Olympics Get Under-way

At last the Olympics are under-way. After all the hype and comparisons that are so unfair and irrelevant, we can get to watch the athletes do their thing.  We didn't get to see much of the Opening Ceremony, just snippets, but loved the Mr Bean segment. With no dialogue the humour has no language barriers so is universally enjoyed.  We are pleasantly surprised to learn that one of the free to air stations here is dedicating the major part of its programming time to the Olympics for the next few weeks so we will probably get to see more of the games here than we have since moving to the NT.  Mind you, we mightn't see too many Aussies compete, but we will see table tennis! Actually we have already seen plenty of variety so what we get, we get.

Meanwhile, here in Singapore there is a Media Company called Moove Media which offers a range of advertising platforms - including buses, taxis, rail stations and prime ambience sites. At the moment they are decorating these spaces with cows.  Well, why not?  We are not sure what the intent of the campaign is, other than to advertise the company, but the characters are certainly colourful. You can find them on vacant lots or beside railway stations, they are popping up all over. We found this lot beside Bugis Station on Tuesday when we went back to the Arab St area. They have now finished the upgrade to the approach to the Sultan Mosque which we saw being undertaken when the Mundays were with us. 

We had lunch at the Blue Jazz Bar in the colourful Bali Lane

Then we went to Chinatown to visit the Chinese Heritage Museum housed in the restored shop houses on Pagoda St.  It traces the lives and times of early Chinatown when Singapore was just developing as a seaport and many desperate migrants were leaving China after years of war and famine.  It was a risky journey back then, somewhat like the voyages currently being undertaken from Malaysia to Australia. They came from various Chinese provinces to the promised land of Singapore, to work as coolies and rickshaw pullers. Many of the women were known as 'samsui women' undertaking the hard labour on  construction sites. The living conditions were tough. Seedy and underground practices of opium smoking, gambling dens and secret societies blossomed and tempted many into ruin. They came with the intention of making their money and going home, but few did.  

This week we received our photobook we had put together online from photos of our trip to Italy last year. It was so good to revisit all those memories again, so now we are busy doing the same for the Spain and France legs of the journey. It is quite time consuming to select from all the digital photos and then decide the layouts for the 50 pages etc, but the finished product is great. We got onto a good deal through a company called Groupon who send daily email offers. Pretty sure they are also in operation for Aust, they are very popular in Singapore, in fact Morris Allen have just advertised on the site and have had a terrific response.   We are also on one of their travel deals next week to visit Malacca on our days off.

This week we have booked our December flights to Kathmandu and put some thought into what we will do the week of Christmas.  Have put an offer to Adrian, Luke and Tahlia but still awaiting decisions so will keep you posted. Also booked tickets to Sri Lanka for a week in September and researched a possible itinerary. There seems to be more than enough to visit in just the 8 days we have available. The plan includes arriving Colombo, moving on to the historic cultural triangle area then down to Kandy in the central highlands and Galle on the Southern coast before returning to Colombo.  A nice mix of culture and wildlife we think. Actually have spent far too long on the computer booking tickets, sorting photos and trying to arrange to vote in the upcoming NT election.  It all gets to be very time consuming.

This week the walkers tackled Bukit Timah again and I have to admit I can now walk it so much easier than the first time.  Having a hiking pole definitely helps take the strain off my knee but I also feel a lot fitter and stronger after all these months building up the fitness. Drawn by screeching calls, we came across a massive eagle's nest way up in one of the tallest trees of the forest. Didn't manage to find the bird but now we have located the nest we will keep an eye on it with binos in future.  We also had the first sighting of the Greater Racket-tailed Drongo which was a thrill. 

In the evening we met up with the MAE socialites for dinner at Shish Mahal Restaurant, eating in the outdoors in Albert Court. In the early 19th century Hindus held their fire-walking ceremony in Albert Street Road. Tamils in Singapore used to call Albert Street the “Street for Fire-walking” but these days it is a charming walkway between the antiquated architecture of the shophouses. A great location, within walking distance of Little India, Arab Street and Bugis Village - all famous for their colour, vitality and culture. Must check out the rates of the Hotel of the same name for future reference.

Having managed that yesterday, today we backed-up with a 4 hrs walk around Jurong Bird Park.  The boys and I visited this with Joan 10 years ago but today was Eric's first. This is SE Asia's largest bird park and home to 8,000 birds of 600 species from around the world. Apart from all the usual cages, lakes and displays they also have 4 huge walk-in aviaries with free flying birds. These were all fabulous and we can't pick a favourite. The 'Jungle Jewels' contains brilliantly coloured birds from South American rainforests. The 'African Waterfall' has the world's tallest man-made waterfall at 30m and we were very up-close-and-personal with the feathered residents on the suspension bridge. The 'Southeast Asian Aviary' gave us the opportunity to observe at close range all the locals, most of which still allude us in the nearby parks and forests. They also have a raucous Lory Loft which is 9 storeys high and you stand amongst the canopy with over 1,000 screeching lorikeets and their close relatives. It was a fabulous afternoon but after the train journey, we were both a bit weary lugging the groceries home.