The real holiday

So, the All Blacks won. Congratulations! Should be good for the NZ psychie and NZ'ers everywhere. But that is all the comment I can make as I didn't watch the game. I had a much more adventurous weekend.

Saturday was 'D' day for my root canal, and I had to go to a whole 'nother country to get it done. Well I didn't have to but chose to. I had spoken to two girlfriends about it here and they were most distressed that I was going over to Malaysia by myself to have this done. I put on a brave face and said that I was just going to catch a taxi over and then back again, easy! What I was astonished by, was the fact that neither of them knew that there was a taxi service which did this. And that it was only $10 SGD per person in a shared taxi or $40 SGD for the whole cab, one way of course.

And it was that easy.

I went to Queen Street, near Bugis, which is where all the local buses and Taxi's leave from for Malaysia. 10 mins wait and off I go. It took an hour from getting in the taxi to the taxi depot in Jahor Bahru (JB). Easy as. The best bit for me was not having to get out of the Taxi and go through customs, then get back in the Taxi drive across the causeway, get out and go through Malaysian customs and then get back in the taxi and head into town. Which is how it goes if you do the trip in the bus. Yes, it is cheaper, around $3.00 one way, but it adds about 40 mins to the trip, if not more depending on the time of day.

Upon arriving in JB, I was promptly ripped off. No international travel is complete without being conned. I hadn't been to JB for about 10 years and while trying to get my bearings a taxi tout got me. 10 MYR (Malaysian Ringgit) to a shopping mall. Well, hell why not, I had no idea where I was. Turns out the mall was around the corner. If he had been on the meter it would have cost about 3 MYR, and yes they do use their meter. Oh, he just got me at a weak moment.

Shop I did. Well I wandered around the mall and tried on many clothes and shoes. But no go. But McDonalds was good for lunch.

I then ventured out just in time for a tropical downpour. Actually it was good timing, not that I knew this. I needed to be at the dentist in 30mins and thought I may as well find a taxi since there was no point in walking. Turns out that the dentist is in JB, but greater JB. About a 30min ride from central where I was.

Yay, made it.

Other than the tradition of taking my shoes off at the door, the clinic was fine. Clean, modern and everything I needed or I should say the dentist needed.

As I lay back in the chair, with the drill whining in my ear, I realised that I felt like I was on holiday. I had had a whole day without my son. This is the first time in over 2 years. It was liberating.

Since when did going to the dentist become relaxing and not nearly as fearsome as I remembered it to be. Lucky, I get to go back another 2 times.

The return trip was equally easy. I did have to get the receptionist at the dental clinic to tell the taxi where I was headed. It is hard to talk when half your face is numb. I was home about 8pm.

All in all it wasn't nearly as traumatic as I expected.

Spectacularly bad day

I wasn't going to write this one, but not much else has happened since, well quite a lot has and I am sure I will get sidetracked and write it all anyway. This could be a mammoth read, time waster.

I love Friday's. It's the day of the week that always makes me feel positive and brings promise. It's the day that I think is good for pancakes for breakfast or bacon and eggs. I am not saying that I make this all that often on a Friday but sometimes I am inspired to do so. It's a good day for a treat. It's the end of the working week.

Last Friday was like all the others. Actually not really, and thank goodness for that.

I take my son to an ANZA playgroup on a Friday morning. They hold it at an indoor gym and it is a great place for the kids to run, climb and be active. It really is a bit hot for that outside here.


Couldn't find any pictures of Go Go Bambini, so I found you a map of it's location.


I enjoyed the playgroup initially and joined ANZA to meet other expats living here in Singapore. I hoped that it might help ease my transition. However I have found it sadly lacking........you know what? That's another blog all on it's own.


Playgroup was rather uneventful this week and I cam home felling rather disheartened. But that's ok as I had plans for the afternoon.


I have booked our first beach holiday since arriving here. Actually I think it may be our first beach holiday in about 3 years, and had to make the payments that afternoon. 


Being still new in Singapore, I still have to plan out my adventures so that I know where I am going and how to get there, especially with my son. If by myself I am much more likely to just rush out and take it as it comes, with the knowledge that if I get lost then I can catch a cab etc. But I have the leeway to muck around a bit. With my son, he has a limited tolernace for the buggy and if I let him walk then I have to leave about 3 hours before I have to be somewhere.


The other issue that we have to sort out is banking. Hubby joined us up with ANZ here as it was easy for us to get an account. What we didn't know is that it is classed as an overseas bank and they don't have NET's cards which work on the local network. NET's cards are like eftpos cards in NZ and Australia. So most things we do we pay for in cash. The other thing about ANZ is that they have a tie in with the other overseas banks but not with the local banks, which means there are limited ATM machines you can use.


Taking all of that into account I headed to Raffles Place, where I know there is an ANZ branch and then a short walk to Robinson Road to pay for the holiday. Mission accomplished.


I alight at Raffles Place and head to the ANZ. First obstacle was that they were under renovations. That's ok though as they have put an ATM machine just across the square. I find this machine. All going well. Only to find that the machine had temporarily run out of $50 notes (they don't have 20's here) and was only issuing $10 notes. How annoying since I want to withdraw $2000.00, but if that's the way it has to be so be it. Other wise I am going to have to get on the MRT and go to another station (where I know there is another machine), get the cash and then come back again and head to Robinson Road. I start with drawing. Only to be told that the maximum limit at this machine is $400 at this time. I KNOW that you can with draw up to $3000.00 per day here. I try to make multiple with drawals, but you know, these machines are hard to trick. Son starts screaming at this point as he wants out to run around and it is nearing 5 pm. I have to make payment by 5.30. 


There are a lot of banks around this area, but unless you know where they are it can be difficult to find them. Especially as I needed a specific type of bank.


Eventually I found a Maybank which I know takes my card. Cool. It is on Robinson Road, even better. To get to it, not so cool. There were roadworks on every corner and I had to use the MRT under pass. Which mean steps with a buggy. 


Off I trot. Get the money and then off to make payment and I still have about 20 mins. All good. Get to the travel agent. They are on the 8th floor and to get to the lift there is a flight of stairs. I mean 20 or so. With a buggy. I had no choice but to leave the buggy outside, unlocked, while we went to make the payment. My son used the climb to exercise his vocal chords. It was a bit like yelling in a public toilet.


Payment made. The lovely travel agent informed me that we could have got the same deal a bit cheaper had I gone to the Golden Mile (which is the place where all the buses sell their tickets from), I actually knew this but just wanted an easy, organised trip this time. Trying to get the confidence up about travelling with a toddler.


Got the tickets and got out. Buggy was still there. Crime rate is low here. I am not saying there isn't any, but on the whole it's a pretty trusting place.


Getting back to the MRT was where it all fell apart for me. I hoped that there was another entrance I could use to get underground and to the MRT because on the way over all the steps had been downwards, which meant going back was all upwards. I go to the entrance I had come out of and there was no way I could cross the roads. There were workers directing people underground and all the crossing where blocked off. Helpfully, there was a sign at the entrance to the MRT letting me know that this was not an entrance for people in a wheel chair of with wheels and that for this service you had to cross the road and use the lifts over there. 


Yep. That did me. I love irony, but not at my expense, well just not all the time at my expense. So, while I was struggling up the stairs, with peak hour workers heading home, I lost my footing and found myself sitting on the ground. My son was fine in the buggy, but I was done. You know, just over it all. I had gone out to do a simple task and it wasn't meant to be.


It's moments like that, that remind you you are still new in a huge city and it really does take a while to figure out how it works and how easy it was in your previous city because you knew it.


Now, I am totally ready for the holiday. 

The next step

Now that I have conquered food shopping, actually I have probably just begun, but I have it under control for now.  Of course with food shopping comes eating.

To be honest all we have done since we arrived here is eat. There is so much variety here when it comes to food, and many different places to get it. There are hawker centers, restaurants, kopitiams (foodcourts) in malls, fast food chains. I am pretty sure that on nearly every corner there is some form of eating establishment.

We loved eating out for the first month. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Mainly because we enjoyed discovering our new environment, and also because we didn't have any cooking utensils in the kitchen. As much as we enjoyed it, I started craving salads and things cooked the way that I like them.

Hold on, how did I get sidetracked talking about food. One track mind.

What I was getting to in this blog was my need for exercise. Hubby has been very conscientious and has been making sure that he gets out every week for at least 1 bike ride, which in this heat is super nuts.

Today while my son was at play group I forced myself to go for a swim. It was so good.

See, no excuse.

The pool is literally on my front door step and I go swimming lots with my son, but I manage to ignore it for myself. Today that is changing. I threw myself in and made myself swim laps. Ok, they were widths, not lengths, but still that's a good start.

Tomorrow I will attempt to do it again, then the next day and the next. Until it becomes habitual. Well that's the plan, but I am sure I can be side tracked by something.

Today a moan........

After being for 5 months I have realised that I really need to sort out my wardrobe. Coming from a more temperate climate, I have very little clothing that is suitable for living in the tropics. Even my holiday togs, the ones that only ever saw the light of day when we left NZ for a holiday or I was brave enough to head to the indoor pool (don't let me get started on that), are giving up and need an overhaul.

Now that I cast my mind back a few years. Ok almost 20 years, I am not that old! Really. I have vague memories of moving back to NZ after having grown up in Australia and being very cold as we had no suitable clothing. I guess after living in a place for a long time on and off you adapt to the environment. Well it's time to do that again.

My first priority was my son. I sorted this before leaving NZ. It is easy to pick things up for him. He doesn't need to spend hours in the changing room trying things on.

Have you tried clothes shopping with a 2 year old? It is a nightmare. I still haven't discovered half my local mall yet. It's just not worth the trauma. Which brings me to my point. Yes, there is one.

I get between 10am and 12pm to myself Monday to Thursday. The perfect time to update my wardrobe, you would think. But you would be mistaken.

The only shops open at this time in my local mall are Fairprice (supermarket), parts of the Kopitiam (food court), Bread Talk (sells bready things) and Metro (department store). A coffee shop or two is open as well, but that's not what I am after.

I have two precious hours to shop until my heart is content and can't manage it. This is the shopping mecca, and yet totally unattainable, well for me, when I want to do it.

Most clothing shops will open between 10.30am and 11am. By which point I have lost my will to shop and am itching to come home and enjoy an hours peace and quiet before chaos reigns again. They will also be open long into the night.

Having moaned, I have found that most of the shops at Vivocity are open if I go there right after dropping my son off. This might be because it takes me 20 mins on the MRT and it is around 10.30 when I get there. Also the shops in Tanglin Mall are open at this time. I guess because it is a child focused mall and in an expat/tourist location.

I guess I have two options. Go and have a coffee and chill out and wait for the shops to open, or wait until hubby has come home in the evenings and head out then.

There is the 3rd option of having a live in helper, but that discussion is for another day.

Today I have spent my shopping time writing this instead. Oh well, the holey shorts will have to do for a bit longer.