Chinatown

This morning Ross headed off to the Singapore office for a few hours and I headed out for a walk. I thought I would go and try to find the beading stores in Chinatown. I walked up a couple of blocks until I got up to North Bridge road and then walked south until I crossed the river onto Sth Bridge Road.

Just over the bridge I found numerous beading stores. They were all quite good but more expensive than those in KL. They did have some different beads though so I bought some cloisenne beads and some Swarovski crystal beads as well as a few other bits and pieces.

By this time, the rain had started so I headed into a mall on Clarke Quay. I had lunch at a Japanese restaurant overlooking the river while the rain poured down. Luckily, the mall connected straight to the MRT system so I caught the train back towards the hotel. I walked through the Citylink mall and picked up a little black skirt before getting back to the hotel about 4.

Ross got back about 4.30 and we chilled out for a couple of hours before going out for dinner. We thought we would walk down to the Robertson Quay area for dinner. We ended up at Indochine - a cool Asian restaurant with Thai, Laos, Vietnamese and other types of SE Asian food. We shared a great salad and some noodles overlooking the river.

We walked back to the hotel via the Esplanade and I ducked in to Mango to pick up a couple of little cardigans I had had my eye on. We got back to the hotel about 9 and watched TV until we fell asleep about 11.

Today's photo is of the ceramic mosaic in Dhoby Gaut MRT station.

Facial day

Again this morning I woke up late. This time at 9. I watched TV in bed and got myself some yoghurt and berries which I also ate in bed before finally getting up at 11.

Around 12, I walked slowly down to Raffles City in time for my facial at SK-II Boutique Spa. I had been wanting to change my face care products for a while and I had heard good thing about SK-II so when I saw the spa, I though a facial would be a good way to see what the products are like.

The facial I chose was the 85 minute Senzational Facial. It included a 55-step face massage, eye treatments as well as hand and shoulder massage. It was pretty damn good! As I still felt like crap this morning when I woke up with a sore throat and sore sinuses, the facial was nice to relax and massage my face. The products seemed pretty good too so I asked them for some samples to try - which they gave me. The only bad bit about any facial is the extraction i.e. picking at and cleaning out all your pores and blackheads. It hurt and I was not really in the mood but she did manage to do most of my face but left my nose - the most painful bit. I walked out of there feeling relaxed and pampered.

I went down stairs and avoided the Soup Spoon today. I had lunch at the Hand Burger. It was delicious! I had the portabello mushroom burger which was basically a portabello mushroom stuffed with parmesan cheese, basil and other yummy stuff. It was impossible to pick up without it slopping all over the place so I ate my burger with a knife and fork - but it was worth it!

From there I started walking back to the hotel via the City Link mall and dropped into a pharmacy to pick up some drugs for my throat and sinuses. Back at the hotel, I spent the afternoon on the internet before getting my new book (the second in the Millennium trilogy - The Girl Who Played with Fire) and heading to the Coffee Bean.

I sat there for quite a while reading while having my decaf skim cappuccino. About 6, I decided to go on the hunt for some dinner. I really felt like spaghetti bolognaise so I settled for The Coffee Club which did a baked spag bog. It was pretty good but it came out completely covered in melted cheese so I scraped all that to the side and ate the pasta and sauce. I definitely satisfied my craving.

Back at the hotel, I watched some TV, took a nap and waited for Ross to arrive who was driving down from KL. He arrived about 10.30 and once he got up to the room we pretty much headed straight to bed.

A pretty lazy day

This morning I didn't wake up until 10 and didn't actually get out of bed until 11. The only reason I really got out of bed was that I had an appointment at 1.30. I watched some TV and took my time getting ready before walking down to Raffles City.

I went to Brow Haus to have my eyebrows threaded. They were super quick and although it was painful at least it was over in a hurry. They did a pretty good job. From there I went to The Soup Kitchen, again, for lunch. I just can't pass it up!

From there I wandered around more stores and slowly meandered my way back towards the hotel. I called into Zara and had a bit of a field day trying and buying winter clothes. I bought a beautiful black jacket and some light jumpers which will hopefully come in handy for our trip to Japan in February next year. I did feel a bit ridiculous trying on winter clothes when it was 32 degrees outside but it is best to get them while you see them.

I walked back to the hotel and had a coffee. I continued reading my book and it was hard to put down. Around 5 I started feeling really crappy. I had a major sore throat and was aching all over. So I decided to get room service for dinner as I didn't have the energy to go out.

I had a beautiful steak with some steamed veg and then got into my robe and laid on the bed watching TV for most of the night. Around 9 I got into bed and continued reading my book - this time I had to finish it so it was about midnight before I turned the light off.

If you get a chance, read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson - a great crime, thriller.

First day by myself in Singapore

Ross headed to the airport really early this morning. I stayed in bed until just before 8. I lazed about the room doing a few things online and having some breakfast. Before I knew it, it was midday. I walked down to Raffles City and had lunch at... wait for it... the Soup Spoon! It was getting a bit ridiculous now! From there I went up to the carpet shop to tell them where I was staying and when they could drop off our new rug. I had a look in a couple of shops before heading back outside.

I had looked up a few bead stores this morning so I went in hunt for one that I had read about. I found it and had a look around. It was a lot of the same stuff that I could buy in KL except they had quite a few different natural stones but they were quite expensive.

I walked back towards the hotel and had a coffee at the Coffee Bean while reading the new guide book on Tokyo that I had bought. I got back to the hotel and laid down for a couple of hours as my shoulders and back were sore from yesterday's workout - I think I over did it.

About 6.30, I decided I should go and find myself some dinner. I toyed with the idea of getting room service but it was just too expensive. I walked over to Marina Square and found the Food Loft food court. I bought some noodles with chicken for S$4.80 and a bottle of water for S$1.50 cheap as chips! I found a seat out on the balcony which had a beautiful view of the harbour.

After finishing my meal, I spent time walking around the mall. I bought some Luxe guides for some of the cities that I want to travel to next year and also bought one for Singapore. I had a coffee at Starbucks (which cost more than my dinner!) and read through a few of the guides before heading off again to look around the shops.

Once I had had enough of window shopping, I walked back to the hotel. I ran myself a bath and enjoyed a bit of quiet time reading my book in the bath before heading to bed.

A lovely Sunday in Singapore

We slept in this morning until 10 which was incredibly rare but not surprising considering tthe room had complete blockout curtains. We lazed around the room, had some breakfast and finally started to get organized to go out about 12.

We walked down to Raffles City and had a look around the stores. Again we had lunch at The Soup Spoon - it's just too good and easy! After looking around almost all the shops we wandered via the underground walkways to the Esplanade to go to the Cookie Museum which was shut yesterday because of the APEC summit.

We managed to get a seat at The Cookie Museum and ordered tea and a sampler plate of fruity cookies. They were really nice! Less sweet that normal cookies and much more natural flavours. The cookies also came with a side of fresh fruit. While we waited for our plate to arrive, a lady came over with a complete trolley full of mini cookies for us to try. We tried flavours like chocolate, orange and ginger, rose, lavender, nasi lamak, rum and raisin, and paw paw. We did get told off for taking photos inside the shop but by this time, I had already taken about 5 photos.

We walked back to the hotel in the open air rather than in the underground walkway. Back at the hotel, we rested for a little while before heading down to the gym. I tried the stepper/cross-trainer machine. It was tough but I worked hard on it for 20 minutes before doing some light weights. I then did some stretches which felt great. We were down there for about an hour.

Back upstairs we showered and got dressed and slowly walked back to Raffles City to have a drink at Brotzeit - a German restaurant and bar. Then we went next door to Double Bay, an Australian restaurant were we had amazing fish and chips, lightly battered barramundi (yum!) and a glass of savingnon blanc. We followed that with sticky date pudding. It was a great meal.

We slowly walked back along the road to the hotel. By this time, I was ready for bed so we read for a while before falling asleep.

A day in Singapore

This morning we took our time having breakfast in the apartment and looking at more hotels to stay in. But soon the noise was getting on our nerves so we headed out. We caught the MRT to Raffles City to find the rug store where I bought the rug from at the recent auction. Although I love the rug, being silk, the cats are going to destroy in no time flat and it is also a pretty small for our bedroom.

We found Eastern Carpets and I explained to the guy our situation. He said that he would be happy to exchange the carpet for us. We looked through a huge amount of rugs before picking two that we loved. One was just gorgeous but I knew it was too expensive for us. Such a shame because it was beautiful! But the other one we also loved and was much more realistic in price. So we arranged with the guy to have the new one dropped off and the old one picked up once we worked out where we were moving to.

We wandered around the mall and had some lunch again at The Soup Spoon. We caught the train back to the apartment and finally managed to find a great deal at the Pan Pacific hotel in the Raffles area. So Ross went to get our money back from the management and I packed up the bags ready for us to move out.

We jumped in a cab and headed to the hotel. They were a little surprised I guess because we had literally made the booking online 10 mins earlier but we were soon in our room - and it was so quiet! A great decision!

We relaxed in the room for a while and then about 4.30 we headed out for a drink and something to eat. We walked to the Raffles and had a Singapore Sling at the outside terrace bar before walking around the marina area ending up at Clarke Quay. It was too early for dinner but Ross and I were hungry so we had a bit of tapas at The Tapas Tree. We walked around the Clarke Quay area for a while before deciding to walk to the Esplanade Theatre area to try out The Coookie Museum - a place I have been wanting to go to for ages.

It took us forever to find out how to get to the Esplanade as all the roads were blocked due to the APEC summit. Even when we found a way in, the whole Esplanade was closed to the public - not happy! Just because Obama was coming in to town, the whole place was shut down.

So we started walking back to the hotel and ended up in Suntec City - another mall. We wandered around for ages deciding what to have for dessert. We stumbled across the Fountain of Wealth - the largest fountain in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. We were just in time for the multimedia show. It was pretty cool actually. They shined lasers on the fountain and showed a movie about Earth and the solar system. Not bad. It was over pretty quick and we moved on to find an icecream at Swensons before walking back to the hotel.

We had a nightcap in the lobby bar before heading upstairs to our room. We watched some TV then again I was exhausted and fell asleep.

Off to Singapore

This morning we woke up and got ready to go to the airport to catch our flight to Singapore. We had arranged a car to take us to the airport and we arrived a couple of hours early. We checked in at the computers and then dropped our bags and went through immigration to find Ross a book and to have some breakfast.

We had breakfast at Dome before taking the train back to the main terminal to go to our boarding gate. When we checked the board, we saw that the flight was delayed half an hour. We had a cup of tea at Harrods then finally managed to board our flight.

Once in Singapore, we headed to the Somerset apartments on Cairnhill Road. They had upgraded us to a premium 1-bedroom apartment which was nice. We went up to our room and sat down. It was so noisy! There was construction going on right outside the apartment and the windows and sliding doors did not seal properly. We weren't too happy. Ross went down to complain and see what they could do. They said that they had no other rooms but they would check with the other Somerset properties.

We had to get away from the noise so we walked around Orchard Road for a while and had a late lunch/ early dinner at the Soup Spoon - our favourite restaurant in Singapore! All of the Christmas decorations were out on the streets and also each shopping mall had been decorated in its own style. By the time we got down to ION, the lights were starting to be switched on - it was just beautiful! Singapore really know how to do Christmas!

We had a coffee at Starbucks and tried to use the internet to search for somewhere else to stay in Singapore but we had to pay for the wireless so we didn't bother. We walked back looking at all the lights - it was just gorgeous.

The APEC Summit was on in Singapore so the traffic was a bit nuts as they had closed off many of the roads for all the diplomats and leaders. We were hoping to run into Big Kev and Barack but no luck!

We walked back to the hotel and thank god the construction had stopped for the day. We watched some crap TV before heading to bed really early at 8. I was exhausted so I fell asleep soon after.

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.