A Chinese Wedding in Singapore

Some months ago, David bought home an envelope addressed to the family. I opened it and found a card that seemed to say HoHo HoHo on it. I asked what that was and he told me to turn it round. Ah, of course, now all was clear. It was something in Chinese writing. But what? It turned out to be an invitation to us all to the wedding of one of David's staff, Wyne, and his girlfriend Jan.


We'd known they were planning a wedding as they'd recently bought an apartment together. Here, if a couple get a place together, they can't live there out of wedlock indefinitely, but have to marry within 3 months. They had moved in and gone through an interesting set of rituals as Jan's mother is very traditional. No sooner had they cleaned the place from top to bottom that the mid autumn festival started and Jan's mother insisted they thrown rice all over the place amongst other rituals.

Finally the day of the wedding arrived. We had been invited to an evening event, a formal (and legal) ceremony with a dinner for about 200 guests. The children had been invited too, but after much deliberation, we decided not to take them as it was a Sunday night and wouldn't finish until after 10pm.

Wyne then invited us to the daytime events which he hoped the children would find fun and interesting, as they were missing out later.

This involved us arriving at Jan's parents house at 9am in the morning, when Wyne arrived with a group of close friends known as "the brothers". He arrived at the bride's parent's house to collect the bride but, as is the custom here, he has to prove himself to get in through the door. This involved performing a number of tasks set by Jan's close friends "the sisters".

On arrival, he offered a large and decorated red envelope (ang pow) of money to the bride's mother. This was taken in, then returned "not enough". Oranges were offered and then the sisters set various tasks that included drinking a cup of vinegar. This was all conducted with much hilarity and increased Ang Pow offerings and finally, after about 20 or 30 minutes he got into the house.


However, this was not the end as further tasks awaited him inside. These included eating a chili sandwich and some other offerings that didn't look too tasty, then he was given a test on Jan. Questions included asking her home phone number (which he failed miserably as he always calls her mobile) and then he was asked her favourite bra colour. He innocently claimed he wouldn't yet know that but one of the brothers said "bra colour? I think we need to discuss" and they went into a giggling huddle. Finally, he had to make a 15 word sentence that told Jan why he wanted to marry her. However, he then had to find the first letter of each word and place them in order - the letters were tiny macaroni letters and I think a number had been removed to make the task harder still! With "assistance" and ideas from the brothers, they finally put something together and after ascertaining which closed door Jan was behind, he said his sentence and the door was eventually opened.

Once they were united, everyone got in their cars and drove off to Wyne's place (30 minutes away) for a tea ceremony there, hosted by his parents. There were photos taken and as we had the only children there (this was a smaller event with about 30 people rather than 200), they were asked to sit on the bed. Apparently this helps with fertility. Adam was then asked to jump up and down and roll about on the bed which he duly did and was photographed - this is to assist the production of a son for them. Unfortunately, Hannah refused to do this solo for the photographer, so having a girl may now be harder for them!



Next was a traditional tea ceremony where the younger generation show respect to various members of the older generation and kneel down and pass them tea to drink. After this Jan changed out of her white dress and into a traditional red and gold chinese style dress. There was a small buffet and then it was all back in the cars and back to Jan's parents place for her family's tea ceremony and another buffet. The whole thing was over by about 2pm and various friends and family had kindly explained the proceedings to us, and expressed surprise that our traditions were so different. At this point, with the traditions done, Wyne and Jan were considered married, however they still needed to do the legal ceremony later.

That evening, we headed back to a far flung country club which turned out to be the wedding capital of Singapore. Numerous function rooms were hosting weddings and we finally found the right function room. We were checked off on the list and we put our wedding gift (an ang pow) into the box and were then let in and given a drink. David found the menu and read it out to me. I thought he was winding me up with some of it, except that I didn't think he would come up with "Braised Sea Cucumber with Fish Maw" or "Marinated Jelly Fish" etc.

We went to admire a spectacular wedding cake only to find it was cardboard. The tradition has come here and they even posed as if cutting it, but they are not big cake eaters, so they don't go to the trouble of a real one!


With everybody sitting down, the bride and groom finally came in and the legal ceremony was conducted, not dissimilar to a short registry office do (although instead of "I do" they both said "yes" which somehow sounded rather odd!).


After, the room was plunged into darkness and then loud, dramatic music began. The waiting staff came in with platters and as they walked to each table, lights lit up the way ahead. Finally all the staff and starters had arrived and the lights were back on. We could see again and the food was placed on a lazy susan on the table. It was, certainly beautifully presented, but below I've put in a photo of the menu. Just double click to enlarge it.



All I can say is that whilst some dishes were very nice, like the chicken. Jelly fish is akin to rubber bands and in an attempt to show willing, we both tried things that wouldn't normally be our first choice, and will probably never eat again! I'm so glad the pudding had ice-cream with it though, as I'm not sure I'd have managed much of that without.

Once the meal was finished, Wyne and Jan visited every table for photos and, in Wyne's case, some dubious offerings of drinks, and there were some toasts. The toast is "Yam Sing". Everyone starts a long, drawn out Yam then, suddenly, after 2 or 3 minutes, as if by some magic timing, there is a short Sing and glasses are drained. It went something like "Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaam Sing" and it sort of translates to bottoms up and after a few of these and yet another outfit for Jan, the wedding was over. The bride, groom and parents all made a reception line and greeted everyone on the way out and we filed out with the other guests.


We'd been at a table with the other office staff who had explained various points and been astonished at the differences we found to British weddings. These became apparent when we had no idea was to expect or what was going on at times. However, as the venue was so large, one guest at our table had gone to the wrong function room. She'd been photographed arriving and only when her name wasn't on the guest list as she waited to put her ang pow in the box, did it become apparent that she was at the wrong wedding! At least we didn't make that mistake!



It's certainly an event we won't forget in a hurry and it's always interesting, if slightly daunting at times, to get the opportunity to attend a local traditional event, so we are grateful to Wyne and Jan for inviting us and including us in their day.


This is a photo of the first of the Tea Ceremonies with Wyne, Jan and Wyne's parents.

Made in Taiwan

I think the title of of this entry is how most of us think about Taiwan. However, when I asked David if he had any overdue business trips that we could do in the October half term, he said Taiwan was top of his list.

Like Phuket, it had never been on my original list of must see destinations, but whilst in Borders, I browsed through a couple of travel books and was very surprised to see that it clearly had fabulous scenery and a good few places worth visiting. The more I read, the more interesting it became, so we booked our flights. A Taiwanese friend of Adam's at school was dispatched by his mother with a bunch of tourist brochures and information, so after lots of reading, we planned to spend our week there dividing our time between Taipei and an area of outstanding natural beauty on the east coast, The Taroko Gorge, where we planned to do some walking.

It was hard to know how to pack. David always remembered being hot there and the BBC weather forcast was showing temperatures much hotter than here. But shortly before we were due to go, a Super Typhoon that wreaked havoc in the Philippines parked itself in the sea between the two countries. We waited - should we go, or was it going to arrive in Taiwan when we did? It slowly downgraded itself to a tropical deperssion but didn't move much, so off we went.

The night before we left, David lost his mobile phone, so the first morning was spent trying to buy a local SIM card, so he could contact the office and clients. As the children hadn't learnt useful Mandarin sentences about mobile phones at school, this proved quite challenging - especially as we're not residents. We also found, on arrival, that I'd managed to forget to pack any pants or socks for Hannah. We did manage to do some sight seeing the first day, but spent much of it shopping. There's nothing like trying to find stuff in a city you don't know, when you don't speak the language. Hannah ended up with a couple of pairs of very expensive, designer pants and socks as, on day one, that was all we could find for kids.

We then headed off to the tourist information office at the main station to get train times and book our tickets to the Gorge. On arrival, the staff told us that the typhoon was causing torrential rain on that coast and that many trails in the gorge were closed to due land or mud slides or the risk of them. This didn't sound ideal hiking conditions, after some thought, we abandoned that plan. The TI staff kindly offer to call the hotel I'd already booked and cancel on our behalf. They even negotiated a discount on the cancellation fee for us!

Armed with yet more leaflets and our guide book, we then spent time trying to sort out an alternative destination for those 2 to 3 days. It felt like a return to our back-packing days, but we soon concluded that most places of interest that weren't in the east, would take several hours to get to and from and that there was more than enough in and around Taipei to keep us busy and give us a good variety. Adam was devastated as it meant we didn't go on the train, but when we saw reports of landslides in the local (English language) paper the following morning we felt we'd made the right decision.

The next day, the weather was still cool and mostly wet so we spent another morning shopping for warmer clothes for all of us. Sometimes nice items were made less appealing by oddly translated phrases on them, such as "Pink Poke" or, on a children's top "JUNIOR COWer"??? We also found, at a night market, a selection of cheaper pants and socks to add to Hannah's collection, although she hated the style of the pants has stated quite categorically that she will never, ever wear them again, because they look like boxer shorts!

We visited temples, night markets, museums, a former gold mining and now scenic tourist area, an area of hot springs and paddled in a river that was like a hot bath. The kids enjoyed several visits to a restaurant near the hotel where you choose your food and cook it in a pot of soup on your table. We caught an old, local branch line train (the Pingxi line) along a lovely wooded gorge and visited some waterfalls. As is a tradition in these particular villages, we set off a lantern after first writing our wishes on it. See the video clip of this event.

Sometimes, the highlights weren't what we expected - in a Ceramics museum in a town outside Taipei, the children joined in a children's ceramics workshop and made bowls - the whole thing was conducted in Mandarin and although they didn't understand anything much, it didn't stop them having fun! We went to the Science Centre, a great place for children, but arrived after the ticket desk closed due to a mistake in our guide book. A member of staff kindly let us in for free and took us to some of the best bits and we had the exhibitions (all very hands on) to ourselves!

Whilst we tried to negotiate our way to the scenic Pingxi branch line (using 2 trains to get there), a platform attendant, in answer to us asking him if he spoke English, told us "no English, but sing" then, much to our surprise he launched into a loud rendition of a song in English. We (and a few nearby Taiwanese) applauded at the end, as we felt we should, whereupon he then started on Swing Low, Sweet Charriot! Fortunately, at this point, the train arrived and some kindly locals ensured we didn't miss it.

Finally, right at the end of the week, the weather improved and the clouds cleared and we finally made it up Taipei 101. At the time of writing, it is still the tallest building in the world.

Here it is, towering above Taipei at dusk.

Our memories of Taipei will be mixed between the wonderful people - surely some of the most friendly and delightful anywhere - and the impressive temples and stunning scenery. While other memories will be of the everyday architecture - the buildings that the vast majority of people live in. Here the architecture goes seriously downhill in design, if not, apparently, in price! Grey, functional and unloved, rather like many of China's less appealing buldings put up in the communist era.

And the food - not all of it was to our taste, but we had many good meals there, but so often whilst walking around, there would be an overwhelming stench of something from the street stalls that smelt very seriously off. We discovered this was known as "stinky tofu". I have no idea what is done to it, but it could be seen boiling in some noxious, dark liquid - the idea that anybody could bring themselves to eat it defies belief, but presumably people do. To anyone who has smelt the durian fruit in Asia and likened it to bad drains etc, stinky tofu makes durian smell positively delicious!

A feeling of de-ja vu....

Just how fast can a year go by?


In September, as I walked to our local "wet market" through the local housing estate, the offerings of food were out again to appease the hungry ghosts, along with the incense sticks. Along with the offerings were old oil drums placed where people could use them to burn the special "paper money" for their ancestors in Heaven and Hell. This is so they can pay their fines in Hell for their wrong doings in life and get to Heaven, or simply to have funds in Heaven. It seems that even in Heaven, there is no such things as a free lunch.




I can't believe it was a year ago that we witnessed this all for the first time and went to the annual lantern display at the Chinese Gardens. For the lantern festival, our condo again had a party. As last year, they held, amongst other things, a national costume competition for the children.



Hannah had wanted to join in last year but, being British, we don't really have a national costume (and we don't even have a kilt here to pretend to be Scottish). But then we had a brainwave - there was nothing in the rules that stated you had to wear your own national costume and Hannah has a lovely flamenco dress we bought on our last visit to Spain.




So that was it - we changed nationality for the night and Hannah put on her dress and we pinned her hair into a bun and put a flower in it too. She looked very pretty, but did have some tough competition from lovely kimonos, chinese dresses and a couple of very pretty Indian costumes. Each child paraded one by one down a ramp by the pool (a sort of catwalk). She didn't win but many people complimented her outfit. Here she is by the pool with her lantern.




All the children were given prizes though - and those (mostly under 10) who were in the national costume got a soft toy desktop mobile phone holder. Just what ever 7 year old needs! However, we found a use for it and it now holds her aircon remote control for her bedroom.



Another year and another UN Day at school too. The lack of an English national costume reared its head again, so it was necessary to find a theme. This year, the parents who kindly organised the England kids came up with the theme of the British seaside. The children were asked to dress in shorts and T-shirts or swim stuff with a as much red and white as possible, to go with the St Georges flags they would all be carrying.



At our condo, waiting for the school bus, our two looked very undressed as the two Japanese girls were in gorgeous kimonos and the young Indian twins were in very colourful punjabi suits. The other family who are British Indian had decided to be Indian as well this year rather than English, so again, they looked much more dressed up. But when the parade started, the English group looked very colourful and, fortunately, far better than we'd anticipated.




Then it was the whirl around the classrooms visiting as many "countries" as possible and tasting lots of traditional foods followed by the concert. This year, there were some chairs for adults and I was pretty pleased to have gone into the hall early enough to ensure I had one. This was a huge improvement on last year during which the concert was lovely but we all had very numb bums from sitting on the floor for so long by the end of it.



I can't believe that our original plan had us returning to the UK around now. It's gone by in a flash and we're far from ready to leave. Somehow, I have a feeling that before we know it, we'll be doing all this again and that feeling of de-ja vu will return in no time.

"I went somewhere really unusual today......"

There's something about Singapore that means we are frequently going to places that we can only describe as odd or usual. Whether it be the strange market/shopping centre set in the old grandstand at the former (horse) race course, Turf City, where the children do a number of classes, or the strange restaurant and furniture shop mix in the old army barracks amongst the trees at Dempsey, there's always somewhere or something different here.



At the end of August, whilst we were out shopping for all the new uniform and stationery bits that the children needed for school, we also had a shopping list of dance shoes and items from Hannah's new dance school where she does a ballet, jazz and tap class. So we headed off for a shopping centre called Golden Landmark, which was on my list of suggested places from the dance school.



It was located just by Singapore's biggest mosque and next to some roads of lovely old "shophouses" (traditional terraced houses). I found the entrance to the carpark and noted as we drove down the ramp that the sign told me the the lower level was full. It was small and quite cramped so I followed signs to "more parking". We found ourselves in a queue wondering what the delay was for the 20 or so spaces it said were free. Then Adam saw a sign which said Car Lift.



"No," I said "it can't be a lift for cars, it's one of those Singlish expressions that sounds odd to us".



But this is Singapore, where there is always something different and it was a car lift. As we moved forward one car at a time, we realised we were in the queue for it. When our turn came, we drove up to a post and I pressed a button. The lift came down and a large garage style door rolled up. Amongst much excitement in the car, we drove in and I then wound down the window and pressed the up button. The door came down and up we went, from the basement to the 4th floor where we were able to find a parking space.



Inside the shopping centre had a masses of tiny premises that seemed to be a miriad of tailors, recruitment consultants and travel agents offering trips to Mecca. However, at the centre was the most magnificently over the top art deco lift which served the shopping floors and then went up the lobby of a hotel above. We finally found our shop and got the clothes and shoes before the excitement of going back down in the car lift.


Well, the children are well into their first term of this school year and here they are in the new uniform. Adam is now in his final year of juniors and they wear the senior uniform (don't know why) and he is back in long trousers on a regular basis for the first time since we arrived. Hannah is in the junior uniform (almost the same but the dresses don't have pleats).





With everyone back at school, Hannah finally had her birthday party as she wanted to share it with a friend who was 8 this month. They went to "Build a Bear". This is a shop where the children pick a teddy and with lots of games and fun, then get it stuffed, put hearts in, name it (and get a birth certificate) and then choose an outfit. We (the mums) set a strict budget and then the staff did a wonderful entertaining job for the next hour or so. It was then off for a pizza and birthday cake and lots of little girls and one boy went home with a new teddy.

All in all, it seemed to be a big success and here they are having fun.



Afterwards, we took a stroll round the shopping centre and found yet another of those strange things. It was a shop called "Baby Swim Contest" or something similar and in the window were a row of overgrown sinks. Parents took in their babies and undressed them while the sinks were filled with water. When all the babies were ready and the sinks full, each baby had a rubber ring put round its neck (it had a sort of flap to hold it comfortably in place) and then, all at the same time as each other, the babies were all put in the sinks.



The babies waggled their arms and legs, looking happy, meanwhile a lady then wondered along with a clipboard, noting goodness only knows what, while a large crowd gathered outside looking through the windows saying"ahh, so cute!". As this is a difficult thing to describe, we've done our best to take a picture of the babies in the sinks.




So, could this be a new business venture for somebody? I can see it now on Dragons Den!!!

Kissing Elephants

After our whirlwind tour of the UK, we arrived back and battled another bout of jetlag. Personally, I always find it much harder coming this way as I'm not a morning person at the best of times, but when the body clock is adrift 7 hours in the wrong direction, doing anything before lunch is a major challenge.





The following week the children were booked into a morning tennis camp each day which started at 9am, so that soon had us back in the time zone. They both had fun and I had a chance to get out and buy birthday presents for them without them tagging along. I also had my first trip into a Singaporean hospital for a minor, in and out in one day, thing. Admission was the trickiest bit - I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take my passport with me to hospital.......



The following week, there was a long weekend here courtesy of a public holiday for National Day. Here, public holidays happen on whatever day is the appropiate date so they don't always make a weekend longer as they can be any old day of the week, therefore we thought we'd make the most of this one. David has also been working extremely hard and very long hours, so we thought he needed a little rest.



We'd been told that a group of resorts called "Laguna" in Phuket was great for families, with kids clubs, spas and lots of restaurants etc. I'd managed to get a particularly good deal as August is low season there, in other words, the monsoon season.



It turned out to be a group of resorts along a 3km stretch of beach. The glitziest and most expensive resorts are right on the beach with others behind (were were further back overlooking a golf course). There are shuttle buses that run between them and even a shuttle ferry that plies the lagoons, so Adam was in transport heaven.



As it turned out, it was all so convenient that we didn't actually leave the resort for several days. Then David got itchy feet and felt the need to escape. That evening, we headed for the entrance and the bunch of restaurants, bars, shops and estate agents that lined the road outside. We chose a restaurant that looked busy and promptly had a lousy meal. Ok, so maybe promptly was the wrong word.



It took ages for the food to arrive and of our 5 dishes ordered, 3 were wrong. Hannah was asleep by the time her food arrived and when it did finally get to us, in dribs and drabs, it wasn't very tasty. However, the owner was profoundly apologetic, explained that it was their opening night and offered us a free ride home in the restaurant's minibus. I can't help but wonder if they're still in business.




Early in the stay we had some very unsettled weather and rain - well it was the monsoon season. This is Adam and David on the beach in the wind. As you can see, the waves are huge and the red flags are all up and I don't think they came down once during the whole 5 days!



For me, having lived in the tropics for about 1½ years now and being fully aware that cloud cover doesn't mean no suncream as the rays still get through, I didn't expect to get caught out. However, I actually got sunburnt walking on the beach when this picture was taken. and that's a first, getting sunburnt when there's rain in the air.




Despite the weather, the children had heaps of fun in the hotel pool and on the waterslide inbetween the showers along with some fun activities in the kids club giving us time to visit the spa. We also ate around at the various hotels in the group and at one, each afternoon a couple of young elephants wandered through the gardens with their handlers. People could stroke and pat them and so the children went up. The handler told one of them to kiss Adam. This involved the elephant putting its trunk around his neck, and then blowing whatever comes out of elephant trunks (elephant snot?) on his cheek. It's all very tickly and a little wet and smelly (I know, I've been kissed). Unfortunately, as the elephant put it's trunk on Adam's face he chose that moment to turn to us and tell us how tickly it was. This was a bad move as the elephant "kissed" him when his mouth was open.

Apart from kissing elephants, Adam also got a chance to try scuba diving in the pool, which he really enjoyed. Not many fish but still a great experience for him. Here he is waving to us.

At the end of our stay the weather improved and we took a day trip by speedboat to various places. This was a great last day and we went snorkelling in one place and were taken by canoe into various caves and mangroves around the limestone karst formations in that area. The scenery was spectacular and we finished at the "James Bond" island, from "Man with the Golden Gun". For anyone who, like me, can't distinguish one film from another by title, it had Roger Moore in and the island was a tall pointy, limestone thing sticking out of the sea.

By the time we got back home it was nearly Hannah's birthday. Adam also had a birthday bowling trip with 4 friends (it would have been more but some were away). It was slightly sad as 3 were leaving to return to the UK and the other is changing schools this term, but they all had fun and no tears. However, Adam chose a hazelnut birthday cake which we took along in a cool bag, first to the bowling centre and then the restaurant. The boys all took one look at the nuts and declined to have a slice, so we ended up taking the whole thing home with us again!




As the day before was Hannah's birthday, we had two cakes to eat that weekend. It was so tough! Here she is blowing out her candles. A few days later we went for high tea at the Marriott and had interesting slightly odd food selection. Lots of cakes as expected, but instead of cucumber sandwiches and scones, there were laksa curries and chickens feet. Yum.



Before we knew it, with a few more day trips and playdates, our 8 weeks were almost over and it was time to stock on up school uniforms and stationery. Now they're back at school and I can't believe it's September. Where does the time go? I'm sure Christmas will be along in just a week or so.

Catching Up

I know it's been ages since I last posted and as I was finally adding pictures into the Year of the Ox entry, I realised that I had never done an update on The Spring Soiree, which was back in March.

All junior and senior children in the school were invited to audition to take place in the annual concert, the Spring Soiree, and a small number of the Year 2 infants auditioned too. Much to our surprise, both Adam and Hannah decided to audition to sing a solo and, having seen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat in London last December, they both chose songs from that.

Auditions were done and they were both told to practice at home. They learnt the words and practiced and finally, the big day arrived. To be honest, we never imaged that Hannah would actually have the courage to sing a solo in front of so many parents and children and even as she stood on the stage with the music teacher playing the introduction on the piano, we waited with baited breath to see if she would actually go through with it. She did, and what's more she later accompanied Adam in the harmonies to his song and we breathed a sigh of relief when they had both finished. Hannah was the youngest performer in the whole concert too.

Well, since then, our car had it's 3rd birthday in May. This was celebrated by the need for a new tax disc and its first safety inspection, much like an MOT. Needless to say,the system here is different which caused some confusion in trying to make arrangements. Finally, it became apparent that here the test is performed in a goverment testing centre, rather than the garage I'd been trying to book it into, so I drove off to our nearest centre. I drove in and paid cash for the test. I was given a bottle of water to drink and told to sit at the far end. The car was driven down a track, inspected over a pit, the wheels rolled on rollers, things checked and turned on and off and after about 10 minutes it arrived at the other end. I was told it had passed, given a print out of a certificate from a huge printer at the end of the track and that was it. Done. Quite impressive, less than 15 minutes from arrival to departure and nice that the mechanics doing the test have no vested interest in finding faults to repair!

This was all done in time for a long weekend over a public holiday when we drove into Malaysia and up to Melacca for the weekend. Driving in Malaysia stopped me complaining about drivers here for 4 whole weeks after we returned. It definitely comes under the heading "an experience".

Our first interesting encounter was as we drove through a toll booth and onto a 3 lane highway. The first thing we saw was a man strolling down the fast lane with a strimmer, cutting the grass down the centre. No warnings signs, no cones, no lights, he wasn't even wearing a brightly coloured jacket! Not a job I'd choose to do. We then encountered Malaysian lane discipline. It would appear that the speed limited of 110kph is treated my most drivers as a minimum speed limit and all lanes are available for overtaking - including the hard shoulder (that was a surprise, I can say). As for the idea of leaving a gap between cars - forget it. If you try and leave gap, somebody (or half a dozen people) just fill it, usually by weaving madly in and out of the traffic at break neck speed.

We finally arrived in Melacca and, as it's an old, small town and our hotel was tall, modern and in the centre, we hadn't invested in a map as, according to David's colleagues at work - "you can't get lost". We soon proved that wrong and found ourselves on the wrong side of a larger town than we expected. We tried to follow signs and and asked directions as we trailed slowly across the old centre which was never designed for large numbers of cars, eventually arriving at the hotel much later than expected.

Once there, we had an enjoyable couple of days although exploring the old China Town area was hardwork due to the lack of pavements and excess of traffic and large monsoon drains. Somehow it seemed even hotter than Singapore, but we managed to get to the main places of interest including a tour in a lovely cycle rickshaw. As you can see, we put Adam work!

At least the return journey saw lighter traffic and we didn't get lost. Nor did we have a queue at the border crossing this time (outbound saw us queueing for 1½ hours to get into Malaysia), and all in all, this took about 3 hours off the journey time!

Somehow, the rest of last term seemed to whizz by. David has been very busy work but has been getting out to play tennis with an expat group most weeks. He's also started playing with the British Club as we've recently joined it. This was something we'd been discussing so we visited the club on its open day. They were doing a prize draw of a years membership and, to resolve our should we, shouldn't we join dilemna, we won the prize!!! We have since attended the new members cocktail evening and then won a prize for two adults to have a free Sunday Champagne Brunch. If they check their records, I fear that we may be banned from entering any other draws.

Other than that, we seem to have filled our time with a whole range of things. Adam was in the school's annual musical production, along with the other juniors and seniors which this year was Mary Poppins. There were school trips and parents evenings and I played tennis matches and trained with the team I'm a member of in a league here. There was also a trip to the UK for myself and the children to plan, book and organise.

Once term ended, after a few days the children and I headed for the UK and spent two weeks catching up with family and some friends. Unfortunately, the heatwave we'd seen whilst watching Wimbledon ended the day before we arrived. But the children saw many of their old school friends and relatives and I caught up with a few friends too. After a slow crawl round the M25 at rush hour with road works, followed by 1½ hours up the M1, I found British driving so considerate and good. Now what does that tell you about driving in Malaysia?

And - big news.......Adam is now 10! It was his birthday just after we got back and here he is blowing out the candles on his cake.

Something nasty in the washing machine!!!

I've referred, in other posts, to many of the pleasures of living in the tropics - the beaches, hot weather, great holiday destinations, the cultural experiences etc., but I haven't mentioned one of the more dubious pleasures - the creepy crawlies.



The thing about tropical creepy crawlies is that they are, for the most part, enormous. We don't always know if something huge, that has just flown in, stings, bites or is harmless and then, of course, there are ...... the cockroaches. Tropical sized, naturally.



Obviously, we see them around, they're part of living here. They will frequently do their best to off-set the pleasures of a lovely holiday by taking up residence in the entrance to our bin shoot whilst we are away, whilst things are quiet in there. If we go away for more than a few days, it's normal to open the bin shoot and find a large, browny black one lurking on the other side of the door in a sort of "yeah, what you looking at?" kind of pose. Usually a few slams of the door and some spray will, these days, deter them, but we did once have a very persistent on that took a good couple of weeks to get rid of. On that occasion, I waged full scale war, regularly creeping up to the shoot, armed with a tin of spray, ready to launch another attack. Sorry, no pictures of that!



We see them sometimes around outside, in the car park, on the tennis court, near the bins or foodcourts etc. They happen and, by Asian standards, whilst they're big here, we see far fewer than in many other countries in the region.


However, image my horror when I returned from the hairdressers this morning, having left a load washing, to find a large dead one lying upside down inside the washing machine at the bottom of the door, in full view through the glass. It had to be removed - by me, and that was a whole lot less pleasant than just seeing one scuttling by.



The question is, how did it get there. Was it lurking in the folds of the sofa throws that I'd just bundled in and, only a few minutes before, had been sitting on? Was it hiding amongst the laundry piled in the basket that I had just picked up and pushed in? Had it flown into the machine whilst it was empty and been sitting in there when I'd been stuffing the laundry inside? (Things do fly in as the window of our utility area because, as is typical here, it has no glass, so is open to the elements and insects).



Ummm. I think maybe it's best not to dwell on this too much, and hope I don't get the pleasure of removing too many more..... strangely, the fact that it was big is a probably a good thing, as it is more likely that it did just fly in to the machine or laundry basket. Apparently, the ones to watch are the babies - that can mean a nest and well, we really don't want to go there!!!

Kookaburas, koalas and kangaroos......

One of the things we really wanted to do whilst we were here was to make the most of being much closer to Australia. As, during our long, "summer" holidays it is winter there, we decided to go there over Easter when we had just over 2 weeks off school and it would be autumn there, so hopefully not too cold for us softies.

So, when the children finished school at the end of last term, it was off to the airport for an overnight flight to Brisbane. Although I'd been keeping half an eye on the temperatures with a view to trying to pack the right amount of warm clothes, I hadn't heard the news that Queensland had just had so much rain that widescale flooding had just occurred. The first we knew about it was just after dawn when, as our plane finally made it down through the thick grey clouds, we were greeted with teeming rain and a sea of flooded fields. One of our fellow passengers then put us in the picture -needless to say, whilst we'd packed some warmer things, we had packed absolutely nothing waterproof, not even an umbrella.

Fortunately, the rain that day was short lived and we then spent two enjoyable days exploring Brisbane before taking a hire car north up the coast a couple of hours to the glorious little seaside town of Noosa. Noosa is one of those places that when you tell an Aussie you're going, they say "ah, you'll love it" and if you tell them you've just been, they say "ah, you must have loved it". Pretty and laid back with a river running through it, it does hit the spot somewhat. We rented a boat one day and went up the river, passing the island that Richard Branson has apparently just bought, and also round the waterways amongst some very glamerous waterfront properties. Well, I can dream.....

We also visited the "Australia Zoo" founded by Steve "Crikey" Irwin, who was a national hero in Australia and, despite his desmise to a croc, clearly still is. We fed kangaroos (lots of photos of that) and saw crocs being fed in "The Crocoseum". Unfortunately, the Queensland rain got us again on a couple of days and the Sunshine Coast didn't entirely live up to its name, but it was still a great destination. We were woken up by Kookabura's at around 5.30am then again by an enormous and very noisy flock of lorikeets - small, brightly coloured birds rather like scaled down parrots, at about 6.30am. It soon became clear why the day started early there for the locals.

Then, it was off to Sydney.

Sydney was fantastic and we now have far more photos of the Opera House and harbour bridge than any family could possibly need. We took them from every angle and in sunlight, cloud, dusk and the dark. We did the tourist things, loved the Botanic Gardens where the signs said "Please DO walk on the grass, smell the flowers and picnic on the lawns. We want you to enjoy these gardens". The food, the sights, the museums, the shops - it was great fun, despite another day of rain.

Then, another hire car and another drive a couple of hours west, this time into the Blue Mountains. Here the skies were blue, the views magnificent, the temperatures cool and the nights so cold we had a log fire in our little B&B cabin. We saw autumn trees for the first time in 18 months and marvelled at the colours and all got dry skin and chapped lips from the dry, cool air.

We went on the steepest railway in the world, much to Adam's delight. Originally built to take miners down an almost vertical drop into the valley below , it is now a tourist attraction and almost more like a rollercoaster than a train. We walked to waterfalls and view points and wore all our warm clothes, especially in the afternoons and evenings from about 4.30pm onwards.

We returned home via Sydney and Brisbane again and finished with a trip to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary - one of the only places where you can hold a koala. For Hannah, this was the highlight of the whole holiday. We all held a koala and found we were in very auspiscious company, as the sactuary has a photo wall of famous people that have visited. Apart from a selection of Aussie celebs, there were world leaders, Pope John Paul II and pop stars such as Cher and Bruce Springsteen. I'm sure our photos will soon be up amongst them!

We really enjoyed our time there, and the ornate Victorian buildings of Brisbane and Sydney gave a sense of the UK - but with (mostly) better weather! And for anyone who thinks that Australia lags behind culturally - think again. They are actually at the cutting edge of theatre with a brand new show soon to premier - Shane Warne, The Musical.

The Barretts Come to Town

I've been very slow in getting another entry done as things have just been so hectic lately.

However, somewhere between Chinese New Year at the end of January and our driving test at the end of February, a few members of the Barrett clan arrived in Singapore. For my mum and sister in law, Claire, it was their first visit to Asia, so first impressions counted. My brother, Paul, had once briefly passed through Singapore many years ago, but for a number of reasons had not left with favourable impressions. So second impressions counted too.

So I was into tour guide mode. Singapore is an easy place to show off, it's clean and surprisingly green. There are a good number of things to do and I managed to organise a couple of outings that the average tourist wouldn't have done. So, we did the regular tourist bits like the Night Safari, Bird Park, Raffles Hotel, the colonial district, dinner on the beach at Sentosa Island, the Botanical gardens etc. We rode on a bumboat up the Singapore River, visited China Town, various temples and a good number of other places too.

We fitted in a couple of tours, one was a non-standard tourist one of shop houses that included going inside some private homes. I got to visit one or two new places and everyone went home with something (or somethings) new from the shops and/or markets here. We also did every kind of eating experience here from the local "hawker centres" which have stalls of all types of Chinese, Indian, Malay and other food, right through cafes and restaurants up to a Sunday Brunch at the Fullerton Hotel.

Here they are, admiring the views from the top of Mount Faber.

This lunch was my birthday lunch and I booked the table a month in advance to ensure we one on the terrace outside on the river front. The food is an amazing array of everything imaginable - all courses, all types and a constant supply of good champagne for 3 hours. The bill was fairly amazing too, but fortunately I don't have a birthday every day of the year! And here we are, sitting on the terrace and all looking (and feeling) pretty stuffed after 3 gluttonous hours.

One unexpected but fun event was a BBQ with some friends of Paul's. He has a friend from university here who has lived in Singapore for the last 5 years. He got in touch to see if they could meet up. Nick and his wife, Sue, kindly invited not just Paul and Claire over for a BBQ, but the four of us and my mum as well. We ended up having a really fun evening and the children, Hannah particularly, showed unexpected bravery with their two red setters and was found, later in the evening, sitting on the floor with one of them, stroking its tummy.

Well, the 10 days whizzed by, and they fitted in a two day trip to Bangkok too. They then went home for a rest. Our driving tests followed and since then, March has been a stream of school events.

The school does "curriculum days" where the parents go and sit in with their children's classes for a morning. We can even sit in on classes in the years they will join in September too. The annual swimming galas have taken place, I helped on a school trip for Hannah's year to the Botanical Gardens, both children took part in the annual concert known as the "spring soiree" (more on that in another entry), then there have been parents evenings, performance assemblies, "book week" assemblies.....the list goes on and everything is times two, of course. I feel as if I've been there almost as much as the children recently.

I also spent a morning at the British Ambassadors home and had elevensies there. It does, when put like this, sound like a personal invitation, but if I'm honest, it was actually part of a tour organised by an expat group. The house is fabulous and has quite a history and the resident head chef is known for his chocolate cake. I'm delighted to report that I got the opportunity to sample his cake and it is pretty good.

David has just returned from a week in China visiting clients. He went to Shanghai and Beijing, but only had two or three hours in each city to see anything other than the hotel and the clients' offices. They were also both pretty cold, especially after here. However, in Shanghai, he got to travel on the Maglev - a high-speed train that uses magnets rather than wheels. I'm not sure that description makes it sound very fast, but it is and reached a peak speed of 437kpm. Adam is so envious that he didn't get to go on it too, I'm not sure what is greener, Adam or his school uniform!

We Passed!!! Yippee!!!!

It's great having a car again. Playdate drop offs and pick ups are easier and quicker, those runs to tennis lessons, dance classes and bringing the groceries home in the boot instead of dragging them in a trolley - it's all wonderfully liberating.



However......lurking on the horizon was "The Driving Test". As British Driving License holders, to drive here we needed to pass the Basic Theory Driving Test to convert our license to a Singaporean one. We had 12 months from our arrival date to pass this.




The road system here is loosely based on the British system and they even drive on the left, but it's all the subtleties that are different. We had to learn the parking restrictions, bus lane times, road signs, lane positioning, braking distances etc - there are numerous slight differences and we had to learn them all to pass the test. Those that just assume they can do it because they've been driving for years invariably come unstuck and with a pass mark of at least 90% required, some serious studying was needed.



First I went to Borders and asked for a copy of the highway code. They sold me a book which, on close inspection, appeared to be a version from about 1950. The photos were of cars that were almost vintage and it had useful advice such as "most cars today have signalling devices but in broad daylight, hand signalling is more readily seen and understood". I'm not sure we learnt a large amount from this, but it did provide some entertainment.



A friend then gave us a more modern copy of the highway code and, more interestingly, a book of 600 multiple choice, genuine test questions which got us thinking (and worrying). Many were straight forward, but there were a number of highly ambiguous ones such as:

"You are some distance from a set of traffic lights on green. Do you
A: Speed up,
B: Maintain your speed and be prepared to stop
C: Take your foot off the accelerator?"

Some distance - I mean, what is that? 10m, 100m, 300m ...? You also need to know that roads here are often quite straight and you can see the lights (which are green for several minutes at a time) a long way ahead .

With such a vague description, what do you do when your licence to drive and right to freedom are at stake? Well, it is not A, obviously. The answer is clearly B but... no it’s not. It is C! Honestly. David tried it the next time we saw a green light. He immediately took his foot off the accelerator and gradually ground to a stop around 200 metres short of the junction!

Try this one:
When driving, the distance to look ahead should be:
A: Twice the speed you are travelling.
B: Three times the speed you are travelling.
C: Four times you are travelling.

Think about it. What does it mean? We do not know....and is it metric or imperial? mm, cm, inches, metres, furlongs? Answer: B. Don’t ask why!

One more...this is fun.

From the driver’s seat, the actual width of the road required for your vehicle is:
A: wider than what you think you will need
B: not as wide as what you think you will need
C: just as wide as what you think you will need


Doesn’t it depend on what you think you will need? Apparently not. It’s B



We spent hours pouring over bizarre test questions saying things like "I'm sure that's not how I was taught to drive" & "that's just wrong" or trying to decifer some puzzling wordings with double negatives. We tested each other on car mechanics, driving techniques, bus lane hours, braking distances, police hand signals, road signs and markings, all in the hope that we could get 45 of the 50 questions right.


Our test date was booked and last Tuesday we headed off to the test centre. It was all very nerve wracking. I felt as if I was 17 all over again and hardly told anyone of our test date - I couldn't face saying we'd failed, if that happened...which seemed inevitable! We went in at our appointed time and were given a briefing. Then it began.


We had 50 minutes to do 50 multiple choice questions of which, we had to get a minimum of 45 correct. When we were happy we'd finished, we pressed a button on the screen which then told us immediately if we'd passed or failed and we could then leave the room. I think about 40 of my questions were very straight forward and obvious. One I wasn't sure about and the rest I was fairly confident but not 100%. I ran through them all again, felt more certain on a number of others and did the missing one. One last run through and I spotted (and corrected) a silly error and decided there were only 3 I wasn't totally certain about, so hoped that meant at least 47 were right. With my heart pounding I pressed the Finished button. I PASSED!!! I resisted the urge to leap up and down and shriek and instead just breathed a huge sigh of relief and left the room. I'd been there about 20 minutes or so but I could see David, who was on the other side of the room, was still working.



He emerged about 5 minutes later. He'd also had a few suspect questions (each terminal has a different selection) but had also passed. I was so relieved as I had visions of not being able to get another test date before we'd been here a full year which would mean having to stop driving in a month's time. Worse, I would find myself walking past the car in the car park every day and not being able to drive it until I passed.



Relieved to have the test out of the way, we returned today to apply for our new licenses as the queue was too long last Tuesday. I think we'll keep the old highway code for fun and right now it's on the bookshelf next to a Jeremy Clarkson book - somehow, that just seems appropriate!

Year of the Ox

No sooner had we seen in 2009 than it was time to see in The Year of the Ox.

Here in Asia, this is a very big event and greater in celebration than either Christmas or our calendar New Year. Leading up to it, red lanterns were hung everywhere and there were numerous decorations, predominantly in red and gold, often symbolic money bags of all shapes and sizes. In addition, there were cut outs, models and pictures of oxen all over the place. Many houses placed small orange trees bearing fruits in pots on either side of the front door, as oranges are symbols of gold and hence, prosperity. Sweets and special food were abundant in the supermarkets, many things in red and gold wrappers and oranges were piled high. It was like the Christmas build up in the UK, except I could just admire it all without needing any of it. None of the panic of "ahh, brandy butter - I haven't got any...do we need a chocolate log?...."

The children’s school did performance assemblies in the last day before the long weekend and virtually all the children went to school in Chinese clothes and everyone was involved in the songs and performances. Hannah adores her little dress and keeps putting it on, but I'm not sure we will see Adam's outfit getting much more use.

Here are Hannah and her class all dressed up for the assembly.

Another custom is the handing over of oranges. David was presented with 2 (they are always given in pairs) by his office cleaner. He should have reciprocated by giving her two (different ones) but hadn't got his stash sorted at that stage. However, when another staff member presented him with 2, he did have the original two to give back. We're not sure if this is the correct protocol, but it seemed to work. Oranges went back and forth and apparently if you retain them for a long time, they bring extra good luck and good fortune. Some people keep them until they're no longer orange, if you follow my meaning, leaving them adorning the office desk until they're grey and hairy. David also handed out ang pows (red envelopes containing money) to the office staff, as is the tradition here.

We all learnt that it is important to clean your house out before CNY and that it should be swept and cleaned on New Year's Eve. It's important not to sweep on New Year's day though, in case you sweep out the good fortune for the coming year. To accommodate the clearing out sessions, our condo management provided special large bins (skips) for anyone wanting to throw out their sofas or beds etc. Local families then spend the two days visiting each other and having celebratory meals. Everyone wears new clothes, more oranges are exchanged and children are given Ang Pows.

Much like Christmas in the UK, everything closes over the 2 day holiday and almost everybody takes time off. Whilst for many people here, Christmas is just another public holiday rather than something they celebrate, CNY is like that for us. So, along with many others - mostly the expats - we used the long weekend to take a break and headed off to the Malaysian Island of Langkawi.

It was peak season, much like going away at Christmas in Europe, but we had found a nice hotel set in rain forest gardens right on the beach. It was very close to nature, so close in fact, that on one morning the local "spectacled lemurs" (cute monkeys) provided some entertainment when they formed a raiding party at the breakfast buffet. It proved a little too close though, when our "cabana" was invaded by a swarm of bees, but with the help of the staff wielding spray and plugging a small hole in the floor, they eventually disappeared.

We returned to Singapore refreshed and revitalised and the following weekend went into the city centre here to watch the "Chingay Parade". This is a huge parade of floats, dancers, dragons, stilt walkers, lion dancers etc and we'd bought our tickets back in October to ensure we had seats and didn't have to wait for several hours beforehand on the pavement. They were worth every penny.

We had to arrive an hour or so before, so we photographed many floats and participants in costume, then were entertained by lion dancers before it all began. After passing through a security check worthy of Heathrow to get to our seats, it finally started. Music and firecrackers followed by dancing and displays and a parade of incredible floats. There was a vague story line in amongst it all, but we didn't follow it. After a fireworks finale on top of the City Hall, we headed home, but for those that wanted to stay, there was then a street party that continued into the early hours. Maybe it's our age, but our ears were still vibrating to the music and fireworks from the parade for some time after. Next time, we're taking ear plugs.

The following week, we also went out with the office staff and their partners to celebrate with a New Year "toss up". This is the event where certain foods are served and then after being sprinkled with a dressing and given a blessing, everyone tosses the food up with chopsticks wishing good fortune, health, prosperity, big bonuses etc to each other. Unlike last year, this year, we knew not to hurl it up to the ceiling and make a big mess!

During the time from the new to full moon, many businesses have their premises blessed by lion dancers, who perform a ritual dance to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals, present ang pows to the management and peel an orange, leaving the segments arranged in a special symbol. They travel from event to event in open topped trucks, flags waving and drums beating and banging cymbals and for just over 2 weeks, there seemed to be the constant sound of drums and cymbals in the air, and we watched several that occurred when we happened to be passing shops or restaurants.

With the arrival of the full moon the other day, festivities finally came to an end and the decorations have all been taken down for another year. It's quite an assault on the senses, and after the parade, music, drums and cymbals, I think my hearing is now finally returning to normal.

I will, eventually, post a couple of pictures of the children and the Chingay Parade, however, David took the best ones and they're still on his camera. He's started using the motor drive sports setting on his camera to ensure at least one great shot - I mean, why take one photo when you can take 10? He also plans to edit them on his camera before downloading them. It may be sometime, but one day, there will be photos on this entry!

It's July - and I've finally added the photos!

Back to the Warmth - just....

I've been very slow in getting a post Christmas update done, but if the speed January has gone by is a good indication, 2009 should be over in the next 30 minutes or so.


To all those people who fed us over Christmas, many thanks. We thoroughly enjoyed all those roast potatoes (which I'm now busy trying to work off in the swimming pool, gym and on the tennis court). It was great to catch up with so many people and apologies to those we didn't manage to see. We also did the chores - optician, dentist etc and David visited the London office too.


Other little touches we enjoyed were: having hot water in the kitchen tap (but the cold tap water was sooooo cold there!), wide supermarket aisles and no ants to chase down any crumbs of food on the kitchen work surface. It's funny the little things we appreciated!

After 12 days of a social whirl in the South East, we headed up the M1 to my parents in Leicestershire. The weather was slowly getting slightly warmer and we spent 5 less hectic days over Christmas catching up with my family. We also caught up with the many Christmas presents we had ordered from Amazon etc (which saved humping them all the way from Singapore) and spent Christmas eve in a sort of wrapping frenzy so that we could then unwrap them all again on Christmas morning.

The day before we were due to fly back, David thought he'd do our check-in early, on-line, as the flight was likely to be full. Then there was a call "Rachel, why does this flight booking say 28th January?" Ooops......

Booking our flight back here hadn't been a straightforward task due to problems with the website/call centres and at some point, December must have become January during a phone call. But after a number of phone calls and some hasty and kind rearranging of plans by my parents, we finally all got a flight the following evening, returning just one day late.
Just before we returned, David received a text from Siew Mei, his no. 2 in the office forewarning him that there was to be a little exchanging of Christmas presents on his return to work. With little time to prepare, David went in with a large box of chocolates for everyone to share, feeling guilty that he hadn't had time to get individual presents.
When he came home, I asked what his presents were. I think, at this point, we have to remember that Christmas isn't so big here and some of the staff don't celebrate at all. It's just a day off. One gave him three Ferrero Rocher chocolates wrapped in Christmas paper and another gave him air cushioned shoe insoles.....an unusual choice for the boss.

Well, with Britain's temperatures plummeting into the next ice age, back here it was glorious and warm. Actually, it was cool by local standards, but to us, it was gorgeous. Of course, we're also back to kitchen ants and narrow supermarket aisles etc, but I suppose there has to be some penalty for being away from those short, cold winter days.

While away, we asked our neighbour to water the plants. On our return, the plant pots were both filled to almost overflowing with putrid, foul smelling water while the plants themselves drooped sadly. I'm so glad the mozzie inspector didn't come (see earlier blog). Even after tipping away the excess, we had been home 4 weeks before needing to water them again. A shadow of their former self, we doubt they will ever recover but our neighbour here has successfully ensured that we never ask her again.

The day after we arrived back was New Year's Eve, and we went to a buffet at an international hotel here. Courtesy of the jetlag keeping the children up late, we took them too. All was going well until the staff told us they were closing the buffet in ten minutes - at 10pm. On New Year's Eve???? We'd only just had our starters! We quickly piled up lots of plates of food and they did keep it open an extra 20 minutes for us, but the band finished and by the time we'd eaten it was just us and the staff laying up for breakfast. They did, at least, give us extra free champagne and a substantial discount.

We then headed off to the Singapore River to see the fireworks - along with about 250,000 other people. The fireworks were fantastic and the atmosphere fun. Afterwards we dashed off as fast as possible towing the children at a run and climbing over a barrier (me in a dress and high heels - what a sight!) to get ahead of the crowds and were fortunate to be able to hail a passing cab to get home. But it was worth the run, as apparently, people who thought they would let the crowd dissipate found that it didn't, as the underground system was quickly overrun. 10 more minutes and it would probably have taken us hours to get home!


Now, it's Chinese New Year and the Year of the Ox - a big event here, so coverage will come soon.