Dragon Kiln & Pottery Jungle

There is a wonderful place hidden away down a bumpy bush lined road which in my opinion is a must see if you're looking for off-the-beaten-track Singapore. Or good, inexpensive pottery. It's called the Dragon Kiln & Pottery Jungle and is located in the west of the island just off the Jalan Bahar exit from the PIE. I first discoverd this place a few months ago but had Carl in tow and believe me, small children and towering stacks of breakable pottery don't mix, so it was a brief visit. Determined to return however, I gathered up a couple of girlfriends and headed off in the car. This is a place you can't really get to with public transport which may explain why hardly anybody seems to have heard of it.

As you enter the property the first thing you see is a huge expanse of pots spread out across what would be a big carpark if there was any room for cars left! Pots of every size and colour, from little tubs to huge pots you could house a small family in; whatever you want, its here and in 20 different colours. This display is just to get your interest piqued because the real draw is inside the sprawling complex of slightly ramshackle buildings nearby.

You first walk past the Dragon Kiln, a traditional Chinese 44 m long brick and earth structure that runs along the ground, slightly uphill. A fire is lit at the bottom end and the heat and smoke go through the kiln to exit at the other end. Temperatures reach up to 1400C! The Jalan Bahar kiln is one of the two remaining dragon kilns in Singapore. In the 1960s and 70s, it was used to fire latex cups for the surrounding rubber plantations, flower pots and other items, but fell into disrepair when demand for these items dropped. With the help of the National Heritage Board, Singapore Tourism Board and Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, the Dragon Kiln was rescued and brought back to life in September 2006. These days it's only fired up once a year to demonstrate how it works. It must be impressive and incredibly uncomfortable to be near.

After the kiln its time to wander through the Pottery Jungle, a huge maze of pottery and ceramics from all over Asia (mostly China) covering every conceivalbe different style of pot. Traditional blue and white constrasts with modern swirls of vibrant reds and yellow; ginger jars and rice pots vie for attention with modern vases and abstract decorative pieces. Figurines, platters, bowls, fountains, foot stools, animals, wall panels, vases, urns and even complete outdoor picnic table and chair sets...all made from pottery in a thousand different hues. As you wander from one open-sided barn to the next you start to wonder if the collection will ever end. You'll soon spot the resident monkeys scooting around the beams in the roof. And yes, apparently they do break the pottery sometimes. One of the staff there told us that the monkeys "can be very naughty sometimes". Hopefully they don't actually hurl the pieces at hapless customers below!

It's an incredible place and what makes it even more appealing is that, for the most part, the pottery is quite inexpensive. What I would call the more contemporary collection of tall red/blue/yellow hued pieces were quite pricey but I picked up a traditional rice urn (to be used as a potato jar as it will provide cool dark storage) and a huge platter perfect for a pavlova or fruit or even a big salad, for just $35 each .

The staff are very pleasant and keen to answer questions. The lady who helped us was quite knowledgable about the origin of the various pieces we were interested in. Inevitably with such a huge open set up the pottery can be quite dusty, but you have to remember that a quick wipe down is all it takes to reveal the beauty beneath. This is no high street store; comfy shoes are recommended to navigate the dirt or wooden steps and pathways. We spent two hours there in the end, revived half way by bottles of chilled mineral water provided for free by the staff, a nice touch which was certainly appreciated.

My one splurge was the lamp which I bought hubby as an anniversary present, and obviously I'm not going to reveal what that cost! But it is beautiful. An air-conditioned room is stuffed with dozens of differnt lamps and lampshades, protected from the humidity by the cimate control. I've tried to photograph it but actually it's come out a bit dark; the red and blue is brighter than shown here but you'll get the idea. With typical Dutch reticence hubby's response was "hmmmmm................it's very big". I think that means he likes it.

State Of The Union - aka Happy Anniversary

This time eleven years ago I was going through the whole rigmarole of getting my hair, nails and make up done, hoping I'd fit into my wedding dress and trying not to rip a hole in my stockings. Holger was probably sitting quietly but nervously having a coffee, having taken all of 15 minutes to put on his suit and comb his hair.

D Day had arrived.

When I was sitting here thinking about what I could say about the past 11 years all that kept popping into my mind were lots of funny things, stuff which is probably trivial to anyone else but had us in stitches at the time and we still chuckle over. That's got to be a good thing! Being from different cultures has always been one of the defining facts of our relationship. New Zealanders and the Dutch are basically similar of course but we approach things differently. I tend to be a bit more spontaneous (a.k.a. disorganised) whereas I've always called hubby my 'long term planner' because that's what he does; he plans things out. On our very first date he told me "I never thought I'd end up marrying a Kiwi". Frankly it's a miracle that I agreed to a second date after that chestnut but hey, he was right at the end of the day.

When I rang my Mum to tell her I was dating a Dutch man she was aghast. "But how do you talk to each other?!" she exclaimed. Hubby spoke quite good English even back then so it wasn't a problem, but language is a topic that frequently pops up, as we both have become fluent in each others native tongue and try to understand the finer points. We have each made some funny mistakes. I remember hubby telling me that he could just reach something on a high shelf if he "stood on the edges of the fingers on his feet". Another time he was attempting to explain to a lesbian friend the importance of integrating yourself into the Dutch bureacratic system and told her "it's really important that you get penetrated in Holland".

Once his ship was in port for a day and I couldn't go to see him so his Mum said she'd go. I gave her a letter for him and I thought I'd written on the envelope 'for my hedgehog', a joke about his prickly whiskers as he only shaved every second day when he was at sea. However I misspelt the word egel as eikel and instead wrote 'for my penis'. To this day I've never been able to mention it to his Mum, who knows what she thought at the time. Being a man hubby was no doubt quite proud of it; in some respects there are no cultural differences between the male species at all!

At the end of the day I guess it's our differences that attract people, the fun and occasionally challenging task of figuring out what makes the other one tick. Wouldn't the world be a boring place if we were all the same? Marriage would be anyway.

Happy anniversary honey xxx

iPhone-a-say; OH YEAH!

I'm so excited I can hardly sit still! Yes yes yes yes and yes! Before any of you start worrying that this is about to turn into an X rated blog I'll explain.

Isn't it wonderful that after being married for eleven years (tomorrow is our anniversary) hubby can still surprise me? Yesterday evening when he got home I was anxiously waiting to see his reaction when he first laid eyes on my anniverary present for him: a gorgeous lamp which I'd painstakingly picked out on a morning out with a couple of girlfriends to the Dragon Kiln (more on that at a later date). I admit, I was feeling pretty chuffed with having found the perfect gift; it's elegant, arty, utterly gorgeous and will last forever as long as the kids don't knock it over.

After finally getting the kids settled in bed I sat on the sofa with a cup of coffee when hubby strolled past and casually dropped a plastic bag in my lap with a mumbled "here you go". Clearly declarations of (continued) undying love and an eternity of marital bliss are as common as the appearance of wrapping paper and ribbons in the Dutch male culture, but believe me, there are compensations.

Curiously peering into the bag I pulled out a heavy matt-black box, turned it over and it was......AN iPHONE!!!!!!!!!!! Only the most utterly fantastic gadget on the face of the planet which I have been lusting after ever since seeing Phils' at the Beerfest back in 2007. It didn't have anything to do with the amount of beer we'd consumed because these gadgets are just downright sexy. Sleek, stylish, designed for beauty as well as functionality, the iPhone is for me a perfect melding of phone, email, camera, video camera and iPod. It has a 16 GB memory and a 2 megapixel camera. Somewhere in there is also the capacity to download maps and get on-line travelling directions and god knows what else. The large touch screen is simple to use and the technology downright stunning.

By simply touching your finger to the screen you can choose between functions and menus, zoom in and out of photos, literally flick through the albums in your iTunes folder, and physically move picture and maps around by moving your finger over the screen. If you turn it sideways the image flips over so that it's still upright, even if you flip the phone upside down. For a better idea to to the Apple site and click on iPhones for a tour but be warned! Excessive drool is a hazard for your keyboard.

As a non-techie I can't even begin to figure out all the other functions on it without downloading the on-line manual but believe me, I'll be doing that today.

So next time you get a text message from me, you know its been typed out in style. Now I've got to rush; iPhone-a play with my new toy!!!

Psssst! You Distract The Human...

Here are the latest pics of Rocco and Ashley, living it up large in Eindhoven with their very patient and long-suffering bunny foster Mum, Liesbeth. The furballs were recently relocated into a new run and apparently, Rocco has decided he wants to go and check out who the new neighbours are from outside the fence. Or perhaps he simply wants to eat as much of the garden as he can before being caught - check out the size of his bottom!

I love the first picture, it looks like he's giving last minute instructions to Ashley before he makes his big break. Thanks Liesbeth not only for sending the pics, but also for thinking to snap the Great Escape while Rocco headed for the garden. Did I ever mention that one of her bunny runs is called Colditz?

Tabitha Foundation

Living in Singapore can be a very privileged existence. As an ex-pat you move in circles and in an environment which many local people don't share, and it would be easy to close your eyes to the reality of life for the 'average' local. Of course there is exceptional wealth here among the local Singaporean pouplation as well; we've never seen so many Ferrari, Porche, Lamborghini and Msserati cars in our lives. Sit at the traffic lights and take a look at the vehicles around you and the sum total could well be more than most of us will earn in a life time. This only serves to highlight the large gap between the haves and have-nots, and yet the 'average' Singaporean is far better off than many living in other Asian countries. Here they have guaranteed housing, health care, and education. The government has provided a social welfare system, even if it is extremely tough to access that system and the demands on the individual to care for themselves - or their less capable family members - would be considered excessive by those of us used to living in welfare abundant states like Holland.

Volunteers and charity work play an important role in this part of the world. Extreme poverty in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma to name a few demand attention. The international schools all raise many thousands of dollars each year for projects, as do the social organisations like ANZA. Individuals are also often motivated to do their bit.

If you are what's known as a trailing spouse - that awful term which implies you are a piece of flotsam clinging to the coat-tails of your bread-winning husband (or wife), the opportunities are endless, whether it's volunteering time or money. One worthwhile and successful charitible organisastion I've come across is the Tabitha Foundation. Founded by Canadian born woman Janne Ritskes in 1994, the Foundation "has worked with over 500,000 Cambodian people in the poorest communities in the country. Tabitha's philosophy of self-help is designed to promote self sufficiency and dignity through savings, counseling, and goal setting programs. Families typically graduate from Tabitha in 5 - 7 years after which they have food for their children, clean water to drink, shelter and a source of income. More importantly, they have achieved a sense of dignity and, with their heads held high, can now look into the future and see hope for their families."

This is from their website. The Foundation helps Cambodians through a range of projects including savings schemes, cottage industries, house building, providing pigs, and building water wells.

I came across the Tabitha Foundation through it's twice annual Silk Fairs. Held at The Shophouse, these three day events are held to showcase and sell the fabulous hand-dyed Cambodian silk products made by hand by women in their villages. Apparently the three day event in November 2007 raised $97,000! While that is a lot of money so much more is needed as there are thousands of families who desperately need help. Visiting the fair it's not hard to see why the fairs are so successful - gorgeous vibrant silks are sewn into dozens of different items and sold at reasonable prices. Even though we are spoilt for choice when it comes to buying good quality silk in the Far East, the Tabitha range is truly exceptional. So it's understandable that I went just a little crazy...

My favourite piece has to be the large blue bean bag with the red gecko, which was made to order (there were about 40 colours to choose from) and delivered in about four weeks. The scarves are all to die for; nothing makes you feel more like a million bucks than a gorgeous silk wrap flowing over your shoulders when you go out in the evening. I also bought piles of lovely sunglass cases and Post-It note holders - if you're family or a close friend I'm sorry but there is no surprise in store for you when your birthday comes round! However it was all in the name of a good cause.

The next Tabitha Silk Fair will be coming up in about four months, so keep your eyes peeled if you are in Singapore. It's well advertised in places like Expat Living magazine and in the events section of various club newsletters and magazines.

Party Party Party

If you think your weekend was busy, imagine have 12 hyperactive noisy boys invading your home for three hours! That's what happened here on Sunday, when we had Niels 7th birthday party.

To be honest birthday parties have never been easier for us now that we're living here in Singapore, since we just hope for good weather (hasn't failed us yet) and let the kids go crazy in the swimming pool.

If you've never been around a bunch of seven year old boys who are in full-on party mode, you probably can't even imagine the amount of noise and chaos they can cause. There was so much testosterone floating around I felt like I was at risk of entering early menopause just by standing in close proximity. That and going deaf.

Happily nothing makes boys happier than constant activity and stimulation and pool parties provide plenty of that. Intervening about once every 30 minutes to either poke food or a new pool tool at them, hubby and I even had time to sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee while the boys burnt off enough energy to power a small town for several hours.

Of course no birthday would be complete without a birthday cake, and this year Niels' request was for a replica of his large wooden ship. Hmmmm. It seemed easier than last years tank but still....

Fortunately I recently discovered a baking supply shop nearby who were able to provide ready made icing which is generally a better texture than home made: stiffer and easier to mould. (Once I've caught my breath I'll tell you all about this little gem of a shop which is just down the road.)

Finally, Niels birthday is over. His Star Wars Lego has been built, twenty iced and decorated cup-cakes (chocolate or banana) distributed to his class and teacher, and the final package unwrapped. The week long festivities have ended at last.

Now Carl is already making up his list for his next birthday.

Happy 7th Birthday Niels!!!!!

Today is Niels birthday!!!!! Happy birthday my blue eyed boy, our first born, full-on, out-doors, country-kid, Star-Wars obsessed, water rat gorgeous son. I can't believe that he was born seven years ago, on a brilliant crisp sunny spring day at Zutphen hospital in Holland. He's grown up so much in the past couple of months and seems so much wiser than he did even half a year ago.

Niels is a very sensitive boy (he cried with me when we read the end of Charlottes Web) and yet he loves to play the solider and re-enact all the Star Wars battle scenes. His favourite part of school is gyn and playing outside, yet he loves to read and will spend hours in the school library if I let him.

Pictured you see him with a Y-wing space ship from the Lego Star Wars collection, something he has desperately craved for months. Now that's a happy face!

Happy birthday to a wonderful son, brother, cousin, grandson and great-grandson. You are much loved, and have always given unconditional love in return.

Naming Ceremoney for Aoka Mizu

Yesterday the official naming ceremony was held for the FPSO Aoka Mizu, after almost two years of construction activity. It was a fun day with plenty of ceremony, one of the highlights of which was a tour of the vessel. Hubby was officially a tour guide for the day, which was a fairly significant change from Marine Superintendent, but he rose to the occassion and herded his groups up and down stair wells, in and out of the accomodation block and around the processing deck without losing anyone. Unfortunatley it POURED with rain throughout and we all got thoroughly wet, but on the bright side, no-one got struck by lightening which seemed like something of a miracle at the time. This explains why Holger looks like a drowned rat in the photo!

I won't bore you with the details of the day but it was topped off with a sumptuous lunch and we were given an awesome gift as a momento, as well as a huge bunch of fresh orchids. I made tonnes of video but have to figure out how to convert the files into a format which Blogspot can use, and this may take a while.

Meanwhile here's a couple of pics, one showing Hubby on the bridge (a position he's going to have to get used to pretty soon) and one of the lion dance which welcomed the guests to the dock side.

Happy Mothers Day

This Sunday is the one day a year when the whole world is supposed to stop and be grateful for the million and one ways our Mum's make our lives great. Here's a big thanks to my Mum! The photo on the left was taken about three years ago when Carl was about a year old.

Click on this link to see a classic video that could probably be a summary of the average daily conversation in just about any household with kids. I guarantee you'll be breathless by the end.

Enjoy!

May The Force Be With You

As you've probably noticed if you're a regular reader of The Singapore Sling, Number 1 and Number 2 - it's just so hard to remember the kids names - are absolutely mad about Star Wars. What started as curiosity sparked by their deviant mother who has always had a Trekkie buried deep inside her has blossomed into an all-consuming, totally absorbing obsession. I can't blame them really. After all, I can hum the entire theme music to Star Trek (Next Generation of course, I couldn't tolerate that ridiculous twit Captain Kirk, thought Deep Sapce Nine was so-so, and as for the Voyager series, puh-lease!).

My fascination with sci-fi dates back to when I was a little girl. I can remember finding a battered and dusty collection of Arthur C Clark and Orson Wells books in the library at intermediate school when I was nine years old and practically devouring them. The first time I read War of the Worlds I was around ten, and by then I'd already listened to the album - on real vinyl in those days! - a dozen times, breathless with excitement. Remember Day of the Triffids when it came on t.v. way, way back in the 1980s? I'd already read Wyndams book several times by then. The new worlds that sci fi opened up, the endless possibilities they seem to propose, were addictive. Many of those old authors thought we'd all being living on protein pills in bubble shaped houses by now, a perfect planet of ageless beings who had conquered hunger, poverty, and conflict. If only they'd known! One of my lasting impressions is the generally optmistic tone of so many of those books, with a few exceptions of course. At the end of the day humans always beat the aliens, justice always prevailed, and the future was guaranteed to be a better place.

So yes, I like my sci-fi. Somewhere in the past 15 years I seem to have gotten off track, or more correctly I got a life, and haven't read any particularly memorable sci-fi for ages.

So I'm quite pleased to plant the seed early in my kids, although I will draw the line at dressing in space suits for school or talking Klingon at dinner. Carl seems to show the most promise. He was playing with the neighbours' Darth Vader mask when I took this photo, and shortly after he announced to me in all seriousness: "I've gone over to the Dark Side".

As if we didn't know already.

Koninginnendag (Queens Birthday) Again

Well ok I know it's a bit late but it's been a BUSY week or so. Last week was the Dutch Queen's birthday (cheers Trixie!), an occasion which is celebrated in exuberant style across the Netherlands and with even more fervent devotion by Dutch ex-pat communities around the globe. Here in Singapore there is quite a substantial Cloggie Community and they love nothing more than to dress up in orange and have fun with their national celebrations.

At the Hollandse School the kids all wear orange and gather in the gym together with Mums and Dads and any stray relatives who may be visiting to hoist the Singaporean and Dutch flags, sing the national anthems, and listen to the Dutch Ambassador make a short speech. A long standing tradition is for the Ambassador to present the school with some large cakes which are divided among the classes later on.

This year the festivities included games for the various Groups organised in classrooms and supervised by Mums. There seems to be an endless capactiy for the school to organise jobs for parents here so there's always plenty of volunteers needed. I was in charge of 'koekjeshappen' which in the absense of Deventer Koek was replaced by marshmallows (basically the kids have to try and bite a marshmallow off a string without using their hands).

The combination of excitement and sugar had an interesting effect on the bunch of 7 year olds I was supervising and I can only say I'm pleased I got to leave at midday!

It's always a fun day though and one the kids really get into. At least they'll know what it's all about when we return to Holland.

Seafood For Dinner, Anyone?

No doubt some of you have heard about the huge squid which is being slowly defrosted in Wellington, New Zealand, after being thoughtfully snap-frozen by fishermen upon being landed on a fishing boat in Antarctica. This is the largest invertebrate in the world, speculated to be the fearsome 'Kraken' from Norse legends.

You have to wonder what it was like trying to squeeze a 495 kilo, ten metre long colossal squid – described as a “gelatinous blob with seriously evil arms” – into a freezer. Who exactly decided the thing was definitely dead and so volunteerd to have the first shove?? Wouldn’t be me, I can tell you that. Take a look at the photo above - would you dare to grab an armful of that and heave it on board? With eyes “the size of dinner plates” and known to be “nasty, aggressive type of squid” this is no Nemo-type pet you take home to give your sisters kid for her birthday. Consider this – this monster specimen is supposedly just a baby, with estimates based on the size of colossal squid beaks found in the bellies of dead whales leading biologists to estimate that the adult ones reach at least three quarters of a tonne in weight.
Scientists at the Te Papa museum, who are slowly defrosting the squid in a tank of salt water to prevent the outside rotting before the inside is thawed enough to conduct research on it, have said that “if it was cut into squid rings, they would be size of tractor tyres, although they would taste like ammonia.” Hmmm, tasty. I knew there was a good reason why I don’t eat squid.

If you’d like to take a peek at this freakish fiend from the deep it will be going on display in Welington at the fabulous Te Papa museum in a HUGE tank of formalin.

Check out the museums website for more info. There was even a Squid Cam while it thawed out. Seriously.

One Size Fits All

Have you noticed how expensive kids clothing can be? Sometimes a piece of children’s clothing and the adult equivalent are practically the same in price, despite the huge size difference. However I’ve found the perfect solution. Behold, the all-purpose fully recycled one-size-fits-all unisex box suit. Granted, it is a bold fashion statement but clearly Carl and Niels are more than happy to model this for a grateful audience. Think of the money you’ll save! Not only is it free, once they out-grow the box, simply chuck it in the recycle bin and collect a new one from a handy supermarket! And consider the savings in transportation costs: we can now stack kids into school buses, etc like milk cartons in a crate. I wonder if the idea will catch on…

Too Old To Lego, Too Young To Die

Isn't it amazing how much kids love Lego? I mean seriously, totally love it so much they want to take it to bed and sleep with it so they wake up with six little indentations in their forehead from lying on top of a plastic brick all night. And then losing the tiny little bits in the sheets to stress their Mums out when doing the washing. Kids love Lego with a passion and abandon adults can't match, and even the repeated agony of standing or kneeling on those razor-sharp corners doesn't dull their devotion.

Actually I don’t mind Lego associated traumas, don’t even mind knowing I'll have to unhook the vacuum pipe and retrieve the piece I just heard clunking its way up the hose when I vacuum under the sofa. My Mum used to carefully go through the vacuum bag every time she emptied it to retrieve the Lego bits we’d hidden on the floor in places only the cleaner would reach because hey! we were thoughtful kids that way.
If only I had spent as much time working on my thesis as I did planning and building the Lego creations I made as a kid! Nothing stretches a kids imagination as much as playing with Lego, let alone developing their fine motor coordination and spatial planning. Who knows, maybe that’s why I'm pretty good at playing the piano and reading maps.
Most importantly though, it’s just loads of fun. In fact it’s still so much fun that I love taking the kids to a Lego shop – of which there are several in Singapore – to check out the latest offerings. Yes, whole shops filled with nothing but Lego: Starwars, Exo Force, Mars Mission, City, Knights Kingdom…not to mention the merchandise! Chess sets, clothing, watches, key rings, cups, plates, drinking bottles, even salt and pepper shakers! Ok so I’m not that into it, but it’s nice that the three of us can all sit down and play with our big crate of Lego together. Every now and then I pick up a couple of catalogues to bring home and the kids spend hours scrutinising them, carefully making lists of what they want, changing them day by day. It doesn’t actually matter that I’m not going to buy it – they just love to fantasise about it and look at the pictures. Now they’re into http://www.lego.com/, where you can play cool games, download stuff and see all the products on offer.

Proof of our obsession: the guest room is actually called the Lego room.

Last week when the kids were really pushing for me to buy more Lego – which we save for birthdays, Christmas and special occasions because it’s quite pricey – I decided instead to build all the sets they’ve already got. Little kids can be a bit overwhelmed by a big heap of Lego and can’t sort out the little bits to put together a set. I thought I’d spend a morning doing it and be finished. Wrong! Two days later I finally reached the end. Every set was assembled, and only about 3 little bits missing as far as I could tell (damn that vacuum). But my back was killing me. Hours spent hunched over trays of colour sorted Lego bits has a completely different effect on the body of a thirty-something than it does on a kid! I don’t remember aching all over after a Lego session when I was nine years old. My sound effects have gone from cool laser sounds as we play to "ooooh my back hurts, help Mummy up".
Niels birthday is coming up next month and guess what he wants? Star Wars Lego. I’d better do some stretches first…

Score: 1 - 0 To The Rabbits

Houdini and Sweetpea have been even more persistent than usual lately trying to get into our bedroom, which is strictly a rabbit free zone due to the computer cables etc at ground level. Or perhaps we’re just getting lazy because they haven’t seriously chewed anything…until now. Hubby went to connect his mobile phone to its charger and found that somebunny had chewed through the cable.

Sweetpea has been practising her "what, me?" look (left) while Houdini has perfected his "whatever" flip of his ears and is totally not going to listen to some two legged hairless freaks who leave their phone chargers lying on the floor anyway.

So it's back to being more vigilant with the baby gate, the only form of tough love our two delinquents respond to.

Perhaps it was revenge for going away on holiday…

Bali 2: Waterbom, Dream Villa, and I Could Get Used To This...

Our Bali holiday really was a lot of fun, and as with all fun things what could be better than telling everybody about it endlessly? So here you go, more cheesy family holiday shots and anecdotes.


On a more serious note, we would definitely recommend the place we stayed in, Bali Dream Villas. Not only was the accommodation luxurious, it also comes with a bunch of wonderful staff who make it their mission in life to make your holiday as relaxing and comfortable as possible.

The kids immediately latched onto Daywa, our softly-spoken driver who spent half of his time in fits of giggles at what the kids were saying, especially Carl who took to yelling "don't speak Dutch!" at me in the car. They of course loved the extra attention, especially Niels who has always been a more male-focused kid, wanting to be ‘one of the big boys’ hanging around kicking the tires of the car and sneaking out to watch cartoons (in Balinese) on the tv in the security guards hut with the guys.

Carl, who has always been a ladies man, soon had Nade and Nyome, the cook and housekeeper, wrapped around his little finger. He had them fetching drinks, looking for toys, and even dressing him in the mornings, all with a charming smile on his face. He only had to sidle up, hold their hand and gaze into their eyes and they would melt in a puddle, ready to do his every bidding. All joking aside, I could seriously get used to having staff – well who wouldn’t! – it’s just so nice not to have to do everything and just focus on enjoying the time you have with the kids and each other. So if I ever win the lottery, that’s going to be near the top of my list!



One of the most fun things for the kids that we did while in Bali and which is a definite must-do if you are going there with the family, is the Waterbom park.
This is your typical water park with slides ranging in excitement from a gentle float in a rubber tube down a quiet jungle-lined river to ‘don’t look behind me the water wasn’t that brown colour when I started the slide’ terrifying.
Most rides are done on tubes, which seat either one or two people, or on mats with handgrips. The extremely fast and scary slides required you to lie on your back with your hands folded onto your shoulders and your legs crossed at the ankles. Having stood at the end point and watched a few people come down it was immediately obvious that if you forget to cross those ankles, you are going to experience the enema from hell, baby!

One of the funniest parts of the day (well for me anyway) was watching groups of 18-24 year old Aussie guys whooshing down the slides, climbing out at the end with a look of OHMYGOD on their faces and then needing two hands to pull the extreme wedgie out of their arses! Perhaps it’s just my infantile sense of humour but it had me in stitches. I said to the attendant standing at the bottom “you must have the best job in the park” and he cracked such a wide grin you could just tell he was having a whale of a time watching these guys with their too-cool attitudes and loud mouths getting what they had coming to them…right where it hurts!

The kids water playground at Waterbom is also a blast, with lots of valves to open and shut, levers to turn, and unexpected jets of water popping up from everywhere. A huge bucket on the top was constantly filled and about every 4-5 minutes it would reach the point where it tipped over, inundating the entire playground in a deluge of water. Holger reckoned there must have been around 1,000 litres of water in there, so you can imagine the effect it has – the noise alone was impressive and the kids just loved it.


One of the last things we did – remembering just in time on the last day – was find a Balinese costume for Niels. His class is doing a new IPC (International Primary Curriculum) unit on textiles and fabrics and all the kids had to go to school wearing a national costume. We got him a beautiful batik sarong and scoured the markets for a topi, the pointed woven hats the farmers wear in the rice paddies. He looked so cute all dressed up and ready to go to school! Carl of course wanted to be in the photo which is why he is standing there with his Cheshire grin, still in his Superman pyjamas. I love the look of forbearance and patient suffering on Niels face in this photo.



All in all, we would thoroughly recommend a Bali holiday, although I would suggest renting a villa as we did rather than staying in a hotel. Kuta would have been too busy and noisy for us to enjoy staying there so we liked being a bit further north, on the coast. It also means you are closer to the sights and don’t have to drive through the town (which takes forever) to go anywhere.

You Reap What You Sow...As Every Parent Knows

A while ago I wrote about how some bad habits come back to bite you in the bum when you have kids, especially noxious ones like swearing. It doesn't take rocket science to figure out that your kids will ape you and that your actions - good or bad - will shape their behaviour, which is just as well because between the sleepless nights and the brain numbing cartoons, we parents have little grey matter over for free thought.

Kids are by nature messy eaters and I've long said that my least-favourite part of being a Mum is meal times. Carl has spilt every drink ever given to him and rarely stops talking long enough actually get food in his mouth. Niels eats well but prefers a reclining open mouthed posture which means by the end of the meal there is invariably a trail of food down his front. Yes, I was the woman who used to sneer at the bad table manners of other peoples kids, and yes I was the one who declared her kids would be eating tidily with a knife and fork by age four, and yes I am now having to swallow my words along with my dinner every night.

In an effort not to get stressed by the everyday messiness of mealtimes I seem to have adopted the saying "don't worry, it's got to go in the washing machine anyway". I guess it's more for my sanity than the kids reassurance that I say this as I struggle not to sweat over the little things every day. I didn't realise quite how it sounded however until last night. We were eating a stirfry with rice and marinated pork and I left the table for all of 20 seconds to get Carl another cup of water to replace the one quietly puddling around his feet and dripping off his chair. When I returned Niels looked up guility at me and froze, a bottle of thick sweet black soy sauce poised above his rice. "Oooops" was all he said. At first I couldn't see anything wrong - then his widened eyeballs slowly rotated downwards to a long trail of black sauce oozing down his chest and stretching all the way along his thigh like a string of gorilla snot.

With a fixed grin and gritted teeth I squeezed out 'don't worry, it's got to be washed anyway' then peeled off his t-shirt and we carried on.

For dessert he had a big bowl of yoghurt with Frosties and Carl, who still hadn't touched his dinner but was in full flow with a story that seemed to invovle Darth Vader and a school bus, spilt his water. Again. I leaped up, grabbed a cloth from the kitchen and in the nano-second it took to return, Niels had managed to drop of whole spoonful of soggy yoghurt and Frosties not only into his lap but actually straight into his pocket. Guess who was going to have to scrape that goo out with their fingernails? Probably seeing the steam starting to puff out of my ears he looked at me, gave me a condenscending smile and said "it's ok, it's got to go in the washing machine anyway".

How comforting.

Back From Bali

Yes it's true, the days since I lasted posted have been filled with a holiday on the amazing Indonesian island of Bali. It seems a little obvious to say we had a fantastic time, although we were looking forward to a holiday for so long it would have been easy to have been disappointed once we finally got there.




First impressions: pretty much from the first minute you hit the traffic in Bali until you get back on the plane it's hard to believe that there could be so many scooters and motorbikes in one country and that the roads could consistently be in such poor condition. Wherever Bali's tourist dollars are going, it's not into infrastructure. Too few roads, appalling road surfaces, no road signs and an apparent lack of a road code mean this is NOT a place you should try driving yourself.

Fortunately we had the wonderful Daywa at our disposal for the duration of our stay, our driver who cheerfully and safely drove us around every day. Not only was it a godsend to have a local to navigate the roads but he was a wealth of information and the kids loved him. Holger surprised and delighted Daywa and the rest of the staff at the villa we stayed in by being able to speak a bit of Bahasa Indonesia, and they were thrilled to teach him more words and let him practice by not speaking English to him.




Roads aside, it is a wonderful place to visit. With over 1,000 temples on the island spirituality is of the utmost importance to the Balinese, and several times each day each person brings a small offering - a pandan leaf folded into a square dish and filled with colourful flower petals, a small cookie or squre of bread, and some burning incense - to the nearest temple. At our villa the cook and housekeeper would put these in the kitchen, next to the swimming pool, on the roadside and at a nearby temple each day. No matter where you go in Bali, the air is always sweetly scented with incense.



Bali is poorer than I had expected, with literally everybody is working hard to survive. We only saw a couple of people actually begging but there is a vibrant street economy going. Everything from freshly cooked satay to sarongs, newspapers, fruit and woven baskets is literally sold on the side of every street and country road. Farmers work in the rice paddies from dawn until dusk, men and women alike bent double planting new rice plants or harvesting the mature crop, conical topi hats shading them from the sun. Once the harvested rice is shaken free of the stalks it is spread on large pieces of plastic on the road to dry - motorists must swerve around the drying crop to avoid driving straight over the top.




A morning spent on Kuta beach was an exercise in maintaining our manners as we were constantly offered massages, tattoos (temporary one assumes!), food, drinks and sarongs by a steady stream of vendors walking past.


Yet despite the obvious day to day struggle the Balinese go through to live their lives they are an honest and friendly people who, in our experience, lack any resentment towards foreigners. Two perfect examples, both of which occurred during our morning on the beach: when I stuffed my clothes into a bag to go for a swim, all of my money fell out of the pocket of my shorts onto the sand. I didn't even notice and one of the woman who had been going up and down the beach hawking sarongs (and which I'd turned down more than once), walked up to me and told me that my money was lying on the ground. Anybody could have picked it up without me seeing, she could have picked it up and I would never have known. It was several hundred thousand ruipah, probably more than she would earn in a month. Needless to say I bought one of her sarongs and gave her a big tip as well!

As we left Holger went to pay the guy we had rented our beach loungers from. The price was 30,000 ruipah but, unused to the currency, Holger gave him 300,000 instead. The guy came back to us and gave Holger the money back, laughing at his mistake. That's honesty for you.




I'll be back with more photos from our trip over the next few days.

Lower Selatar Reservoir

We’re always on the lookout for places to take the kids to burn off some energy in the weekends. Recently we decided to check out what was at the end of the road leading to the Lower Seletar Reservoir.

There are several water reservoirs in Singapore although the vast majority of its water is pumped in from Malaysia. An ongoing source of friction between the two nations is that untreated water travels through a pipeline to Singapore, is treated and purified here, then sold back to the Malaysians. It means that Singapore always has enough water and Malaysia doesn’t need to build an expensive water treatment plant, but it’s still a source of much mud-slinging by Malaysia. Capitalism in action I guess.
As we arrived we passed a golf driving range on our left. A wizened little man was driving round in a specially designed vehicle with a massive scoop on the front collecting golf balls.

Fortunately there was a roof above his head as at least twenty golfers showed absolutely no intention of slowing down their shots while he was busy as work: our boys were both thrilled and horrified at the thought of the guy being mowed down in a hail of white dimpled bullets.

Parking the car we made our way up the slight hill to the edge of the reservoir, giving a large troop of monkeys who were intent on breaking into a primate-proof rubbish bin a wide berth on the way.
The kids were thrilled to discover a huge rocket ship resting on the waters edge, seemingly prepared for take-off. This hollow concrete structure hides a spiral staircase for an easy climb to the top and views out over the reservoir. There was a lovely cool breeze blowing across the water, heralding a change in the weather.
From the shore of this large man-made lake you look straight across the water to the Singapore Zoo on the far shore. The eerily straight paths were the perfect place for Niels to practice riding his new scooter, and the kids playground kept both he and Carl busy for half an hour. At the far end of the breezy walkway is a rain shelter and toilets, which we were quite grateful for as it started to spit with rain just as we discovered a second, smaller playground nearby. Fortunately for once the skies didn’t open to a downpour and we headed back to our starting point, spotting at least five eagles on the way.

The reservoir is definitely worth a visit and is an easy way to spend a couple of hours on a lazy Sunday if you’ve got kids or are interested in the birdlife. We’ll be back to explore further on a sunnier day.

From the mouths of babes

There are many bad habits in this world which can cause us pain or embarrassment and one of the milder of which I am guilty is swearing. I don’t know why this is such a problem with me: as kids we were never allowed to swear. Even the work ‘bum’ was considered off limits. My parents didn’t, and still don’t, swear and yet for some reason as I grew older it became a habit.
As every parent knows, swearing, like toga parties and Tequila slammers, is a habit that you have to lose with kids in the house. It’s just not right to turn the air blue in front of your kids because guess what? They will remember everything you say and repeat it back to you, probably in front of their primary school teacher or in your mother in law’s church.
I’ve grown better at taming my tongue since Niels was born. A perfect example: this morning I was trying to remove the empty 19 litre bottle from the top of the water cooler in our kitchen. It was stuck so I gave it a mighty yank and it flew off and smashed into the bridge of my nose with a CRACK!!! Convinced that it was broken and in considerable pain I was standing there with my hands pressed to my face to stop half of it sliding off and falling onto the kitchen floor with a wet splat and muttering fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck quietly when Niels came running in. “What’s wrong Mummy?”
“NOTHIIIIIIIIIING!” was my highly restrained reply. How’s that for self control?
Of course the occasional slip up is inevitable. One rainy afternoon I was driving to the supermarket. At a set of traffic lights road works had funnelled the traffic into one narrow lane. I was at the head of the queue and as I came to a stop a suicidal scooter rider – one of many who totally disregard the traffic rules – rushed up on the wrong side, and squeezed ahead of me, narrowly avoiding ending his day under my front wheels. “Stupid asshole” I muttered under my breath, wondering yet again how it’s possible that there are any scooter riders left alive in Singapore. As the light turned green we pulled away from him and Carl – who I had forgotten was sitting quietly in the back seat – leaned up against the rear window, fixed the scooter rider with a steely glare and screamed at the top of his voice: “YOU STUPID ASSHOLE!!”

The Myth of Abstinence - Just Saying No Doesn't Work

I have to admit that I’m quite taken by Oprah Winfrey’s ‘O’ magazine. After all, as a thirty-something with an education, two young kids, a reasonable disposable income and interests in books, health, food and clever ways to appear more like a twenty-something, I fit squarely into her target group. Plus she really does have some excellent columnists, including Dr Phil (go on, you know you love him really), and Suze Orman (the blond with the great financial advice).
In the April issue there were two articles which grabbed my interest. Firstly, a swag of recipes and ideas for including coffee in everything from chicken to chilli.
Secondly, there is a most interesting article about the promotion of abstinence to American teens. Titled Sex & Teens: Why Abstinence Isn’t Working*, it explains that since 1996 the American government “has poured more than US$1 BILLION into abstinence-only education programs in the belief that teaching kids not to have sex until marriage is the only sure way to prevent teen pregnancy, STDs, and HIV infection.” And this would obviously work in the same way as telling people not to smoke, take drugs, drive SUVs or leave the toilet seat up would work, right? In fact the article goes on to point out that not only does telling kids to “just not to do it” not work, it’s actually endangering those same kids by exposing them to higher rates of pregnancy and disease!
“Last year a study out of the University of Oxford reviewed 13 abstinence-only HIV prevention programs involving more than 15,000 US youths and found that not one was successful at decreasing rates of HIV infection. Compared with control groups (which included students receiving no intervention at all or attending safe-sex courses), abstinence-only programs did not lower the incidence of unprotected sex, the frequency of STDs and pregnancy, or the number of partners students had: not did it get them to use condoms more often, or ironically enough, pursue abstinence.”
Remember, that’s one BILLION dollars we’re talking about to achieve this pitiful result. Even more shocking, some of the largest abstinence programs actually provide medically incorrect information.
In comparison, programs which do seem to work are those that are so-called comprehensive or “abstinence plus” programs, which emphasise celibacy but also teach about STDs and contraception use. When 56 of these programs were investigated two thirds were shown to have a positive effect on at least one risk behaviour, while abstinence only made almost no difference.
Perhaps the most surprising thing is that the government of one of the most developed nations in the world truly believes that telling their hormone-fuelled teenagers simply not to have sex will work. It’s my personal belief that this is almost impossible in any country but it’s absolutely laughable in a country whose culture is filled with erotic imagery in music, tv and all forms of media. The sexual exploits of so-called role models such as politicians and religious figures – who are after all adults – are exposed by country's media with glee so why do they expect their children to be any different? It's time they realised that sex is a normal part of human existence and teaching teens to do it responsibly without putting themselves or others at risk is a moral duty for all those involved in raising kids. Obviously leaving it up to the government, no matter how big their budget is, won't work.


*Credited to NB, which according to the magazine’s colophon is probably Nate Berkus.

Xacti What I need!

***Read the update to this posting as the bottom...

For ages I’ve wanted a new video camera to take clips of the kids and life in general. With a holiday in Bali coming up and prompted by Carl’s fourth birthday – they aren’t going to be small and cute forever! – I bit the bullet and started to look into what I really wanted. Back in Holland we actually still have our first handy-cam, a huge brick of a thing which records onto clumsy tapes which then have to be painstakingly edited via your tv and 15 km of multi-coloured cabling onto old fashioned video tapes. It was so much effort it put me off using it. Every minute of footage required ten minutes to get it onto tape. And these days, who even has a video machine??
Living in Gadget Land means that we are bombarded daily with marketing telling us how much we need the latest thingy-ma-jig, and High Definition (HD) tv, camera, videos etc seem to be the way of the future. Having spent some time looking on the internet and reading specialist magazines about video cameras, I set off with great trepidation to Singapore’s electronics Mecca: Sim Lim Square. **Read the update to this blog below.

For those of you who are going to be visiting Singapore in future and want to buy cheaper electronics, here are some words of advice. Firstly, avoid the tourist traps on Orchard Road such as Lucky Plaza in favour of Sim Lim Square, a 7-storey shopping mall filled exclusively with electronics stores. Once there, avoid the shops located right by the doors filled with predatory sales teams and browse the businesses further inside the building.
Secondly, decide more or less what you want to buy before you arrive – saving $200 on a camera is a dubious bargain if it takes half a day of your valuable holiday time to make the deal.
Having said that, I turned up expecting to buy a Sony HD camcorder with either 30 GB or 60GB internal hard drive. The first shop I visited was more than happy to sell me the 60 GB model (“special price for the pretty lady”) for about $2200 with a ‘free’ UV filter chucked in. Hmmm.
Further inside I came across Square United Cam, a modest business in the corner on the 1st floor. A very helpful (ie not slimy) sales guy actually listened to what I wanted to use the camera for and what my expectations were, then recommended the Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG65. For those interested in the technical stuff, it’s MPEG-4 6 megapixel with a 60 x digital zoom. The lens is AVC (made by Sony)…and it’s NOT an HD camera. As the guy patiently explained, HD is fine but most people aren’t set up to work with it – it wouldn’t be possible to burn my movies onto DVDs without a special editing suite so I’d have to pay to have it done at a shop every time. Plus without an HD tv and DVD player you can’t see the benefits anyway. Also, can you imagine what your pc would do if you tried to download 60GB of video onto it??? A 4 GB card will record 5 hours of video plus different users can use their own memory cards so you don't mix up your holiday flicks with hubby's fascinating ship construction momentos.
At the end of the day I’m no expert and who knows if it was the best deal I could have got. But I am deliriously happy with my teeny weeny camera which also takes 10 MB photos (even while you are filming if you want!), has a voice recording function for when I’m doing interviews, and weighs about as much as an egg. Seriously. It’s the shape of a gun grip without the barrel and very simple to use. The fold-out screen is big enough to see what you are filming/photographing clearly with ease.

The price: complete with 3 free batteries, a hard case, two 4GB memory cards and 1 GB card (for voice recordings), and a cleaning tool… $1300. Now that’s what I call a bargain!

***Actually that's what I call a rip-off: I was actually conned when I bought this camera. A few months later I bought the exact same camera for my sister as Paris Silk in Holland Village for about half the price. Ouch.

Kidnap Scams In Singapore

As a parent it's hard to imagine a more horrifying scenario. You receive a phone-call mid week and an unknown voice hisses down the phone line "we've got your child and if you don't pay up we're going to kill him". Before you can even start to register what's been said, 'your' child starts sobbing and screaming for help, begging you to save them before 'they' hurt them any more. This is followed by demands for money - lots of it - which need to be paid immediately to have your child returned. Does it sound like a movie script? This is what literally dozens of parents have been through here in Singapore recently as kidnap scams have hit the usually peaceful and law abiding city-state. Thankfully all of the calls have been hoaxes, although I read in the Straits Times that some parents did hand over up to $50,000.

Kidnap scams have hit Singapore before and have made a comeback, apparently run by Chinese nationals according to the Straits Times. The 'kidnappers' only ever speak Mandarin, as do their victims who are all Chinese. In one day the families of three girls from the same school were targeted. However nobody has actually been kidnapped, it's a cruel hoax.

Fortunately parents are usually able to get in contact with the children quickly - how many high school kids don't have a cell phone these days? - but it's still a scary experience and you must be left wondering why you were targeted, if it will happen again, and if the situtation is going to escalate.

Thunderstorm

If there's one thing I love it's a good thunderstorm. Fortunately we have LOTS of them here in Singapore, and in fact on a recent walking tour I did the guide claimed that Singapore is the most lightening-prone place on earth. Is it true? Who knows and really who could prove it anyway, but we do have some fantastic electric light shows. This afternoon I was working away, mindng my own business when a distant rumbling heralded the impending approach of a storm. It barely registered on the edge of my consciousness since we've become used to the sound of the condo next door being smashed to the ground in a dusty pile of rubble, nor did the first few flashes until CRACK BOOM!!!! an absolutely enormous bolt of lightening touched down nearby with an almost simultaneous roar of thunder. The floor shook and I swear my chair wobbled. That got my attention.

So I stood at the window enjoying the show for a while and it was only when things started to quieten down a bit that I thought to grab my camera and try to capture it on film. So here's a rather feeble ending to what was one of the best storms I've been in. Next time I'll be a bit quicker off the mark.

One day I'll sit down and record all the amazing lightening strike stories I've heard since living here, although they never have happy endings of course! Needless to say at the least hint of thunder I chase the kids out of the pool.

30 mins later...

WOW! That's what I call fast feedback! Thanks to Tracker who just published a comment on this post, including the following weblink: http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1203all about lightening activity in Singapore.

The Site says: "Singapore has one of the highest rates of lightning activity in the world. Lying near the Equator, the weather is hot and humid almost all year round. Conditions are favourable for the development of lightning producing thunderstorm clouds. An average of 171 thunderstorm days (days when thunder is heard) are recorded annually in Singapore. "

Cool Pool Toy II

For his birthday Carl received a really cool inflatable racing car from his Nana (my Mum) in New Zealand. We've been through a few pool toys in our time here - after all the kids swim every day - but this is one of the best looking ones. Carl is still learning to stay on it as a bit of balance is required but Niels has it all figured out.

The best part of course is when they 'crash' and Mum tips them off...

Lion Dance

The fifteen days of Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations recently ended around the world. Here in Singapore, with Chinese making up around 70% of the population, it’s a big event with all sorts of festivities across the island. I’ve posted on this before but wanted to share with you one of the highlights of the New Year celebrations, the Lion Dance.

Every year a Lion Dance is organised at school for the kids to enjoy. At that time of year you often see little trucks decorated with flags carrying the Lion Dance teams in their brightly coloured costumes to venues where they perform this traditional ritual.

Legend has it that long ago in China, the people were attacked by a fearsome beast called the Nian (“neen”) on the same day every year. The people marked the end of a year by his visits to the human civilization, which is where the Chinese word for year came from. This happened for many years until a wise man thought up a plan to scare the monster away. He constructed a lion suit from brightly coloured material and danced around it in to frighten the monster away. He was aided by the clashing of symbols and banging of large drums to make him seem even more frightening. The lion successfully chased away the Nian and the Lion Dance has been done ever since.

An important part of the dance is the offering of a plate of vegetables and oranges (considered to be lucky) to the lions. The lions ‘eat’ these and then toss them into the crowd – catching a piece is supposed to bring you luck.
Below is a video clip of the kids enjoying the Lion Dance at school. If you look closely you’ll see the lions eyes blinking and the ears moving. The dancers are judged by how well they can make the lions “come to life” during the dance.

Singapore: Crane City

If you live for any length of time in Singapore it's bound to happen: one day the building next door, or just down the street, disappears. Almost over night. The economy is super-heated over here and the building boom has to be seen to be believed. Cranes prick the skyline from horizon to horizon as ever taller condos and office towers are built. Unfortunately the condo next to ours is now suffering the same fate. Like a high tech dinosaur a demolition machine is biting chunks out of the doomed building, reducing it to rubble while spraying water to dampen the dust.
We'll probably be gone by the time construction begins so won't have to face the prospect of a forty storey condo being perched next to us, but it does give us a chance to watch how quickly a building can be demolished.

High Season For The Tooth Fairy

Bless his cotton socks, but Niels does look cute with half his teeth missing!

So far he's lost six baby teeth, with only two adult teeth having grown back. It makes him lisp a little bit and it's just so cute!

I can vividly remember losing my baby teeth, being unable to resist wiggling each loose tooth until it loosened enough to fall/be pulled out. Niels is much braver than I ever was though; no sooner is a tooth a bit wiggly then he grabs it with his fingers and yanks it out, leaving just a bloody hole in his satisfied grin. Perhaps he's just in a hurry to get the Tooth Fairy's fee.

When he lost his first tooth he was a bit anxious. Having bits fall off his body was not cool. So I explained to him the marvellous wonder of the tooth fairy turning up and exchanging his extra bits for cold hard cash. Money was just starting to become important to him as he realised what you could do with it, and the idea of someone/thing giving him cash for body parts he no longer needed had a strong appeal. You could see the cogs in his mind whirring as he considered this, then he looked at me with a mercenary glint in is eye and asked "is there a hair fairy too?"