Haze worsens

Due to the hazy conditions the walking group was small this week and we decided to cut our walk a bit shorter. Instead of going from Bishan to Ang Mo Kio, we walked through Bishan Park to the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, the largest Buddhist temple in Singapore. As a compromise this was more indoors than walking around Lower Peirce Reservoir as we usually do. As well as the impressive 4 storey memorial hall, prayer halls, crematoriums, columbariums the monastery has a fabulous outdoor statue of Buddhist deity Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Goddess of Mercy. She is surrounded by a lawn featuring statues of novice monks.

Despite the haze we still managed to see a bit of wildlife in the form of scaly breasted munia, changeable lizard, dragonfly and turtles, amongst others.

After a clean up at home I met up with Chris and Pam to say farewell for the time being. Robert, Maria and Elizabeth joined us at Wine Mansions in Chinatown, an old favourite. They have free flow drinks for 4 hours for $35++, which by Singapore standards is pretty reasonable. After doing my best to get my moneys worth I was very happy to see my front door!

On Tuesday I went into Orchard Rd to see Everest at the 3D Imax Shaw cinema. It is based on the real events of the 1996 Mount Everest disaster and the survival attempts of two expedition groups, one led by Rob Hall and the other by Scott Fischer. The scenery was amazing and reinforced my decision not to go to Everest Base Camp last year. Some of the Landscapes and swing bridges that those who did go crossed would have had me a quivering mess. 
After the movie Libby, Eric Bev and I had dinner at Jamie's Kitchen in Orchard Rd. Unfortunately I felt the meal was not as good as at Vivo, with the starter of roasted vegies being very tasteless.
By Thursday I had had enough of the haze and the likelihood of spending another weekend inside so I put out a little feeler to see if the Smiths would be interested in getting out of here for the weekend. Before I could blink we had airline tickets for Bali and a villa booked in Nusa Dua. Syd and Kim Pink were also happy to escape with us. The prospect of a relaxing weekend away gave me the encouragement I needed to get through the weekend.