Jenn's Afternoon Out

Today Toby watched Elyse while I went out for the afternoon. I wasn't really sure where I was headed, but I knew I wanted to go somewhere besides a Starbucks. I got on the MRT and decided to head toward the Boat Quay and perhaps walk around toward the Merlion. When I got to the quay I noticed a lot of activity near the Asian Civilizations Museum so I wandered over. It turned out the museum had free admission and was having a "Manchu Madness" exhibition with music and demonstrations all dealing with the Manchu. I went in and noticed the line, pardon me- queue, was loooooooong and didn't want to wait so I turned to leave, but then I realized there was a bunch of people waiting for something. I asked a man and I was informed there was an orchestra about to play some traditional Chinese music, so I decided to stay. I'm glad I did. After the orchestra, there were dancers- fun.

After the dancers I wandered downstairs and decided to try on some of the hats and get my picture taken. After I took off one of the hats and old Chinese man came up to me laughing. he asked if he could get a picture with me while I wore the hat. I said ok, but then a woman came up to the man and started pulling him away giving him a look, the man kept asking, but finally relented to the woman. It was an...interesting encounter.

Next, I went outside to see people in jumpsuits warming up and little kids running around with swords. I figured something else was about to start so I got some shrimp dumplings and waited. In a little while I was treated to demonstrations of wrestling, Tai Chi, and another activity that was popular during the same time. What a great afternoon.