29/11

We have moved again..

Thursday a week ago we had a meeting with a representative from the appartments, and she told us that the hammering would stop the following tuesday. Thursday they were still hamering, so we got a new meeting with another representative from the appartments. Willy told her in no uncertain terms that the situation was not acceptable and a solution had to be found. We were offered a hotel room. It is much smaller than the appartment, but we decided to accept it. The hotel is after all convenienty located. We asked for some sort of compensation, Willy suggested free beer at the pool bar, but all they could offer was one free breakfast per weekend for the remainder of our stay. Well, Willy later got that changed to 100 SGD purchase at the pool bar, which is more usefull to us. But still cheap. And then the representative had the nerve to tell us that we would not be charged extra for staying at the hotel instead of in the apartment, as good news. We were hard put to stay polite.

 

And the signs shown in a shopwindow turned out not to be political - they were advertising for a 20% discount for a Brazilian waxing.

24/11

Hi
our blog has been quiet for a while, mostly because so has life here...
But a week and a half ago, Jane's sisted came to visit for 6 days. That is not a long time, so we had a challenge. We wanted to show her Singapore, while at the same time leave space for relaxation - it was after all a holiday.
The main items on the programme ended like:

 

Day 1, Wednesday - Kate and Jane did the Hop-on-hop-off bus tour, after which all we met up for a S'Pore Sling at Raffles Long Bar.
Day 2, Thursdag - First we all met up fur lunch in the Suntec food court, so that she could try that kind of eating out. Kate and Jane then wisited the Botannic Garden.
Day 3, Friday - We all went to Batam, Indonesia. We expected to arrive at some sort of city, it was after all called Batam Center, but it turned out to be a set of shopping centers in the middle of nowehere. We hired a taxi for 3 hours,and went to another mega mall, after which we visited a spa and got a good massage. In the evening we went to The Clinic on Clark Quay, to see a bar where the chairs are wheelchairs and the lamps are the ones used in operating theatres. Kate is a nurse, so we thought that it would be fun, and it was. She got a new idea for her 50th birthday party.
Day 4, Saturday - We did Chinatown during the day. Kate and Willy tried frozen durian in a pancake, urgh, not a good idea. Kate and Jane did the S'Pore Flyer (the biggest ferris wheel in the world, bigger than The Eye in London) by sundown which was a great experiance. In the evening we had dinner at the Equinoxe Restaurant at Swissotel's 70th floor. Great view (lightning in the distance), good service and very good although a bit scarce food. But somewhat expensive.
Day 5, Sunday - Kate and Jane spent some time at the pool, while Willy was working. We had high tea at Raffles in the afternoon, after which Kate and Willy went for a walk round the river.
Day 6 - Monday, Kate and Jane went for an hour swim and then they went shopping. In the afternon we all tried Dr Fish, where you sit with you feet in water with a lot of small fish, that eats the dry skin of you feet. It tickles, but makes your feet very soft. We had dinner at a restaurant in Boat Quay. Then it was time to drive Kate to the airport and say goodbye. We all felt that it had been a good vacation, where Jane and Willy also saw something new.

 

And now there is no way to avoid the subject - Christmas is fast approaching. Jingle bells in 30 degree centigrade is a bit unsual for us. And so are christmas trees here, even though they are plastic. You can discuss style, it goes from very stylish to kitsch.

04/11

 By Jane

Quilters in Singapore 2008 Challenge Luncheon & Exhibition at The British Club.

Meeting time was at 11 am.

The British Club is a very grand place. I saw Tennis courts and a very big swimming pool and the Club House. The luncheon and the Quilt Exhibition were on 2^nd floor.

After the registration I went in to see the quilts. After a short while I thought: wait a minute isn't that Danish pop music they are playing (with Danish lyrics). So there I was in Singapore standing in The British Club listening to 'Dodo and the Dodos' and Sebastian. Who would have thought that 3 months ago? I didn't.

 The challenge for the quilters participating in the challenge was to use a parsley print fabric in their quilts.

The large oriental quilt was raffled off. The proceeds from the quilt, was more than S$3200. The money went to an ANZ retirement home for WWII veterans in Singapore.

02/11

Yesterday we went for a walk in an area outside where there should be some old collonial-style houses, so called black-and-whites. We did see 2 and yes they were very nice, but not really worth the trip. On our way back, we saw a lot of Lamboghinis (?) parked outside Hotel Hilton, it looked they were having a convention, or perhaps just an outing. They were beautiful... And the Christmas trees are comming.

Today we went down to the pool, but it started to rain after about an hour, so we went back to the room. Luckily it was only a shower, as we had booked a table in the Tiffin Room at Raffles hotel, for a high tea at 15.30, and we wanted to walk to the Raffles. We had high tea in the Imperial Room last Sunday, so we knew not to eat lunch. Which was jus as well, because the high tea included a buffet with various small very delicious items, and a large selection of fruits. The Tiffin Romm is very classic, with high ceiling, big ventilators, waiters dressed all in white, and a real live harpist to provide atmosphere. Quite expensive, but an experience.