The Parade Continues...

Since we moved to Singapore back in August (is it really eight months already?) we’ve had a fairly steady stream of family and friends come to visit us. This month is the turn of Derek and Jeanette, great friends who live near us in Lochem. They’ve missed the boys just as much as they have been missed by them, so there was tremendous excitement when they turned up. Hence my blog entries have more or less dried up since they arrived.

However don't think we haven't been busy...as usualy the days aren't long enough to fill in all the things we want to do.

Apart from all of the usual things we're also sqeezed in some stuff we’ve been waiting to share with them like a trip to the Air Force Museum (see top photo). Any keen airplane buffs who are planning on coming to see us will have to check this place out. It’s typically Singaporean – fabulously well funded and neat, with oodles of high tech touch screen displays, politically correct hype and freezing cold air conditioning. It also has a nice collection of planes and helicopters which the boys (by which I mean Derek, Hogler, Niels, and Carl) loved crawling over/under/around. There are plane stools you can climb into and simulators you can play with, as well as interactive displays outlining Singapore's airforce history dating back to its inception in about 1968 when the British finally pulled their airfore out of here.

Of course the swimming pool has been getting a good work out - those who have been here can rest assured that yes, we are still more or less the only ones to use it! A couple of days ago Carl indignantly announced that someone was sunbathing beside "our pool", but he was relieved to see they didn't even dip a toe in! A neighbour we rarely see was topping up her tan downstiars.

On Saturday we took Derek and Jeanette to one of our recent favourite discoveries reserved for very special occasions – dinner at Equinox, a fabulous Asian fusion restaurant on the 70th floor – yes I said 70th – of the Swiss Hotel down town. This place has the most stunning views you can imagine, sweeping out over the Singapore River far below to the container port, Merlion, and way out over the Malacca Straits. Simply superb, with great food to match. I startd with Maine Lobster, followed by Australian Tenderloin, Derek tried the Seared Japanese Scallops followed by Japanese Wagyu Beef Cheeks, Jeanette tried the Lemongrass and Saffron Soup followed by Grilled Black Cod, while Holger had the Japanese Scallops and Australian Tenderloin. Absolute bliss.

The Equinox has the only elevator I’ve ever been in which makes your ears pop three times on the way up and down! We topped the evening off with a couple of rounds of – what else – Singapore Slings at Raffles Hotel which is very conveniently located directly across the street. Life doesn’t get much better than this, but then again that’s a phrase we utter a lot lately.

So enjoy the latest pics, we’ll think of you all while we’re downing our next Sling…