Happy Holidays from Singapore!

Happy holidays from Singapore, where the lights change for the season!

In fact, there were various thematic displays. So you know, Christmas with dinosaurs, robots, teddy bears, spaceships. I figure there's actually enough themes already, but I'm no expert.

Anyway, Mark and Alex helped us to be festive with a festive Magic Mixie.

Both entertaining and disturbing, the Mixie is apparently very popular this year (with other age groups).

This is my festive bun.

Shoes & Booze adjusted the menu accordingly.

And we ate traditional freshly-baked bunnies. Jokes, I have no idea what this place sells.

We did some Christmas shopping in the forest. We found a spot with TWO rice makers! It's not like there are rice makers all over the jungle - these are the only two I've ever seen.

We found a great brain mushroom, which, once again I believe to be new to science (or, less likely, my online mycology skills still fail to advance). I shall call it the Dolly Partenus in honour of Mark.

We went past the phone wire trippers,

Through the fiddlehead pricklers,

And climbed one of Singapore's hills. I tried to show Barry for perspective, but that's tricky jungleside.

Proof we climbed? There was a nice view through the trees.

I shopped leaf fashion. I still think I could do something cooler with these leaf giants.

Oh, and we did some eating! Got a corn craving? Nixta has the best tortillas I've ever had, made with crunchy smoked corn.

Wanna eat fancy stuff? We can't resist taking pictures. I'm not at all sure what the purpose of these pictures is, though.

Above is a really pretty thing that we ate. Below, Barry trying to get the right picture for his, well, phone storage.

Feel like fancy Singaporean? We recently discovered Ibid, whose chef won Master Chef Asia, and we felt shame that we didn't know about it earlier!

---

Snails, Vines, and Ominous Signs

I don't want to freak anyone out, but the snails seem to be misguided these days.

We took a post-Armageddon Singapore walk past the caged-off Family Hub.

The "Heart to God, Hand to Man" school is under repair I guess.

Deserted playground of a massive daycare.

And into the nearby jungle as we do!

There are an astounding number of things to find in Singapore's jungles!

Dark, creepy, and overgrown!

This house/building/bunker/no idea was full of stagnant water and potentially dengue. I'll let you know in a few days.

This is Barry's reaction to: "No, sorry, I have to take it again, smile!"

Mini-Barry, shown here, was more cheerful.

Here I am, inside a house, although it's hard to tell.

On the way home, we saw this sign outside of a vacant lot, so we called to say we had a great hike. Thanks Eugene!

---

Peacocks, Lights, Gold, and Links!

Here in Singapore, things are mostly calm.

Except for in Little India, where we had Deepavali.

The lights are truly beautiful, if always hard to photograph from the middle of the road.

The lesser-known sightings from Deepavali include peacock butts, and orange-faced religious types.

This child is hesitant about commodities investments, especially in their physical form.

Speaking of investments, there's a new condo coming up, and it's called, The Riviera, The Iviera, The Theivery?It's marketed by the Redundancy Department of Redundancy, and they're defining definitions all over again!

But the best part, and it's really great, is the logo for the construction company!

The logo is a P and an L, of course, nothing else. Although, this sculpture was on the same street. It represents a Chinese tale of a filial daughter-in-law who generously uses her breastmilk to help her ailing mother-in-law. Far less disturbing than Hansel and Gretel or The Sleeping Beauty.

But if you're looking for something lighter, how about a little Kimchi character? You never know if it's attached!

Or maybe follow this slogan: To be our I'm, Best Possible!

---

The Mystery of Jungle Cars at Bukit Brown Cemetery

Bukit Brown is a wonderful 1940s and earlier wildly junglefied cemetery with elaborate overgrown graves, and is one of our favourite hiking spots. So we were surprised to learn that there are decaying cars off-piste in this jungle! As you can see, they're in excellent condition!

Now when I say off-piste, I mean it took us two tries to find them up and down hills, through vines, and nowhere near roads. It's lots of mysterious, so we've done some sleuthing!This first beauty is an early-mid 70s Peugeot 504, as determined by the lights, bumper, and dashboard.

Here is a similar car in happier times.

We didn't expect to find much inside.

However there were (standard, undated) bowling pins in the trunk, so that adds a touch more mystery. 

The second car is trying to blend in, but it has aftermarket red racing stripes, which may be a clue.

A bit harder to get good dashboard pictures.

This logo sent Barry down an erroneous Plymouth rathole.

But luckily we found the real logo

This car is a Toyopet (Toyota) Corona Mark II Sedan, ~72-76, probably the 2000GL. Barry even found the brochure.

Front match.

So it's called a Corona, it's from the 70s, it has a logo that looks like a virus, and it was abandoned in a graveyard with graves from the 40s, where there haven't been roads since the 70s. Some creepy.

Here is the butt match. The Corona became the Cressida in North America and the Crown, which is still used as taxis, in SE Asia. Corona, Corolla, and Camry, are all descendants of the word Crown.

To our further surprise, there were actually 4 graveyard jungle cars, including another Corona Mark II,  the station wagon ~1971.

This one offered an easier mystery, but was worse for wear.

We have no idea what 4 cars were doing in a cemetery which has been closed for graves since the 40s, and where roads ceased to exist in the 70s. Were they junked then, or later? Were they an offering for the ancestors, or some kind of accident? This, we couldn't solve.

The dashboard confirmed this is a ~1971 Toyopet Corona Mark II wagon!

The fourth and final car was a lovely mint green.

There wasn't much left, but the dash was distinct enough that Barry could narrow this down to conclude it's a Fiat, probably 600, circa 1963!

Look how pretty! A very fine car to abandon amongst the graves.

---