Missing Teeth, Lanterns and Lightening

Well, after several weeks of progressively imcreasing wobbliness, Hannah's first tooth finally fell out. The Singaporean tooth fairy was suitably generous for a first tooth and Adam surprised us the following morning with monetary awareness by trying to work out if $3 was worth more or less than the 2 Euros he got for his first tooth (it fell out in Greece, so the Greek toothfairy paid in Euros, naturally). Fortunately, the value was similar enough that he was suitably pacified.

This was quickly followed a few days later by the second one, so now both bottom middle teeth are missing and the new ones are already on their way up.

Last Saturday night we headed off (slightly toothlessly in Hannah's case) to the Chinese Gardens to see the annual lantern display. We thought this would be a half hour walk around the gardens just after dark then back home, but it turned out to be a bigger event than we'd realised.

Not only were there numerous huge lantern displays, some traditional lifesize scenes, others more closely based around the Hello Kitty characters (being the sponsor for the event), but there were jugglers, acrobats and a gymnastic lady whose joints had no sense of decency about when to stop bending. The children were fascinated seeing it all so close, especially Hannah. There was Chinese Opera (another of those tastes I feel we're unlikely to acquire), Chinese dragons, a short firework display and a small fun fair.

The highlight for the children was the fun fair, where they climbed inside a huge clear plastic ball like a giant beach ball which was then zipped up and pumped full of air before being pushed onto an enormous padding pool with lots of others. By throwing themselves around inside, they manouvered it around the pool bumping into others and generally having a fantastic time. It was certainly an usual but popular form of entertainment.

And the lightening? Well, this morning we were woken early by heavy rain and rumbling thunder. As we got up, the rain got heavier still and, unusually, the monsoon drains flooded across the road as we found ourselves right in the heart of the thunderstorm.

Amazingly, in the space of about 5 minutes, we actually saw two buildings within 150m of us get struck by lighting. Seeing the forked lightening so close and the sparks flying off the lightening conductors was really quite exciting, but did nothing for our enthusiasm to go out in it to catch the school bus. Fortunately, the worst lightening was over 15 minutes later when it was time to leave.

Later, the rain slowed down, the flooding disappeared as if by magic and within half an hour of the rain stopping, the sun was out and the place drying up as if it had never happened. Unfortunately, we didn't quite catch a photo of the lightening.

The Mid Autumn Festival

With the ghosts all now safely back in heaven and hell and the children back at school, we're into the Mid Autumn Festival. To celebrate all the above, I took a tour around China Town to learn about the area and festivals just finishing/starting.

Our guide was Geraldene, who is quite simply the best tour guide in Singapore and she is a walking encyclopedia.

This was my second tour with her, the last being tour of Black and White colonial houses on which we got to go inside 4 houses, plus we received a constant and often entertaining stream of every kind of information along the way. Meanwhile my friend, Pippa, and I, muttered about the furniture and mosquitos etc (it helped us cope with the fact that we were never going to live in one these beautiful places).

This time, we walked all over China Town, learning the history of the area, people, architecture and the culture. We learned that in Chinese culture, on death everyone goes to hell. Here, you go to a court where your earthly crimes and sins are listed for you and a fine given out. On payment, you get to go to heaven. To ensure that their deceased relatives can pay their fines, the locals burn special paper money (Hell Money) and in case they're already in heaven, they also burn Heaven Money to ensure they can live comfortably until reincarnated later on.

We visited a range of shops, chinese pharmacies (more sea slugs, but dead this time), pawn shops etc, and also learned about the mid autumn festival. There is an ancient story of course, but it is celebrated when the moon seems to be at its largest, so all things round and moonlike are popular. Mooncakes are made and consumed and despite being of numerous flavours (lotus paste, red bean paste etc), they're an acquired taste that we haven't yet acquired and, I suspect, never will.

Our condo management held a Mid Autumn Festival Party, so, we went along. We didn't eat first as we saw them laying out lots of food. There were various competitions for the children, including a national dress competition. As us Brits are a bit short of a national dress we only observed. Having a large number of Japanese here, the place was a sea of gorgeous little girls in kimonos. (Hannah says that next year she is going to change nationality to become Spanish and wear her Flamenco dress).

After some very good displays of Japanese dancing by both children and adults, it was onto the "pomelo peeling competition" - a team event for children. For anyone who isn't familiar with the pomelo, it is a large citrus fruit fairly similar to a grapefruit but about twice the size. The skin is really thick, as is the pith and skin of each segment, but if you can be bothered to get at what is inside, they are very tasty.



The pomelo skins were slit by a knife to give the groups of kids a place to start, then the rules were that they had to peel them (removing as much pith etc as possible) and arrange them on the plate, within a time of 5 minutes. As frantic peeling took began, we checked out the food. It was pomelo - nice, but not filling, cold potatoes and, yes, mooncake. We really should have eaten first!



Judging followed and marks were awarded for peeling skills, beautifully arranged segments and extra marks for having a clean table. Then, following the judging of the latern making competition and just before the lantern parade (which nobody saw because they went round the outside of the condo grounds) it was the grand finale. Now there are some things that have to be seen to be fully appreciated, and this was definitely one. It was billed and the floating of the laterns across the pool.



In the event, an elderly man got into the pool and assumed a floating position. He was then handed a stick with two lighted lanterns on it. He then proceeded, with this free hand, to propel himself feet first around our end of the pool. I have included a photo because a description can never do a sight like that justice.



At least this provided an explanation, as, over the course of the previous two weeks, we'd all seen him floating around the pool, totally straight and rigid, just one hand propelling him along feet first carrying an empty stick. Finally we understood the reason for this new and unusual swimming style.

Pulau Rawa and back to school

Following the shoe shopping debacle, just before school began, we headed off for a final short break.

We booked 3 nights on a Malaysian Island called Palau Rawa - a tiny, idyllic place with just the one resort, rain forest in the middle, rocky ciffs on one side and a talcum powder, white sand beach along the other.

We travelled by mini bus, organised by the resort, across Singapore and over the checkpoint and bridge to Malaysia. We were then driven for a couple of hours up to the small port of Mersing, from where we took a 20 minute boat ride to Rawa. Our driver on the way up spoke excellent English and appointed himself as our guide. What we now don't know about palm oil, rubber plantations and the historical buildings and places of interest between the Singapore border and Mersing probably isn't worth knowing. After a 20 minute boat trip from the mainland, we finally arrived in time for lunch.

Some time ago, we had bought the children snorkels and masks and they had been very happy practicing in the swimming pool. On our first afternoon, we just had a little go around the front of the reef (just off the beach). Hannah got water in her mask and refused to clear it the way she has been shown, so swam back to the beach. She refused to join in, so wouldn't look at fish and didn't get to see anything, meanwhile Adam had terrific time. However, we were later told that some small dark fish were very territorial and would try and chase us away and could nip.

Day two and with the children wearing life jackets, Hannah decided she could clear her mask after all, so as not to miss the excitement and headed out over the reef. Adam, meanwhile, was having a major wobble about the prospect of being nipped by a territorial fish. The fish in question all lived along the front of the reef, so we had to swim past them to get out to see the other coral and fish. As the tide went out and we got closer to the reef and fish, we became increasingly aware of the threat as they confronted us menacingly (albeit that they were no more than 4 inches long) only inches from our masks.

It took a while, but finally both children were snorkelling confidently and happily and a great time was had by all. They were so excited we could hear them shrieking and talking into their snorkels when they saw something new. With lots of coral and about 25 or so species of fish, they felt as if they were swimming in an aquarium.

When the tide went right out, the top of the reef was exposed. It made a very impressive rock pool when wading around the beach front - if you didn't mind wading with the crabs and foot long sea slugs. Personally, I preferred to stay on the beach and observe the sea life from above when the tide was in.

Our little chalet was basic but clean and comfortable ane was on stilts, hanging out over the rocks and sea. From the veranda, we watched a huge shoal of thousands of tiny fish that lived underneath. We also saw their numbers start to diminish slightly, courtesy of the local cormorant.

After 3 days of snorkelling, sand castles, a few games of table tennis and paddling round the island in a canoe, it was time to head home. This in itself was quite an adventure. The little bits of rain we had experienced whilst on Rawa were a full blown monsoon on the mainland, causing burst river banks and flooded roads. Some highly creative driving by our driver down the outsides of traffic jams speeded up our progress though.

Term time is now whizzing by - and Adam and Hannah have both settled into their new classes with their new teachers. Hannah is thrilled that she can now do ECAs (extra-curricular activities) and is doing football (long story, she wanted gymnastics) and Scottish dancing, while Adam has joined the choir and is doing basket ball.

After 8 weeks off and with lots more homework this year, they're feeling pretty tired already. I have to say, we're feeling it too, being back to those 6.45am starts. It's most uncivilised!