Great Race 2016

So we had to tweak the last draft of the race legs then on Friday before work we met with June at Kovan and spent a frantic hour printing and collating the information into 7 packages, one for each of the teams. We're ready, teams have been given all the information they need at this point. What could possibly go wrong?

The next two days at work went quickly and on Monday we had a relaxing morning then took all the folders and prizes to Sque in Clarke Quay. The teams began arriving and what a spectacle they made!

 Above representing The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Peter Pan and below The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. 

 Above representing 50 Shades of Grey, Clockwork Orange (costume award) and Below, My Name is Red.

Above, representing One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (eventual winners), the organizing team missing the photographer and below, the assembled teams. 

They certainly went to a lot of trouble and then spent several hours walking around Singapore on a very hot afternoon which, by coincidence, was a public holiday for Vesak Day. Oops! Didn't think of that. Brought a smile to lots of locals' faces no doubt. We all finished up at Wine Mansions in Outram, a venue we first found for this event when we helped organize it in 2014. It was Ann who sent us a link to it from NZ and we must try to get her there while she is with us next weekend. 

So on Tuesday morning we woke up with nothing to do! It's been awhile. 

Still Munday

We spent the morning at home on Thursday. Eric's Kindle had arrived the day before so he was happy to play with it, downloading lots of books from a file we already had (compliments of Ben Munday). Meanwhile, Jenni ironed his clothes, Glenn cleaned the bathroom  and I entertained our visitors with Roberta as she vacuumed. Time for a swim and then to eat again! Since we had a mtg to attend at Bishan Branch, we all went to the food court in Junction 8 there first. Later Jenni and Glenn visited the Botanic Gardens while we went off to the mtg and then our classes. Peter joined us for dinner at our local afterwards. It is often intriguing to sit and look through someone else's photos of a visit to a location you are very familiar with. They see things through a different lens, particularly Jenni who has an artistic eye, and this was very obvious with some of her pictures from the Botanic Gardens. Now we have to revisit them too. 

On Friday morning we went to the Annie Leibovitz Women:New Portraits exhibition at the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. This building used to be the main passenger station for trains travelling between Singapore and Malaysia. Opened in 1932, the last train departure from Tanjong Pagar Station took place 30 June 2011, marking an end to the station’s 79 years of service. As part of the separation agreement that Singapore signed with Malaysia in 1965, the Malaysian company that ran the service was allowed to retain control of the railway land, meaning that Tanjong Pagar Railway Station became part of Malaysian sovereign territory. As a result, an unusual situation arose whereby travelers had to clear Malaysian customs when boarding the train and then Singapore customs at the Woodlands checkpoint. We have walked the entire line, in 2 different segments on 2 different days, but until this week have been denied access to the station, gazetted as a national monument, as it was off limits to the public. 

The entrance of the three-storey building makes a strong statement featuring four towering statues named Agriculture, Commerce, Transport and Industry, representing sectors of Malaya’s colonial economy. The main hall features six murals that also depict economic activities that were historically prominent in Malaya such as tin mining, shipping and rubber tapping. While the murals appear to be constructed of tiles made of ceramic, the tiles were actually created from coloured rubber by the Singapore Rubber Works using a patented process. At one time, the upper floors of the station also housed a 34-room hotel that was operated by Lim Jit Chin and his family for more than 60 years. At the height of its popularity, when the hotel was still frequented by dignitaries such as members of Malaysian royalty, its services were considered equal to those of Raffles Hotel. The Lims also managed a pub and restaurant located within the hotel known as the Prairie Express Pub. In 1992, Lim received a letter from the Guinness Book of Records acknowledging him as the second-longest-serving hotel manager in the world. The Malaysian government closed the hotel in the following year. The images were dwarfed by the magnitude of the open space but her eye through the lens captures so much more than just the 2d image.

After the exhibition I took them to see some street art murals that were in the neighbourhood and we had a late lunch together. It was then time for Eric and I to head home and get ready for work so we left them to walk over to Outram while we caught the train. 

They spent Saturday at home then in the evening we met up and had a simple hawker meal at Kovan. Jenni has been struggling to shake off a bug in her gut so she stayed home again on Sunday to rest while Glenn walked another leg of our Great Race. He enjoys seeing the Singapore that is not on the tourist routes. Despite our careful planning he found some pieces of public art we had included were now missing from the locations we had indicated so we need to go back and update the questions again. Does it never end? Why would they move them before the annual event, surely our race is on the municipal councils calendar!  After work we met at Kovan and enjoyed pizza and wine at Joe's. Peter came home with us and we all contributed to the reworking of the lyrics of Mr Bojangles as Jo was about to celebrate another birthday. We called it Jo Jo Bangles. 

Our walk on Monday was from Paya Lebar to Katong through the Joo Chiat district. It is an area we were keen to take Jenni and Glenn to anyway, since it has so many beautiful buildings and Peranakan shops that we knew they would appreciate. We began with a circuit of the Geylang Serai Market. Take a look at those bananas! Plantains actually.

The area is well known for its unique pre-war architecture – colourful two-storey shophouses and terrace houses with ornate facades, intricate motifs and ceramic tiles. The walk was an absolute doddle, too much standing around waiting for everyone to regroup for my knee, so by the end of it I was aching and couldn't wait to get on the bus home. While the others went for a swim, I went to the doctor to get some advice and show him all the pills I have stockpiled to decide which was best to take. 

Chiang Pow Joss-Paper Trading in particular was good to find open. The workshop has been closed other times we have walked here, but this time the sidewalks were full of funerary products, all made of paper and stripped bamboo. We were able to poke our heads in and see the bicycles, planes and houses under construction.

In the evening Eric and Glenn joined Jo and many others at Blu Jazz in Bugis to celebrate her birthday but Jenni and I stayed home on the couch and had poached egg on toast. No need to feel sorry for us though. We watch a little tv and found plenty to talk about over a shared bottle of wine. Of course they ended up at the wine fairy's 3 storey cellar.

After a slow start to Tuesday we went to the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands to see the Van Cleef and Arpels Exhibition which explores the relationship between the science of gems and the art of fine jewellery. We arrived just in time to see the mesmerising tornado fountain in operation.

There were more than 450 pieces of jewellery on display, along with more than 250 gems and minerals from the French Natural History Museum. The company was founded in 1906 and has some signature designs like the Alhambra motif (similar to a four leafed clover), the Zip necklace (which actually zips) and the Mystery Set (where no claws hold the gems in place). The pieces have adorned the necklines of Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Grace, Princess Faiza of Egypt, the wives of Indian Maharajas and the Duchess of Windsor to name a few. 

We had a drink on the promenade enjoying the different plays of light on all the structures around us and the breeze off the water before taking a train to Ang Mo Kio and then taxi to the Zoo for the night safari. We had bought online tickets for the 7:30pm entry but hadn't accounted for the crowds. There were so many others doing the same thing, many with crotchety children getting all hot and bothered in the mob. In typical Singaporean style though, everything kept shuffling forward and it wasn't too long before we found ourselves on the tram. 

They certainly manage to get you up close to the nocturnal animals. Midway through we got off and walked through enclosures with fruit bats and lapwings. We were able to observe lions and leopards from safe vantage points. It was well worth the effort to get all the way out there but we were tired by the end of it and took a taxi home. Jenni and Glenn were amazed at how cheap taxis are here. Guess we wont be calling on them too often in Darwin.

Jenni went to the doctor on Wednesday morning while I swam and the boys went shopping. At last she can feel a bit more secure, not worrying about where the next toilet is. The smell of rendang cooking in the kitchen wafted through the house (and probably a number of other apartments) while Jenni taught me a game called Australian Rummy and we compared different rules for mahjong games. I learnt the 13 tile Cantonese game but her father taught the family the Navy rules.  Many theories have been presented regarding the origin of the game. Personally, I like the one that credits Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, with development of the game about 500 BC. The appearance of the game in various Chinese provinces coincides with Confucius' travels at the time he was teaching his new doctrines. The three "Cardinal" tiles also coincide with the three Cardinal virtues taught by Confucius. Chung (middle) the Red, Fa (prosperity) the Green, Po (white) the white, Benevolence, Sincerity, and Filial Piety. Confucius was said to be fond of birds, which would explain the name Mah Jong (Hemp Bird). Most likely though, it originated from a combination of card games. 

Time to go to work! Really? The weekend has gone so fast. While we flogged ourselves at the whiteboards and desktops Jenni and Glenn ambled off to the URA Centre and some of the back streets of Chinatown. Then Glenn took Jenni to see the wine fairy at Park View Square. Couldn't have her miss that spectacle. They didn't beat us home by long and then we all sat down to a scrumptious rendang dinner. 

The boys went shopping again in the morning of the last day for our visitors, Glenn was after some new shoes. Not so surprising, Eric came home with some new shorts too. Jenni must be an excellent teacher, as I beat her in a game of Australian Rummy. Then we all took the train in to City Hall and found ourselves in the Long Bar at Raffles. 

We had a quick bite to eat together in the MarketPlace under Raffles City  and then the workers left the holiday makers to find their own way home. This time they made it back in plenty of time to pack before joining us and Peter for a last meal together at our hawkers across the road. We called a taxi and all too soon they were gone. There are not too many couples we can share such small quarters with for more than a few days without some friction surfacing, but the Mundays fall into that special category with us. Aren't we lucky.

Mundays on Friday

We had a lot of catching up to do with Jenni and Glenn. That made getting up an Saturday and Sunday morning particularly difficult but we love having them here. They recently joined a group of friends (a number of them also from our Butterworth days) to complete the Great Ocean Walk, a one-way trail of just over 100km between Apollo Bay and the iconic Twelve Apostles near Princetown. As a result, they have recent updates on all those people as well. 

On Sunday night they joined us and a few other colleagues for a delicious meal at Little Vietnam in Paya Lebar. Jenni and Glenn had revisited Marina Bay and the Gardens while we were at work. Peter literally just walked off the plane to join us after visiting his mum in Bendigo for Mothers Day. The Mum's at work were treated to a lovely morning tea, flowers and chocolates. It was lovely but I am looking forward to celebrating with the family next year.  I did get to chat with the boys. Adrian is making the most of his first week off and Luke and Tahlia have been busy preparing and painting their new place so the new tenants can move in. There is a new mindset to every passing event these days: this time next year........ But don't worry, we are making the most of the time left here too. 

On Monday Jenni and Glenn joined us on the walk around Chinese Gardens.  We began at Boon Lay MRT and as always it was beautiful and we were very fortunate to finish just before a heavy downpour. 

After a swim in the afternoon the boys cooked the leg of lamb the Mundays brought over with them and we had a delicious roast dinner at home.  Eric had recently read a recipe about this meal prepared with 40 cloves of garlic and hadn't stopped salivating over it since. Must say we all agreed it was lovely. 

After a well earned sleep-in on Tuesday, we walked down to Prata King on Paya Lebar Rd for an Indian breakfast of roti and murtabak. Later we took to the streets and retraced two legs of the Great Race. Spies deny me the opportunity to reveal the location. We knew one leg needed some tweaking and we hadn't walked the other at all, so now we think the planning is complete, just some printing and assembling to be done. Afterwards we met up with Robert at Sque in Clarke Quay then came home to a bowl of delicious roast vegetable soup. It was heavily laced with those garlic cubes and tasted fabulous. The last of the pre-race quizzes was released this week. Since many of you have been here you might like to try it yourselves. It was called Where's Eric in Singapore? Here is just a sampler, 5 of the 20.

11th of May, our 37th wedding anniversary. Jenni and I swam in the morning while Eric and Glenn went for a walk to the Japanese Cemetery. Then we rewarded ourselves with a roast lamb sandwich to finish off that fabulous meal the boys cooked on Monday night.  It was a shame our weekend was over so fast and already we were off to work again. Those of us who are no longer working dawdled around Kallang Wave at Stadium (looking at golf apparel) and then Kampong Glam where they found some great bamboo bargains in Haji Lane (and got caught in a really heavy downpour). They revisited Zam Zams, somewhere we must also return before leaving. After work we met up at our local hawker stalls.

Losing Bidadari

I admit to being pretty tired at work on Thursday evening but it was only for 2 sessions and I'm not sure the students were aware. 
On Friday morning I met Heather as arranged for a walk in Bidadari. Sadly, we were confronted with fences and earth moving equipment as the destruction of this site proceeds in earnest now. When the new town development at both the Christian and Muslim cemeteries here was announced in 2012, the green community and nature lovers were up in arms against the plans. Unfortunately the area chosen for the town park by the URA is more open and not where most of the birds are found. A Facebook page “Saving Bidadari for the Birds and People” was started to bring attention to the diversity of the place. No less than 155 species have since been recorded there. Many are globally threatened species which make their way to the same bush every year during migration. The Nature Society (Singapore) and its Bird Group then drew up a proposal to keep the larger part of the Muslim cemetery as a parkland for the estate. The Bird Group conducted a GPS mapping and survey of migrant species during the 2012 autumn migration period to find out where the migrants spent their winter and stop over.

They produced an alternative proposal which has helped to review the location of the town park. While it is not exactly where the bird group wanted it to be, the denser portions of the park will be kept untouched as a natural sanctuary for those residents who prefer the wilder greenery. A new lake will be created on the other Christian Cemetery side to add a new water habitat to the park. Hopefully this will attract more water birds.

It was very disturbing to see the destruction but one highlight was a first sighting of the Blue_crowned Hanging Parrot. I didn't have my resident photographer with me so these are compliments of Google.

When I got home I found Eric cooking up a Massaman curry for dinner so after work we came home to enjoy that. Saturday and Sunday seemed longer and harder than usual. Perhaps it was because we had been away earlier in the week or more likely because it was hump week. 6 down, 6 to go to the mid year break. After work Sunday a number of us went to Saturday House but I was so tired I just ate and went home to bed. I had set myself some goals as curriculum leader to be finished by the end of the week and it made for a pretty busy time. I got there with the help of some colleagues.

This week the Monday walkers were lead through Bukit Brown Cemetery by June, who works at Kovan with us, but also volunteers at the Peranakan Museum. The volunteers had recently been taken through the cemetery and June was keen to share what she had learnt with anyone interested. April is the grave cleaning month so this is a really opportune time to visit. Not only did we enjoy learning more about the grave sites and local culture but it is also an excellent bird watching site because it has been closed since the 70's and the jungle has been encroaching ever since. Unfortunately they are building an expressway through one section of it, but it is a huge tract of land with more than 70,000 graves, something like 5000 of which have had to be exhumed for this project. Many famous Chinese pioneers were buried at Bukit Brown and June showed us that of Lee Kwan Yew's grandfather, who wasn't famous at the time but certainly rich, and as a result lays right on the top of the hill. Most of the graves are Hokkien and in the semi circular shape which represents a comfortable armchair for the ancestors. They are usually guarded by two lions but may also have angels, keeping all options covered. 

A pair of Sikh guards are found at the wealthier ones, the bigger the better and one pair stand over 2m tall apparently. We didn't see them, but this one below was almost life-sized. He was watching over the husband and wife in the graves top right. The elaborate design here included channels for rainwater collection that then spouted out of the mouths of fish and into a reservoir where the koi fish swam. Below this grave, just down the hill their son is buried. They had purchased a huge plot, perhaps expecting that further generations would be buried here until the announcement of the cemetery's closure brought that to a halt. The grave in the image below holds a husband, wife and concubine. The concubine bore the children but their names are also listed under the wife's headstone because apparently she was very good to them. 

We enjoyed a sleep in on Tuesday and then tackled the housework which had been rather neglected recently. Motivation to get this done was that in the afternoon a number of friends were coming over to watch a movie that someone had bought while on a trip to Laos. The film was called Chang, a silent film about a poor farmer in Issan, nowadays in Northeastern Thailand. The raw footage captures the daily struggle for survival of a farmer and his family in the jungle amidst leopards, tigers and elephant stampedes. Filmed in 1927 it was a silent movie and very quirky. After the movie, which we watched in our lounge since no one else has a dvd player and tv, we went across the road for a simple hawker meal afterwards. 

Kym and Geoff arrived on Thursday. I first met Kym when we worked together in Sandy's team as ILT's travelling all over the Top End helping teachers with ICT. Geoff and Eric both worked as Maths Consultants in Curriculum Department in Darwin but at different times. Later he became Eric's Assistant Principal at Humpty Doo and they made a good team together.  We went to Jamie's Italian at Vivo City then on to Chinatown which included visits to the Buddha Tooth Temple and the URA Centre as well as the busy Pagoda Street, before we had to come home and head to work. This week is parent teacher interviews so very busy. 

On Friday we took them to Promenade and walked across the Helix Bridge to Marina Bay Sands then through the hotel to Gardens By the Bay. There were fellows on belay cleaning the windows!

It was very hot so we limited ourselves to the Flower Dome which is celebrating Tulipmania at the moment. Gorgeous.

Then we returned through the supertrees to the hotel and went up to Ce La Vi on the 57th floor to see the residents enjoying the infinity pool on the skydeck and the panorama. Stunning, never disappoints. 

They had to leave while we were at work but we didn't come home to an empty house. Luckily for us, Jenni and Glenn arrived before that and we shared dinner at our local hawker. 

Krabi

The excitement was palpable as we released the first of the pre-Great Race quizzes to the teams on Wednesday morning. Well, not really. But some teams had a very quick response time, so they are most definitely competitive. 
By Wednesday I was ready to test out my knee in Bidadari and we had a lot of birds for company which was lovely. Unfortunately we also came across felled trees and soil testing equipment which indicates the developers are advancing on us, despite the fact that the rare trumpeter hornbill was sighted there this week. Rare in that it has never been recorded here before as it is native oto Africa. We saw hill mynas, lineated barbets and a lone Chinese pond heron in breeding plumage among others. 

On Thursday Eric and Neil set another leg of the race and I swam. After work we met up with Peter at our local hawkers and were joined by Simon, the guitar playing local who approached us for some help with the lyrics of a song he has just learnt. "I come from a land down under". I'm sure that was just for our benefit. 


By Friday Eric had set the last of the legs and June and I had checked another. Then it was time to start collating the results of the quiz. It all gets pretty busy really, but fun. Had the chance to skype with Bev in Canberra who has just today received final clearance to begin the job she won last October. How she has managed to stay positive in all that time is beyond me. A very tenacious character.

By Sunday night we had knocked over five weeks of term already so it must be time to get out of Singapore for a few days. Monday's flight was a little late leaving Changi but still arrived on time, 2 hrs later in Krabi, Southern Thailand 11am local time. We arranged a driver who took us to the Ao Nammao jetty and from there we caught the scheduled long tail boat to Railay Beach. They leave whenever 8 passengers turn up. Fortunately it wasn't long. Our Sand Sea Resort was just a short walk across to the west side of the tiny peninsula. On the map below you might be able to make out Penang Island right at the bottom, left of the mainland. Phuket is the larger island just west of Krabi where our Sand Sea Resort is marked. 

Once we had checked-in, we found our cabin tucked away in the shady gardens and then some lunch down at the water's edge. The sun was blazing, many people were baking in it, their sunburnt pounds of flesh overhanging their micro swim suits. It is quite disarming to see the lack of consciousness. Thai people being so discreet, they would never appear offended by it all, but I am sure they are. I guess most who work in the tourism industry have seen it all, too much in fact. 

Then we took a siesta. In the afternoon we went for a walk back to the east side, out along the point and then took a path back to Pranang Cave Beach back on our west coast. It was beautiful but what we were looking for was the outlook point and lagoon. Unfortunately we eventually found the path but it was vertical and required rope climbing so with my knees not at their best we had to give that a miss. 

The walk had been interesting though, following the edge of a limestone karst and its cavernous bottom with stalactites and stalagmites. 

And the beach was very pretty.

I walked on to the far end of the East Railay Beach in the hope of seeing birds but there were few. This side is very different to the west. It has mangroves and is rocky rather than sandy, a good thing for the boats that operate between here and Krabi town that bring in all the supplies and workers for each shift.  

Eric went back to our resort and I met him later in the pool and we only emerged when the sunset demanded we get out and take a picture. Then we had sun downers on our cabin balcony before strolling out for dinner.  We bought some wine and beer then ate at the restaurant next door to our resort. Absolute beachfront with a fabulous onshore breeze to cool us. It is interesting that none of the resorts serve alcohol but they are happy for you to buy it and they will provide openers, suitable glassware and ice buckets as required. It has been a very relaxing day, not a thought of curriculum or fire drills or classwork correction. 

Tuesday
Slept soundly then took an early morning stroll back to the east side in search of birds and photographs. After breakfast back at the Sand Sea Resort we relaxed for most of the day. 

There is the opportunity to take boats out to the different islands, go snorkeling and canoeing but for today we are happy to relax. In the afternoon we took a boat to Krabi town where we had read about a boardwalk through the mangroves which we expected would be good for bird watching. This is the home of that ruddy kingfisher we saw in Bidadari last migration. Blue flycatchers and mangrove pittas are also seen here, and they would be new sightings for us. It was hot but there were only 6 passengers for Krabi Town so we each agreed to make up the difference and not wait for two more people to arrive. The tide was out so it was quite a walk along a floating jetty to get to our boat. Two Canadians, who were also passengers to Krabi that we had been talking to, asked to come too as they had never been into a mangrove environment. We really had no idea where we were going or what we were expecting to find and just had to trust our boatman. Turned out he knew exactly what we were talking about and did his best to help us find birds along the way. The boardwalk was not quite what we were expecting all the same. Not a board to be seen once we cleared the ramp from the river, and most of those boards were missing! 

It was very quiet in terms of birds, either too early or not early enough and the tide well out, but still very interesting as always. The few calls we heard we were mostly unable to identify. Perhaps we would have been better staying in the boat to explore the many networks of creeks that branch off the main river. We did manage to find ashy tailorbird, green Iora and olive-backed woodpecker. Our boatman then refueled and we returned to Railay just on dark. 

Wednesday
After breakfast we waited under the shade of the trees for our speed boat to arrive at 9am and take us on an island hopping trip. Our boat was very comfortable and had plenty of power, being driven by no less than 3 outboards. We first stopped at Pranang Cave Beach, the one we walked to on Monday looking for the lagoon. A quick dip there to cool-off as the sun is already making itself felt. I was impressed by the enterprising family that supply freshly cooked food and cool drinks from their boat which pulled up while we were there. 

On to Tub Island, within the National Park where sand bars link a number of outcrops together at low tide, we were able to snorkel. It was lovely but very crowded. I can't imagine what it is like here at high season, we are at the end of it. One of the islands is fondly called Chicken Island, because it has a rock which looks like the neck and head of a chicken (to me a turkey). We were able to snorkel at two different spots within the park seeing many colourful reef fish, spiny urchins, sea cucumbers and clams. I even found a set of goggles which we took back to the resort and left at the pool for children to play with.

Our final stop was Poda Island which has a large white sandy beach shaded by Casuarina trees. We had lunch provided here, as did many other boats and their passengers so shady spots to sit comfortably were hard to find. The highlight here was finding a pied hornbill keeping his eye on everyone from a vantage point high in a coconut palm. By the time it was 1:40 we were well and truly ready for our siesta. It was a quick 10 min jaunt across to our Railay West Beach home. 

We re-emerged to read on the balcony of our cabin but my book was just so well written I cried and cried so had to put it down. Who else has read 'Still Alice' and not done the same thing? We wandered through the resort next door whose gardens looked like they may have more birds, but it was just too hot I think. So, took a stroll up to the bar at Walking Street then watched the sun go down for the last time here. 

We had organized for the resort to arrange our transfer back to the airport. This involved being driven in a golf cart the 500m to Railay East Beach, then transferred by tractor to a waiting long-tailed boat, it took us to a different jetty again from the ones we had used earlier and we were met and driven on to the airport in a minivan from the SandSea Resort's Ao Nang site near the hot springs.  Quite a journey and we were glad we hadn't had to rely on our luck that we could make the connections on our own with a plane departure time looming at the other end. Some of us do have to work this afternoon!
Birds found
Grey-eyed bulbul
Stripe-throated bulbul 
Streak-eared bulbul
Olive backed Sunbird
Large billed crow
Reef egret
Ashy tailorbird 
Green Iora
Olive backed woodpecker
Brahminy kite 
Black kite
Rufous bellied swallow 
Pacific swallow
Chinese Pond heron
Collared kingfisher
Common sandpiper
Pied hornbill
Magpie robin
Sparrow