Life gets busy and time for blogging disappears

Hello,

I know, I know, my blog has fallen by the wayside, but I have just been sooooo busy (lying by the pool) and just haven't had a chance.

Actually we have been a bit busy. For the last month we have had hubby's mum (Nana) here, which has been both good and exhausting. Always tiring showing someone around, but at the same time rather envigorating. It is also nice to explore and share this wonderful city with someone who hasn't been here for about 36 years. It's changed quite a bit. To be honest I think that the modernity of the city was rather lost on Nana. But we found it impressive all over again and realised hosw much we enjoy it here.

Why is it that people forget to bring good walking shoes when they travel? The best way to see Singapore is by foot, but we couldn't do much walking and true exploring until a new pair of decent walking shoes were purchased. So in the final week of Nana's stay we had to cramm quite a bit in.

There was the complusary visits to Chinatown, where much shopping was done and of course dinner at Maxwell food court, which has to be a highlight for us. Hubby and I are suckers for a good nosh up at the local food courts. Nana enjoyed it, I think.............

We also did the walk around Clarke Quay down to Marina Bay Sands, which is where the big new casino is. This place is really mad. I have to say. The architecture is just spacey, and there is something new being created all the time. It really is a bit more like urban art than boring old buildings.

Marina Bay Sands - Casino, hotel and exclusive shopping centre

The Durian.

Nana was also required to join us on a trip to Phuket for a week. It were bliss. We rented a villa and it felt like we were in the country. The occasional sewerage waft was testament to that. They had these wonderful upright bikes with baskets on the front which we used to go to the beach, which was about 15 mins ride away. Max fitted in the basket just right. Responsible parenting at it's best.
We were near Layan beach which for the most part ws totally deserted. Perfect. It had a little wave which was just enough to make swimming fun. It reminded me how much I love the sea. We really did'nt spend enough time on the beach. Next time I am not leaving it. The lure of shopping got the better of us.

Layan Beach

Coconut Beach

So, a car was hired and off to explore the more populated areas. Kamala beach and Patong beach are lovely, but over crowded. Not necessarily with people, but with sun loungers and umbrellas. Boats and other watersports cluttered up the ocean, and if this is your perfect holiday then, you would be in heaven.

Patong the shopping was fun. The first day was the best. We felt like we had landed in shopping paradise. Wandering the markets and bartering is exhilerating, helped along with a beer or two at lunch. We ventured back twice more, but it wasn't the same. It felt a bit forced by that point. 



We were there in the evening and did take a walk down the notorious sex district. It was a buzz. Not good, not bad just thrumming. We got caught in a torrential downpour and had to find a bar to wait out the rain. Pina colada's were required and my son was fawned over by the "ladies".

Our son did get to feed and pat an elephant which were huge highlights for him. He is even talking about wanting to be an Elephant when he grows up. We is only 2!

Ok, I have spent much longer then I anticipated writing this, actually I was trying to insert some photo's but it doesn't seem to want to play, so I'll attach them instead.

Sorry for the abrupt end to this, but there are things I need to be doing.

Hope everyone is well and in a festive mood?

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. 

It's time to travel

One of the bonuses of coming to live in Singapore is the access to south east Asia. We have been here 6 months, geesh time flies, and haven't dared leave the island. Well, hubby has been to Malaysia for bike rides, but that's not fun. Ok, not my type of fun.

When I was 9 years old I visited Singapore and Malaysia with my Mum and some of her friends. One of the places I remember visiting the most was Tioman Island. I think this was partly because I had to keep a daily journal and on Tioman I wrote a story about the Pumpkin eaters. What the? I know.

They were tiny jellyfish that had a dark spot in the middle. A bit like a seed. Yep, I still have no idea why they were called Pumpkin eaters or why this particular story stuck in my mind. But it has and it did.

As an aside, the person who corrected my journal daily (the point of the exercise was to keep my spelling and grammar up as we were travelling for an extensive period of time), was American. This has confused me no end as most of my schooling was conducted in Australia or New Zealand where they follow the Queen's own. I was always getting bad results from spelling tests and it wasn't until I was much older that I realised there was a difference, that it started to make sense for me.

So where was I?

Huh, that's right. It's time to go a hunting. Pumpkin eaters here I come. I have talked hubby and my son, the latter has very little choice, into going up to Tioman for the weekend. Ok, so I don't have anything booked and will be getting onto that after I have finished gossing to you, but I am excited. I love a good weekend away. And to the beach, lovely.

I wonder if the monkey is still there that bit me (true story) about 25 years ago? I'm sure I don't really need to re-visit that adventure.

Now, just to make sure you are feeling me, I have 'borrowed' a couple of photo's off the net. Well, I don't have my own as we haven't been yet!