Mid-term dinner, movies and PTM

June took the role of walk leader this week as we visited Bukit Brown Cemetery. She does volunteer guiding at the Peranakan Museum in her time off and is a great explorer. She has done several walks through the cemetery with locals so had insights and information that she was very happy to share. The grave on the top left below, is Lee Kwan Yu's grandfather. Despite the fact that an expressway is being built through the middle of the cemetery that are still large shady areas with the graves intact.
 
After a freshen up and a short nap it was time to go out for the mid-term dinner/drinks at District 10. Again it was the usual crew and fortunately the bill was about 2/3 of last time I was here even taking in to account that Kathy and I paid for Pip to celebrate her birthday.

On Tuesday morning I took a stroll along the Park connector and through Punggol Park before gathering with some colleagues at the Smith's residence to watch a movie. During the March break Helen and Jo visited Luang Prubang and while there saw the film Chang at an open air showing in a hotel garden. Helen was quite taken with it and bought a copy. Although originally a silent film a musical score has been added using a local orchestra.

Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927) is a film about a poor farmer in Issan (Northeastern 
Thailand) and his daily struggle for survival in the jungle, the film was directed by Merian C.Cooper and Ernest B.Schoedsack. They assembled a fictional family, complete with a pet gibbon. They built a solitary house in the jungle to manufacture a drama that no Lao would actually risk, life away from other villagers. They also manufactured close-action situations with tigers and elephants to thrill audiences. It was quite interesting and must have been pretty adventurous stuff for its time. After the movie we enjoyed a meal at the local hawkers.
The rest of the week passed uneventfully as work was reasonably busy with Parent Teacher Meetings, all of which went smoothly.
We celebrated Mother's Day at Little Vietnam at Payer Lebar with the usual crew, plus visitors of the Smiths from NSW central Coast.

Mother's Day toast.