The Trumpet of Cape Town, South Africa

Many critics are voicing their opinions concerning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.  Some are predicting that the games will only be partly attended, that the stadiums are unlikely to fill.  Others predict that the transportation department will not be able to handle the amount of travelers and spectators, or that the crime will frighten people, or the the stadiums will run out of beer.  But in the center of this controversy currently, is none other than the Vuvuzela.  The Vuvuzula is a small, plastic trumpet, blown traditionally throughout the game, much as the baseball fans in America wave big, foam fingers, and it is a South African tradition.  Many of the foreign coaches, soccer players and fans have requested that the vuvuzela be banned come 2010.  What is being debated now is not safety issues or availability of accommodations such as the luxury hotels Cape Town is refurbishing and redecorated, but the small trumpet and whether or not it is considered part of the culture of South Africa, or whether it is just simple a horn, a noise maker.

Some spectators in the stands of soccer games last week, complained that when many of the horns are all blown simultaneously, the noise is deafening, bordering on painful.  For the people of South Africa, this has been an exciting and exhilarating sound, but it falls very harshly on foreign ears it seems.  Many opponents of vuvuzela state that the sound produced by the large crowds in attendance at the games is a distraction that lasts the entire length of the game.  A soccer player from Spain and a coach from the Netherlands have put in their two cents, and both desire a ban on the trumpet come World Cup time in 2010.

This could turn into a racial issue, as most of the soccer games in South Africa are considered “black” tournaments, while most of the whites attend football games, in the western sense of the game.  Within South Africa, the populations have had issue with this trumpet for years.  Oddly enough, one theory of the origin of the trumpets is that they were toys distributed throughout the United States, that upon unsuccessful sales, were sent to South Africa, where fans quickly picked them up and started using them during the games.  Another theory states that they are based on the tradition of the horns used to call villages together for the events.  Either way, this is just one more aspect of the games to be held next year in South Africa that is being debated and will be debated in the months to follow.

Strength, Endurance and Hot Tub Therapy

The support of the joints in our bodies relies on the strength of our muscles.  Creating a regular exercise regime is beneficial to the health of the overall population, as well as the segments of the population that suffer from ailments such as arthritis.  Although this may seem difficult due to the pain caused by arthritis, it is necessary in order to eventually lessen or, perhaps one day just alleviate the pain all together.  The pressure on the affected joints will be relieved once the muscles are strong enough to take over.  Which again, is difficult when the pain drives one to just sleep or sit on the couch all day.  Muscles deteriorate and become weak, just adding to the negative effects of the disease.  One way to relieve the pain, soothe the joints and loosen up the muscles before slowly beginning to exercise is to spend some time in a hot tub, many are listed at choosehottubsdirect.com.  The weightlessness of the body created by the bubbles and the jets, relieves pressure and relieves pain, giving one the motivation that is associated with the freedom from pain.

Another element to overall health, and one of the kinds of exercise important for the heart and for circulation is endurance training.  One should attempt to work up to at least three sessions a week, of at least thirty minutes of keeping the heart rate slightly elevated.  This again, may be a daunting thought for those suffering from degenerative diseases, however, one of the finest options for a good cardiovascular work out that does not put pressure on the joints, is water aerobics.  This is an incredible way for the elderly or for those suffering from osteoporosis to still gain the benefits from and enjoy the feeling of exercise.  And again, once the exercise is finished, a soak in a hot tub of water will ensure that the muscle remain loose, and that stiffness is less likely to set in.  Endurance type exercises will help improving ones mental attitude development, as well as the increasing of overall physical endurance and strength, and will eventually improve the symptoms caused by arthritis.  This is different for each person, and one should most definitely run any new exercise program by their physician before beginning their new regime.

Daredevils in Singapore

I been very fortunate to visit Singapore twice and each time I found it to be the most interesting place in the world. It’s so clean, well manicured and there’s so much to do and see. On my second visit, which was a business trip, I got to stay at one of the Business Hotels Singapore offers and the staff gave me free tickets to Imbiah Lookout on Sentosa Island just located off Singapore itself. I asked them what was it, and they told me it’s a complex of entertainment attractions. An amusement park with a luge ride, an historical exhibit, a was museum, a cable car ride and much, much more.

I haven’t been to an amusement park since I was a teenager. I had a free day during my business trip, so I decided to check out Imbiah Lookout. I managed to get to Sentosa by taking the Cable Car Ride from the mainland! That was costly, but well worth it for the amazing view I got of Singapore and the sea. Later, I found out I could’ve gotten to Sentosa by taking the Sentosa Express train, but, really, I doubt it offered the amazing sites I got to see on the Cable Car Ride.

Once I arrived, and walk around the complex, I could tell this wasn’t a typical American amusement park, but something interesting all the same. I went on the Carlsberg Sky Tower. It’s the highest observation point in Singapore. I stepped into a cabin while on the ground floor and it slowly rose up into the sky and then it revolved so I could see all the way around the tower. Once on top of the tower, I got a few minutes to look around before the cabin heads back down. It was a clear day and I could actually see the mainland of Malaysia. What an amazing site.

After the Carlsberg Sky Tower, I found the Luge. It’s a 650 meter ride. I got into a luge car and drove downhill by pushing and pulling on the handles. I felt a little dare-devilish, so I went as fast as I could. I was laughing all the way down, it was so thrilling. It felt like I was flying. I went back around and took the Luge 5 times!  All I can say, is Thanks for my hotel staff for giving me the tickets, otherwise it would’ve been only a business trip.

Driving in Dubai

I finally got my drivers license and was raring to go driving in Dubai all weekend long. My friend and I were staying with my folks in one of the Business Hotels Dubai has and were bored to death hanging around the hotel while my folks were constantly at business meetings. My parents didn’t know we managed to hire a car by putting it on their hotel tab. We couldn’t help ourselves, the wide roads the pavements planted with flowers and palm trees beckoned us to drive on them.

We got in the hired car as soon as my folks went off to their myriad business meetings. We were enjoying the sedate traffic when we first hit the road, but it soon turned into a nightmare. Detours sprung up everywhere and these huge multiple flyovers, tracks and speeding vehicles overwhelmed us. I was driving white knuckled until we reached Abu Dhabi. Whew, I much more pleasant drive. Straight roads and no detours from the massive amount of construction happening all the time in Dubai. Abudhabi was dwarfed by multi-storied buildings. I managed too, to keep pace with the 130km/hr everyone was doing on the road. I past a speed camera and panicked, but I didn’t see any flash, so breathed a sigh of relief.

After about an hour on the road we headed back to the city via the famed Emirates road. The main arterial route connecting most of the emirates of the UAE. It was mammoth and a beautiful site, truly a masterpiece of construction. It has eight tracks on each side. Giant power-lines crossed above us and there were so many exits it was astounding. But, I faithfully followed the main crowd, feeling a little lost in the maze of speeding cars and lanes. My friend had a terrific time cursing all the cars which tried to cut us off; I was driving a little slow, but all in all, we managed to reach our hotel in one piece and something to really remember about our boring stay in Dubai. That’s if my folks don’t kill us when they get the final bill from the hotel.

Kampong of Singapore

As I walked around early in the morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a tiny village nestled in trees among the tall masses of apartment blocks. It wasn’t too far from the Boutique Hotel Singapore were I was staying. As I stood in the middle of the tiny village a refreshing breeze rustled the coconut palms and stirred the tropical birds to whoop and whistle. Butterflies fluttered from mango trees to star fruit trees. I saw little fish swim in the stream going through the middle of the tiny village. I was enchanted.

This must be Singapore’s little secret treasure. I counted only 28 homes in this rural hamlet; a forgotten vestige among the modern high-rise apartments, high-technology and fast-pace city. When I asked around about the story behind this fantasy land, I found out it won’t exist for much longer. The village, Kampong Buangkok has been slated for demolition. Apparently, some development company will ‘re-developed’ the area to make way for a more productive lifestyle; a complete makeover.

Kampong means ‘village’ and it also defines a traditional rural way of life which Singapore if in a race to leave behind.  Actually, everyone living in Singapore is surprise it hasn’t been torn down ages ago. No one guest this Kampong would’ve lasted this long. Under the City’s master plan, this place will provide future housing, schools and other necessary facilities. I’m not sure that the re-development is for the best. All I need to do is look through the mature trees of the Kampong and see the government housing blocks that will represent its future. Not a sparkling testament to ideal life. I was talking to one of the residence and she told me they are prepared for the inevitable. She said all of Singapore has changed very rapidly, not wisely, but rapidly to where there are no landmarks to remember, nothing is the same as when she was a little girl. It is the new way of Singapore and one needs to keep up with the change or be razed along with it. She said she’s learned not to cling to the past and advise that I do the same in all aspects of my life. I thanked her for her wisdom and headed back to my hotel.

Cape Town History

I was fascinated with Cape Town and the cultural mix which was influenced by the Dutch, British and the French. Being an artist, I was also impressed with the amount of artist enclaves and performers of every type. I came to Cape Town on business, but when I saw how much culture this place offers. A huge selection of museums and cultural events happening everyday. I asked the Boutique Hotel Cape Town concierges if they could guide me where to go since I had little time in-between my business meetings.

They recommended I consider a tour of the township, a ferry trip to Robben Island or a wander through the district six Museum. If that didn’t interest me, they suggested I check out Malay Quarter, also know as Bo-Kapp which is located on the lower slopes of Signal Hill. They said I would enjoy the maze of narrow alleys and the densely clustered flat-roofed houses. It’s home to a large Islamic community. That didn’t appeal to me, so the concierges mentioned the Company Gardens. Just the name alone intrigued me; located at the upper end of Adderley street lined with huge old oak trees. The Company Garden has shady paths, green lawns and lily ponds. They told me a visit there will only be a few hours. That was perfect.

I asked them to suggest one more site that would only take me a few hours to tour and they recommended The Castle. The oldest European structure in South Africa. Now, that did seem like something I would like to see. The ‘Castle of Good Hope’ , but called the ‘Castle’ by the locals was actually a defensive fort. Constructed barely began 2 days after the arrival of the Dutch settlers. It was originally built on the beach, but due to reclamation of land, the castle is far from the sea. Just the reclamation of land from the sea sounds impressive enough to visit too. If only I had enough time for that too, but unfortunately, I’m really only here on business. I will have to try and find vacation time to come back to this magnificent city.

Double-Decker Bombay

I took a joyride around South Bombay in an open top Double-Decker bus. I’ve never done that before, but I thought I do the touristy thing since I was at one of the Bombay India Hotels a  a tourist and see what it was like. I was meeting a bunch of my friends at the IPL Bar Crawl to watch the cricket match that would be playing on the big screen.  The entry into the club was nominal, but the drinks were on the expensive side, but luckily I brought enough money to get the drinks coming during the whole match. I was pleasantly surprised about how organized the whole event was, we had purple ID wristbands letting the club people know we were guest that signed up for this event. because there was a whole random crowd trying to fit in.

This was my first time to the club and I really enjoyed that the drinks kept flowing, free shots were being handed out to the women in multi-colored blinking glasses. Then my friend introduced me to the organizers and I discovered how small of a world it really is, I found out that one of the organizers was related to my old college roommate. I always here in-order to get a job in a club, it’s all in who you know, so I promptly asked about employment. While the boys watched the cricket match, was selling myself to the promoters. I was a little drunk from the shots, but hopefully they didn’t notice that when I handed them my phone number.

Then my friends pulled me away and announced we were moving to our next stop. They rushed me to stand first in line so we could get seats on top of the Double-Decker bus. Once we all got on, we were off to Bootlegger. I really couldn’t fathom how the bus driver managed to negotiate the mammoth bus around all the narrow lanes, but he did. He even went the wrong way on a road making the oncoming cars back up! Impressive indeed. We were laughing so hard watching all the drivers flip-off the bus driver. But, then we heard people start yelling ‘Tree’! and we turned around in enough time to duck. Some weren’t so lucky and got hit in the head. We still couldn’t stop laughing. The whole Double-Decker bus experience was a blast. I wonder if they’re hiring? That seems like it would be as much fun and working at a club.

Rainy Bombay

I almost forgot about one of the best things I enjoyed about Bombay was the monsoon. After a hot summer the monsoon rains cool everything off. I always visited Bombay in the hot and humid summers. The Bombay Hotel were I always stayed had fans going and their air-conditioning never shut down until the rains arrive, and for some strange reason, I was always in Bombay for the first rain and it was always on June 8th. I accounted for the slightest drizzle that would appear on this date, just to keep the consistency going.

When it rains, it really rains. It’s almost endless. The nallas become full, the gutter overflow, the trees fall and the pothole become and hazard for any car on the road. The monsoon start coincides with the start of school. I remember, when I lived here as a child having to wear a raincoat and rain shoes trying to carrying new books in bags and keeping them dry. Some children just wore sandals instead of rain shoes, which to me seemed more in-tune with the weather. No socks to get wet and no rain-shoes to empty out. By the time I got to school and taking off my soggy socks, which I wasn’t the only one, we got to walk around barefoot in class.

Bombay monsoon is funny, when it pours, it pours like its wanting to submerge us because mother nature is fully aware that what follows is a very long dry spell. So dry it seems like it will never rain again. The heavy rains stress the local trains and bus systems. The water levels are so high that one track stops altogether and the buses are no match for the gathering water in the  underpasses. So, most travellers end up walking or taking a taxi. All the same, with all the troubles the rains bring, it also brings the people together with a commonality of being wet.

Fruit Trees of Singapore

A reason I enjoy getting out of Singapore and driving in the countryside of Malaysia is that I can see tons of fruit trees growing in the compounds of people’s homes. Recently, I made a trip to Kukup, it’s a fishing town on the South-Western tip of the state of Johor. It was the season for rambutan and I saw many trees fruiting by the roadside. I also saw may roadside fruit stalls which reminded me of Singapore in the 50’s and 60’s. And from what I’ve heard, most of the Best Singapore Restaurants will peruse these fruit stalls and purchase the freshest fruits for their guests. These fruit trees and fruit stands remind me of when I was a child. Very fond memories.

In my kampong, I used to have many fruit trees. I remember climbing those trees was one of my favorite things to do as a child. I found the guava tree was the best for climbing because its branches were strong. I called the guava fruit ‘pak kia’ (literally meaning chicken droppings fruit).   I had 2 types of fruit; one with pink flesh and the other with a white flesh. The seeds are extremely hard and not digestible. I remember mistaking eating some guava seeds and believe me, you don’t want to go through what I did. So, please, really, stay away from swallowing the seeds.

But, my most favorite fruit from the kampong days was the soursop. Our tree was a prolific fruit producer which produce a more tastier and bigger fruit than what I can buy today in the markets. They are actually hard to find in the markets because they ripen too quick and are expensive, so shoppers tend not to purchase them. I remember the fat green caterpillars that live on the trees, I liked playing with them, but they did not like playing with me.

Botanical Singapore

Being a contributor, I received an invention card to attend the Tree Planting Ceremony at the Singapore Botanical Gardens. This tree planting event was to kick off a series of activities spanning over a year for its 150th anniversary celebration. I needed to book one of the Best Singapore Hotels in-order for me to completely enjoy not only the ceremony, but the trip itself. I would’ve like my children to come along, but they were still in school, so I had a luxury hotel room to myself.

When I arrived to the Botanical Gardens, I will not give you a minute by minute detailed account of what happened, but a mere synopsis with a were pondering. I was introduced to the Minister of National Development, Mr. Tan just before he gave an inspiring, arousing speech to the well-dressed crowd. I was dressed for a Botanical event, they were dressed for a Ball. A little out of place, yes, but comfortable, yes.  Then I was introduced to the gracious Lady McNeice, who is responsible for the launching of the Singapore Botanical Gardens and for the commemorative book.

There were pupils  from a local school singing a rendition of a song that kids love to hear at birthday parties and then they presented a birthday cake. Then, finally, the tree-planting ceremony commenced. There was a team of workers in work boots working the ground during the ceremony, and what was odd, but logical, was that most of the trees were already planted before the first guest arrived. The workers basically were pushing soil to put on the finishing touches on the trees. I’m glad that they were doing this work because it was growing quite hot and uncomfortable. The whole ceremony triggered a memory of a burial scene from an old black and white war movie. I know, weird. But, I was happy I made it all the same. Singapore’s Botanical Garden is a treasure for her people to admire and for tourist to visit and find peace in the middle of a hectic city.