Return to Reality of Work Life

We landed home late Tuesday evening to find the house-fairy (Kathy), who had been staying at our place for a few days with her daughter, had done all the ironing. How good is that? Have already booked her for any other holiday we're away and she isn't. 
So on Wednesday afternoon we returned to work for the 2pm meeting to mark the beginning of term 2. By 4 pm, just before the classes started I was feeling like it was time to down tools for the day and have a dip in the pool - that's the routine we had followed all the week before. It was a long evening. Hope you had a great birthday celebration Sandy.
On Friday we took the red line to Orchard MRT and walked to the Australian High Commission. It was very hot by the time we got there and we were rather cross with ourselves for having misread a sign that meant we walked at least 2 kms further than we needed to. The process of renewing our passports was very efficient though and they will deliver the new ones to us by registered mail within a fortnight. I was expecting to at least be able to read an Australian newspaper while I was there but there wasn't time and besides, only the local paper was available.  From there we walked back through the Botanic Gardens to the yellow line. 

What was a very pleasant surprise was to see how the gardens have bounced back to life after the recent rain. We were here just two weeks ago and were struck by how browned-off everything was. 

We chose different pathways to the familiar ones and discovered two amazing heritage listed trees. One was a heavily buttressed Kapok Tree near the bandstand.

The other was the same Tembusu Tree which features on the $5 note. It has a very low branch, just perfect for group portraits. So popular has it become that now the branch needs support and a barrier fence has had to be erected to protect it. Singapore has recently made a pitch for its first Unesco World Heritage Site - these beautiful 154-year-old Botanic Gardens.

There are so many fabulous sculptures in the gardens, every time you visit you find more. This one is simply titled 'Girl on a Bike'.

As we wandered it felt rather strange to be living in a foreign country without a passport. Of all places, I think Singapore is probably one the easiest to do that in. 

On Sunday night many of the staff met up from the different branches to celebrate one week down, only 11 to go at Sque Bar in Clarke Quay. This is a long term. There were lots of travel stories shared and talk of the upcoming Great Race which will be the biggest social event of the term. Team entries are due at the beginning of next week. I am hoping people will write up quick reviews of their recent travel and save them in a Google Drive Account I set up for all the staff. We hope to make this a useful online place to visit for tips on holiday planning and weekends away from Singapore, but it will only be useful if people bother to add their experiences. 
The Monday walkers met at Kovan and walked to Kampong Lorong Buangkok, the last surviving kampong on the island. Only about 30 Malay and Chinese families remain. The timber houses, connected by dirt roads, have rusting corrugated iron roofs and are in varying states of disrepair. Since the residents pay only a small, monthly rent of about $30 to the landlord, Madam Sng Mui Hong who inherited the plot of land from her father decades ago, no one seems to mind. 

 Found this parang wedged conveniently at Bev's height.

The Govt are keen to raze it for redevelopment, claiming the land is flood prone and poorly serviced but the local residents are standing firm. I'm not sure how much time they have left in the face of modern urbanization. The region of Buangkok is filled with modern HDB flats in stark contrast to the humble kampong.

 

While we were walking Eric was attending a check up at The Atrium, Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He has been doing this every six months since he first arrived. Again, all his results are in the desirable zones so he was expecting to be told he no longer needed to return, but then he mentioned that we are planning to walk to Everest Base camp so they do want to see him again in September. 

In the evening we met up with his brother Reg and wife Alison at the Park Royal in Farrer Park. They are enjoying a few days stopover, breaking the return journey after a cruise on the rivers of Scandinavia.  Reg and Al were always very generous to us when we visited the folks in Central Victoria, especially when we had young children in tow. In those days their holidays invariably involved hitching the van to the back of the car and they would go up the river, fishing. More recently, they have been enjoying a number of cruises which they do with a party of about 20 other Maryborough (or thereabouts) locals. We thought we were going to have a quiet dinner with just the two of them but to our delight everyone wanted to join in. A few have chosen not to do the stopover and already headed home, but in all there were 15 of us who decided Chinatown would be a good place to start. Since Reg spent his working life driving trains (starting on steam trains) we used the MRT for transport. Everyone was fascinated by the cleanliness and efficiency though a few were not so thrilled when they heard that it had no driver.
Getting them tickets and then through the 'tap and go' gates was a challenge but they were very good at staying in a group, I guess going on organised tours does that for you. We ate al fresco in the recently revamped Smith St (of course) and everyone seemed to enjoy the dishes we chose from the shophouse restaurants and street kiosks. 

 Eric and his brother sitting opposite, pretty easy to identify

 plenty of choices

 plenty of people

satays were popular

On Tuesday the group took on Jurong Bird Park and the Singapore Flyer and we met them for the 7pm 'Wonder Full' sound and light show at Marina Bay Sands. Unfortunately we got the arranged meeting point mixed up and they arrived just as the last notes were fading into the night.  Not to be discouraged, they all agreed to a coffee or a beer while we waited for the next show at 9:30. I'm sure many were exhausted either by the long visit to the park or the exhilaration of the flyer, but everyone seemed to think the wait was well worth it. 

Tomorrow they are off to the Zoo and will have done the cable car to Sentosa by the time we see them again on Friday!