Artist uses a canting tool to apply the hot wax

The Ancient Art of Batik

Batik is an ancient process of decorating cloth by covering part of it with a coat of wax and then dyeing the cloth. In fact, the literal translation of the work Batik is “wax written”. The waxed area keeps its original color and when the wax is removed the contrast between the dyed and undyed …

Singapore Bum Boat

Bum Boat Ride

The Singapore River plays an important role in connecting the city of Singapore economically and socially. A bum boat cruise is a great, inexpensive way to spend 1 hour of your time when visiting Singapore. The cruise starts at the Raffles landing site (this is where Sir Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore was thought to …

Malaysian Popiah

Asian Cuisine

Today I sampled many different asian foods.  It started with a trip to the “Wet Market” in Chinatown.  This is the area where locals go to buy fresh fish, meats, vegetables, fruits, dumplings, noodles, etc.  My first introductions included 3 Asian fruits:  Dragon’s Eye, Rambutan and Dragon Fruit.  The Eye of the Dragon was my …

Chandra's version of the word "human" in Chinese

Learning Chinese Calligraphy

Today I spent about 1 hour with a wonderful calligraphy teacher in Chinatown.  His name is James Koh and he is a master painter and Chinese calligrapher.  He began our lesson by explaining to me the importance of the bamboo brush with camel hair.  The art of calligraphy is learned over decades and is dependent …