Home again and ready to tackle 2nd semester

We were welcomed home to our street where the Dengue Fever alert has dropped from high alert red (120 cases) to green zone. That was pleasing to see. Didn't really feel ready to return to work the next day, still hopeful it wasn't all over, but rounding the corner of Heartland Mall and being assaulted by the smell of ripe durian just beside the lifts gave me a reality shot and in no time at all everything was back to routine. The first few days flew by as we stored all those photographs, had haircuts and sorted the new credit card, not to mention a bit of housework in preparation for our latest visitor. Judie MacMillan, ex-MAE and more importantly one of the special group who trekked to Gudel in Dec 2012, joined us at Sque Bar in Clarke Quay for Welcome Back drinks on Sunday night. 

On Monday morning we struggled out of bed after a very late night catching up. Judie lives at Ocean Grove and teaches at Wallington Primary. Between her stints at MAE she has also taught in Cambodia and runs a small charitable outfit called Book Buddies which arranges to send over second-hand children's picture books to children in need. Lots to talk about as you can imagine. The walkers all met up at Beauty World for an assault on Bukit Timah only to find the rain bucketing down. Phew! After a coffee it was still raining so we took the bus to Botanic Gardens and walked around there for an hour or so, where the sun was now shining. 

 There are always some surprises when we walk

 More for some than others

We finished up down Orchard Rd and on to Newton's Circus for lunch. By the time we got home we definitely felt like a nap however I was booked in for a second acupuncture session at the local Traditional Chinese Medicine Clinic across the road. I've been having some trouble with my shoulder and neck for a few weeks and since I haven't done anything about it over the holidays it is now worse. I have confidence that after the two sessions though it is on the mend. In the evening we met with quite a few others at Lau Pa Sat which has just re-opened after being closed for many months for renovations. It is a famous food court in the central business district, and I was pleased to see they have retained all the original structure and ironwork while sprucing it up with better toilets and a fresh coat of paint. We particularly love the satay stalls positioned just outside so the smoke from the char cooking doesn't upset all the other diners, but on this occasion I had Thunder Tea Rice again, my current local favourite.

 Channeling Hawaii?

Getting back into the swing of walking daily we spent Tuesday morning at Bidadari where unfortunately at the far end we could see the beginnings of it being transformed into a construction site. Even if they don't engulf it all, the reduction in area and tree cover will impact on the birdlife. 
In the evening we all went to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Roadshow which was a hoot. 

For some time Eric has been excited about a Tasmanian Whiskey Distillery which won the top award for 2014 and had discovered the one outlet in Singapore where it is available. It just happened to be across the road from the theatre where we enjoyed the comedy show, so we are now the proud part-owners in a bottle of Sullivans Cove. This is a single malt whiskey but not out of same oak cask that the winning drop was dispensed from. 
We had a well earned sleep in on Wednesday morning before heading back to work, where did that weekend go? We are now looking forward to Luke returning just for one night at the end of this week before he continues on to Macau and we are off to Malacca for a few days. While he is here we might discuss the next holiday destination.........