Cards and Birds

June took pity on me on Saturday night as we are both in the same boat ie finishing at a reasonable hour but no-one to share dinner with so we arranged to meet at Kovan. When I arrived she was waiting with Libby so we ended up at the Smith's local for one of my favourite hawker dishes...coffee pork. We made our first visit of the year to Joes after work on Sunday and it was only a short ride to the Smiths for a nightcap!
We headed east for our Monday walk, strolling from Tampines to Pasir Ris through Eco Green and Pasir Ris Park. Despite the large group we saw quite a few birds including the beautiful Spotted Wood Owls in Pasir Ris Park. We were lucky to run into a very knowledgeable local who pointed us in the right direction and Eric was able to get some great shots.

It had been quite a while since one of our card nights so the girls came over to share pizzas and 5 Crowns on Monday night. There was much laughter...that is until Helen and Jo saw the gift they had given Michael for his birthday, was still here!
Several people had shown me information about an exhibition at Gillman Barracks called Railtrack Songmaps, a multimedia visual art installation. It was created by Jean Tay to document and investigate development in the area near The Rail Corridor and Tanglin Halt, which is populated by more than 100 species of birds. The installation was rather underwhelming and not quite what i was expecting but we did see some unusual sights and the Barracks is an interesting area.

Gillman Barracks is located on the site of a former military camp named after the late General Sir Webb Gillman, a well-known British army officer. Set up in 1936 to accommodate the expansion of the British infantry in Singapore, the camp consists of 14 buildings that were taken over by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in August 1971 as part of the withdrawal of the British military from Singapore. After the SAF vacated the camp in the 1990s, the buildings were used for commercial purposes and the site was renamed Gillman Village in 1996. The site reverted to its original name, Gillman Barracks, in 2010 and was re-developed and launched in September 2012 as a contemporary art centre.

Fortunately our afternoon was not completely wasted as one of the other galleries had an exhibition by Steve McCurry. Best known for his evocative color images, the American photographer specially selected fifty-three photographs for this exhibition, including images from Afghanistan, Burma, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Turkey, Tibet and Sri Lanka, as well as a large body of work from India. The images, many of which have become modern icons, span more than thirty years of his career.

Photos by Steve McCurry

We followed up with Cate Blanchett's last movie Çarol'. Despite a slow start it was a very thought provoking story.  In typical Singapore fashion by the time the movie was over we were all half frozen.

Week 2

My niece, Anna was passing through on Thursday, after having a holiday with Elizabeth in Hong Kong so, as it was a working day for some of us, Maria cooked up a delicious vegan lunch.
After work the whiskey drinkers gathered at Rio Vista for a tasting to check that the duty free Hibiki Michael had purchased was up to standard...I think it passed.

Friday got off to a slow start but Michael was very happy to find a very helpful Starhub employee, who actually saved us some money without any hassles at all! We followed this happy event with lunch at Marche which is always on Michael's "must do List'while in Singapore.
As Syd Pink had celebrated a birthday this week a large group of us convened at Wine Connections at Robinson Quay on Sunday evening to help him celebrate. Peter, in his usual fashion, had penned new lyrics for 'Lily the Pink' and they were much appreciated by all...although the surrounding locals chose to ignore the rowdy group of Angmos!
Over the weekend while I was working hard, Michael did some experimenting with his new lens, capturing some local sights.

After a pleasant walk from Labrador to Vivo city on Monday Michael was very disappointed to discover at lunch that despite his Thunder Tea rice still being advertised it was "cannot lah".

Eric had been promising us a Spanish Night so tonight was the night. He cooked up an amazing amount of paella which we washed down with sangria, finishing off with Maria's Spanish creme caramel. Libby also showed off some of her recently acquired skills showing us all how to look like berber women while Michael turned into a 'Roger' with his camera!

Michael and I decided we had better do something cultural while he was here so we spent Tuesday afternoon at the Treasures of the World from the British Museum exhibition at the National Gallery.  The exhibition included the “unlucky mummy” falsely rumoured to have sunk the Titanic, gold jewellery from ancient Mesopotamian graves and a magical transformation mask from the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America.

There were relics from ancient civilisations and treasures spanning Africa, Oceania and the Middle East, as well as Europe, Asia and the Americas.  Closer to home, the exhibition also included items from the personal collection of Sir Stamford Raffles, such as a Javanese mask and a kris and scabbard dating back to the early 19th century. 

After such a cultural afternoon we met Robert and Maria at Telok Ayer and enjoy another meal at the Kasbah.

 Peter was feeling sorry that Michael had missed out on his Thunder Tea Rice so they met up at Lau Pasat for dinner while I was at work and he was able to satisfy that craving. By the time I arrived home they were fiishing off the last of Michael's Hibiki.
After lunch in Kovan, followed by afternoon tea in Hougang I farewelled Michael to go to work while he went home to do his final packing.

2016 Kicks Off

After an uneventful flight to Singapore we took a wander up to the recently opened Fairprice/Hawkers Centre where we decided it was probably time to have some dinner. This may have been a mistake as Michael spent most of the next day in bed! By about 4 he was ready to get up, for the third time, and we made our way down to the Smiths for a catch up drink. The plan had been to go to the new Nepalese restaurant but as Michael's tummy was a bit delicate we opted for Saturday's Bar with western style food and a relatively early night.
 My roomie, Helen arrived back in the early hours of Thursday morning and after a short sleep was up and about waiting for the removalists to arrive. By lunch time she had cleared her belongings and the room was ready for the next arrival. By the evening we were both ready to make our way to Sque Bar by Clark Quay where we celebrated the arrival of the New Year with colleagues from MAE. The staff handed out party blowers and whistles so the noise began well before the witching hour!

After a slow start on Friday we welcomed my new room-mate Pip who had arrived during the night. In the afternoon we introduced her, and Robert and Maria to Bidadari, an area frequented by many migratory birds. The site used to be the Istana residence of one of the wives of Johore Sultan Abubakar's. Unfortunately by the time I leave Singapore it will be a building site as it is to be redeveloped for residential use. We didnt see too many birds, perhaps they were sleeping off NYE excesses but I did see the Common Hill-myna, which despite its name is not all that common.

Work resumed for me on Saturday morning and it was great to welcome two new staff members, a young couple from Canada. They seem to be very positive and I am looking forward to a great year. Michael spent part of his day wandering the SimLim centre and came home with a new lens for his camera. Thanks to the contributions for Birthday/Christmas it was not as expensive as it could have been. By Sunday night it felt as though we had never been away and it was good to catch up with many of our old friends at Penny Black, where we also toasted our 35th Wedding Anniversary.

Our first walk of the year was the Botanic Gardens/Dempsey Hill route. It was great to see some new faces in the group and it gave Michael the opportunity to try out his new lens. He was especially pleased with the shot of the flower!

After an afternoon rest we caught up with June, Peter, Libby and Eric at Nectar and Vines before moving on to the Godhuli Sanjh, the Nepalese Restaurant we had intended to visit last week. Previously we had often eaten at another Nepalese restaurant called Everest Kitchen and one of the owners has gone in to this new venture. The walls are adorned with pictures from MAE treks, including some from our trek to Annapurna in 2013. Michael and I are actually in some of the group photos...who would have thought that we would ever appear on the walls of a restaurant in Singapore.

After a quietish day on Tuesday we met Jo and Helen, along with Pip at Telok Ayer an area near Chinatown which Michael had not previously visited. Helen and Jo had a little birthday presentation for Michael  and Jo had written him a little poem about the re-appearance of the Órnum' bird. Jo was suitable dressed in her chicken hat and managed to turn a few heads! 
We introduced Michael to the Kazbar, a middle Eastern Restaurant which serves delicious food and which he decided was his new favourite place in Singapore.

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