An early start on Wednesday saw me at the National Skin Clinic where I got the all clear for the latest excision of a growth. My good fortune continues and after 2 weeks of quiet anxiety, I felt as light as air. We had a later than usual start at work in the afternoon due to a curriculum PD session on Thursday then had dinner at home.
On Thursday we walked through Bidadari and had a fabulous morning of birds including both the Lineated and Coppersmith Barbets and fabulous close ups of Blue-throated Bee-eaters.
The PD was held at Bishan and one of the segments included a few experienced staff sitting on a panel led by Eric, a la the ABC's QandA, discussing behavior management strategies in our classrooms. After work in the evening we met up with Peter at a haker centre in Kovan which is quite routine for us, though we haven't been there yet this year either because of our schedules not matching or CNY. We were greeted affectionately and enthusiastically by our Tiger Girl and the stall owner. A few of the regulars also recognised us and then a family from the Kovan MAE branch came over to talk to us. They were really pleased to see us behaving like locals and the dad shouted us a bottle of beer. In fact he wanted to buy us 3, but the Tiger Girl knew our regular limit on a week night, and discouraged him. Gotta laugh.
On Friday, we had planned to go to the 'Treasures of the World from The British Museum Exhibition at the National Museum, but it rained all day and instead we just enjoyed a quiet day in the coolness. We have it on the floating agenda for next week. On our way to work I got a giggle out of the latest advertising campaign on the trains. In the past few years, the Government has introduced several measures to help boost marriages and births. It ramped up the supply of Build-to-Order HDB flats, and had two housing schemes to help young couples with children, or who are expecting a child, set up home more quickly. Now it would seem the subtle approach to increase the birth rate is over. The image on the left was on the floor as you stepped into the carriage, the others are plastered on the windows at eye height.
Monday walkers met at Kent Ridge and we enjoyed one of my favourite trails across the Southern Ridges to VivoCity. We were just a small group, it would seem those New Years' Resolutions are going the way they usually do (down the drain) for some. Their loss! It was quite cool still, after the rain earlier which lasted for 2 days. Most unusual. Eric didn't make it, feeling like he had caught a virus so he rested. Hort Park always has something surprising.
After the walk, which finished at VivoCity Shopping Mall, I dropped into Tangs to buy one more member of the Elephant Parade. This one is called Spirit of India. I bought it with money we were given in red packets for CNY by Mr and Mrs Kwok, the MAE librarians. Something to remember them by.
The wind was taken out of our sails earlier in the week when we opened a letter explaining that the old Paya Lebar Police Camp on the corner of Serangoon Rd is going to be pulled down and replaced with a condo comprising seven 13-storey blocks. We will no doubt lose the current outlook of huge leafy mahogany trees shading the red terracotta tile roof of the old colonial style buildings below. Site clearance will begin in the next few months. Progress.
Eric's camera continued to play up so he took it back to Canon at Harbourfront on Thursday morning, only to discover they had moved. On Friday we took the new blue line from Botanic Gardens to Hillview so we could walk the Wallace Trail in the Dairy Farm Nature Reserve. The trail is named after Alfred Wallace to honour his contributions to natural science. A contemporary of Charles Darwin, Wallace is the other "father" behind the theory of evolution, in fact they collaborated on the idea of natural selection and presented their findings jointly. Darwin, a well off scholar from Cambridge, came to his conclusions about the biodiversity of nature and its evolutionary reasons, based mostly on his research in the Galapagos islands. He published first and is more widely known. Wallace (right) and Darwin (left), two men with the same idea.
In 1854, Wallace stayed in the vicinity of the Dairy Farm site, using it as a base between more than 50 forays into Indonesia, Malaya and Papua New Guinea, during his long stint in Southeast Asia. He collected many species of beetles and birds at the Dairy Farm site for sale to museums and rich patrons back in Britain which funded his trips. I read his book, 'The Malay Archipelago' earlier and was amazed at this self taught naturalist who left Britain on a steamship, bound for the Far East. During the 8 years he was away, he and his assistants collected over 125,000 specimens of mammals, birds and insects, of which over 1,000 species were unknown to man at the time. It was he who noted the boundary that runs between Australia and the Asian islands and mainland.
It marks the point where there is a difference in species on either side. To the west of the line, all of the species are similar or derived from species that are found on the Asian mainland. To the east of the line, there are many species that are of Australian descent. Along the line is a mix of the two and many species are hybrids. At some point in the past, Asia and Australia were joined together in one giant land mass. During this period, species were free to move about on both continents and could easily stay one species as they mated and produced offspring. However, once continental drift and plate tectonics pulled the lands apart, the large amount of water that ended up separating them drove evolution in different directions for the species making them unique to either continent after a long period of time had passed.
Even then Wallace was concerned about the disappearing forests in Singapore, natural habitats that were being cleared to make way for plantations. He made a strong case for conservation when he wrote in an 1863 letter, “Future ages will certainly look back upon us as a people so immersed in the pursuit of wealth as to be blind to higher considerations. They will charge us with having culpably allowed the destruction of some of those records of Creation which we had it in our power to preserve.” A man of great foresight.
Sheds from the original dairy farm have been converted into the Wallace Education Centre, a study hub for schools but also open to the public. We caught the train to One North and found Canon in their new location, then came home and got ready for work. A big day.
On Sunday night we celebrated Peter's birthday at Roosevelt's in Outram Park. He has just returned from a week in Sri Lanka where he caught up with the family in Galle he has been sponsoring since the tsunami. It was lovely to hear updates and see pictures of them all. Our next plan is to get a sewing machine over to them, the tuk tuk business is not flourishing. Peter had the week off school for Chinese New Year, no such luck for the tuition centres. Most of our students are beaming and counting their red packets! Eric spent some time adapting the words to Slippin' Away for a quick presentation.
The walk this week was scheduled for Tuesday again so another sleep-in. This is a new habit that will be hard to break, actually our 4th Monday morning in a row without a group walk. Eric spent a good part of the morning at the dentist, a long overdue appointment and I updated the blog. In the evening we went to see The Dressmaker, a film set in early 1950's Australia. We loved the way it incorporated so many different stories and personalities and moved from drama, to comedy, to pathos and back. The setting was completely unrealistic so you could just sit back and enjoy it. The theatre once again was quite full and the humour definitely translated across the other cultures in the room. After the film we went to Jamie's in Orchard Rd for dinner but when a pizza and one glass of wine costs about $60, we don't think we will be venturing back soon. Mind you, the pizza was enormous for one person.
Tuesday morning saw the walkers at One North where we met up before walking to Solaris, the building I have featured on here before with the external spiral green walkway all the way up to the roof garden. Fortunately Eric's camera was ready for collection too so we were able to kill two birds with one stone. We were not given prior access to walk the green walkway which hugs the building all the way to the roof, but we did have access to the rooftop for great views of One North's modern architecture and then to the fourth floor garden overlooking One North Park. Below is the rooftop garden (top left) and beside that a view of Mediaopolis where the national tv and film industry operate.
From there we walked back to Buona Vista and through the park to Wessex estate. The walk incorporated a quick stretch of the old rail trail and then a few loops through the colonial black and white buildings before having lunch at Coldbar. Steve managed to join us there. Can you imagine that, he only lives a few blocks from here. Eric was the only male walker today.
In the early evening we met up with others at Gluttons Corner on the esplanade. The sun dropping cast a beautiful light on the Marina Bay Sands building. We went to see the Dianna Krall Wallflower World Tour Concert which we all really enjoyed. She filled her set with old favourites from Irving Berlin to Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan. As she says, she loves these songs because they are timeless. Her band were all brilliant too. What a way to start the new week.
Xīnnián kuàilè (Sin nian choir ler) or
新年快乐 or
Happy New Year (CNY)
Yes, after 4 years we have learnt that we should have been saying 'Xīnnián kuàilè' instead of 'Gong xi fa cai' which actually means 'wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year'. While this is very important to the Chinese, it is not our highest priority. Anyway, you live and learn.
We have had a pretty quiet week really by our usual standards. Took us longer than expected to get over the weekend away. On Friday we had one of Eric's Top End Hash House Harrier members call in with her friend and they stayed with us until Sunday night, on their way home from a motorbiking trip through northern Thailand. They mostly ventured off independently, although we did meet them after work on Saturday night and introduce them to the Crazy Elephant in Clarke Quay. We came home, mindful of work the next day, but they stayed to closing, enjoying the live blues music.
Because of Chinese New Year, we had the afternoon off on Sunday, and Eric tried to meet up with them after they had visited 'Gardens by the Bay' in the morning, but they missed each other somehow. Not to worry, we all met up back at home before they had to catch their flight home.
There was no walk scheduled for Monday morning, being CNY. We were enjoying a sleep-in, only to be disturbed by the lion dance performers. As usual they were accompanied by their drummers and cymbals so that brought an abrupt halt to our plans. We went downstairs to participate in the frivolity with all our neighbours. The lion heads each threw mouthfuls of sweets and orange peel out to the children while the man under the back end feverishly worked at creating the arrangement of orange segments left for our prosperous new year. We read the numbers as 1,3,6,8 but it can be dependent on which way you look at it apparently. You can choose what suits you best.
Then we met Heather at Farmway for a walk along the Sengkang River and canal to Damai. It was very overcast but in the early stages, where the surroundings remain pretty natural, we were rewarded with sightings of Laced Woodpecker (male at left and female to right above the female Magpie Robin) and a Lesser Coucal among others.
We stopped in at the new Waterway Point Shopping Mall in Punggol along the way. It only opened mid January and is very popular with locals so it has made train travel for Eric getting to and from work much more crowded. Then we continued on until rain hustled us into the LRT at Damai. Eric bought some ox tail on the way home and cooked it up for dinner. Scrumptious!
Tuesday morning was a better one for sleeping. The lion dancers of the neighbourhood didn't begin until midday. We had already been for a walk through Bidadari and returned by then. Very quiet on the roads, coffee shops closed or deserted. But then I found them all buying lotto tickets at the local pools shop. We caught a train Into town in the afternoon and couldn't believe the deserted platforms and carriages!
All the locals are still busy attending reunion dinners. They first visit the eldest in the family and then over the ensuing days they visit the rest in turn. It is a huge obligation and requires being dressed to the nines at all times and the giving of red packets to anyone younger. Children are noticeably being mischievous as they are not to be scolded at this time and many of them are terribly overtired as they were encouraged not to sleep until after midnight on the eve of CNY, as that will ensure the long life of their parents.
We went to see 'The Dressmaker' in Orchard but to our great surprise the tickets were all sold out. Usually we sit in the theatre and have the place practically to ourselves, but today it was crowded with anyone not of Chinese heritage and orphans enjoying a rare day off. We were able to get the last tickets for 'Spotlight', another on our wish list, and that turned out to be really revealing about the institutionalized cover-up of corruption in the Catholic Church. I particularly liked the way it didn't play up the winners to be heroes or the losers to be individuals, but rather a systemic problem. Unfortunately it seems that the practice continues with Cardinal Pell able to excuse himself from attending proceedings in person.
After the movie we went to Chinatown where more than 2,600 handcrafted lanterns light up the streets. Along with the lights there are displays by acrobatic and musical performances which will continue for the next two months. The festivities officially kicked off Saturday (Feb 6) with opening performances both here and at the annual River Hongbao at the Marina Bay Floating Platform (where we saw the lanterns under construction 2 weeks ago).
There were plenty of people about but it wasn't uncomfortably crowded as it has been on earlier nights. The stalls are overflowing with monkey paraphernalia but this year, for the first time since we have been here, Tiger Beer have not put out a New Year souvenir and Eric is quietly disappointed. We have quite a collection of their marketing objects of desire.
Some days are diamonds aren't they? We woke this morning to the news that Nepal's ethnic minority groups have lifted a four-month blockade of crossings along the Indian border. It has led to severe shortages of fuel and other supplies across the country adding to the hardship so many are already dealing with. May things quickly improve now.
We also received messages from Luke to say that at last the property settlement, which has been held up since 27th Jan, will go ahead before the end of the week. It has all been due to paperwork shuffling and very frustrating for them. What great news for us to carry us through this next working week. Happy Birthday too Col, my big brother. Hope you have a wonderful week.
Wednesday improved as the day went on and then on Thursday we went exploring in the Little India/Farrer Park area. We took the newly opened blue transit line to Rocher and followed a trail that wandered by a number of temples and mosques. Eric was very happy snapping pictures all the way and then we finished up on Rangoon Rd where we met Neil for a coffee. He works at Punggol but lives just around the corner in the Farrer Park area and had enticed Eric along to try out Jewel Cafe. Coffee turned into lunch which was very nice.
On Friday we went to the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve with Heather but Eric was not feeling his best. Another dodgy tummy turn. This is one of those places where toilets are a long way apart, the tree cover is not thick and the ground either side of the track could be surprisingly unsafe. Not to mention the mozzies if you have to drop your pants. He wasn't getting any better so he turned back. Heather and I persisted and although we didn't see anything particularly surprising we did get to see a female olive-backed sunbird building a nest, a large water monitor emerging from the weed covered pond, a golden orb web spider and a pair of common flamebacks (male upside down here, red crest fully erect) at very close range. Unfortunately our photographer had left and although he left the camera with me, the shots aren't great. He rested up while the rest of the team went to work in the evening.
Syd and Kym were keen for us to return to Bali with them so late last year we booked the same villa again and we chose this weekend as it was close to our birthdays. Saturday and Sunday went by in a blur and we were on the plane straight after work. June and Heather joined us back at Villa Horizon, Nusa Dua.
The flight left on time and although it was probably the noisiest flight I can ever remember taking, we seemed to touchdown in Bali in no time. Jainie was there to collect us, with a second driver and we were soon on our way with loads of duty free bags between us. We tucked into that as soon as our rooms were allocated and it was alarming to wake the next morning and see the level left in the vodka bottle. Some of us were more active than others in the morning.
We had arranged for our breakfast makings to be in the fridge on arrival but they had omitted the bread so Eric and I went for a walk to Bali Mart down the hill. The return journey certainly got the heart pumping. There are too many of us to all travel comfortably in the one car so after a big serving of scrambled eggs, I magnanimously offered to mind the couch with a good book for company, while the rest went to Hardy's Supermarket for more supplies. By the time they returned it was lunchtime. All we seem to do is eat! Between dips in the pool, music challenges, reading and puzzles we made it to pre-dinner snacks which rolled over into dinner cooked by Fathma. Her baby has really grown since our last visit when she was only 3 weeks old. Now she seems mostly attached to Mum's hip yet Fathma managed to turn out a fabulous meal including garlic fish, spicy fish in banana leaf, chicken with lemon grass, gado gado, fried tofu and another green bean dish. It was all delicious.
Overnight it rained heavily and we woke to thunder and the threat of further rain so it was tempting to just stay in bed. However we had booked Jainie to drive us to the water treatment lagoon to go bird watching and it seemed a shame to miss the opportunity even if we did get wet. There was some confusion about the destination and it was only when I twigged that he might have mistaken "lagoon" for "Legian" that we turned around and headed in the right direction. He left us there for 2 hours and dropped June at the gardens in Nusa Dua to walk. Fortunately for all of us, the rain held off and we were very happy with our list of sightings which included the purple heron, scarlet headed flowerpecker (very wet) and scaly-breasted munia. One new sighting was the Fulvou-breasted Woodpecker but we were unable to get a picture.
Back at home we feasted on grilled bacon and tomatoes for brunch before another dip and siesta. I managed to update June's laptop which she was really happy about and I was rather chuffed that I still remember something of the old ICT knowledge. In the evening we returned to Bumbu Bali in downtown Nusa Dua for a terrific local meal in an authentic setting. We chose the traditional Balinese Rijstaffel menu again to sample all the essentials the island has to offer. It is a set menu of three starters and a soup followed by seven (you read it right) small main dishes, vegetables, three types of rice, four desserts and finally, Balinese tea or coffee. Once again we all left completely sated (read stuffed).
The morning return flight left on time and we had plenty of time to drop in at home before heading off to work for wk 5 of Term 1. Can we be halfway through the term already? Sttlement on Luke and Tahlia's place in Wagaman was held up but should now proceed without further delay. Adrian is thinking of returning to Darwin before the next winter in Alice so we look forward to having him closer to home when we return. I think we have our belated tax return completed now and flights booked for the next trip so we can relax. Tough life really!
