Hungry Ghost

Hungry Ghost Festival is celebrated in the 7th lunar month by the Chinese Community to pay respects to the dead. It is believed in this time, the "gates of the spirit world" are closest to the physical world and the spirits of the dead are free to roam the earth. People purchase paper products, such as hell money, paper clothes, paper versions of most material goods and burn these items as offerings to the spirits. It is a way for people to respect, honor and look after their ancestors to make sure they have a good afterlife. Large bins for burning have been set up around the island for this use. You will also see small altars with food such as oranges, cakes sometimes even whole roasted pigs, laid out on tables with incense burning. These are also offerings for the spirits. They are called Hungry Ghosts because they are unable to enjoy food in the spirit world and can only enjoy the smell of smoke and the aroma of food. Here are my photos of Hungry Ghost festivities around town. 

Burning hell money for spirits. See the large stack of papers on the left, that is the hell money. 

Here is an alter at the Chinatown food center with a few large paper mache sticks burning.

Another offering in Chinatown. Most offerings will consist of oranges, food and drinks, flowers and incense or joss sticks.

These giant candles burn really fast. There was no one there watching them but I happened to walk pasted them again about 20 minutes after I took this picture and they were about halfway gone.

This offering has some takeout food with the chopsticks ready to go. That is a common sight during this festival.

Nam's Supplies is located in Chinatown on Smith St. Selling all items needed, hell money, paper shoes, bags, toys, etc. The shopkeepers were inside so I asked their permission to take photos. They were very kind! The store is open year round as there are a few other days throughout the year when people burn things for their deceased loved ones, mainly holidays and special occasions.

Nice big stack of fake money ready to burn for deceased loved ones.

Shoes ready to be burned as gifts for the spirits.

Paper branded bags.

I walked through the Chinatown market again today and boy did I get an eyeful! There was a huge, presumably, Hungry Ghost celebration going on. There was a band of 5 or 6 people, drums, trumpet, symbols, etc all dressed in yellow gowns singing and playing music. There were tons of offerings with a table that had about 8 giant whole roasted pigs. I was asked to not take pictures so unfortunately you will not be able to see it here. It was really interesting! This is what I really like about living in another country. So much to see and learn.

Kobenhavn!

Copenhagen was the last stop on our vacation. We loved this city! What a nice break from Singapore's heat and humidity. Very different from Germany, but just as fun to explore. Here are a few photos of our time in this great city.

It was a short 15 minute walk (about 1 km) to the city center from our hotel. This is a much smaller city compared to Munich. Still plenty of shopping and cafes for a nice day out. 

I like how the windows open out and I like that the buildings are a mix of plain brick and colorful facades.

Lots of bicycles here, I had to be very careful when walking around not to get run over by one. They go super fast through the city. Some had big carts on the front of them with kids or girlfriends riding in the cart. 

Botanic Gardens Copenhagen. Nice reflection in the pond.

Went for a short stroll through the Botanic Gardens. Nice quiet day and it was really nice to get away from the crowds of tourists that were out and about. 

The Round Tower. This is one of the sights to be seen. It was originally built in the 17th century as an astronomical observatory.

A street in the city center. I love the bikes lined up and the open windows on the pretty brick building.

Nyhavn. Literally means "new harbour". Lots of great restaurants, cafes and hotels here. I tried pickled herring, pretty good! Geoff had an open faced sandwich that is pretty popular here. Mayonnaise is also very popular, unfortunately I am not a fan of it.

It was crowded, this was the place to be in Copenhagen. Some of the restaurants have a small bar outside so you can buy a beer in a plastic cup and sit by the boats for a quick break. 

I loved the steeples / spires in the city. They all had such great detail. 

I was really looking forward to seeing The Little Mermaid! Couldn't wait to get there. We had to take a taxi because our feet were wearing out and it was sort of far but it was worth it. It was so hard to get a good picture and I am so disappointed in this picture. I wanted to get a better angle so I had a nicer background, I had big plans for her. I have plenty of pictures with the tops of other peoples heads in them...

This is the crowd I had to fight to get a picture of the mermaid. I was standing on the rocks trying not to fall or knock anyone over on my tiptoes! 

Kastellet is one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe, according to wikipedia :) I liked the flag and I had to wait a bit for the flag to unfurl just right to get this picture. Now I wished I had composed the photo better! The military still uses some of the space, mostly it is used as a park.

This gorgeous windmill was at Kastellet.

We went to the castle to see the changing of the guards but I was too tired to stand around and wait for them. They are supposed to march through town from one castle to another. So we left and went to a cafe for lunch and they marched right past our table. I got up and ran over to get their picture. They had to wait for a red light at this intersection so I got lucky!

Happy Friday!!! Have a great weekend!!!

Ich liebe Munchen!

Munich was amazing! The food was super, the weather was super, the people are super and the city has so much to see and do. Here are a few pictures from our time in Munich. Enjoy!

                                                  

This is the view from our hotel room. Not bad!

Just outside our hotel was the Viktualienmarkt. No aliens were spotted ;)

The Viktualienmarkt takes up a huge area in the center of the city. Many many stalls with tons of fresh produce, dairy, meats, sausages, both to take home and cook or ready to eat and of course a biergarten. 

Here is the biergarten at the Viktualienmarkt. It was nice to sit there for lunch with such great weather.

In the English Garden there is a river with one small spot where you can surf. 

We spent a few hours walking through the English Garden, it was a great day, beautiful park.

Biergarten in the English Garden :) Can't make it through a giant park without kartoffelsalat and bier!

Look at how happy this duck is that he is a German duck!

That is a happy tourist in front of the Hofbrauhaus in Munich! Good looking too!!!

There was a bit of road construction near some of the main sights. Sort of a bummer but it wasn't too bad.

This was in the center of the Viktualienmarkt. I saw a few of them around town. I need to Google it to find out what they are for.

Glockenspiel, had some construction going on in front of it. Sort of hard to get it all into the frame.

Here is an interesting view of the Glockenspiel. Tons of tourists were in Munich. Hope they left before the heat wave hit like we did! 

Next week I'll share pictures of Copenhagen. Happy Friday everyone!