National Day

We had a bit of a dilemma today..what to do?
Do we stay home and watch the Olympics or do we get on our bikes and enjoy a ride. The bikes won out and we cycled down to Sembawang Park to enjoy some beach and park. The day was hot, how unusual.
We found lots of people utilising the park. There were tents every where and there were people everywhere as well. Large groups of people enjoying their time together. It was wonderful to see all ages and races there on such a lovely day.
This little fella was trying to get his kite flying but unfortunately there wasn't enough wind but he seemed to be having fun doing it.
In the background are some tents and the beach is beyond them. People were swimming and fishing and having fun all at the same time and place.
These young children were organising here drinks. They had about 5 plastic bags filled with drink and were sharing it around.

We are now home and have enjoyed murtabak and prata from the local hawker centre at the big cost of $12 and it was more than enough to feed us both. The National Day Parade is on TV so we are watching that until it is over and then it will be back to the Olympics.

Walk from Raffles to Chinatown

After a yummy lunch with Chris and Juliet we decided to go into Chinatown. We caught the train and got off at Dhoby Ghaut, intending to cross the platform to catch the purple line but instead got off at Raffles so we walked across the roads and around some buildings on our way to Chinatown. These are some of the scenes we saw.
While we walking we found this delightful park and it had some amazing flowers and views of buildings. The temple is one of the oldest temples in Singapore. This road has a shrine, temple and church within walking distance of each other. The next photo shows the shrine building (1835), old shop houses and the new buildings in the background. This photo of the flower was so unexpected. Everything else in the park was green leaves.Statues of a typical Chinese family in the late 1800's to early 1930's depicting a normal family outing. This are use to be water front but has been reclaimed.
We finally found ourselves in Tanjong Pagar and there happened to be a little Irish Bar at the top of the hill. So of course we had to stop for a drink. We were surprised afterwards to find that one of the streets was bar after bar. After talking at work we found out that it is one of the rougher areas to be in.




While waiting for the train at Yishun we took this picture of the flag. Its is Singapore's 43rd birthday and there are signs and flags everywhere.

BBQ at Desaru

We decided to bbq at 150 (about $70) ringgit for the four of us and we couldn't eat it all. We had lamb chops, steak, prawn kebabs, fried rice, bread, and still more food. We could look out onto the beach and look back at the pool. It was such a lovely way to finish the evening.



Relaxing down at the beach.

I took the plunge and put myself under the waterfall and enjoyed it...don't die of shock...I actually swim quite a bit now and am even putting my head under the water.

Desaru

We set out for a weekend with our kiwi mates Chris and Juliette for a relaxing weekend in Desaru. This is a little place just up the coast from us but on the Malaysian coast. It is a short ferry ride. To get there you book your accommodation and they provide you with a ticket for the ferry ride (normally)...we booked the night before so the ferry ride was non existent... we knew we had to catch the ferry from Changi and went to the ferry terminal at Changi Point. After asking the guy - he assured us we were in the right place so we sat down to wait. the ferry was to leave at 10 am. As the time began to get near to 11 am we asked again but were told that this one only goes to some other jetty that we didn't think we wanted so we left there and caught another taxi to another ferry terminal - unfortunately this one also was the wrong terminal - we finally found the right terminal - Changi Ferry Terminal - only to be told that the next ferry was due to leave at 5 pm that night (some 6 hours away). We went back to Changi Village and had a lunch at the local hawker centre and then went back to the first one to negotiate a ferry ride across in a bumboat. Wayne is sitting in the corner of the bumboat. It takes a maximum of 12 people and took us an hour to get across the waters.
Chris and Juliette settled outside and began reading their books. The day was lovely and we were pleased to be finally on our way. We felt we had already had an adventure before we even got to Desaru.
Looking back at Changi Point Ferry Terminal.
We passed this boat on our way...notice all the tires around the boat - it looks like rough weather but it was really quite calm.
Finally at our hotel, only to find that they had given us rooms with single beds....so we asked for a change of room...this was done and the view was much nicer.





The walk on the beach was just wonderful and beautiful...so worth the trip. We lazed around for the best part of the afternoon, having a couple of cocktails by the pool and swimming to get cooled off.

We ahd dinner at the local restuarant...Waynes came out with what looked like a dunces hat on and underneath was the rice. The meal cosst us 136 ringit...which is about $70...and that was for the four of us.

We went for a ride on a boat to see fireflies, they were interesting and amazing. We thought they were going to bigger than what they are but were just the size of a mosquito.

We decided this last Tuesday to go for a long walk frim McRitchie through to Bukit Timah...the walk was beautiful, meandering past a resovoir, alongside it and furhter on to Bukit Timah McDonalds for a well earned meal and drink and air-conditioning
Wayne is showing where we started our walk and looking like it was going to be a hot day.
As we went past a log in the water there were a couple of turtles watching us.
Along the way we saw this tree and its berries grow on the trunk. Don't know what it is called but it did look rather strange.
These bugs are acutally black with yellow spots and are quite pretty. The bugs are on what at home we call wood ear.

It is hard to see but there is a woodpecker on this stree trunk...we could hear the knocking from quite a long way away. It does have a yellow stripe on its head but the light wasn't very good for showing what the bird actually looks like. We also saw a drongo bird...we have been looking for one for ages...it has long tail feathers that hang down and is black. I just love its name.


Waynes hands are smaller than the vine he is holding.


We are halfway though the walk and it was lunch time. We sat on a seat and ate a yummy sandwich and a drink of water while I phoned my lovely sister for a chat.
A centipede walked along the path.
These two photos are of some colorful fungi we saw on the way.

The beautiful butterfly was resting...you have no idea how many photos wa both took to get the wings open.
We noticed what looked like a pipeline going across our path, upon closer inspection we found it was a trail of either ants or termites.








And look at this for a grasshopper.


On the Bukit Timah side we walked along a Durian Loop and came across a number of people out looking for Durians...we find it hard to understand why they eat this fruit, it smells disgusting and it has prickles on the outside. The fruit only falls at night time so all were looking for the fallen fruit. We understand that it is the only fruit that is an offensive weapon.

A weekend with Sue

Sue bused down from KL for a weekend with us and it was great to have a good catch up with her.One of the things we did was go on the flyer...and yes both Sue and I did even although we thought the height was going to be a problem but it actually was great fun and we had an amazing view of Singapore. This is down the bottom of the flyer in a purpose built rainforest.


















This is before we took off and we were lucky enough to get a carriage by ourselves.










There were so many wires holding this flyer together and it amazed us just how many and the thickness.
28 people fit into these capsules and this one is at the height of the arc.





















Sue is sitting in the middle of the capsule. She did get up and walk around a little.











This ride cost us $29.50 each. We came down and had dinner and a drink at a local eatery - Olearly's - and then took a bus home. The bus ride took 1 hour 37 minutes and costs us $1.58...good value for money...we saw parts of Singapore we had not seen before so that side was good. These bus seats do get rather hard though. .































Looking down on the mechanics in the middle of the flyer. Outstanding how this thing moves so slowly around allowing you to get such a slow half hour on the ride.







While waiting for the bus we looked back at the flyer and found it was lit up with beautiful lights