Believe it or not

As Michael was only staying until Saturday we shared dinner with him, Heather and Peter after work on Thursday night and then they all came back to our place. The boys had planned another whiskey tasting so it went on far to long and got far too noisy but so far the neighbours haven't complained. They have amassed quite a selection of labels over the last few months. It did mean that we dragged ourselves to work though, for the rest of the week. Would have been much easier to just stay home after that weekend away and then that late night on top. 

Despite all that, we still managed to attend the end of term drinks arranged by the MAE social club at Timbre@TheSubstation. As its name suggests, the building was previously a power sub-station, built in 1926. By the late 1970s the building was no longer in use and left vacant. In 1986, together with the Tao Nan School next door (now the Peranakan Museum) and the shophouses along Armenian Street, were all identified for conservation by the URA. In 1986 it was converted into an arts center and now houses an art gallery, dance studio and performance theatre. It was good to catch up with people we don't see often and chat about plans for holidays to all points of the globe. By the time the live music began at 10:30 though, we were ready to head home. I think some of the young ones will have kicked on a lot longer. It is the same building we found yarn bombed in September last year. 

Meanwhile the SEA Games have begun and a number of students from our classes have attended events. We caught some of the opening ceremony on tv after work on Friday night.  Ticket prices are very reasonable but we are not that interested in seeing any of the events that fall in our free time.  All the athletes and officials participating in the games are being accommodated in 20 hotels around the city so I'm glad we're not looking for a spare room at this time, the rates must be very high. 11 countries belong to the federation, Timor-Leste being the newest member, recognised in 2003.  There is a huge campaign on to get locals involved and show support. See the train carriage and taxi below.

This week's Monday walk was scheduled as an evening one on Sentosa Island. Who had the insight to make that clever decision I wonder? We enjoyed a sleep-in and then a stroll around Bidadari with binoculars. It was a very fruitful search turning up many different species despite the late hour of the morning. The biggest surprise was finding Common Hill Mynas, which we saw on Bintan last weekend for the first time ever. Common Hill Mynas are quite good mimics of human voices, and are still kept as pets by some people. Larger than the other species, it prefers the forest to an urban setting. It has a black glossy plumage with yellow wattles around the back of the neck and under the eyes. Although common in Singapore in the past, the Common Hill Mynas are now considered rare residents unlike their introduced cousins, the Javan Myna (white vented myna) brought from Indonesia as pets. The proliferation of buildings in modern Singapore, perfectly suits the feeding nesting style of this successfully adapted grey bird, which we commonly see around open air hawker centres. The Common Mynah (Indian) is distinguished from the Javan Myna by it yellow eye patch and brown plumage. Sometimes bald birds can be seen, a phenomenon not seen in the other mynas. It is usually seen in pairs and just like in Australia, these and its Javan cousins, are considered rats of the skies here too.  

Common Hill Myna, good guy at (L), Javan Myna, (C) and Common Myna (R), both bad guys

In the evening we made our way to VivoCity to meet up with a larger than usual group. It would seem others also enjoy a Monday morning sleep-in. The walk took us across the boardwalk, up to the merlion, down along the beautifully mosaiced waterfall to Siloso Beach then back along the boardwalk. We were joined by a few more of Bev's work colleagues at Marche on VivoCity's rooftop to celebrate her birthday to end a very pleasant evening. 

As you can see Eric got right into the 'Wear Red' campaign

On Tuesday morning Eric decided to have his camera serviced so while he was gone, Heather and I went in search of the Hill Mynahs again and a park I had read about where they installed the old gates of the original Bidadari Cemetery. We didn't find that particular bird but we did meet a Gurkha! I had no idea that there was a Gurkha Camp, tucked away beside this Vernon Park we had set out to find, that is home to 2000 Nepalese Gurkha soldiers, here to protect Singapore's most important people and places. The principal role of the contingent is to be a special guard force, and it is currently used as a counter-terrorist force. Their signature broad-rimmed hats and kukris, a curved blade, are familiar sights outside top ministers' homes. They have been here since 1949, once India gained independence from the British Empire. The Gurkhas of Nepal battalions from the Indian Army were divided between the Indian Army and the British Army. Those transferred to the British Army were posted to other remaining British Colonies. In Malaya and Singapore, their presence was required in the Malayan Emergency, and they have since established themselves against militant unions and whenever racial riots have occured. Their presence as a neutral force has been important because local police officers were often perceived to be (or were even expected to be) biased towards their own ethnic groups. We met Chandra Rai, who has been here for 23 years, and had just finished running laps of Bidadari, while we were birdwatching. He showed us a short-cut to the park. I found an interesting article in the newspaper about recruiting young gurkhas here .

When the cemetery closed, they created this little garden at Vernon Park to commemorate 20 people who were considered important to Singapore's history, and who had been interred at Bidadari Cemetery. They include doctor and philanthropist Lim Boon Keng, Ahmad Ibrahim, and R. A. J. Bidwell–the architect who had designed the Raffles Hotel, Goodwood Park Hotel, and Chesed-El Synagogue. The old gates of the Bidadari Cemetery, which bore the lion emblem of the Singapore Municipal Council, were then placed at the entrance of Bidadari Garden. We found it a peaceful little corner tucked in beside the Mt Vernon Sanctuary which used to be Mount Vernon Crematorium and home to more than 20,000 niches for ashes stored in the columbarium blocks. It was opened in 1962 and was the first state run crematorium in Singapore to handle cremations. It ceased operations 2004 and current cremations are now done at Mandai Crematorium and Choa Chu Kang Columbarium Complex.

After the last few nights out socializing at bars and restaurants it was time for a meal at home and Eric spent the afternoon in the kitchen whipping up a huge paella which was delicious.