Brief visit from Duncan, holiday booked!

My working week ended with dinner/drinks at Grapevine. Unfortunately the current owners are moving on so we are hoping it won't change too much. Craig and Melisa had bought along a friend, who was moving on to Siem Reap for a for days. I had been thinking about visiting there myself but wasn't keen to go alone, but something to think about!

I didn't walk on Monday as the 'walk' was actually a bike ride  and we all know that isn't a good idea for me. being at East Coast Park, it wasn't real easy to access, and as I was feeling a bit óut-of-sorts'anyway I decided to sleep in. In the afternoon I went for a visit to the Red Dot Museum in Chinatown, and luckily this time it was open.

 "The Red Dot Design Museum presents the latest trends in the international design scene with a collection of more than 1,000 exhibits in the field of product design and communication design from over 50 countries. Every one of these exhibits is a winner of the international Red Dot Design Award, one of the world’s leading and largest design competitions.

Every year, design experts from all over the world decide which products, design concepts and communication design works will be on display in the Red Dot Design Museum. They make up the jury for the world renowned Red Dot competitions for Product Design, Communication Design and Design Concept. All entries are tested, discussed and assessed for their innovative design quality based on different criteria depending on their task and purpose. Only the best designs pass through the rigorous adjudication process to receive the coveted Red Dot quality seal - and thus their deserved place in the Red Dot Design Museum."

I particularly liked a couple of the lights, especially the very clever 'book light'.

The red dot museum is across the road from the URA building so I had a wander through there again finding another art exhibition this time by the Singapore Sketchers.

After a quiet night in, I woke on Tuesday morning having made the decision to go to Siem Reap and Bangkok in the upcoming holiday, so before I could change my mind I booked some airline tickets and sent a few inquiries off to a couple of travel companies. I'll get to see Ankor Wat, do some birding and visit Duncan for a few days so I am looking forward to the break now.

I met Libby and Eric at Dhoby Ghaut, mid-afternoon, and we visited the recently opened Fort Canning Arts Centre. Singapore Pinacothèque de Paris marks the first expansion outside Europe of the renowned Pinacothèque de Paris, heralding a pioneering international private museum in a thriving arts and lifestyle hub. 
‘Pinacothèque’ translates as ‘box of paintings’ and refers to a place where paintings (or any image) are kept in which private collector pieces are displayed for public appreciation. As we are all 'Seniors' and local residents it cost us all of $9 each for 2 exhibitions, and there is a free shuttle bus between the 3 main galleries in town.
In the Collections Gallery we saw The Cabinet of Curiosities, a permanent collection featuring 40 original masterpieces, many loaned from private collectors including works the likes of Modigliani, Tintoretto, Pollock, Picasso and art of the tribal peoples of Southeast Asia.

Not one of my favourite Monet's 

Upstairs we visited The Myth of Cleopatra exhibition which was very interesting. From what I can gather she married 2 of her brothers! as well as having a fling with Big Julie and Marc Antony...and all before she died at 39.

The display included wall frescoes from Pompeii and costumes and footage from the Elizabeth Taylor movie.

After this dose of culture the shuttle bus just happened to drop us near the Irish Bar in Bras Basah where we had time for a refreshing drink before meeting up with some others at Gluttons Corner. I could not be much of a glutton as I was under starting orders for a colonoscopy later in the week. 

I then attended my first show at the Esplanade Theatres where we saw  renowned National Geographic photographer,Steve Winter, presenting My Nine Lives. Interestingly he took his first animal photo at the age of 34 and is now an advocate for Big Cats. He was very passionate about protecting the big cats and his photos are amazing. Most of them were taken by cameras set up and activated by a tripping device.

As we left to walk back to Clark Quay we caught the laser show on Marina Bay. 

As we were catching the train from Clark Quay we decided to have a nightcap at Sque Bar, where I was welcomed, and farewelled, with a big hug from Joe, the barman. A bit of a worry that, but he was very keen to know when Michael would be back in town, so it is on the must-do list for his next visit at the end of September.

On Wednesday morning it was great to welcome Duncan on his stopover visit on his way to Bangkok. Despite the fact that I wasn't allowed to eat much we met up with Robert and Maria over lunch in Kovan, before Duncan rode with me to work...his first ride on the LRT.  He was able to show Eric that he did like something about the Beatles...he was wearing John Lennon style sunglasses!

He departed for his latest adventure early Thursday morning and I readied myself to drink the 2l of pre-colonoscopy muck...not a fun day! Over here they don't knock you out for the procedure, just administer a calming sedative! It all ended well with the doctor giving me the all clear, before Robert, as my responsible adult, accompanied me to dinner at Marche. I think I should ask for one of those sedatives every night as it was the best nights sleep I had had in ages.

Trivia

After our Monday adventures I decided on a more sedate stroll around Punggol Park on Tuesday morning. One of our neighbours spotted me while I was looking at some birds along our riverside walk and decided to accompany me. Fortunately he left me by the time we got to the Park entrance so I was able to have a quiet, bird spotting meander. I saw the usual suspects: Pygmy woodpecker, collared kingfisher, common iora, olive backed sun-bird and a black-crowned night heron. As i was leaving the park something flew across my eye-line and landed on a nearby tree. On closer inspection it turned out to be a common flying lizard, another new example of Singapore wildlife, of particular interest as our current P3 topic is reptiles.

Common flying lizard

The MAE Trivia evening was held at our condo in the afternoon, as Kathy was part of the organizing committee. I ended up on a team with Neil, Libby and Pip and we came a creditable second. Prize for the greatest distance travelled would have to go to James, who is now working in Japan after spending two years with MAE. It was great to see him looking some happy and confident.It was a fun evening which some of us rounded off with dinner at Wild Oats in Punggol park.

The rest of the week passed quietly. Libby and I spent a few hours working on the Whales theme on Thursday and I was happy to share the pate and cheese that they had picked up on one of their walks. 
After work on Saturday night a few of us met up at an Irish bar in Bras Basah to have a look at the Singapore Night Festival.
The Festival is held each year and hosts a variety of performances and the lighting of numerous iconic buildings. We caught a performance by Spark!..."Five mysterious characters made of light and sound will take you on an immersive journey. These fascinating LED light drummers will interact with the audience, accompanied by high-impact drumming and exuberant music, beautiful lighting design, dynamic choreography and dazzling costumes." and they were very entertaining! The highlight was definitely the animated "Anooki Story" which was displayed across the front of the National Museum. Libby has offered me her old camera so I tried it out and considering my lack of experience/technique with it I was reasonably happy with the results.
It was not a late night, as the crowds were pretty full-on and we all had to work the next morning.

An Interesting Walk

Monday's walk was to be a straightforward, pleasant meander through the Botanic Gardens then on to Dempsey Hill where we could have a look at the Museum of Contemporary Art...and so it was.

It seems that every time we walk in the Gardens I see something I haven't seen before. There are many different sculptures, with my favourites being the ones with kids, doing 'kid' things. 
After leaving the Gardens we passed beside an undeveloped area, which apparently belongs to the Sultan of Johore. Within the grounds is an old Istana called Woodneuk house. The mansion was subject to the bombing of the Japanese in 1942, killing approximately 700 medics and patients, and was ferociously attacked by a fire circa 2006 which burned down its glorious blue roof. June had explored the area earlier in the year and so we decide to have a look for ourselves. Unfortunately this time we were unable to locate the structure but we had 'fun'looking for it. 

Looking for Woodneuk!  Great to see James visiting from Japan.

By the time we returned to civilisation 2 of our party had had enough and left, the rest of us continued on to Dempsey Hill. 
The Museum of Contemporary Art had an exhibition of 10 contemporary Chinese artists. There were a number of sculptures in the gardens by Jiang Shuo. Her trademark pokes a bit of fun at the unquestioning devotion of the Chinese to Maoism.

As we made our way back to the Botanic Gardens we chanced upon a Community Garden that has a cafe, restaurant, more sculptures and bowling lawn. It looks like a place we could revisit when we are more suitably attired and feeling hungry.

 We made our way back to the eating area in the Botanic Gardens for a tasty, if restricted lunch, as the menu was limited by the fact that they were closing on Tuesday for renovations.

Singapore wildlife, White crested laughingthrush

I dropped in to Serangoon on my way home to have my new spectacles adjusted and ran in to Robert and Maria, so i joined them for a coffee. In the evening I met them at Hougang for a hawkers meal before an early night.

Post National Day.

Before work on Thursday I met Libby so we could catch up on our respective weekends. It was good to hear that her mum, although far from well, has settled and they are looking forward to seeing her again in a few weeks. As Peter had started work this week I met the three of them after work at Kovan. Peter appears to be enjoying his new role.
Towards the end of our meal we noticed an altar being set up, followed by an arrangement of candles etc. We realized it was the start of the Hungry Ghost Festival.

The Hungry Ghost Festival  is a traditional Buddhist and Taoist festival held in Asian countries. 

In Chinese culture, the fifteenth day of the seventh month in the lunar calendar is called Ghost Day and the seventh month in general is regarded as the Ghost Month, in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower realm.

On the fifteenth day the realms of Heaven and Hell and the realm of the living are open. Intrinsic to the Ghost Month is veneration of the dead, where traditionally the filial piety of descendants extends to their ancestors even after their deaths. Activities during the month include preparing ritualistic food offerings, burning incense, and burning joss paper, a papier-mâché form of material items such as clothes, gold and other fine goods for the visiting spirits of the ancestors. Elaborate meals (often vegetarian ) would be served with empty seats for each of the deceased in the family treating the deceased as if they are still living. 

The EA and students in our classes have given us a long list of Don'ts for the Hungry Ghost Festival, including

• don't leave washing out overnight
• don't kick anything
• don't turn back if you hear your name called
• don't swim at night
• don't stay out late
• Definitely never walk on the offerings , or the ashes of offerings

The last point is not always easy as every morning there are ashes in many places. Often there is a lot of paper scattered around as well so for a while Singapore is not its usual pristine self!
On Friday morning I was greeted with the fantastic news that Duncan has a job offer with the Dept. of Agriculture. He will get all the details next week but he thinks it will begin in February, the only drawback is that he will have to move to Canberra. I look forward to hearing all about it when he spends a night here on his way to Bangkok at the end of the month.
After this good news I met up with Robert and Maria to catch up with my cousin Vicki and her husband Jim. They were staying in the Albert Court area so we had a wander up to a shopping centre for lunch catching a few local sights on the way.

After work on Saturday night I picked up my new spectacles, which will take a bit of getting used to, as they are graduated lenses. At least now some people can stop nagging me about taking my glasses on and off!!
On Sunday night a small group gathered at Joe's where we caught up with Peter's first week of 'real' work. He seems to be enjoying it although it may take some time to catch up to the demands created by social media and technology.

National Day Weekend

On Thursday I met with Robert, Maria and their visitors from the Central coast for a tasty lunch in Bugis. After work it was home for a shower before heading to the airport for the trip home. Friday was a public holiday in memory of LKY, and Sunday was Singapore's big birthday celebrations. I was able to use my LSL day to stretch my weekend out to make a trip home feasible. It was a long night/day as I had to travel via Sydney to Ballina.
After meeting the visiting cat, Michael, Pauline and I had a quiet dinner at the Shawsie before I collapsed with weariness. I was very pleased that I was clever enough to buy Michael a scarf on my recent trip to Penang as it was a might cooler than I am used to. On Saturday, my delightful hairdresser, Nick, said he would have been prepared to see me after hours if necessary, but instead he had an 11.30 time slot for me. The Guests and Youngs joined us at Pauline's for a delicious home-cooked meal, Sue looking a little battered and bruised after a face-plant at netball.

I dragged myself out of bed on Sunday to accompany Michael and David to Byron for the usual Sunday morning ritual. We both wore our SG50 t-shirts in honour of Singapore National Day. When we returned to Ballina, Sue and Pauline were ready to head out for breakfast so after a couple of false starts we settled down by the river for a very tasty breakfast. This venue was blown away in a storm some time back and this was the first time we had tried it since it re-opened, and I think we'll be back.

Michael has decided he will be returning to our unit when the current lease is up at the end of October so it was time to do a little furniture shopping. We have ended up with only one bed so we spent the afternoon at Snooze trying their bedding system and came away with lighter pockets but, what we hope will be, a very comfy bed. They are happy to deliver it after Michael moves back so it should be in place when I return for his birthday celebrations in early November.
We met up with Chris and Steve for dinner at the RSL, when Michael stunned me by actually discussing the possibility of doing some travelling in a caravan...I almost fell off my chair!
After dropping Michael at work on Monday I was able to do a bit of shopping and pottering before returning to pick him up at the end of the day. We then drove up to Varsity Lakes where I got the train to Brisbane. Duncan met me at Roma Street and after collecting Bianca we went to the very appropriate Kookaburra Cafe for some delicious pizzas. On the way home they took me to their favourite gelati bar for dessert.

You really do appreciate Changi Airport when it takes a long, winding, half hour queue to get through security in Brisbane. Everything was going smoothly until our Qants plane had rolled out to the edge of the runway where we heard the announcement that we had to go back to the boarding gate as there was a malfunctioning smoke detector light on the bridge! Two hours later we took off having been given a bottle of water only, so by the time lunch arrived at around 3.30 I was very hungry.
Arrival in Singapore was seamless, as usual and I didn't take much convincing that it was time to sleep.
While I was away Helen had been considering her options, and as I was expecting, she has decided that sharing next year is not really an option for her so I'll be going it alone. Something for me to tackle next term.

Lead up to National Day

I met my first ever hamster today. One of my K2 students had his school hamster for the weekend and his mum thought it was a good idea to bring him to MAE. His presence did inspire quite a bit of chatter between my 2 students...all in English so it was effective. I was surprised at the size of it. I always though they were the size of guinea pigs, but they are only mouse size.

After work on Sunday night I met up with Helen and Kathy at our new local hawkers. It has only been open a couple of weeks and there are only two stalls operating so far. Even they were low on choices so we ate what we could.It will have to improve a lot before the trivia night if it is going to be considered as a dinner option.
Monday's walk was a very gentle stroll...more like a tourist walk than our usual. We met at Raffles Place and walked through Telok Ayer ending up at the URA Building in Chinatown before having lunch at the Maxwell Centre. We passed a variety of places of worship all with interesting stories.

Around the outside pillars of the URA building there were a number of paintings of Singapore Icons, part of the SG50 celebrations

 After lunch Helen, June and I decided to have a look at the Red Dot Museum. Although it looked very interesting unfortunately it was closed for a private function so it will have to wait for another day. Later in the afternoon Helen and I trekked across to June's household for a night of cards.
Tuesday was the MAE High Tea, at an untried venue called 10 Scott. It was a very pleasant afternoon although as usual I probably ate too much. It was a great venue for a group as we were in our own room which provided an easier 'mingling' space.
With all the discussion around SG50 I decided it was an appropriate time to learn a bit about Singapore's history so Kathy and I went to see the movie 1965. The acting was the usual Asian standard but the historical information was interesting. It told the story of the lead-up to LKY signing the agreement with Malaysia to separate in 1965. The two years prior had been a time of great unrest with a lot of racial disharmony and bombings. It seemed that the Chinese blamed the Malays and vice-versa, but there were in fact  outside influences in play. When I was discussing it with my year 6 class on Thursday night one of my students just shrugged and said...ÿea but who's better off now, Singapore or Malaysia"...enough said really.

A week of highs and lows.

The week began on a very colourful note with Peter's last day-time walk for a while. He starts work at an International school next week so his days will be otherwise occupied. In his honour Libby suggested we all go Hawaiian in deference for his love of a particular shirt. Despite having to start at Beauty World, a place not accesible by MRT, there was a great turnout. I'm not sure what the staff and other patrons of Maccas thought about all these crazy ángmos' dressed in such bright colours. Unfortunately Bukit Timah Hill is still closed (aaaahhh big sigh of disappointment!) so we walked to MacRitchie Ranger station then on to Thompson Road Plaza for lunch. It was Youth Day in Singapore and although we didn't see many kids about,we did run in to the army boys and a group of cute kids out with their youth leader.

On our way in to town for the mid-term dinner Kathy accompanied me to a spectacle shop called OwnDays, as it really is time for some new specs. I have realised that taking photos is very difficult when I don't need the specs to see my target, but I do need them to see the screen display. It is time for graduated lenses. Surprisingly my eyes have changed very little in the last 3 years and the best news was the total cost...$218 only, including the eyetest.
After meeting at our usual SQUE bar for pre-dinner drinks (dinner wasn't until 8) we made our way to the opposite side of Clarke Quay to Senor Tacos. On the way we crossed Read Bridge which is a pedestrian-only bridge. At the moment it has been set up as a Hawker-style food area. The picture on the bottom right shows what it normally looks like at night!
Senor Tacos provided a night of good food, extremely good sangria and great salsa style music. The saxophonist was Australian and the DJ was a very talented musician who kept us entertained all night. There was some talk of salsa classes, but we'll see where that goes! Unfortunately the night was spoiled again by haggling about who ate/drank what, but that goes with people not including the ++ (taxes) in their calculations.

 A few of us wandered around to the Crazy Elephant, but Kathy and I decided we'd had enough and headed home. On the way back to the MRT we saw some crazy tourists doing their best to bring their dinner back up! There are actually people inside that 'ball' on the end of a rubber band.

I spent a quiet day at home on Tuesday, just meeting Helen in Hougang to do a bit of shopping, where we ran in to Robert. Although we had had lunch we joined him for a chat over coffee. After dinner Helen and I had a game of cards...where I won for the second time in a row! That's a pretty big deal against Miss Card Shark herself. I'll be going for a trifecta next time.
Wednesday dawned with what we thought was going to be a perfectly ordinary day...not quite how it turned out. All MAE branches were having joint meetings so we could receive news about next years leadership at the same time. We suspected that Ang Mo Kio Branch would be closing (and this proved to be the case) and there would be responsibilty changes. As Kathy is the leader at Bishan/Ang Mo Kio she was ready to leave earlier than Helen and I, and asked us to come sit as she had something to tell us. Her announcement that she will be leader at Jurong next year came out of left field, and as Jurong is about as far away as you can get from Punggol we will not be able to house share next year. Already knowing that Helen has been offered Tampines, another branch that is not easily accessible from our current residence, my living arrangements for next year are in somewhat of a disarray. Hopefully we can work something out that will suit all of us as it is early days yet, but, on top of my last couple of weeks of uncertainty, it has rather taken the wind out of my sails.
I was very grateful when Libby offered coffee or birds for an outing on Thursday, so not having been for a 'bird'walk for a while I went for the bird option.We settled on an oldie but a goodie, from Farmway to Punggol. Eric came along as well and captured this shot of the flameback woodpecker.

Friday was spent blogging as I had a few weeks to catch up on. After work on Saturday night Libby and I had a couple of drinks at Sque Bar before heading to the bridge mentioned earlier in this blog. Unfortunately it didn't look all that appetizing with lots of uncleared rubbish on the tables so we continued on to Senor Tacos where we re-confirmed that the Sangria was very good...but only 1 glass as tomorrow was a workday!

We were entertained by the belly-dancer at the restaurant next door.