Long Weekend

We really slept in this morning! I woke up at 9.45 and Ross didn't wake up until 10.30! What a great way to start the day. We had some breakfast and decided to go to the gym. I wasn't really feeling up for it today so I just walked for a while before doing some stretching.

Back in the apartment, we played with the cats for a while and Ross did a lot of washing and other chores. About lunchtime we headed to Great Eastern mall to pick up some shopping. We had lunch at O'Briens and picked up a Starbucks to drink while we shopped.

At home again and watched Mission Impossible - great with the surround sound! Ross continued doing the washing before he made dinner for us - chicken and bean stir-fry, a Weight Watchers recipe. We ate it while we watched MI 2. A great long weekend!

Today's photo is of the MANZA (Malaysian Australian and New Zealand Association) magazine. We were suprised to find a photo of ourselves from the Casino Royale night back in May.

Back to KL - Merdeka Day in Malaysia!

This morning we woke up, made French toast for breakfast, packed up our car and headed home! We were going to go to the Jurong Bird park on the way but it was pouring rain so we skipped it and continued on our way.

At the Singapore border, we handed over our passports and immigration cards and put our e-pass in the machine so it could take off the money for the tolls. We then drove over the bridge across the water (see photo) to the Malaysian immigration and repeated the process.

3 and a half hours later we were home. It was so great to see the cats again after 3 weeks! The rest of the day was spent on the couch watching TV. We even ordered in dinner from Kenny Rogers Roasters for dinner because we didn't have any food in the house. A great, lazy way to spend the day.

Today is Merdeka day here in Malaysia. 52 years that Malaysia has been an independent country. Unlike last year, there was no concert in the Exxon Mobil carpark - shame :-)

Aimee Mann Concert

Today Ross and I went and bought a few things to take back to KL. A few things that we can't find there including WW cookies, Australian Milo, Scotch Finger biscuits and our favourite toothbrushes.

In the afternoon, we tried to use up all the food from the fridge and made sandwiches to eat while watching the footy. I had a bit of a nap too and woke up about 4.

From there, we got ready and headed to Funan DigitalLife Mall to try and claim our GST back - with no luck! They would only refund it if we were flying out of the country, not driving - crazy! Anyway, we walked around the mall for a while looking at phones as I still cannot decide what type of phone I would like.

We walked up to the Raffles City mall and from there, walked via the underground malls to the Esplanade. They had some local musical festival going on called Bay Beatz. We took a seat at Harry's pub and enjoyed a couple of quiet drinks while listening (not by choice!) to the local music acts blaring their hard rock/ heavy metal tunes for all to hear.

About 7 we walked to the concert hall and took our seats. Up first was Ling Kai, a young local singer/ songwriter. She was pretty good albeit shy and self-deprecating but her voice was really nice and her songs were pretty good.

After about 30 mins, Aimee Mann and her two back-up musicians came to the stage. We knew a little of her music from the soundtrack to the movie Magnolia but other than that we didn't really know what to expect. She was really good. Her songs were all very different and interesting with interesting stories to tell and the backup musicians were great to watch as they all switched between instruments - keyboards, acoustic guitar, drums, rhythm instruments and vocals. She played for a long time and the crowd even shouted out requests which she played. You could tell she was a seasoned performer because she freely admitted if she couldn't remember the words and if the band hadn't played the song for years. She was really entertaining. However, the concert was turning into a request hour and no end was in sight. I was exhausted, so Ross and I made our move to leave. Just as we were halfway along the aisle, she announced that this would be there last song! So we just missed the end of it but it also meant that we beat the crowds out of the theatre!

All in all, it was a good concert and it was nice to hear some good live music in a great venue. We caught a taxi home and I fell into bed.

Changing of the guards!

Sonja and I headed to the PS Cafe for breakfast this morning before going to nails. We had a great breakfast, as always, and even had time to browse through a few more shops before heading to Strip! for our nail appointment.

At Strip!, we took our seats on the enormous couches and settled in for our pampering. They did a great job and actually had the right beige colour that I like for the french polish on my fingers. I had my toenails painted a bright coral colour - and I mean bright! Sonja went with more natural colours and we both walked out of there feeling and looking great!

By this time we were ready for lunch (because it had been 3 hours since we last ate!) so we went to Fish & Co. for another great meal. Sonja wanted to buy some things from MUJI (kind of a Japanese IKEA-type store) and I wanted to look for some other things so we went our separate ways and met up a bit later. We walked back to the apartment together and Sonja picked up her bags and headed out in a taxi to catch the bus back to KL.

It was great having company in Singapore for this week while Ross had to work.

Speaking of Ross, he drove back down to Singapore after work and arrived about 8. I had bought some yummy soup from the Soup Spoon so we ate that in front of the footy before heading to bed.

So today was a changing of the guards - goodbye Sonja after a great week, hello Ross for the weekend!

Wandering the shops

Sonja and I made pancakes for breakfast before hitting the shops on Orchard Road. We walked down to ION and wandered around the huge variety of stores. We spent the most time in Sephora where Sonja and I both picked up some things. Actually, thinking about it, we also spent quite some time in Thomas Sabo and walked out with purchases each. I bought a chunky silver charm bracelet and lucky silver ball charm as well as some drop earrings which you can put the charms on. (Ross gave me some charms for Christmas and also for our anniversary so now I can wear them on my bracelet or as earrings). Sonja bought three cute charms: a black flying pig; a bird cage complete with tiny yellow canary and a four leaf clover. She also bought the earrings. So we definitely walked out of there with our wallets lighter!

After walking around for a while, I decided to head back to the apartment and left Sonja to continue shopping. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading magazines and watching TV before Sonja came home.

For dinner we walked down to Cuppage Terrace and tried Bobby's Grill. Sonja had ribs and I enjoyed a monster feast of lamb chops - definitely a place suited to a generally male clientele. After dinner, we played a game of pool (mainly for the photo!) on the outdoor table. I don't think it gets used too often.

After a great night out, we headed home and watched a couple more episodes of We Can Be Heroes before bed.

On the hunt for a nail salon

This morning Sonja and I went to Level 9 for a quick breakfast before getting ready to head out and look for a nail salon. I had looked up one to go to so we headed off in the general direction. I forgot to write the address down so I just went by memory and of course that didn't work. We walked around a couple of blocks before deciding to head back to Orchard Road.

We stopped in at Centerpoint and had a drink at the Coffee Connoisseur - yum! I was certain that there were two nail salons in Centerpoint so we walked around every level looking but did not find them! I think I may be losing my mind! We did find some interesting shops to look at though.

From there we walked to Paragon as I DEFINITELY knew there was one salaon next door to the waxing place, Strip!. They were completely booked out for today and tomorrow so we made appointments for Friday morning. We went to the PS Cafe for lunch and I had an amazing roast vegetable salad.

The afternoon was pretty much spent the same way as every other afternoon recently - relaxing watching TV (more episodes of Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes). About 4, we were both a bit restless so we walked down to Spinelli's for a coffee. Sonja had with her a game called Cafe Bingo. Each player gets a card with things that you would typically see at a cafe, for example, a spilled coffee, a laptop, a cell phone, a barista, pastry crumbs etc. and the first person to spot the things to make a straight line on their card wins. It was pretty funny sitting there looking for all of the different things! We played a couple of rounds before heading home.

Back at the apartment, Sonja made us pasta for dinner. We had bought some homemade pasta from the gourmet deli in Paragon so we feasted on black sesame tagliatelle and spinach tagliatelle with a veggie and ham sauce. We watched Billy Elliot (which Sonja hadn't seen) before heading to bed.

Another day in Singapore

Sonja and I took it easy this morning and by the time we got organized it was about 10. We walked to the Coffee Bean for breakfast then wandered around the shops for a while. At lunch time, we went to Paragon to pick up some supplies from the deli counter for lunch.

We enjoyed our olives, cheeses, stuffed peppers, artichokes and dips - yum! I headed to the bed while Sonja went up to the pool to get some sun. I woke up about 4 and Sonja and I watched The Truman Show - another good movie.

We made pizza for dinner and watched TV for the rest of the night.

Today's photo is of the head massager that Sonja bought me - best thing ever!

Sonja in Singapore

This morning Ross and I had breakfast at PS Cafe in Paragon before Ross headed back to KL. I went back to the apartment and relaxed while I waited for Sonja to arrive.

About 1, Sonja rang and I went to meet her at Spinelli's. It was great to see her again! We had coffee and caught up on things in KL before heading to the Soup Spoon for lunch. In the afternoon we relaxed and watched some TV before heading out for dinner.

We walked to Orchard Central and tried the new restaurant, The Loft. The food was pretty good and the decor groovy but the music was really bad! Gangster rap with dinner - not good :-) They also have an outside balcony section but apparently we were not "smart casual" enough!

After dinner we went back to the apartment and pretty much fell into bed! It's nice having a friend here.

Movie in 3D

This morning we walked over to the Coffee Club for breakfast. It was nice to sit outside and it was relatively quiet too. From there, we walked over to the cinemas to see what was playing and bought tickets to the afternoon session of UP in 3D.

We headed back to the apartment where I laid on the bed watching TV for a while until it was time to go see the movie. As we went into the cinema we picked up our 3D glasses (see photo). The movie was great although it did take a while to get into the swing of the 3D. It was a pretty funny and cute movie. The best character was definitely Doug the dog.

From the movie, we went back to the apartment and relaxed. In the evening, we made pasta and ate it while watching Jerry McGuire - an oldie but a goodie. It was a nice lazy Sunday.

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 70kg

Exercise:

- Walking on treadmill: 70 mins
- Free weights: 30 mins
- General walking

Out and about - Night Safari

This morning we had bacon and eggs for breakfast before walking down to Plaza Singapura for a coffee at Starbucks. We wandered around the mall and Ross and I tried the neck/ shoulder massage devices that they were selling in OSIM. It seriously felt like someone was karate chopping your back! (Although it did feel pretty good!).

From there, we walked down to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and caught the train to City Hall. We walked to the Esplanade and had some lunch at a great cafe called Barossa. The place was obviously Australian as they served a huge amount of different Aussie beers. We shared a mango chicken tandoori pizza (yum!) while we overlooked the harbour on a beautiful sunny day!

We headed back to the apartment after lunch, watched some footy, took a nap and woke up about 5. We got organized and drove out to the Night Safari Zoo. We were suprised a million other people obviously had the same idea so we jumped on the nearest vacant table at Bongo Burger and enjoyed our dinner with the free Borneo tribes show. Today's video is of the fire breathers passing the fire between them - amazing! The show was really entertaining and it was a good start to the night.

After the show, we joined the throngs and entered the zoo itself. By this time it was after sunset. We walked on a few of the walking trails first and then made it back in time to get a seat for the Creatures of the Night show. It started out with a huge wolf running up the top of the cliff on stage and howling - very cool! A lot of other noctural animals were doing various things too but our favourite was definitely the Asian short-clawed otters. The compare emptied a bunch of cans, plastic bottles and glass bottles on the ground and the otters came out and recycled them in the various bins! Amazing! But they were so cute doing it though jugging the cans in their tiny paws for ages before finally letting them drop in the bins while they were on tip toes - very funny to watch!

Another highlight of the show was one of the desert cats who refused to leave the stage and just sat down in the grass by the compare who didn't actually realise she was still there! They had to bring in her trainer who still had a lot of trouble convincing her to leave.

After the show, we boarded the tram for a ride around the park with commentary from a keeper. It was amazing to see the hippos, rhinos, lions, tigers, leopards, giraffes, elephants and many other animals at night just doing their thing. We got off at the East Lodge and followed one of the walking trails to look at some more of the animals before hopping back on to complete the circuit around the park.

We left the park about 11pm! It was a great night out and definitely recommended. Next time I think we will pay the S$50 and do the private tour.

A completely chilled out day!

Ross took the day off today and we spent the whole morning lazing about the apartment - wonderful! About lunchtime we thought we should probably head out to get some food so we walked back to the Soup Spoon to try some of their other flavours!

In the afternoon, we watched football pretty much for the rest of the day. I took a nap for a few hours and woke up about 4. We decided not to go out for dinner tonight and Ross made pasta for us which we ate... in front of the TV! We watched the AFL and the NRL and then fell asleep.

Still a pretty lazy day

Today I didn't do too much at all. I made myself pancakes for breakfast - three big ones with berries and maple syrup! - and then walked down to ION to pick up a couple of things. I had a coffee at Coffee Bean again and gave my friend Dee a call to catch up. After I had picked up a few things from Sephora (I finally decided on a Gucci perfume), I slowly walked back along Orchard Road trying to think of what to have to eat for lunch.

Almost back at the apartment, I decided to duck into Paragon and see what was on offer for lunch. I ended up at the Soup Spoon where I picked up pumpkin soup, a half a falafel wrap and a green apple all for S$9 - I thought it was a pretty good deal! The soup was great as was the wrap and it was all packaged up so well. Will have to remember this one for lunch!

I didn't do too much after lunch. Watched TV, played some Playstation and did a few other things before Ross got home at 5. He went to the gym and then we headed out to Cuppage Terrace for dinner at the Mexican restaurant. We had a great meal, came back and watched some TV and headed to bed.

A lazy day in Singapore

This morning Ross and I took our time and headed to Coffee Bean after breakfast for a leisurely coffee before he headed to work. We walked back to the apartment together before he took off for work and I tidied up the apartment.

After the apartment was reasonably tidy, I sat down to do some of the beading class homework that we had been given. For the final necklace that we are making, we have to do a lot of the work before we go to the class. It's a bit fiddly but I managed to get through another chunk of the work. My fingers were sore after this so I stopped for a break, grabbed my cous cous salad for lunch and watched some mindless TV.

About 1 I started to get tired so I went to the bedroom to lie down and play some games on my iPod. Before I knew it I was asleep and slept through until 4! I woke up and couldn't believe the time so I put on my workout gear and headed to the gym for a workout for about an hour.

Ross came home just after I got back from the gym and we walked to Paragon to get some dinner. We were going to go to Spagheddies again but it had moved! So we tried the Fish & Co. restaurant. It was amazing! Ross and I shared the seafood platter for two with scallops, huge king prawns, a ton of calamari, grilled fish fillets, rice and chips. YUM!

We rolled out of there pretty full but very happy. We had a look at Metro for a wallet for Ross and found one that he liked! Back at home, we watched some more Flight of the Conchords before heading to bed.

I was walking in the park one day...

Today Ross headed off to work and I spent the morning around the apartment before getting organized enough to head out. I walked down to ION to have a look around and return the top that I bought there (one wash and the thing had a huge hole in it!).

I had a look in Sephora, an amazing beauty store will all brands of cosmetics, make-up, perfume etc. I wanted to look for a new perfume as the one I have has almost run out. After looking around, I headed up to Springfield to return the top. They exchanged with no problems which is good; I just hope the new one doesn't do the same thing.

I stopped for a coffee and picked up some lunch before walking to the Orchard MRT station to try and find the bus stop. It was pretty easy - out of the exit and across the road! I didn't have to wait long before the No. 7 bus arrived. I jumped on and kept my eye out for the Botanic Gardens stop. The stop was just after the Australian High Commission so pretty easy to remember!

From the bus stop, I crossed the road into the gardens. It was a pretty warm day so I was looking for a shady spot to sit and eat lunch. I walked around the Swan Lake and saw 4 huge white swans, two big lizards, a couple of squirrels, a massive spider, turtles and some beautiful yellow and black butterflies all in the space of 5 minutes. Not bad! The whole reason I wanted to come to the gardens was to get away from the constant construction noise around Orchard Road; well, it worked!

I walked a little bit further and found a spot under a shady tree to sit and eat lunch. It gave me a great view of the lake. I ate my Vietnamese spring rolls before the ants started biting so I packed up my stuff and continued to walk. I walked through the water lily ponds before finding another shady tree with a bench beneath it. I sat and read my book for a while but before long, it started to spit with rain. I packed up again and started to walk towards the exit but didn't get there before the rain really started coming down.

I took shelter in the gazebo near the Swan Lake and sat there (again reading my book) until the rain stopped. While I sat there, the swans came back into the water and started swimming around madly! It was like they had outboard motors or something! I guess they were just enjoying the rain. Once the rain stopped, I continued walking out of the park and to the bus stop again. I timed it perfectly; as I walked up, the bus arrived.

I stayed on the bus until it got to Paragon on Orchard Road and then jumped off and headed to the supermarket to pick up some food for dinner. I walked home again and started working on roasting some vegetables for a cous cous salad.

Ross came home about 6.30 and we made dinner together. I bought this great spice rub for fish so I rubbed it over the snapper fillets before Ross put them in the pan. I cooked up some cous cous and added chili and coriander and some of the fish spice rub. Ross also cooked up some asparagus - yum!

After dinner, we watched some more Flight of the Conchords before heading to bed.

Not much going on!

Ross and I had a quiet morning together this morning. We had breakfast and went out for a coffee before he needed to go to work. We walked back to the apartment and he headed to the car while I went back upstairs to think about what I needed for the shopping.

I walked to Paragon and went food shopping at the Market Place. Not that exciting really. Then I walked back to the apartment, unpacked the groceries, put on some washing and had some lunch. I spent the afternoon watching some TV and reading a magazine before I finally decided to get off my but and head to the gym.

Down at the gym, I walked for 40 minutes and did some light free weights for about 20. I did a lot of stretching afterwards which felt great. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and the sun streamed in the gym as I was working out making me feel good! Outside thought it was too hot to do much - 32 and humid.

After my workout I showered and did a few more things around the apartment before Ross got home about 6. We made a beef and veggie stir-fry for dinner and watched some more Flight of the Conchords before heading to bed.

A pretty uneventful day. Today's picture is the view from the balcony of our apartment.

Day at the Zoo

This morning was a slow start. Ross made us pancakes for breakfast and we lazed about before getting organized enough to head out to the zoo. Luckily, our GPS also has Singapore maps on it so we got in the car, plugged in the zoo and managed to find our way there with no problems.

We opted to buy the 3-park tickets which will allow us to go to the Jurong Bird Park and the Night Safari too while we are here. One of the first exhibits that we saw was the White Tiger display. What beautiful animals! The enclosure was pretty big but one of the tigers was pacing back and forth which I don't think is a good sign. Ross and I stood and watched then for quite a while. One of the females decided to go into the water and started backing in which was pretty funny to watch. She didn't like getting her paws wet and kept shaking them about to get rid of the water. Then we realised what she was actually doing - taking a poo! Gross!

We left the tigers and went to explore other parts of the zoo. The zoo is known for its primates so there was a whole area dedicated to monkeys and apes of varying species. The Orang Utans were all pretty sleepy but one of the other types of monkeys (I think it was a mandrill) were pretty lively. As we walked past the exhibit, this little monkey stood on the furthest most tip of a tree branch and stared at us straight in the eyes. He then made these funny little noises and started moving his head back and forth - very funny to watch. Not quite sure what he was trying to tell us but I think it was pretty much something like 'Do you have any food?' or 'Can you get me out of here?'. A we walked past, he scrambled up another tree branch to follow us and did the same thing.

Our favourite monkey was the tiny little Tamarin who had a shock of white hair sticking up from his head. He was so small - probably no taller than 20 cm - and was free to roam around the park. We saw two of them at various feeding posts around the zoo. Very cute!

One of the other highlights was the Fragile Forest exhibit which was contained in a large netted enclosure. It contained butterflies, birds, lemurs, sloths and bats. It was cool to walk through and have all these animals around you. The lemurs where funny to watch. There was one mum with three babies and they were incredibly tame. The mum was just relaxing on a branch and stupid people were hitting or touching its tail - it didn't really care at all! Amazing! I felt sorry for it though. The three babies were playing around and when the keeper came out to top up the sugar syrup on the butterfly feeding platforms, they all followed him and were licking the syrup just as he left. Ross and I also spotted a couple of sloths. One looked just so relaxed on his back laying a branch and his head laid back on another one - it was pretty funny! For the whole time there he didn't move at all except to turn his head once! What a life.

We jumped on the train that takes you around the zoo and headed to the Cats Kingdom to see all the big cats. Loins, jaguars, leopards and cheetahs - beautiful! It was pretty muggy weather today so by the time we saw the big cats we had had enough and tried to walk to find the exit - not easy! It was a great day at the zoo and it is a pretty cool zoo!

After driving home, I headed off for a nap and didn't wake up until 6. We decided we would go out for dinner so we took the MRT to Clarke Quay and after walking around for a while found RENNThai - a Thai restaurant over looking the river. The food was great and it was nice to be out and about. After dinner we walked around some more before catching the train home again. We both pretty much fell into bed after a great day!

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 70.5 kg

Exercise:

- Elliptical Trainer: 30 mins
- Walking on treadmill: 40 mins
- Light free weights: 30 mins
- Walking, walking, walking around Singapore!

Ross back in Singapore

Today I didn't do much in the morning as I waited for Ross to arrive. He was driving from KL and left about 9am. I did go out and have a coffee at Spinellis and he text me to say that he was on Orchard Road. He finally got to the apartment at 1pm. Ross said the drive was pretty easy which is good to know for the future.

He dropped off his bags and we headed out to find some lunch. We ended up at Dome at Paragon. After lunch we walked back to the apartment and spent the afternoon relaxing, watching sport and also we both had a nap.

About 4, we decided we should probably get up. We watched some more sport before getting hungry about 6 when we made pizza again. It was just as good as last time! We watched the Brisbane - Western Bulldogs match - a good game. After sitting on our butts for so long, we decided to get out of the apartment and go and find some dessert. We walked to Centerpoint and tried the Coffee Connoisseur, a local coffee chain that we hadn't tried yet. The range of desserts and coffees that they had was amazing! Coffees with liquers, frappe coffees, iced coffees, a huge amount of teas and all the standard coffees too. We looked at the desserts which also looked good but we both decided to try the fancy drinks. I had a mint chocolate frappe and Ross had the Baileys Surprise - coffee, Baileys and mint. They were both amazing and were definitely better than dessert! (Just as a note, my drink was worth 9 points on Weight Watchers! Yikes!).

From Centerpoint, we walked up to ION. By the time we got there, a lot of the shops were closing but we did have a look at this one shop with all of these unusual gifts from Europe. Model planes, globes of the world, designer pens and other stationary items. It was pretty cool. We also managed to duck into Fossil to look for a wallet for Ross. The one I bought him from Chinatown for Christmas last year is definitely on its last legs and is falling to bits. We didn't find anything that really grabbed Ross' fancy so we slowly walked back along Orchard Road soaking up the atmosphere of the buskers and the huge amounts of people out walking in the beautiful weather.

We got back to the apartment about 11 and pretty much headed straight to bed. It's good to have Ross here in Singapore! Today's photo is of our apartment.

Exploring the other end of Orchard Road

This morning I woke up and headed back out to Orchard Road. This time, instead of turning right, I went left and walked along to the first mall, Centerpoint. I had a look around the shops; through the 4 level Robinson's department store and also some of the other shops. I had been eying off a black handbag and some silver thongs and looked, without success, at a lot of different ones.

From Centerpoint, I continued up the road to the next mall - OC, another department store. They had a different variety of shoes and bags and this time I did get lucky and found a great black carry all (see photo). It was also 30% off - bargain! There were also a couple of pairs of shoes that I like and were pretty cheap but I resisted the temptation on those ones.

Further up the road, I finally reached Plaza Singapura. It seemed the further up that end of Orchard Road I got, the cheaper the stores got. Plaza Singapura is a huge mall with many of the same stores but they seem to have better sales or more stock. There are also a heap of different stores there too.

Before embarking on the mall, I went to Starbucks and had a coffee and got through some more of my book. Once I had my energy back, I started looking around the stores. I found Charles & Keith, a great bag and shoe store and found two pairs of silver thongs both on sale for S$20. I couldn't believe it but I didn't think they would have my size. Sure enough they had both pairs in my size. I couldn't decide which pair I liked... so I bought both! One pair are super shiny and the other pair are a dull silver so they look different at least. I was really happy with that!

I wandered around all of the other stores in the mall before starting to feel exhausted so I went down to the basement level to catch the MRT back one stop up to Somerset. I was amazed when I realised how close everything is in Singapore. Yesterday I had caught the train to Dhoby Gaut (where I ended up today) and then walked about 100m to the museum. I had walked the same distance today and it really wasn't far at all. I would think that it is only about 3km from where we are staying on Orchard Road to Raffles Place. It seemed so far away in the taxi and traffic!

Anyway, I caught the train back and walked to the apartment. I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading and I finally finished my book - loved it! I was really disappointed that it had to end. About 7, I walked back out to find a bookstore to get a new book. I went to Kinokuniya - the biggest bookstore in Singapore and took forever to find something as nothing really matched up to the book I just read. I finally walked out with something and then went to find somewhere for dinner.

I ended up at Emerald Hill at the Outdoors Cafe where I ordered some vegetarian noodles and a lychee freeze drink. I hate eating alone so I had my book but didn't even get a chance to read it as the food came so quick. I think I sat down about 8.40pm and was all done by 9! So I headed back to the apartment, watched some of the NRL game before heading to bed.

Wandering around Singapore's Museums

This morning I had breakfast in the resident's lounge. It was OK; not great, but OK. I came back upstairs and got ready to go out. I wanted to visit some of Singapore's museums today. I walked down to the Somerset MRT station and caught the train to Dhouby Ghaut. From there, the National Museum of Singapore was only a 200m walk.

The museum was in a beautiful old colonial building. Inside the atrium was an interesting piece of art work - pink flowery tanks stacked on top of one another (see photo)! It made quite an impression as you entered the building.

I paid my S$10 and headed upstairs to the History Museum. A lady gave me a headset and I entered the exhibit which basically talked you through the history of Singapore. It was an interesting concept because you could follow 2 paths through the exhibit; one that told the history through people's stories, a more personal history and the other than took you through facts and figures. I started by following the personal stories. So at each exhibit, you would key in a number and listen to a story based on written documents or other evidence from the time. Singapore would have been an incredibly interesting place under British rule in the 1800's (although it had obviously been around much longer).

Although I didn't have the patience to listen to every exhibit - there were a lot! - I did listen to some key ones from each period in time. Singapore has the most incredible history for such a tiny piece of land. The British and Japanese both ruled Singapore. After WW II, Singapore became a state of Malaysia and eventually, 44 years ago, Singapore became its own independent country. Just like Malaysia, the ethnic diversity is incredible.

From the History exhibit, I walked through the 'Living Galleries'. There were four galleries; each one dedicated to a different aspect of human life - photos, film, food, fashion. The exhibits were interesting but I did think it was a bit strange to do it this way. There was nothing else in the museum other than the Living Galleries and the History Exhibit. I did like looking at the Chinese Opera puppets and costumes and the food gallery was interesting because they showed all the common ingredients in Singapore food.

After I finished at the National Museum, I walked down the road to the National Art Gallery. The art gallery is in an old church. This time the entry was free so I headed upstairs only to find that quite a few of the galleries were closed. The layout is really confusing and I finally stumbled upon an open gallery with some really interesting sculpture pieces about earth and water. A Thai artist had created life size bronze crocodiles that sat on traditional Thai canoes and overlooking them were resin black crows sitting on wooden oars. Also in the corner was a piece from a Cambodian artist using bamboo. It looked like a giant seed pod and was woven out of one piece of bamboo and stretched from floor to ceiling. Very cool!

In the hall way, there was a ceramic exhibit. I love ceramics and some of this was amazing. A lot of the pieces were inspired by the ocean and some of my favourites looked like sea urchins. The rest of the galleries were dedicated to one Chinese artist who uses ink and paint. After I had seen a couple of galleries of his work I was a bit sick of it as a lot of it was the same. Just before I left, I stumbled across one last gallery which had some amazing black and white photography from a female American artist and some other unusual pieces.

After I had had my fill of culture, I dropped in to the Dome at the museum for lunch and from there wandered on further up the road to look at the Raffles Place mall. I killed a good couple of hours browsing around the shops, a lot of which were different from those I had been in on Orchard Road. Just before 4, my feet were aching so I found the City Hall MRT station and went two stops back to Somerset and walked to the apartment.

It was just before 5 and I caught up with Ross on Skype. I was so exhausted from the day that I took a little nap before heading to the supermarket at Paragon to get a couple of things for dinner. I made pizza with all the leftovers in the fridge - yum! I played a bit more of Ice Age III before heading to bed to keep reading my book. Almost at the end!

Fixing my hair

This morning I had breakfast and then walked to Paragon to have coffee at the Coffee Bean. The construction around Orchard Road is never ending. Last time I was at Spinelli's it was really noisy so I thought I would try the Coffee Bean - just as noisy!

I walked around the Metro department store and looked around a few other shops in Paragon before heading up to Strip! for my appointment. 10 minutes later I was out! I walked back towards the apartment and stopped in at The Heeren to try and see Ray who did the colour on my hair on Monday. I had a couple of things that I wasn't happy with - the sides just above my ears were too light (it looked like someone had painted a stripe of bleach on the side of my head!) and also at the back, he did not put colour on the short hair at the bottom so it looked pretty dark.

Ray was busy with another client so I made an appointment for 3 and then headed back to the apartment for lunch. I made a tomoto and feta salad and sat down to enjoy a few episodes of The Flight of the Conchords to kill time before I went back for my hair. Just before 3, I walked back to Toni & Guy where Ray told me that he was behind and could fit me in a 4. I was a bit pissed off seeing as I had wasted the whole afternoon waiting for him but I walked down to another new mall - Orchard Central - to have a look around. It was a bit of a weird mall as it had only just opened so only a few shops here and there were open. I had read that there was a whole level dedicated to beauty services but I couldn't find it. I was hoping to find a good massage place. I had another coffee at Coffee Bean before walking back to Toni and Guy.

Ray listened to what I had to say and spent some time putting in more colour. After a wash and blow dry, the colour looks much better and he didn't charge me for fixing it up. I walked out of there about 5.30. As I got home, Ross text me to let me know he would be on Skype so we chattered for about 20 minutes. I then put on my workout gear and had planned to walk to the Botanic Gardens. I headed off down Orchard until I got to the cross road where I thought the Botanic Gardens were. Instead, I walked for about 40 minutes before I finally came to an area that was familiar! I could have walked to the gardens from there but by this time I was a bit knackered so I walked back to Orchard and headed back to the apartment.

On the way, I took a couple of photos of the ION Orchard shopping mall. It really is an amazing building. It the photo, you can also see the conical glass structure of Wheelock Place. I got home, spent half an hour cooking chicken, bacon and poaching an egg for my Caesar salad and then flopped in front of the TV for the night before heading to bed.

Checking out Orchard Road

This morning I had breakfast, caught up on the news and then headed to the gym. I walked for 40 minutes and then did some light upper body work with free weights. It felt good to be at the gym again.

After a shower, I walked to Spinelli's again for a coffee. From there I wandered up Orchard Road in search of Strip! so I could get my arms waxed. On the way, I went into the new mall, ION Orchard and had a look around. It has all my favourite shops and lots of other new ones - I could spend a lot of time there!

I used the new underpass and walked to Wheelock Place and stopped at the Border's Cafe for lunch. They had a lunch deal so I had a side salad to start followed by a roast chicken leg with veggies and a diet coke all for S$15; a pretty good deal! I went into Border's and found some magazines to buy and added them to my ever expanding shopping bag (I had bought a top and dress in ION).

I went up and up and up the escalators to try and find Strip!. It was tucked away in a tiny corner on the top floor. I made a booking and they gave me a business card with all their branches, then I realised that there was an outlet much closer to where I am staying at Paragon.

From Wheelock Place, I started the walk back along Orchard looking in a few shops on the way back. I ended up at Paragon and went to Strip! there to make an appointment for tomorrow. I popped down to the supermarket and picked up a couple of things for dinner before heading back to the apartment.

I spoke with Ross, my friends Dee and Sue and my Dad before I got a chance to eat so I ended up having dinner about 9! I played a bit more Ice Age before heading to bed.

Today's photo is of a sculpture outside of ION Orchard.

Another episode in the quest for a great haircut!

This morning, Ross and I had breakfast together and then he headed to the gym. I didn't have the energy so I caught up on things online. About 11, we walked down to road to get some money out and then Ross headed to the airport to catch his flight back to KL.

I went back up to the apartment and had some lunch before walking to the Heeren for a coffee and to look around the shops before my hair appointment at 2pm. I got a bit bored so I went to the salon early and they managed to fit me in. Max was my stylist and I gave him the run down on my hair - I don't want an Asian hair cut and I don't want the middle age expat wife bob. He laughed and took some time to look at my hair before he started to cut. He cut it quite short and graded up the back and took a razor to the front-side bits. He did a great job! It felt much better and I know that it will grow out well.

Next was Ray who was the colourist. I explained to him that I was sick of the dark rim around my hairline and that I was also sick of the regrowth. He decided that he would put 3 colours through - a blonde highlight to keep it blonde and two lowlights to make it look more natural and less yellow. It took forever to put the colour through my hair but the end result was pretty good. He didn't put any colour through the graded bit of my hair at the back so it is a bit darker than the top but because he put the lowlights through the rest of my hair, there is not such a dramatic contrast as I have had before where my hair looked black at the bottom and yellow on top.

So, overall, I was pretty happy. I think next time I will get some more lowlights put in to help even out the colour all the way through but it is certainly 100% better than before.

By the time I got out of the salon it was 5. On the way out I stopped into another shop and made a couple of purchases that I can't talk about as it is a surprise :-). At the apartment, I grilled some salmon, steamed some veg and watched some TV. I Skyped with Ross and then completed one level of Ice Age 3 on PlayStation before heading to bed.

National Day in Singapore!

This morning we had breakfast at the apartment and headed to the gym for a workout. We got to the gym just in time; before we knew it, it was packed! We worked out for an hour, headed back upstairs, showered then when out to do some more food shopping.

We dropped the food back at the apartment, picked up some reading material and then walked to Spinelli's Cafe for a coffee. Afterwards, we walked about the Hereen Mall and I made a booking to get my hair done at Toni & Guy tomorrow afternoon.

We walked back to the apartment for lunch and Ross chatted with his brother John on Skype. We spent the afternoon relaxing and before we knew it, it was 5pm. We walked down to Somerset MRT station and made our way with the throngs of people to Marina Bay for the National Day celebrations. It took us a while to walk to the marina but, being Singapore, everything was incredibly well organized - signs, barriers to keep people on the right track.

We dropped into 7atenine to see if we could get a table but they put us right in the back and we couldn't see anything so we left. We joined the masses and tried to find a 1m square patch of grass to sit and wait. Around 6.30 we started to see a bit of action. There was a 'parade' (really a stage show) but you had to have tickets to see it. However, we did see Schnook helicopters, fighter planes, helicopters towing massive Singapore flags, a 21 cannon salute off small war ships in the marina, massive 'paper' boats and a truck load of fireworks (see video)! It was a pretty great show.

National Day celebrates Singapore's independence from Malaysia 44 years ago. Pretty funny considering that Malaysia will celebrate its independence from the UK on the 30th of August! Out of all three countries, I think Singapore is probably doing the best! At 8.22pm (the time they signed the agreement), all the Singaporeans in the crowd joined together to say the oath of allegiance followed by a massive firework display again.

After the show, we joined the moving river of people again and tried to find our way to Clarke Quay for something to eat. We walked for ages and didn't find Clarke Quay but we did end up at Boat Quay (just down the river). We stopped at the first bar we came across, Harry's, and had something to eat and a drink. A jazz quartet were playing and it was a beautiful night to sit out on the street and watch everyone walk by.

From Harry's, we walked to Clarke Quay to catch the MRT back to Somerset. We picked up a McDonald's sundae on the walk back to the apartment and after finishing it, we fell into bed exhausted! What a great day!

Wandering about Orchard Road

We had a leisurely breakfast at the PS Cafe in Paragon this morning. Afterwards, we wandered around the shops for a while and then headed over to the cinemas to see what movies were on. We bought tickets for the 1.05 showing of The Hangover.

We then went to Ngee Ann City mall and had a look around there for a couple of hours before the movie. The department store in this mall had a great homewares section as well as a good jewellery section - I think I will have to go back and explore some more!

We walked back to the cinemas in time for the movie and cackled our way through The Hangover. The movie was so wrong but pretty funny! A good mindless flick to while away the afternoon. Because we are in Singapore, the audience didn't laugh at all (Singaporeans don't have much of a sense of humour) so Ross and I were really the only ones laughing throughout the movie - weird!

We headed back to the apartment after the movie and relaxed for an hour or so before heading out again. One of my friends in KL, Debbie, told me about a good supermarket on Orchard Road so we walked all the way down the other end of the road to find it. It was a good supermarket, with many Western products. May have to stock up and take some home.

From there, we walked next door to Harry's for a beer and sat outside to enjoy the great weather. After a beer we found a foot massage place and enjoyed a 45 minute foot massage followed by a 15 min shoulder and back massage - perfect! We floated out of there about 7pm.

Back up Orchard Road again, we stopped in at Paragon to use the bathrooms. We saw there was a restaurant called Spageddies which looked good so we lined up and waited our turn to get a seat. The food was great! It was so busy though and soon after finishing we left because it was so busy. We went to the supermarket and picked up a couple of things for breakfast tomorrow before walking home.

Like last night, I didn't last long before I was so tired and headed off to bed.

Off to Singapore

This morning started pretty early. We were up at 6 and out the door by 6.30 with suitcases in tow as we walked down to Ampang Park MRT station. We squished our way onto a packed train for the journey to KL Sentral where we transferred to the KLIA Ekspress train to take us to the airport.

After checking in, we went and had breakfast at Dome and had just enough time to eat it and finish our coffees before we had to board our plane. The flight was painless and we landed about 10.30 where we were met by a driver from the Somerset Grand Cairnhill apartments where we were staying.

It is National Day here on Sunday so flags have been hung by patriotic Singaporeans all over the city. The driver told us that there will be fireworks on Sunday night so we might have to go out and see them.

We arrived at the apartments and of course our room wasn't ready so we walked to Orchard Road (2 mins) and found a place for coffee and lunch while we waited for the room. About 1, they called to say it was ready and we dropped our stuff upstairs before heading back down again so Ross could get a taxi to go to the office.

I spent the afternoon unpacking, relaxing and also doing a bit of food shopping so we didn't have to eat out all the time. Ross came home about 6 and we walked down to Cuppage Terrace and had dinner at a restaurant called Marakesh - Lebanese food. It was a great meal - hommus, fattoush, cous cous, lamb shank, chicken shish tawook - all the foods I missed from the Middle East.

About 8 we walked back to the apartment as we were both exhausted and watched the AFL game. I couldn't keep my eyes open any more so I headed to bed about 9.30. Ross stayed up to watch the NRL.

Getting ready for Singapore

I spent the morning getting organized for our trip to Singapore. I also did a few chores around the house before going to pick Ross up for lunch. We drove to KLCC and had lunch at Sakae Sushi. It was super busy but the food is always good.

I dropped Ross off about 1.30 and went home for half an hour before walking downstairs to meet Sonja to walk to Delicious for afternoon tea (see photo). We shared a chocolate pavlova (amazing!) and drank tea and before I knew it, it was 5pm! Time flies!

We walked back home and Ross was already there when I arrived. We got busy making a huge amount of lasagna sauce and made three lasagnas - one big and two small. We shared half of the big one and I froze the rest. There was also left over sauce which will be good over pasta.

After dinner, we finished packing, spent some time with the cats and started watching Charlie's Angels which was on TV. Ross fell asleep not long into the movie and I didn't take long to follow!

More beading

This morning I drove out to my beading class. I arrived early as the traffic wasn't bad today. At 9.30, our instructor, Hester, arrived and we began our first project, working with head pins to create a bracelet. We practiced making loops with head pins first and when we could all do that we moved on to constructing the bracelet. I had done a little bit of this type of work before before it was nice to learn the proper way to do it.

The second project we worked on today was a combination of weaving and head pin work. We used 9 small beads and wove them together to form one larger bead. We then used head pins to combine it together with other beads to form drop earrings. I really liked the woven bead and could see how you could do many things with this. I finished about 12 and on my way out I picked up a few supplies so that I could try this at home.

From the beading class, I drove out to Ikano to pick up the things that we had dropped off there to be fixed. They had replaced the wheels on the suitcase, restitched the backpack and resoled the insoles of my white thongs. They still had to get the cat pee smell off of my orange handbag! Everything they did was really good so I am hoping that they can get the smell out of my bag.

I grabbed some lunch at Sushi King and picked up a few things from Cold Storage before heading home. At home, I practiced making some of the woven beads, watched some TV and relaxed for most of the afternoon. Ross came home just before 6 and we headed out to meet Debbie and Dan for dinner at 7.

We had met Debbie and Dan at the Oilman's Ball back in May. We walked over to an area behind KLCC past the Australian High Commission and went to a little restaurant called Euro Deli. It is a Swiss/ German restaurant and quite quirky. We had a nice meal and caught up on each others holidays and activities since last time we saw them. Dan invited us back to their place for a night cap and we spent another couple of hours chatting and having a look around their apartment. They had a lot of rosewood furniture made in Melaka including an amazing bar, beautiful desks and even a humidor for Dan's cigar collection. They also had a home spa set up in their apartment and had a masseuse who came to their house for 50 ringgit and hour! They really had their stuff sorted!

We left them about 11 and walked home. It was a nice night and great to see them again.

PS No dress today :-( It was actually cold here in KL - 23 degrees and raining most of the day.

Definition of Lady of Leisure

So today really was a great day. This morning Sonja and I walked at FRIM. For the first time, we only stopped once on the way up (normally we stop twice or sometimes even three times!). It felt great to be back there again. From FRIM we headed to Bangsar for breakfast.

Delicious was shut so we went to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and had a long relaxing breakfast. I wanted to check about the 70s/ 80s night tickets at MANZA so we left Bangsar and drove to MANZA house. They had just finished a committee meeting so Sonja and I met a few of the other ladies who were all really nice. We found out how much the tickets were and what was included - sounds like a good deal!

We headed home and I relaxed for a couple of hours before driving over to Pavilion to park the car before walking to Kanebo for my afternoon of pampering. For 4 and a half hours, I enjoyed a facial and a hot stone massage. Wonderful!

I floated back to Pavilion and met Ross for dinner at Thai Express - not the greatest Thai food but it was ok. After our meal, we drove home, ran upstairs (well, not literally), got changed and then headed back to the car to go out to the driving range. We picked up Brian on the way out.

Out at the range, we all hit 100 balls each. I was terrible! It took me about 70 balls to even become remotely back to normal again. But oh well, I guess practice makes perfect!

So today really was a lady of leisure day - exercise, coffee, pampering and golf. Perfect!

Today's photo was taken inside Bangsar Village.

Getting back in the swing of things

This morning I woke up with Ross and managed to drag my lazy butt out of bed and into my gym gear. I did a few things around the house this morning before heading to the gym about 9. I jumped on the elliptical trainer with all intentions of doing 35 minutes but was so knackered after 25 that I had to press the cool down button! :-( After the cardio, I headed to a few weight machines to do my chest, lats and triceps. After some stretching I hit the showers (put on my dress :-)) and felt pretty pleased with myself despite the short cardio time - gotta start back somewhere I guess.

I headed up to Starbucks for a muffin and a coffee and to catch up on things online. I got back home about 12 and spent some time with the cats before going down to the pool armed with my lilo, book, bottle of water and iPod in water proof case. I floated about for a while reading my book in the sunshine. I got a bit too hot so I jumped in the water to cool off and decided I should probably make the most of it so I did 10 laps of lunges and 10 laps of side squats before the clouds came over and I decided to head back upstairs.

I'm getting right into my book at the moment (Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts) so I drew the curtains, put some chill-out music on and laid on the couch to get further engrossed. Of course, I knew where this was headed and sure enough within a half hour I was asleep on the couch. I slept for an hour then got up and checked on Blue who was outside before crashing again on the bed in the spare room for another hour. What a great way to while away an afternoon :-)

I woke up about 5 and read my book again. Ross came home about 6 and headed straight to the gym while I got busy transforming the lamb chop and veggies from last night into a pasta sauce with a tin of tomatoes and half a glass of red wine. It turned out really well. I added some fresh mint and parsley from the garden too. Not bad.

After dinner, we relaxed and watched Ross' favourite show, Wipeout. Kinda like the old 'It's a Knockout' but a lot worse! Every time Ross watches it he ends up in tears laughing at people getting knocked senseless by the various obstacles. Watching him laugh always cracks me up!

Today's photo is off the ceremonial robe from Hanoi that we hung on the wall yesterday.

A pretty good Sunday

This morning we walked over to KLCC for breakfast before the shops opened. We went to Chinoz on the Park and we both had omelettes. Mine was an egg white omelette so it looked a bit weird but tasted pretty good.

After breakfast we began looking again for golf clothes for Ross. We checked out a few stores with no luck but finally in Isetan he found some shorts and a shirt. Afterwards we walked home and relaxed for a while before walking over to Low Yat to buy a new wireless router to improve the internet signal in the apartment. As always, it was chock-o-block! We did a quick hit and run at our usual store and on the way down I checked out the new Nokia N97 mobile phone. I think it is about time to change mine. I liked it but will have to think some more before we get a new one.

We walked back towards home and stopped in at Lot 10. I had seen that there was a Tony & Guy hair salon in there and Ross needed his hair cut so we thought we would check it out. While we waited for his appointment, we had some lunch at 'Jackie Chan Cafe' which is a pretty cool cafe with big couches that you lie on (see photo). I had seen this place with Dad and Ann last year but had never had anything there before. Ross and I climbed onto the couches and ordered some lunch. We enjoyed our lunch in a great atmosphere with chill-out music and a disco ball! :-)

Ross went off to get his hair cut and I tooka walk around the shops. By the time I got back he was almost finished. He walked out with a great haircut! I thought they would be good as I know all their staff are trained in the UK and know how to cut Western hair. So I think I will be going there from now on.

From there we walked back to the Pavilion to pick up a couple of things before walking home. I spent the afternoon trying to connect the router with no luck as we don't have all the passwords etc. from the old one. Ross drilled some holes and hung up the ceremonial robe that I brought back from Hanoi. We also hung our new wedding portrait - the one I got for Ross for our anniversary. It was nice to get those things up!

We pulled out some meat and veggies for a BBQ for dinner. We used Ross' new baking dish for the BBQ to cook the veg and it turned out great. As we were finishing our dinner, Brian and Sonja came round for a chat and a drink. We sat out on the balcony until about 10 before saying goodbye to the Millers. Ross and I stayed up a bit later watching the cricket. About 11 I couldn't keep my eyes open so we went to bed.

Health and Fitness Check:

Weight: 70.1 kg - just can't get under 70!!

Exercise: (not much)

- General walking around KL
- Driving range: 80 mins
- Walking around KLCC Park - 40 mins

A great Saturday - start of the week of dresses

This morning Ross cooked bacon and eggs for breakfast and we eased into the morning pottering around the house. About 11, we walked over to Pavilion to do a couple of things. While we were over there, we spied the biggest pewter beer tankard in the world (or so the sign said)! Almost 2 metres tall and with a capacity of 2796 litres, we decided that it would take quite a few people to finish one beer!

Ross was looking for golf clothes and so we walked around all the possible stores in Pavilion with little luck. We walked home again spent the afternoon watching sport before heading out again about 2.30 to go to our golf lesson. The traffic was terrible going out towards Ampang and we had no idea why. But we made it in time for a lesson. We both warmed up for 10 minutes or so before Eric started our lesson. He started with me today and we worked again on my back swing - moving my hips more and also working on my contact with the ball. After a few pointers, it all started coming back to me. I was also starting to get a bit more confident with my new clubs which are heavier than the one I had been learning with up until now. Basically I spent the rest of the lesson hitting ball after ball trying to feel when my swing was good and when my swing was bad and if my swing was bad, what I needed to do to correct it.

Meanwhile, Eric worked with Ross on his short game - putting and pitching - as well as showing how to swing the driver correctly. It didn't take Ross long before he got in the 'swing' of things :-)
I loved watching him hit the balls with the driver - the thing is so big and makes a great sound when it connects with the ball. Ross was hitting the balls about 200m - I was impressed!

Eric left us to continue practicing by ourselves and I reckon I hit about 200 balls or so in just over an hour - a good workout! From golf we drove to Great Eastern, had a coffee, picked up a couple of things and headed home. We made another pomegranate and feta salad for dinner.

After dinner, Ross and I broke out the old Sony Playstation and had a go of all our new 5 ringgit knock-off games that we bought last weekend. Indiana Jones was pretty cool as was Ice Age 3. I had bought the latest Sonic the Hedgehog game which took me back to my mis-spent youth. We also played Street Fighter which brought back many memories! What fun! We played until about 10 and then headed to bed after a great day.

Note: Today starts 'The Week of Dresses'. I have so many dresses in my cupboard that I rarely wear so I decided that this week I would wear a dress each day.