A Hazy week

I was welcomed back to a very hazy sky...Indonesia is burning off again! The girls assured yesterday was worse as they couldn't see the buildings in the distance. We caught up on our holiday news over a tasty corned beef cooked by Kathy. 

Work resumed on Wednesday with the haze improving slightly but everyone is pre-occupied with the PSI levels.
Michael arrived in to this on Saturday afternoon, quite an adjustment from the clear blue skies of the North Coast. 
On Sunday night we introduced him to Saturdays, a recently found establishment where we can find a good meal and a cooling beverage to finish our week.
This weeks walk was through Tao Payoh beginning with the Lian Shan Shuang Lin Monastery, Singapore's oldest Buddhist monastery. It was decorated with colourful silk lanterns for the Mid Autumn Festival, a traditional Chinese festival on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which this year falls on Sunday. It was originally an autumn harvest festival celebrated by farmers in ancient China and is now considered a time for reunion and renewal of friendship and kinship as well.  

The only birds we saw today

On the walk we passed the oldest surviving Dragon playground, apparently the only one that has a sand base. Another highlight was The Lam Yeo ("Nanyang" in Hokkien) Coffee Powder shop in Balestier Road which has been in operation since 1959, opened by the current owner's father. A couple of the walkers purchased original style coffee cups to add to their collections.

Along Balestier Road many of the old buildings have been beautifully restored and preserved,including an Opera stage at a tiny Hokkein Temple. It was built in 1906 and is one of only 2 still surviving in Singapore.

Opera Stage

 We also visited the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, also known as Wan Qing Yuan, in Balestier. He was the revolutionary who helped to overthrow the last imperial dynasty of China and is regarded as the founding father of the modern People’s Republic of China.  We also visited his home in when we went to Macau in 2013. In the early 1900's he spent time in Singapore (then known as Nanyang) raising funds and working for the revolutionary cause and stayed at this beautiful two-storey, colonial-style villa a number of times. It is set in beautiful grounds and opposite a park named after him that opened at the end of 2013. A highlight of the villa's grounds is the 2m tall bronze wall mural which spans 60m along the fence line.  It depicts Singapore's history from the 1840s as a fishing village to the 1940s and the Sook Ching Massacre in 1942, the  "purging of Chinese" by the Japanese after the British colony surrendered. 

Unfortunately we were unable to go as the site is closed on Mondays, so thanks to Libby for her previously captured images.

After the walk an invitation was issued to any interested parties to return to the monastery on Thursday night to see the lanterns lit up, and as it is a Holiday it seemed like an Opportunity not to be missed.

After a quick clean up back home we headed in to town to meet Chris and Pam at their hotel in Orchard Road. 

We began their Singapore orientation with drinks at Kinkis bar, overlooking Marina Bay followed by dinner at Lau Pasat. As we wandered through Raffles Place, Pam lost her balance and took a nasty fall banging her head on the ground. She managed to pick herself up pose on the sculpture before we had a nightcap at Altitude 1, where despite the haze we were able to catch the laser show over the bay.

By Tuesday morning Chris and Pam had got the hang of the MRT and managed to join our carriage as we passed through Dhoby Ghaut on our way to Chinatown. As the haze was showing no signs of going away we decided indoor pursuits were the order of the day so our first stop was the URA building for a bit of an overview of Singapore. Then it was over to the Maxwell Centre for lunch, and a wander through the wet market. I'm not sure that Chris was quite ready to add frog to his next BBQ but we managed to convince him to let some fish nibble on his hands and feet. 

After a wander through Mustafas, where Pam was pleased to see some products named in her honour, we felt it was that time of the day so we found a table at SQUE Bar. Michael was warmly welcomed back, although disappointingly his old pal, Joe, was on a night off.

Chris and Pam were ready for an early night so on our way home we dropped in to Plonk at Serangoon Gardens where a number of MAE staff were having their 'back to work' drinks.