special trip to Honolulu for this great experience.   In the same vein of Romeo and Juliet, this girl, Nalani, loved and married a boy her parents disapproved in a clandestine ceremony.   It was not so clandestine, however, as the family found out about the eloped couple.  Furious, the family of Nalani thrashed the body of the boy.

The couple fled, Nalani with child, but husband, his bones so broken from the trashing he received, died.   To remember his memory, she planted a coconut tree near a river.  It was a spot she soon occupied much of the time, crying.  When her child was born, this sadness passed, but she became a bit of a recluse, only spending moment after moment with her young boy.   Yet even more sadness was to visit the young woman when her son was lost to her, forever, despite desperate attempts to locate him.  Her last days were with the coconut tree, caring for it in lieu of the family she had lost until she soon was lost too, vanishing.

The coconut tree still exists, and it has mutated into a warped being just as Nalani became warped and strange from the sadness in life.  There are canoes rides to see the lady and the coconut ride all through October each year for fairly decent prices.  Big island travel are perfect for every time of the year, for the summery months you expect it for surfing and cool drinks by the ocean to even the spooky month of October.