Drought

Yesterday marked 14 weeks since we first arrived in Papua New Guinea and we've only had one day with a small amount of rain. The hills surrounding Port Moresby have all turned brown and look nothing like the lush tropical island we first saw in July. Everyone across the island is struggling with the lack of rain. Crops are failing and water sources are drying up. When the water dries up for one village or tribe, they can't move to a different area with water because another group already has territorial rights to that area. Their only option is to move into the cities, so Port Moresby is getting busier everyday. The resources in the city are being put to the test as well and now we are under water restrictions. This is all due to the El Nino effect we are experiencing this year. Lori found a really good article that explains it better than I can.

http://www.looppng.com/content/el-ni%C3%B1o-could-leave-4-million-people-pacific-without-food-or-drinking-water

There's been plenty of typhoons in the area, but they all pass north of us and the systems seem to suck all the moisture out of the air and no rain falls here. The true rainy season isn't until January and February, but everyone I've spoken too says we should've been getting regular rains by September and the wind should've died down as well. They all say this is an unusual year. I hope so.

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Singapore

Just like that, our time in Singapore is over and we are flying overnight back to Port Moresby. Even though the haze was really bad and we couldn't get outside as much as we would have liked, it was still a great week. We only had one day when the haze cleared a little bit and the air quality moved out of the Unhealthy range and into the Moderate range. For most of the week, my nose thought it was back in Southern Ontario during ragweed season. Lots of sneezing and coughing for me.

Singapore is a city-state in Southeast Asia that started as a small Malaysian fishing village before it was colonized by the British in 1826. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of their independence from British rule in 1965. Singapore is 1° north of the equator so the climate is extremely hot and humid. It's a major financial centre and that is the biggest part of their economy. The population is around 5 million made up of 3 main ethnic groups; Chinese, Malaysian and Indian, so if you're a fan of Asian food like I am, it's a great city to eat in.

It's a city that feels very new because of all the modern office towers and hotels. There aren't many buildings left over from the colonial days, except a few hotels. This is the Raffles Hotel, where the Singapore Sling was invented and no we did not have one.

This is what a new hotel in Singapore looks like. It's the Marina Bay Sands.

There is an infinity pool with a bar on the portion that looks like a surfboard. You have to be a guest of the hotel to use the pool but you can get to the observation deck or have a drink in the bar. The view is supposed to be incredible but we didn't go up because the haze was so bad. Next time.

They have other attractions in the Marina Bay area. This is the Art Science museum and you can see the Singapore flyer in the background.

Not sure what the purpose of the painted hippos were, but they looked cute.

Like I said earlier, Singapore is a great city to eat in. Not only did we eat incredible Chinese and Indian food but we had Vietnamese, Spanish, German and some good old fashioned pub grub. Some of the best and cheapest food is found in the hawker centres. A hawker centre is like a food court and it's a way to control food stalls and street vendors. This is the Maxwell Road Hawker Centre.

We ate dishes from 3 different stalls and the grand total for both of us was $12. The food was simple street food but it was really good. The coolest thing was the banana fritter. It was essentially a battered and deep fried banana. So good.

Singapore is the head office for the Asia-Pacific region of Total, so Lori will be back here a couple of times a year while we are in Port Moresby. We will have lots of chances to do the things we missed this time.

We don't have any other trips planned until Christmas. We will be in Canada for Christmas for the first time since we left 3 years ago. I'm leaving Nov 20 and Lori will follow a few weeks later. We are looking forward to it.

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Haze

I've been looking forward to this trip to Singapore for awhile. It's a very cool city with incredible architecture, beautiful gardens and amazing food, but the trip is not turning out the way I thought it would. Most of Southeast Asia is shrouded in a thick haze caused by forest fires in the area. I brought my camera with me, but I haven't taken it out of the case yet because you can't see anything.

Most of the fires are on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. The fires were set deliberately by farmers as a slash and burn method to clear the land for planting and now they are out of control. I read in the paper that slash and burn is illegal in Indonesia, but it still happens. This happens every year apparently, but because this is an El Nino year, it's worse than usual. We are experiencing the same thing in Papua New Guinea, but on a smaller scale. The saving grace for PNG is the wind blows most of the smoke away, while here it's trapped by thermal inversion. Lori found a great article online with before and after photos that shows how bad it is.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/singapore-indonesia-haze-interactive-before-after-photos-show-dramatically-reduced-visibility-1521643

Yesterday I went out and explored the city, ignoring the haze. By the end of the day, I had a headache and was constantly clearing my throat. Now I understand why people wear masks over their nose and mouth. Today I went out as well but instead of going to outdoor markets, I stayed in the shopping malls and instead of walking, I took the subway. Don't get me wrong, I'm not hard done by. If the metro stations in Paris looked like this, I would have taken them everyday.

I would just prefer to walk, even though the humidity is unreal. I'm still eating really good food too, it's just in an indoor food court and not in an outdoor hawker centre.

From what I've seen on the news and read in the papers, the Singapore government seems to be very frustrated with the Indonesian Government. They feel not enough is being done to stop the illegal burning and it's affecting daily life here and across the region. It's hurting the economy through decreased tourism, but more importantly, it's hazardous to everyone's health. They update the air quality throughout the day. This sign was posted this morning in the lobby.

At 7:00am the air quality was Unhealthy and they expect it to reach Very Unhealthy by the end of the day.

Lori's final meeting next week was cancelled so we are going home on Monday. We still plan on getting out and seeing the city this weekend, but some things will have to wait until our next visit. There is no sense going to the top of the Marina Bay Sands hotel, if we can't see the city below.

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