Forest Adventure; Serious Stuff!

Whether you're living in Singapore or just passing through, if you've got kids you have to take them to Forest Adventure at Bedok Reservoir. It's just scary enough to be thrilling, and the kids get such a kick out of doing it. There are two courses; one for smaller kids, and the other for anyone over 1.40 meters, so it's a great couple of hours out for any age group.

The courses are very well put together, strung high between the trees. Every section is different so there are plenty of challenges. Don't forget to book though; it can get busy and you may have to wait a while if you don't make a reservation. During the week of course it's much quieter.

One of the best bits is at the end, when the kids get to sail out of the trees on a flying fox, complete with blood-curdling yell, of course. Look out Tarzan!

Tabitha Spring Silk Fair; Mark Your Diaries!

For those of you lucky enough to still be living in the steamy tropical shopping paradise that is Singapore, a highlight of your annual calendar is about to take place: the Tabitha Silk Fair. This is a fantastic event where you get the chance to purchase outstanding silk clothes, bags, home furnishings, etc for truly excellent prices, and all in the name of a good cause. Ladies, need I say more? I've blogged about this event before here if you want to see some photos.

As usual the fair will take place at The Shophouse, at 22 Lock Road in Gillman village. This year valet parking is available but in my opinion taxis are the best way to get to this location. You'll be so dazzled by the brilliant rainbow array of silks on offer who could possibly focus on driving afterwards! On Tuesday and Wedensday 11-12 May the Fair runs from 9am to 6pm, and on Thursday the 13th from 9 to 1pm.

On the Wednesday evening you can also attend a ticketed event to meet the Foundation Founder, Janne Riskes to hear her inspiring story and learn about the hundreds Cambodian of women and children helped every year by this wonderful organisation.

Check out the website Tabitha Singapore for full information, and take your credit card! Over 95% of the proceeds go directly to helping Cambodian families to earn a living and become self-sufficient.

Skip To The Loo...

The other day hubby and I were talking about when we will make our next trip to New Zealand to catch up with family, which would of course include a stopover in the ever-lovely Singapore (sigh, I miss you still!) when it occurred to me I had never published to photos of the fabulous loo at Singapore's Changi Aiports new Terminal 3. I know, weird subject for a post, but I DID promise here that I show you the pics I very serruptiously took on my phone during my last trip thru.

Ok, there may be some very posh restaurants with nicer toilets and admittedly there was no one to pass you a fluffy towel to dry your hands, but hey, this is an airport people. A very public space used by thousands of commuters. Compare this is the fetid pits of stagnant doom available at Deathrow oops I mean Heathrow airport or the stark and clinical (although usually clean) cubicals at Schiphol, Amsterdam. It's another shining example of how when the Singaporeans set their minds to doing something, they don't often get it wrong.

What Time Zone Am I In...

One of the advantages of travel these days is that (some) airports are so much more convenient. I mean here I am, at Singapore's lovely Changi ariport, checking my emails and updating my blog for free, having just enjoyed an hour long massage followed by a hot shower. Mmmm, that hits the spot after a 12 hour flight from New Zealand, I can tell you.
And as I'm flying Singapore Airlines (who else?) I'm also benefitting from the new Terminal 3 which opened in October last year, if memory serves me correctly. It's all very flash and state of the art, and one of the best parts is that despite being enormous you don't have to walk for miles to reach your gate. Although the buiding is a couple of kms long the architects cleverly built an internal shuttle to transport passengers from one end to the other. Essentially it's an un-manned electric train which stops at each end (and perhaps half way along), and basically shoots through a glass tube which runs the length of the terminal, delivering you in fine shape to catch your flight. Very handy if you tend to get stuck in the shops, like me, necessitating a mad dash to the gate before your luggage gets evicted from the plane.
Also, the toilets have to be seen to be believed and would put many a posh hotel to shame; in fact I've even discreetly snapped a cuople of pics on my phone to prove my point, but I'll have to upload them later.
For now I need to find a quiet corner somewhere to catch a few zzzzz's; it's the equivalent of 4 am for me and I seriously need to sleep. Back soon!

The Final Goodbye

The day has finally arrived: today we leave Singapore and return to the Netherlands. If I had the time I may have been able to think of something witty or reflective to amuse you, but as it is life has been so hectic these past two weeks that I just want this moment to be over. All that remains now is to try and fit our mountain of luggage into 5 suitcases - we thought we'd be done with 3! - and get through the next few hours.

The kids have had their farewell at school (see pics) and are getting their heads around the idea that they will have a new school to start in a couple of weeks.

The boys are a bit pensive about the move, and although they are keen to get back to NL to see family and friends they too are sad about leaving this amazing island which is, basically, one huge playground for adults and kids alike.

Yesterday we gatecrashed the Orchid Country Club for the final time, enjoying the hosipitality, cafes and pools that normally only members get to enjoy (it's been our little secret for the past 2.5 years!) and as it is, fittingly, raining today it's been a day indoors for the kids while I desperately try to figure out what we can leave behind and what we'll take.

I'm not sure how I feel about it; at this point I'm just tired and flustered and hoping I haven't forgotten anything really important. I hardly slept last night - I checked my clock for the last time at 4.40am so hopefully I nodded off after that. We won't have internet at home until at least Jan 2, so here's wishing you all a Merry Xmas, a happy and healthy 2009, and I'll be back again, less flustered, in a few days.

Au revoir!

Raffles - Simply The Best

Ok I don't know about you but I'm sick of talking about ships and moving. So I'll tell you want I did last Sunday with the boys instead. I booked us in for high tea at Raffles Hotel, that iconic landmark that is quintesentially colonial yet at the same time so Singaporean it's at the top of almost everybodys list of things they recognise from this island nation.

Holger and I have fond memories of celebrating our wedding anniversary at Raffles Grill, the very formal strached white linen and silver service 'posh' restuarant on the ground floor. We've also had a great meal upstairs at Doc Chengs, and saw a fantastic performance of Hamlet in the Jubilee Lounge a few months ago. High tea is held either in the Tiffin Room or the Bar & Billiards Room, which is where I booked the boys and because it's more casual and the kids were less likely to upset any patrons looking for a quiet cuppa and scone there. The food was Christmas themed, and the boys made short work of tiny pandan and coconut macaroons, delicate sandwiches, home made eclairs and plates of freshly chopped tropical fruits. The bowls of marshmallows were also a favourite, while I loved their freshly baked scones, still warm from the oven, served with strawbery conserve and clotted cream. Mmmmmmmmm.

Predictably the kids were finished in half an hour, and as I'd ordered a private car to take us there and back we had some time to kill so wandered around the gorgeous shops on the ground floor. We picked up some Christmas trinkets to hand on the trees, and a stuffed toy replica of the forbidding looking Indian gentleman at the front door. The kids had instantly taken a liking to him and he kindly posed for photos, so they were very happy to have a souvenir of him to take home. The Christmas decorations at Raffles are always stunning soit was the perfect time to visit with children.

As with all little boys shopping bordeom set in fairly quickly so we settled down in the garden bar where I whipped out some paper and pens so they could do some drawing, which they happily settled down to while I enjoyed a Singpore Sling. Well, when in Rome, as they say...

I hope that in years to come they will remember some of this visit and feel the same fondness as hubby and I do for this grand old institution, and indeed for this entire country.

Lightening strike at Wilby

For a while I've been trying to make a short video of the amazing electrical storms we get in Singapore. Today I almost got more than I bargained for. I was just a bit too close to the action! Watch this video I shot from our balcony - then watch it again, and take note of exactly where the lighting is going in the first couple of seconds.

Now that was close!

'Twas The Month Before Christmas...

...and already the carol singing is driving me NUTS! I mean they started at the end of October, for gods sake, how long are we really expected to suffer through songs about 'jingling through the snow' and having a white Christmas when it's 32 degrees outside and 95% humidity?? At the risk of sounding all bah-humbug-ish, I'm really, really not a fan of Christmas carols. To be fair I have an excellent excuse. So before you start yelling "Scrooge!" at me, let me explain.

Way back when I was 15 years old my first job ever was stacking shelves at the local New World supermarket in Matamata, New Zealand (also known as Hobbiton now that part of Lord Of The Rings was filmed there - The Shire to be precise). Back to the supermarket; it was during the summer holidays that I decided to take on the hither-to unexplored realm of seeking paid employment, a fatal mistake which I've never been able to rectify. The school summer holiday in New Zealand, of course, fall over the Xmas break. So there I was, in my bight blue polyester smock and feet aching from standing on concrete floors for 8 hours a day, unloading cans of spaghetti and fruit and having to listen to the same 60 minute tape of Christmas carols over, and over, and over. Yes I admit I'm old enough to have lived through tape decks, for all you teenagers out there, they probably would seem about one step up from a hand-wound gramophone. The trouble was the supermarket only owned one tape, and they played that damn thing right though December and half of January,by which time it was so stretched that it was playing the songs with a long, drawn out intonation about as jolly as having nails driven into your spine. This experience permanently imprinted a loathing of carols into my brain that even that ravages of time and a lifetime of gin and tonic abuse hasn't managed to erase.

I do however love Christmas lights, and nowhere does it better than Singapore. At least they don't go in for pouring fake snow on top of everything.

Un-bearably Cute!

I know, I know, I'm seriously overdoing the cutesy theme and what is it with my obsession with bears at the moment??? Anyway bear with me (ha ha) for a while longer while I share with you some pics of Carl and his new best friend. By the way that's face paint on Carl, not pizza.






















When he jumped off the school bus with a furry brown bear and its substantial luggage (who said animals travel light? Obviously Paddington isn't the only bear with an extensive wardrobe) I figured Carl must have swiped the furry fellow from someone at school. But no, this is Boris, mascot and friend of Group 1B at the Dutch School. Boris gets to go home with a different kid each weekend, to be subjected to a crazed weekend of non-stop partying, beer swilling, drinking games and general debauchery. Or in our case, pizza on the sofa and a day locked in the car while we watched Sinterklaas arrive at Keppel Marina on Saturday.
Boris comes from the Build A Bear Workshop, a place which we ourselves discovered recently and which is a hugely fun venue for young children. The kids get to pick out what kind of bear (or other animal) they want to make from a wide range of pre-sewn 'empty' bodies. They then help to stuff it with the help of a very cool machine which blows soft stuffing into the beast through a hole in the back. An assistant then gets them to pick out a red satin heart, make a wish with it and then poke it inside the toy before it is quickly closed up. They then get to 'bath' their new bear under an air shower, after which comes the fun part - picking out an outfit. There are literally hundreds of different accessories available and if you thought the price tag of a basic bear, at $32, is quite cheap that's because they sting you on the extras. Who can resist the little miniature wellington boots, pyjamas, handbags, back packs, hats, tiny Eskimo outfits, superhero costumes and sailor suits, all made in bear size? I limited the kids to two outfits each but still, the bill was pretty high.





















Ironically a week later both boys have stripped their toys naked, although they do have pride of place snuggled up to their pink little cheeks in bed at night.
Before we went to the shop I explained what we were going to do and we visited the shops website a few times, mostly to get Carl to decide which bear he wanted because he is chronically indecisive. Eventually he announced he wanted a husky dog, not a bear. Was he sure? Yes. Totally sure? Yes. When we got to the shop was he still sure? Yes. Once the stuffing was in was he still sure? Hell no, now he wanted a frog. No, a turtle. No, a frog. Eventually he chose the most appropriate beastie for him: a monkey. He is after all our little 'aapje', and was born in the year of the monkey. It figures.

...The Long Goodbye

And so the Long Goodbye contniues. On Friday we exited our lovely apartment, our own little piece of Singapore - or so it has seemed for the past 2.5 years.

Not without some drama I have to admit. Neither hubby nor I anticipated that it would take so much work to pack up and move. In the end the removal company packed up our lives into seven...yes SEVEN...cubic meters of boxes. At least one cube was reserved for my handbag collection of course, and it has to be said the lamp I bought hubby as an 11th anniversary present will receive it's own crate and so seems even more enormous than before.

However, finally the job was done. I gave away all of our furniture, some to friends and the rest to strangers who responded to my ads on freecycle, a marvellous website if ever there was one.

Hubby ended up driving at least eight times backwards and forwards to our new apartment dropping loads of stuff, so we had way underestimated how much we would end up with here as well.

So now we are settling in to our new home, a serviced apartment quite close to the boys school. They are extremely pleased because it's a much larger condo, with more kids, a bigger pool, and a playground. It's inconceivable that life could get any better than that if you're under ten years old.

Every cloud...

Well it seems that we now have somewhere to live so we're officially no longer homeless. The movers will come next Thursday and pack up our stuff, and we'll move into a serviced apartment for the final few weeks (?) that we will live in Singapore. In some ways it's actually a relief, to finally be doing something rather than having sit and wait for a date to be set. The place we're moving to is quite comfortable and I think the kids will love the fact that there is a new swimming pool, a playground, and lots of kids living in the condo. Plus packing our stuff up now while we're all here is a much more attractive option than having to do it alone if hubby is out at sea. So despite the stress it might turn out to be a smoother exit from here than we'd anticipated.

I can just here my father saying one of his favourite quips: "As the undertaker said, every shroud has a silver lining..."

Looking On The Bright Side

I've always felt it helps to have a positive outlook on life. They say that positive people get sick less often, recover faster when they do, and generally lead happier lives so that's something good we can always strive to. However sometimes it can mask the way you really feel about something. When I was speaking to a friend lately she said something that really stuck in my mind. "But you sound like you're always having a great time and it's a bit of a piss off".
Flicking back through my blog entries I can see she is absolutely right. It seems that I only ever write about the interesting, funny, or enjoyably unusual things that happen in our lives. Partly this is out of respect for the country and culture where we are, of course, only guests. Partly it's because I suppose I have an in-built resistance to sharing the depressing, mundane, annoying and downright shitty moments, days or events that happen to us. Who wants to read about when I've had a bad day? If you've gone to the effort to read this blog, why should you be subjected to bad news? And largely it's because it takes a very conscious effort to make the most of an ex-pat assignment. The main reason for assignments failing is not because the employee (in this case hubby) doesn't like the job but because his/her family doesn't adjust. Stories of failed assignments because the spouse hates the country or the kids can't adjust are common and you have to put in 100% from day one to make damn sure you won't become one of the those.
Truth be told there are many less than fabulous moments to living an ex-pat life. Our families are far, far away, as are all the long term friendships we treasure so dearly. Nothing reminds me quite how far away they all are than a week when the kids have been driving me utterly bat-shit and I long to be able to drop them with a grandparent for a day (or even better, overnight!) and get some breathing space. They've also become quite clingy since we've lived here, especially Carl (4 1/2 years) who has grown up to expect that Mum will be there all day, every day, and becomes extremely jealous of anyone with whom I have a conversation of more than ten minutes.
We also don't know how long this posting in Singapore is going to last. Originally we were told 14 months, 16 tops. Now two years and two months down the track our apartment lease has expired, our landlord decided to pitch us out by the end of the month and we are, for all intents and purposes, homeless as of 1 November. Whether we find somewhere we can live week-by-week, perhaps month-by-month, until we finally leave remains to be seen but I can assure you it's extremely stressful. Worst case scenario is that the kids and I will have to leave the country without hubby, for God knows how long. Nothing sharpens your focus like the prospect of having your family split up.
Meanwhile there are other issues clamouring for our attention. My rabbits, long and lovingly looked after by my good friend Liesbeth, need to be rehomed and that is a challenge from the other side of the planet. Fortunately more good friends have stepped up to help me out (a whole team in fact, thanks a million!) and the problem has been solved.
We've got an empty house sitting waiting for us, gardens that need caring for, a job I can't fill and for which I still can't give a firm starting date, schools that are wondering what the hell we are doing with our kids and not to mention the removal company which rings me every week to demand "don't you have a date yet???"
My Dutch driving licence has expired and I swear if I have to go through that whole Dutch driving test experience again I'm going to drive straight over the top of the next 'ambtenaar' I meet.
Every second phone call ends up with a long and repetitive conversation about whether we are or aren't leaving soon. We can't plan any holiday or time off or even buy tickets to a show because we don't know which country we will be living in next month. Friends organising a party? Sounds great, but don't count on us, we may not live here by then. Christmas with family, what a great idea, but which country will we be in by then? When we leave our apartment for alternative accommodation such as a serviced apartment in two weeks time we can't even ship our belongings home because of the way the law works: if we don't leave the country, neither can our stuff. Endless streams of paperwork follow us wherever we go, folders four inches thick of documents and paper trails must be lugged along wherever we move. Have you got copies of all your documents, have you backed up every important email, letter and certificate in your life not once, but twice plus made hard copies in case something goes wrong like we've had to? Ever wondered what it's like trying to pay taxes for two people in two countries and have you any idea how much paper work children entail? Can you imagine the frustration and dozens of hours of work involved when your health insurance company makes an enormous cock up and refuses to pay any of your family's health care bills for eight months like ours did, and you have to sort it our from the other side of the planet? How do you get your car serviced? What happens when a tree in your garden falls over and how should you respond when complete strangers email you asking if they can live in your empty house?
At the end of the day it's been a great experience and we wouldn't have missed it for the world, but no, it's not all plain sailing, it's not all fun, and it's not all easy. It's just life, intensified by a factor of ten. With an equatorial twist.

Octoberfest Hits Singapore

Yes even these tropical climes are not immune to the beer-swilling, sausage-scoffing, singing and dancing party zone that is the Octoberfest. Last year we attended an event downtown, which was where I first glimpsed - and lusted for - the iPhone. This year however we really did it in style. We'd seen a huge temporary pavilion being constructed across the road from the kids school at the Swiss Club, and it turned out this was the venue for this year's Octoberfest.

With very little encouragement indeed we secured a couple of tickets together with some friends and set off on Saturday 4th.

Nothing about last years event has prepared me for how much fun this one would be. Having attended the real beerfest in Munich it's hard to be impressed by an imitation, but the Swiss Club did a damn fine job.

The tent was huge, with over 2,000 people seated and still plenty of room to move about and dance. The 10-piece oom-pah-pah band was superb, keeping the crowd singing, cheering and dancing, and they played almost non-stop from 8-11 pm. The crowd was on its feet, and in fact on the tables, the entire time.

And then there was the food! A sumptuous feast of various German sausages, pork knuckles, sauerkraut, red cabbage, potato salads and lots of stuff I didn't recognise, plus the highlight was a spit-roasted ox.

The beer was Erdinger, one of our perpetual favourites from back home, and we could conveniently buy large dispensers to fill all the steins on the table at our leisure. For some reason they always seemed to be nearly empty...

One of the nice things about the night was the number of locals who attended. I had expected that only Europeans would really be interested but at least half the people were Singaporeans, and they really went all-out to dress the part.

It was a fantastic night, and when we left at about 11:30 the party was still going strong. Wondering how on earth we would ever get home we found a never-ending queue of taxis waiting to whisk us off - all Mercedes, of course.

If you're in Singapore this time next year I strongly recommend grabbing your lederhosen and trying out the Octoberfest at the Swiss Club, you'll have a blast!

More Wet Market Wonders from Tiong Bahru

I had such a good visit to the Tiong Bahru wet market this week. As I've said many times it's just the best place to get fresh fish, pork, flowers, vegetables and prawns. However I'm branching out into more experimental local cuisine which requires me to tackle the tofu and dried goods sellers in the market too. Here I'm at a distinct disadvantage because with fruit and veges, you simply fill up the little baskets with whatever you want, hand it over, then pay. Likewise with fish I can point to what I want, indicate how I want it cleaned with 90% accuracy using hand signals, and my prawn seller speaks good English. However the dried good stalls are for the most part manned by an older generation of Chinese who speak a minimum of English so it's down to hand signals and imaginative pronunciation of ingredients.

I've been inspired by a great little cook book I picked up recently called Simple Treats written by Lisa Yam. She looks exactly like the ideal Chinese grandmother in the book, preparing delicious food using simple yet tasty recipes which are all accompanied by a question and answer session between her and her Filipino domestic help, Ah Ling. It's a friendly chatty kind of book and the dishes look sumptuous.

Fortunately I took the book with me as it's written in both Mandarin and English. I made the rounds of the stands asking for "Chouzhou Sa Cha sauce please. ChouZHOU Sa-Cha? CHOUzhou Sa CHA?" until giving in and showing the recipe to a wizened little lady nearly hidden behind fragrant piles of dried prawn, jelly fish, and pickled cabbage. "Huh?" was the invariable response as they would bend forward to try and read the Mandarin text in the dim light. When I got lucky their faces would light up "Ahhhh! Yes! Chouzhou Sa Cha sauce, I have, can, can!"

Then it was off to the tofu seller who passed the recipe around the neighbouring stall holders until one young enough to read without glasses was able to make out the Mandarin text for bean curd sheets. Each time, without fail, they would tell me slowly and clearly the proper name for what I was looking for and each time I would repeat it carefully, silently despairing of ever remembering any of these words by the time I got home.

I needed a bizarre vegetable called luffa, which looks like a cross bet wen a cucumber and an instrument of war, and there was a lively discussion amongst the vendors what I meant until one old lady silenced the chatter by scornfully rattling off a string of Mandarin at the men gathered round - obviously berating them for being completely useless - before producing one with a triumphant smile and a flourish from a tub full of the upended beasties. The men's' mutterings were clearly running along the lines of "well if the Ang Moh* had said LUffa instead of luFFA we would have understood the first time..."

So I'm well armed with my bean curd, by red dates, dried prawns, soy bean paste, red dates and Chouzhou Sa Cha. My luffa is chilling in the fridge until tomorrow and my bottle of Shaoxing wine is keeping my Pu Ning bean sauce company in the cupboard. My lily buds and lotus root are ready to go so with a bit of luck and lots of help from Lisa Yam we'll be eating even better than ever this week.

*Ang moh literally translates as red haired but is the term used to described Caucasians. I'm sure they've also got a name which translates as "that stupid white chick who thinks she can cook Chinese food, what a joke lah!"

Bollywood Champion

Last night we had a great evening out with a large part of the crew from hubby's work. We had a delicious meal at Aangan restaurant, which put on a buffet of Indian and Bangladeshi food. While the food was wonderful, the speeches interesting and the belly dancing distracting for some, the undisputed highlight of the evening had to be 'I'm Too Sexy For My Shirt' Alex who not only took part in a dancing competition but threw himself into it with a gusto which resulted in his and Martje's undisputed victory. As he later said "If you're going to compete you may as well win." Too right mate.

Enjoy the video, which he has kindly agreed to let me publish here. Ladies, sorry but he's a married man.

Big News ladies; A Good Hairdresser Has Been Found!

Now this posting is going to seem utterly, totally trivial to those of you who don't live here, so feel free to skip it. For any ex-pat ladies however, it's big news, so stick with me!

About six weeks ago my hairdresser, a wonderfully skilled woman from New Zealand, left Singapore to start a new life in Australia. She left behind a grieving clientele convinced they would never have a decent haircut in Singapore again. Perhaps I should explain. When you are a Caucasian based in Asia getting a haircut is an issue fraught with tension, tears, and usually loads of money. Plainly put, our hair is different to Asian hair. Their hair apparently contains a lot more protein so it is stronger, glossier and thicker, plus...it's always straight. To compound the problem of having Caucasian hair throw curls into the equation and lets just say there are plenty of stories of inexperienced hairdressers just about having to reach for the clippers to hide their mistakes. There are a few businesses catering specifically for the ex-pat market, and as one of my friends told me the other day, she wouldn't have minded paying the $300 + if her dye job had been half-way decent!

The reason I know my Kiwi hairdresser has been gone six weeks is that I need my hair cut every 5 weeks or it's just a puff ball of fluff. Curly hair frizzes in the high humidity of the tropics. Go too long without a hair cut or forget your styling lotion and by lunch time it looks like you've stuck your tongue in a wall socket. So by today, I was DESPERATE.

Before defecting to Oz my hairdresser had mentioned a chop-shop in town which had been recommended to her, so with no other choice, off I headed to Centrepoint shopping mall on Orchard Rd. At 10.30 they were just open and the place was deserted. Yes, I could get my hair cut right away, Angie had cut Ang Moh hair before. I briefly considered asking how much this was going to cost - a large glossy salon on Orchard Rd wouldn't be cheap - but swallowed my words, as I was really past thinking up a Plan B by now. Once seated the assistant, who himself sported a startling spiky cut streaked with bleached highlights, said he'd wash my hair first. OK, so far so good. However instead of leading me away to a basin he tucked a square of plastic over the collar of my blouse, draped a small towel over my shoulders then proceeded to drop a large dollop of shampoo directly onto my head. What??? Next he picked up a plastic squeezy bottle - just like the ketchup bottles you see at cafes - and squeezed warm water onto the top of my head in a steady stream while vigorously massaging the shampoo into a thick foam. He kept massaging and adding water, massaging and adding water...I was sure that at any moment I'd be drenched but he put away the bottle and went to work briskly working up a foam on top of my head, gradually bringing in more and more dry hair until finally my whole head was covered. He then proceeded to give me a ten minute scalp massage and the most thorough cleaning my hair has ever had. Not a single drop or bubble dripped off my head and by the end I looked like a snow cone, my head completely encased in a warm mass of white foam. Then it was off to the wash basins and a thorough rinse followed by another scalp massage. Bliss.

Back in the chair, Angie appeared. All 20 kilos of her. I explained what I wanted - just recreate the asymmetrical cut I've got, while she ahh-haad and nodded.

Finally she said "Ok. Unnerstand, can do. I never do this one before, but is ok." Now be honest, how many of you would have run for the door at that stage?

She then picked up a pair of thinning scissors - a new approach for me - and attacked my hair with a speed I've only seen back in New Zealand shearing sheds. As she progressed Angie became more and more excited, like an artist at her easel. "Yes! Yes!" she started to exclaim whenver she made a final adjustment. "Sorry, I very fussy, very fussy!" she kept saying and I was thinking "what more could a client wish for?"

I won't bore you with the details but less than an hour after I'd walked into the salon, I was out again with the perfect hair cut, i.e. exactly what I wanted! Brilliantly done, very professional. Pulling out my wallet I thought "here we go, brace yourself Joanne..."

The cashier murmured the price and I thought oh, $57, that's not bad. "No Ma'am, that's $37" she corrected me. What?? Unbelievable, an incredibly well priced and professional hair cut, no drama no tears...and no last minute clippers. My day just can't get any better. I should go and buy a lottery ticket.

So girls, if you want a good cut go to Jantzen Salon, #02-22 Centrepoint, Orchard Road, and make sure you ask for Angie; she works every day except Friday. The phone number is 65138805. And no they didn't pay me to promote them but they deserve it. Just don't book in for five weeks time because that's when I'll be back...

Getting A Creative Fix

Last week I did a silver and glass course which ran over two mornings at a place called Creative Escape. It's a shop house which has been converted into an artist's studio, and you can follow courses in everything from glass fusion, silver working and painting to paper making, quilting and everything in between.

Never having done anything remotely like this I wasn't terribly confident that I'd actually end up with anything I'd want to keep, let alone wear, but I have to admit I was pretty pleased with the result.

Creating cool pieces with glass fusion is ridiculously easy. You simply cut bits of coloured glass into pieces, layer them up on a base piece to make a nice pattern until the final result is 6 mm thick, then fire in a kiln. We returned the next day to work with the fired glass pieces by adding silver. This was way, way more difficult.

For this part we used silver clay which feels just like normal clay except of course it's quite pricey so you use as little of it as possible. It's incredibly fiddly trying to make small bits to go on jewellery and I'm not planning to do this again, although I'd definitely have another go at glass fusion. After you make your clay pieces you dry them briefly with a hair dryer, then fire them for a short time - only about 10 minutes - at 700 degrees. When you remove the pieces from teh kiln they are pure white, which is a little disconcerting. You then attack them with wire brushes and hey presto, the silver is hiding under the white outer layer.

Here you can see the final results: a rectangular piece with metalic green stripes on a black background, with silver threads wrapped over the top. I was trying to get an effect a bit like tree roots but a couple of them broke off as the silver is too thin.

The second piece is a metillic blue blob with gold flakes in the centre, cupped in what is supposed to be a silver leaf.

...And finally a simple pendant which I attached to a bezel I bought at the workshop as mine was way too ugly, then strung on a silver string I already had.

So there you go, if I can do it anyone can. Give it a go!

Eye Don't Get It

Hardly a day goes by when I don't take a moment to think about how great it is not to have to wear glasses or contact lenses any more. Since getting my eyes lasered (see this post) I'm free from the hassle, expense, and discomfort of eyewear. Which is why I totally fail to understand one of the fashion crazes sweeping through Singapore: people with perfect vision who wear glasses just for fun. Ironically Singapore has one of the highest rates of myopia (short-sightedness) in the world.
In an article in the Straits Times this month Jocelyn Lee examined the odd fashion trend, asking whether these people - mostly aged between 15 and 25 - are being funky or fashion victims. Apparently the preppy geek look is in and the trend which started in London has spread to Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan. Some optical shops in Sigapore now important large, thick-rimmed glasses to meet demand. They cost on average $30 - $90, including non-prescription lenses.
One student when interviewed said that the huge lenses of her thick-rimmed specs get foggy whenever she has hot food or drinks but said "I will continue to wear them as they make me look more outstanding in photos".
I can promise you that this is a trend I won't be following.

Night Safari - Hot Stuff!

As I think I've mentioned before, we anticipate that we will be leaving Singapore fairly soon. In the mean time we've decided to go back to all of our favourite places at least one more time. Shortly after we arrived over two years ago we took the kids to the Night Safari, which is basically a night-time zoo experience with a twist. Many animals are much more active at night than during the day so you see a different side to nature: the wolves are howling, the lions slouching around, the hyenas scitter under the trees with their crazy grins showing glemaing white teeth in the dim light. The safari is conducted in open sided electric trams which take you silently through what feels and sounds like dense jungle. A very cool part of this expereince is that many animals - thankfully only the herbivores! - are let loose to roam freely and graze on the grass and fodder provided alongside the road, so antelope, deer, tapirs, wild pigs, and all sorts of other creatures cross the road and snuffle around within a couple of metres with no fence between you and them.

There are also a couple of shows provided on the evening, and the attached video clip is of the fire breathers who kept us riveted as we ate dinner outside. I've never seen someone able to breath fire for so long - what happens if he gets the hiccups??

And You Thought Your Parents Were Pushy???

...in that case you didn't read the article by Jamie Ee Wen Wei headed A match made in Hong Lim Park? in the Sept 7 Sunday Times.

Apparently Prime Minister Lee Hseing Loong announced during his National Day Rally speech on Aug 17 that parents should get more involved in finding suitable mates for their children. Jackiey Kew (33) and Lydia Gan (34) were not slow on the uptake and promptly launched a dating service called Clique Wise to help out mums and dads keen to matchmake their still-single adult children. About 50 parents were expected to turn up to their first parental-matchmaking session, during which they exchanged photos and biodata about their children.

Ms Gan (who is still single) said: "True, there will be people who will be scared that their parents will pick the wrong person for them. But parents will want the best for their kids".

Mr Kwek, (who is married) agrees that "there may be some sceptism but insists the event is not about arranged marriages. He hopes the parents, too, will not rush things. "We'll tell them it does not mean that after their children come for the event, they'll get married the next day."

Glad to hear it.