Comfort food...

I've been feeling a bit sad these last few days, what with missing my girlfriend's 40th birthday and all the ensuing festivities. So, to cheer me up, I met Mr W for lunch yesterday and we had the most delicious Thai food. As you can see from the picture below, Mr W was a little more adventurous than me...


He ate what Betsy refers to with a look of horror on her face as "creatures"!

Afterwards, I treated myself to a long overdue eyebrow threading. Whilst I was there, the therapist suggested that I might like to have my upper lip done as well!! Foolishly I agreed, but never again - it was VERY painful and resulted in a slightly swollen upper lip. It's moustaches all the way from now on! xx

Half term fun - part two

As promised, here are some pictures (a bit grainy I'm afraid - we couldn't use flash) from our visit to The Night Safari.


For those of you who haven't been, the only thing between you and the animals are ditches and banks, no cages or bars. In the half light, you really do feel like you're deep in the rainforest. If the truth be told, I thought it was a little eerie.


We boarded the open sided tram with eager anticipation, Mr W and I sitting on the outer edges at the girls' insistence. As we got further and further in, Betsy slid closer and closer to me, gripping my bag (seemingly the only thing separating us from the lions and tigers) with renewed tension the further we went. We saw giraffes, elephants, hippos, rhinos and may other animals too numerous to mention. Some, such as the deer and tapir, were within touching distance of us as we went by on our tram. It really was brilliant.


Having unnerved poor old Betsy by this point, we went to a Creatures of the Night Show

in the amphitheatre, which was a little contrived, but enjoyable all the same. The girls loved it. Just one word of caution though - choose where you sit carefully, you never know what might be under your seat!

We didn't quite get our timings right this time as it took a surprisingly long time to get there, so we didn't manage to fit in any of the trails. Next time however, I think we'll get there earlier, wearing attire more suitable to exploring a rainforest (shorts probably aren't the best thing) and perhaps go on the Leopard Trail as well.

Have a good week xx

Half term fun - part one

Sorry I've been away so long. It's just that the girls are on half term hols, and Mr W has also taken the week off, so I'm finding it hard to find time to fit everything in. Not to mention that I'm still floundering a little with blog technology, being the novice that I am, so everything takes a lot longer than I suspect (and hope) it should!

So, where to start. On the home front, things are starting to look much more civilised. All the boxes have now been unpacked, several things have been sent off to be recycled elsewhere and Mr W has put up some pictures so it really is starting to feel like our home, although I still can't quite believe that we actually live in Singapore. This time last year, the possibility hadn't even crossed my radar, but I digress.

We've managed to pack lots of interesting things into our week off as well as unpacking. Obviously, there's been lots of swimming for everyone, in fact there's still a mad dash to see who can be first in. We've also had more ice skating, cycle rides along the East Coast (the view's not quite like Salcombe)...



yummy meals out...



a trip to Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East. No pictures I'm afraid, because we were all too wet, but brilliant fun, definitely worth a visit.

And we continue to enjoy the Chinese New Year celebrations. We went out for supper at The Esplanade, where we had wonderful views from the city...



up to the Singapore Flyer...


followed by a trip to the floating platform that is River Hongboa...


that seemed to go from the sublime...




to the ridiculous...


and just got better...


and better (this one's a sugar lamp made out of several kilograms of sugar)


and more...



and more colourful...




I think I'll tell you all about our trip to the the Night Safari on Monday, so until then, have a wonderful weekend. xx

Gong xi fa cai

Today is both St Valentine's day and the first day of the lunar Chinese new year, which this year is the year of the tiger. We went to China Town a couple of weeks ago to pickup some decorations and took lots of photos...






This being our first experience of the new year in Singapore, we're still very much learning things as we go along. The girls and I watched lion dancing at their school last week which was amazing.



Yesterday, a very kind neighbour gave us a box of oranges as a symbol of wealth & prosperity. Then, last night we celebrated with a feast of bbq food at the apartment of some friends. The girls ran around with all the other children, and had sparklers at the end of the evening (funny to think that normally they're all wrapped up in their winter woollies to celebrate Guy Fawkes Night when the sparklers are out).

This morning, the girls woke up to find red envelopes filled with money under their pillows, which are traditionally tokens of good luck and wealth, whilst they exchanged oranges with us. And tonight, we're going to have our first roast chicken since we arrived...I know it's not traditional Chinese food, but we're very much looking forward to it all the same!

Gong xi fa cai one and all x

Singapore slings...

Just wanted to pop by to say that I've finally made it to the Long Bar at Raffles for a Singapore Sling. The verdict? Very sweet and a little pricey, but it had to be done, didn't it?

On a distinctly more mundane note, I know we must be starting to feel settled here from the amount of milk we're consuming - now where's the milkman when you need him...?

See you soon x

Entertaining friends...

Our first proper weekend in our apartment has been jam packed with a mixture of friends. Saturday saw Pickle go sticker shopping with friends from school (and a nice collection of goodies she came back with too), whilst the rest of us went food shopping . Not quite as exciting, but we did manage to track down some shreddies for Betsy, who was delighted. And I came back with an orange prosperity tree to celebrate Chinese New Year.


Sunday held much excitement, kicking off with the arrival of friends from Bali. We haven't seen them for just over a year, and as the girls ran in to each others arms, it was hard not to have a tear in your eye (needless to say, I had to rummage around in my bag for my sunnies)! The girls all went ice skating together, whilst the adults watched and had a catchup. Air temperature rink side was pleasantly cool. I needed a cardigan for the second time since we arrived - a bit like a cool summers day in England - lovely.



Come the afternoon, we all piled into a couple of taxis and went to the Botanic Gardens for an outdoor concert. We picnicked and listened to lovely music in the most beautiful of settings whilst the children scampered around with friends from school.


A lovely way to finish a wonderful weekend, and we managed to miss the rain (despite the taxi driver's predictions)!

Enjoy your week x

Coming up for air...

Gosh, well, what can I say? More than 250 boxes were delivered on Friday, and I probably have a little less than 50 left to open now. We've gone from this...


to this...


in 6 days, which I think is pretty impressive. Needless to say, we're all exhausted (some more than others, naming no names Mr W) but we all seem to have a smile back on our faces, which is lovely to see.

And it's not all been hardwork. We managed to squeeze in a barbeque with friends on Sunday, which was lovely - delicious food and yummy puddings. And, of course, having lived in England up until now, it was the first one we've had in January. Pickle and I also managed to squeeze in a school trip to the National Museum of Singapore with her school to see a brilliant exhibition Quest for 'Immortality - The World of Ancient Egypt'. I'd definitely recommend it.

Back to unpacking tomorrow, after a quick trip to buy yet more emergency storage so that I have somewhere to put everything... happy days!

Have a good rest of week x