Would You Rather Meet Willy Wonka or Buddha?

This past week was pretty rainy, which was actually kind of nice. I don’t think I realized, even with my sunglasses on, how much constant sunshine can strain a person’s eyes. The cloud cover was refreshing, and my eyes finally felt like they could relax and breathe for a few days.

But the rain did limit some of my Adventure Wednesday options. Sometimes the on-again-off-again storms hit with the ferocity and visibility of a dense waterfall. So obviously Dagny and I wouldn’t be doing anything outdoors, or anything that required extensive walking outside.

Fortunately there is an entire city that exists beneath Singapore.

No kidding, there are miles and miles of malls and store-lined hallways, extending five or six stories below ground. It took me a while to get used to it… the feel of a mall with no natural light, no windows… walking around like a lost mole in a never-ending maze. None of the malls or underground “links” are on a grid system… they wind and twist and take you up ramps and down escalators and just when you think you know where you are, you pop your head out of ground like Bugs Bunny, look left and right, and realize you have NO idea where you are after all. (And, if you’re sticking with the Bugs Bunny theme, you may say something like, “I knew I should have taken a left at Albuquerque.”)

Anyway, on our saturated Wednesday this week, Dagny and I ventured into the subterranean malls. And believe it or not, I actually got us to our intended destination! There wasn’t going to be anything cultural about this particular adventure… today was a day out for Dags, and was appropriately dubbed “Willy Wonka Wednesday.”

We went to a mall that is just for kids. Dagny rode carousels and a knock-off Thomas the Train. We wandered in and out of stores in search of new shoes for her and a birthday present for her baby cousin, both of which were fruitless ventures. I know anyone reading this probably gets sick of me talking about how much things cost here, but let me assure you, it’s not nearly as aggravating as actually having to deal with it on a daily basis! Out of curiosity, I jotted down some Toys R’ Us prices here, and compared them to Toys R’ Us back in the States… A $15 toy in the US costs about $60 here. So poor Dags didn’t get any new shoes, and her poor cousin still does not have a birthday present.

We spent a long time in Bookaburra, a very cool kids bookstore. We sat in a corner and read all the totally captivating books that are covered in sparkles, have purse handles sprouting out of them, and smell like peppermint candies. Then we put them back on the shelves, and I bought Dags a few ratty books out of the Used Book bin in the back of the store. She didn’t seem to mind.

After the mall, we pigged out on ice cream and other not-so-healthy foods. Then we went to the grand opening of Garrett's, a gourmet popcorn stand. Now, let me tell you, Dagny and I are popcorn FREAKS! We raced each other to the bottom of a bag of warm cheddar and caramel corn, which stained the underside of my fingernails orange for the next two days. Ahhh, heaven.

On our way home, we popped into Peekaboo, which is an indoor climbing gym and play area for kiddos. After two hours of crawling around in plastic tunnels, riding down spinny slides and wading through colorful ball pits (with a stomach full of energy-less, fatty-fat food, mind you), we were finally spent, and headed home. I had a salad and water for dinner that night.

Climbing through Peekaboo.

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your... oh wait, sorry Dags, you don't really have any hair yet."

Okay, so let’s hit the rewind button to another Adventure Wednesday, from a couple of weeks ago…

The Buddha Relic Temple and Museum! Now for some reason, my guidebooks don’t give this place very many stars, and I don’t understand why. Dagny and I LOVED it!

The temple is located in Chinatown, and is impressively tall and expansive. 

Hanging lanterns and strings of bells that sound so beautiful when the wind blows.

A giant and ornately designed "cauldron" (I'm sure it's actually called something else) outside the main entrance. Those are joss sticks burning, in groups of 3 (one for earth, one for heaven, one for mankind). If a loved one has recently passed away, you may only see two joss sticks. Some temples have strict rules against this, and state that 3 must be burned at a time, though I'm not entirely sure why. 

The doorway into the temple. A lot of temples and Asian houses have a raised doorstep like this. Even most apartments around here have a small lip to step over upon entering... From what I've been told, it has to do with a superstitious belief that a person's foot should completely clear the threshold upon entering a house. 

Prayer service (again, I probably have the appropriate name for it wrong) was going on when we entered. The temple was gorgeous inside, as you can see. Very colorful. Monks were seated at the tables, their heads bent over books while they chanted and hummed into microphones. Buddhist followers were seated in rows of chairs along the side, occasionally chanting along in the same way Christians sing refrains during church services. The chanting is so amazing... very deep, monotone, and relaxing.

An entire wall of small alcoves filled with different statues of Buddha lined one side of the temple. I liked this one, with the flower.

I mean, seriously, who could possibly walk into a place like this and not be wonderfully overcome by the beauty of it?

After staying a while to watch the prayer chants in the main temple (Dagny was totally enthralled, and very well-behaved through it all), we headed upstairs, into the museum. Again, Dagny did great, but I had to keep us moving (as anyone with a toddler understands). So I unfortunately didn't get to read very much about the items on display, nor discover in too much detail how Buddha came to achieve Nibbana (also called Nirvana, in other parts of the world). Maybe another day, sans Dagny, since the museum did have a pretty cool layout for visitors to "wander in the same steps" as Buddha once did.

There are days I wish I had this many arms.

There were literally hundreds of statues of Buddha throughout the museum, which covered three floors, all situated above the temple. Who knows... there might have even been thousands, of all different sizes and appearances. But this one was my favorite.

At the end of the museum tour, we finally got to see what we'd come all that way to see... not that the prayer chants and endless Buddhas weren't spectacular enough, but Dags and I wanted to see the Buddha Relics. 

Yes, it is claimed that actual relics from the living Buddha are housed here. Now, I unfortunately have no pictures to share from this room, because photography was strictly prohibited. So you'll have to just take my word for it when I say: It was incredibly cool to see, and a little bit odd.

All along the walls, behind a thick pane of glass, were very ornate vessels, sculpted from gold and covered in a variety of precious and semi-precious stones. In the center of each was a (usually) teardrop-shaped piece of glass, about the size of the palm of my hand. And inside the teardrop were remains of everything from Buddha's teeth and bones to pieces of his brain and internal organs. I can honestly say they did not look anything like what I imagined... some looked like grains of sand, while several others looked like clear glycerin beads. Buddha's blood looked like tiny yellowish marbles, and his brain looked like small pearls. If there was an explanation for where the relics were found, or how they came to be in these vessels inside this temple, I couldn't find it. But then again, the basis of all religions is faith, is it not? Maybe there isn't supposed to be a thorough explanation... Maybe part of finding Nibbana is realizing some questions are not meant to be answered, and the swiftest path to happiness is to just believe.

On our way out of the museum, Dagny seemed particularly enthralled by a semi-large statue that smiled down on her, one hand raised as if saying hello while the other cupped a lotus flower. She looked at it with a very intense look on her face, and finally pointed to it, saying, "Dat? Dat? Dat?"

"That's Buddha," I replied.

And she smiled so big the corners of her mouth nearly touched her ears, and then she combination giggled and screamed, "Boo-dahh!" 

I was shocked. The only words she'd spoken up until then were Mama and Dada. Word number 3: Buddha. I laughed when she said it, and as we got on the elevator to go back downstairs, I told her, "I think your grandparents would probably have preferred 'Jesus!', but whatever, we'll go with Buddha." 

Enjoying a Splat (fruit pouch) after our tour through the temple and museum. 

So where would you rather go, and who would you rather meet? Wonka or Buddha? My suggestion: Visit them both. How often, as busy adults, do we take the time to go either place? ... To look at the broader, more universal picture of life and our fleeting path through it ... Or to go the opposite direction, thinking only for the moment, only about fun and immediate gratification, and living like a kid again?

Yes, definitely, definitely take time to do both.