Our last working week in Singapore came to an end. Eric's working life has come to an end (or so he thinks). The lists are already forming in my head. But before we start on that we had a terrific farewell at work with many families and students taking the time to show their appreciation. As the last student was waved out the door the staff from Punggol arrived (all having had the last session off) and we shared some drinks and funny anecdotes from the years. Renee joined us so we were able to tell her how much we have appreciated the opportunities MAE have given us. Then the whole lot trundled over to Joe's Bar and Bistro for one more end of the week session. Peter joined us there. They put Eric Clapton and Santana on the sound system just for us.
We finished up at Melisa and Craig's tiny condo and continued into the wee hours. No pics from there (I hope). Eric was very slow out of bed the next day. In fact he was still there when the air con service chaps turned up at 9:10. He managed to surface while they were here but then went straight back to the land of nod for a few hours. In the afternoon he managed to take a box of books to the post office for me to send to the Book Buddies project in Siem Reap that we have been supporting for a few years now.
I tackled the kitchen clean-up. We have come to the realization that there will be next to no cooking going on here for these last few days as we have a number of places on a list that we want to revisit before we leave, and most of them involve eating! In the evening we wandered down to Saturday House where we met up with Peter, Cheng Guan and Chun Jiau. After dinner we came back to our place where they either polished off what was left on the whiskey shelf or took it away with them. Eric is left with one last bottle, a new experience from Tasmania: Hellyers Rd finished in Pinot Noir rather than sherry or bourbon barrels. We were also able to offload lots of glasses and other bits and pieces as they went out the door. I presented Cheng Guan with a Kleenex roll of toilet paper for his trek to EBC with Peter in a few weeks.
We spent all of Tuesday cleaning the place, it is spotless and passed the test when the owners and their agent turned up at 7:30pm. Our agent got her dates mixed up apparently. Unfortunately the owners don't want the sofa so now I am desperately looking for a way to get it to a charity. I refuse to just leave it in the apartment for them to take over as the agent suggested. Once they left we slipped down to the local hawkers across the road and had dinner with Heather. Then we went to the Crazy Elephant for one last fill of the Blues Machine playing live with Ed Strada.
So now the listed items are getting more interesting, not cleaning and clearing tasks but final visits. Wednesday was much more relaxed once Eric arranged for the disconnect with Starhub who supply the networking for phone, internet and cable TV. I was tasked with getting rid of the red sofa but I am not winning.
In the evening we went down to the hawker at the HDB where our favourite Tiger Girl, Hoa (pronounced Whar in Vietnamese) works. She now calls herself Anna and has just been granted PR status so is very happy. William, her husband works in security for the casino on Sentosa, and since he is a local she has been given citizenship. We are thrilled for her, but just between you and me, this seems so unfair to us as Renee, our Principal, has a partner in a similar position but because he is Malay she is not entitled. Anna's new manager is very happy as they are selling a lot more crates of beer since she began working there. That is because once her friends found out where she had moved to, they all chose to eat and drink there too. And that includes us. We had a lovely evening with a couple that she calls Uncle and Auntie (which means they are even older than us) who have been helping to teach her Mandarin and we had met at her former workplace at Block 203 Kovan. At 75 John is still working in promotion management and Joyce, who is a few years younger, works three days a week too and looks after the grand children another 3 days. As the evening wore on John became quite outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the government and worry about the future for Singapore with the big trading companies moving offshore. This was confirmed by Veda who joined us, an Indian man in the finance sector who mentioned that a number of big banks are moving their headquarters to India. He was most interesting to talk to as his mother back in India and a matchmaker have lined up three girls to choose from for his marriage. He will be flying out in February to make his selection. Then we were joined by a man I hadn't met before who is from Sabah. Quite an interesting, blended international table who all tried to outdo each other buying food and beer and trying to insist we pay for nothing as it was our last night. The bbqed stingray flaps were a treat we wont be eating back home I guess. We had expected an early one, not to be. It was very difficult to extract ourselves even when the bar had closed as they had tubs of beer on ice lined up. The evening meant a lot to us, it had been very special spending it in such company.
On Thursday morning my sister Judy rang with wonderful news that their eldest son Jason and his wife Georgie are expecting their first baby in June. We are thrilled with their news. Eric was off walking the Southern Ridges trail, another of our favourites. He's taking lots of photos as he goes each day and feeling quite sentimental about the places and people we have shared the walks with. Today he forgot his camera but fortunately had the phone with him for these cheeky crested laughing thrushes.
In the late afternoon we went for a brief explore around Emerald Hill. It must be one of the most well preserved and colourful streets so close to Orchard Rd. Emerald Hill was settled by the Peranakans – descendants of 16th century Chinese traders who became completely immersed in local culture. Also known as the Baba-Nyonyas or Straits Chinese, the Peranakans were the middlemen between the British and Chinese and, as a result, were quite powerful and wealthy. Most of the buildings that survive were built between 1905 and 1925 and there are flourishes of Chinese Baroque and art deco architectural styles including grand entrance gates, ornate friezes and wooden window shutters. I can't imagine what the rents would be like so it’s not surprising that a number of the houses have been converted into businesses like cocktail bars and a souvenir shop quaintly named the ‘One Price Store’ but apparently that is not a true reflection of the cost of their merchandise. It was closed when we were there.
Then we went to Sque Bar in Clarke Quay to meet up with Heather for her last night in Singapore and our last on the riverfront. We spent the evening reminiscing about our favourite places or events over the last few years and holiday highlights.
Our final tasks were completed, the owners came to collect keys and they are happy to receive the red sofa. (Thank you so much!) On our final night we went to Little Vietnam in Paya Lebar with Peter and Cheng Guan for dinner and then drinks at Tuckshop where the decor was interesting but the service was minimal. Cheng Guan has bronchitis and is now unfortunately in doubt for completing the EBC trek.
On Saturday Peter joined us for lunch and then took a few bags home with him. It was quite an emotional farewell. Peter met us on our arrival and now was seeing us just before departure. Oh the things we have seen and done inbetween! And a number of those totally attributable to him like 3 Nepal treks and 2 trips to Sri Lanka, not to mention the introduction to whiskey and too many late nights. It was all his fault.
At 6pm we met up with Bernard from the florist shop for goodbyes. This man said hello to us the first time we walked by his shop in Jan 2012 and we have been able to forge a lovely friendship with him, and his brother Gary, as we made the daily passage to work. Bernard has a lot of local knowledge having grown up in the HDB and attending the nearby St Gabriels School. Apart from his flower arrangements he is also an accomplished artist who loves to get out and enjoy nature when he can, so we have had a lot in common and we are grateful for his interest ad insight.
Then had our last meal at the local Tian Li Hawker Stall. We gave them a stuffed kangaroo as a departing gift and they were delighted. After the taxi ride, into which we managed to stuff 12 bags, we shared mixed emotions at the airport. It has been quite a journey these last 5 years.
We finished up at Melisa and Craig's tiny condo and continued into the wee hours. No pics from there (I hope). Eric was very slow out of bed the next day. In fact he was still there when the air con service chaps turned up at 9:10. He managed to surface while they were here but then went straight back to the land of nod for a few hours. In the afternoon he managed to take a box of books to the post office for me to send to the Book Buddies project in Siem Reap that we have been supporting for a few years now.
I tackled the kitchen clean-up. We have come to the realization that there will be next to no cooking going on here for these last few days as we have a number of places on a list that we want to revisit before we leave, and most of them involve eating! In the evening we wandered down to Saturday House where we met up with Peter, Cheng Guan and Chun Jiau. After dinner we came back to our place where they either polished off what was left on the whiskey shelf or took it away with them. Eric is left with one last bottle, a new experience from Tasmania: Hellyers Rd finished in Pinot Noir rather than sherry or bourbon barrels. We were also able to offload lots of glasses and other bits and pieces as they went out the door. I presented Cheng Guan with a Kleenex roll of toilet paper for his trek to EBC with Peter in a few weeks.
We spent all of Tuesday cleaning the place, it is spotless and passed the test when the owners and their agent turned up at 7:30pm. Our agent got her dates mixed up apparently. Unfortunately the owners don't want the sofa so now I am desperately looking for a way to get it to a charity. I refuse to just leave it in the apartment for them to take over as the agent suggested. Once they left we slipped down to the local hawkers across the road and had dinner with Heather. Then we went to the Crazy Elephant for one last fill of the Blues Machine playing live with Ed Strada.
So now the listed items are getting more interesting, not cleaning and clearing tasks but final visits. Wednesday was much more relaxed once Eric arranged for the disconnect with Starhub who supply the networking for phone, internet and cable TV. I was tasked with getting rid of the red sofa but I am not winning.
In the evening we went down to the hawker at the HDB where our favourite Tiger Girl, Hoa (pronounced Whar in Vietnamese) works. She now calls herself Anna and has just been granted PR status so is very happy. William, her husband works in security for the casino on Sentosa, and since he is a local she has been given citizenship. We are thrilled for her, but just between you and me, this seems so unfair to us as Renee, our Principal, has a partner in a similar position but because he is Malay she is not entitled. Anna's new manager is very happy as they are selling a lot more crates of beer since she began working there. That is because once her friends found out where she had moved to, they all chose to eat and drink there too. And that includes us. We had a lovely evening with a couple that she calls Uncle and Auntie (which means they are even older than us) who have been helping to teach her Mandarin and we had met at her former workplace at Block 203 Kovan. At 75 John is still working in promotion management and Joyce, who is a few years younger, works three days a week too and looks after the grand children another 3 days. As the evening wore on John became quite outspoken about his dissatisfaction with the government and worry about the future for Singapore with the big trading companies moving offshore. This was confirmed by Veda who joined us, an Indian man in the finance sector who mentioned that a number of big banks are moving their headquarters to India. He was most interesting to talk to as his mother back in India and a matchmaker have lined up three girls to choose from for his marriage. He will be flying out in February to make his selection. Then we were joined by a man I hadn't met before who is from Sabah. Quite an interesting, blended international table who all tried to outdo each other buying food and beer and trying to insist we pay for nothing as it was our last night. The bbqed stingray flaps were a treat we wont be eating back home I guess. We had expected an early one, not to be. It was very difficult to extract ourselves even when the bar had closed as they had tubs of beer on ice lined up. The evening meant a lot to us, it had been very special spending it in such company.
In the late afternoon we went for a brief explore around Emerald Hill. It must be one of the most well preserved and colourful streets so close to Orchard Rd. Emerald Hill was settled by the Peranakans – descendants of 16th century Chinese traders who became completely immersed in local culture. Also known as the Baba-Nyonyas or Straits Chinese, the Peranakans were the middlemen between the British and Chinese and, as a result, were quite powerful and wealthy. Most of the buildings that survive were built between 1905 and 1925 and there are flourishes of Chinese Baroque and art deco architectural styles including grand entrance gates, ornate friezes and wooden window shutters. I can't imagine what the rents would be like so it’s not surprising that a number of the houses have been converted into businesses like cocktail bars and a souvenir shop quaintly named the ‘One Price Store’ but apparently that is not a true reflection of the cost of their merchandise. It was closed when we were there.
On Saturday Peter joined us for lunch and then took a few bags home with him. It was quite an emotional farewell. Peter met us on our arrival and now was seeing us just before departure. Oh the things we have seen and done inbetween! And a number of those totally attributable to him like 3 Nepal treks and 2 trips to Sri Lanka, not to mention the introduction to whiskey and too many late nights. It was all his fault.
At 6pm we met up with Bernard from the florist shop for goodbyes. This man said hello to us the first time we walked by his shop in Jan 2012 and we have been able to forge a lovely friendship with him, and his brother Gary, as we made the daily passage to work. Bernard has a lot of local knowledge having grown up in the HDB and attending the nearby St Gabriels School. Apart from his flower arrangements he is also an accomplished artist who loves to get out and enjoy nature when he can, so we have had a lot in common and we are grateful for his interest ad insight.
Then had our last meal at the local Tian Li Hawker Stall. We gave them a stuffed kangaroo as a departing gift and they were delighted. After the taxi ride, into which we managed to stuff 12 bags, we shared mixed emotions at the airport. It has been quite a journey these last 5 years.
Wow! The end on an era. What ever are you going to do with yourselves now?
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