Off To New Horizons

Firstly, happy birthday to Liesbeth!

This will be my last blog for a while as tomorrow we are heading south to New Zealand! We'll be swapping 34 degrees + for chilly winter weather so it's going to be a bit of a shock for all of us.

I'll update when I can but don't hold your breath. In the meantime we will still be reachable through email, so won't be completely out of touch.

See you on the other side!

It's For The Birds

Something which many people don’t realise is that despite being a small, densely populated and built up island, there is an amazing variety and number of birds in Singapore. According to Wikipedia, there are 400 different types of birds here including indigenous and naturalised varieties and escapees from places like the zoo and Jurong Bird Park.

We are often surprised ourselves by the birdlife we see out our windows, considering we are less than one kilometre from Orchard Road. Of course the huge gardens of the Black and White houses behind us is what attracts many of the birds, as their mature trees and grounds have remained untouched more or less since they were built about 80 years ago. One of my favourites is the Black Naped Oriole (first picture), which is bright yellow with black markings and has a very distinctive, musical call.

Another popular favourite, especially with the boys is the white egret. For some reason we often see these seemingly living a risky life picking in the grass looking for bugs in median strips on the highways or on traffic islands!

Other colourful visitors are green parakeets which seem to nest in large family groups, and their bright plumage supplements the more common families of sparrows, thrush, blackbirds, swallows, finches and other song birds we don’t know the names of.
Occasionally we also see one of the big birds of prey prowling its territory here. There seems to be a resident bird of prey – it may be a black kite – (second picutre) which often lands on the neighbours lawns and stalks with a very impressive gait along the hedge line, now and again stabbing its hooked beak into the undergrowth to grab prey, probably lizards and beetles. When it’s done it roosts on the roof of the house for a while before flying off.
The family living in the house owns two Labrador dogs and at least two cats, all of which keep a healthy and respectful distance from this rather fierce looking visitor.

Occasionally I also spot what I suspect is a huge Red Backed Sea Eagle floating over, his white belly shining in the sun (picture 3). These birds are mostly scavengers but I haven’t seen this one land; he or she sails over on an updraft at high attitude, presumably looking for food. It's wing span is certainly impressive and it's so great to be floating on your back in the pool gazing at the deep blue above and have one of these huge predators slowly glide into view.




A couple of years ago our neighbour at level 2 even spotted a crested hornbill out the window one day! This is a very unusual looking bird, so she promptly range the local bird park to enquire if they had lost one. However apparently this is another native bird although it is only spotted wild about 4 or 5 times per year. Imagine seeing one here so close to the inner city! I’ve included a photo of a hornbill below but I don’t know if this is the same variety as was spotted here.

Anybody planning to visit Singapore should definitely schedule in a trip to the Jurong Bird Park which is one of the islands best attractions. Check out http://www.birdpark.com.sg/ for information and pictures.

Misty Mornings

Although I have to admit that I’m not really a morning person – until the first coffee has hit my stomach I’m fairly dysfunctional – I do love the mornings. It’s usually the best time of day, full of possibilities still to be worked out.
When I was a student I worked at thoroughbred studs every vacation to earn extra money. We would be at the stables by 5 am to put the yearlings out into the paddocks in groups of 5 or 6. The Waikato area where we lived in New Zealand is a green and fertile basin, with a relatively high humidity which often caused morning mists which lay heavily in the fields until the sun rose high enough to burn them off. I still often think back to how the sun would slowly seep like a big orange ball over the horizon, lighting up the waist-deep layer of ground mist which swirled and eddied as we walked our still sleepy horses to the fields. Apart from a bright chorus of birdsong the only sound was the soft tread of hooves on the dusty track and the occasional snort or jingle of a bit as a colt shook the sleep from his head. Once we let the horses go we would lean on the gate and watch them, the sunlight now just bright enough to light sparks in their manes as they started to move through the grass. Long legs still obscured, curling eddies rose from the mist as they seemed to float on a white cushion of cloud, moving soundlessly at first through the thick damp grass. First the horses would walk away tossing and shaking their heads until one snorted a challenge and the group would start to trot, gaining speed until they were in a full canter by the time they reached the far side of the field, only dimly visible in the half light. With a thunder of hooves they would race each other around the paddock, kicking up their heels and tossing their heads, long swirls in the mist sweeping out behind them as they thundered past then disappeared into the half light once more. It was a magical moment and one which we never tired of watching.

Once I moved to Holland to take up a holiday job as an au pair for horses in the village of Vorden it was back to early morning starts, at least in the summer months. I would get up when it was still dark to saddle the big bay cob I rode, Daffyd. I rode out with a white pony on a lead rope alongside. As we headed into the forest the sun would be just coming up, a deep red stripe appearing over the trees while a crisp moon still hung overhead. It’s really the best time of day to ride: the flies don’t start biting until later, the air is still cool and the only company I hd in the woods were the foxes, squirrels and birds.



These days we don’t have any horses around us – you need to visit the zoo to see them in Singapore – but mornings are still a special moment. It’s often quite hazy here when the sun comes up due to the high humidity and very still air. There is a chorus of birds – musical orioles, screeching green parrots and all sorts of chirping song birds – and the incessant whistle of cicadas. Before the heat rises too much (it will be 34 C today) I like to come down to the pool side and write my blog. I’ve included some photos of a misty morning a few days ago, taken looking out our lounge window at the historic ‘Black & White’ houses behind us.

Singapore's Chinese & Japanese Gardens

This weekend we were looking for something to do with the kids to burn off their energy when we hit on the idea of going to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens. One of the great advantages (for us) of moving to Singapore is that we get to do so many things as a family.


Previously hubby commuted five hours per day and was wiped out at the end of the week from getting up at 5.15 am and not returning until 7.30-8 pm every night. Here however, although he returns home in the evenings at about 7.30 pm, he gets to hang around for breakfast and puts the kids on the school bus each morning. And despite working on Saturday until about 1.30pm, he is not worn out by travelling. His half hour commute is considered very long by the locals but it’s not a problem for him, plus he has a nice drive along tree-lined roads - parts of which are bordering on jungle – and instead of grumpy commuters packed into trains gets to see monkeys sitting on the roadside each day.




Another advantage is that we are living on a very small island – just 700 square km – which is jam-packed with things to do. The government’s family-friendly policies ensure that there are plenty of free or cheap attractions and they really make the most of the limited open space available.
Anyway, I packed a quick picnic lunch, we filled our water bottles and we headed off to the Gardens.
These are, as the name suggests, two large ornate gardens/parks side by side, one Chinese and the other – you guessed it – Japanese. Covering 13 hectares, they are surrounded by a man-made lake and connected by ornate bridges. Holger visited here with his Dad years ago so it was a bit of a sentimental journey for him.
The gardens are lovely, each dominated by a tall pagoda with a spiral staircase of exactly the right dimensions to wear out small children! It was really hot on Sunday – the sort of humid heat so intense that even your eyeballs sweat – and we were all dripping perspiration by the time we reached the top. (Having complained about the cold in Holland for the past 11 years I never, ever complain about the heat here, at least not within hubby’s hearing range. Whenever he mentions how hot it is, I say “it could be worse – it could be snowing”).



Of course if you are under seven years old the only logical thing to do once you reach the top of a tower is to run straight down again, so we then explored the bonsai and statue gardens. There is a live turtle museum with dozens of different types, including a rather bizarre two-headed six-legged one called Double Happiness which apparently is one of the few in the world to have survived. At least it’s never lonely I guess.
Finally there was a pond filled with thousands of koi carp. For a dollar you could buy packets of food to feed them and create the most incredible feeding frenzy you’ve ever seen. A massive churning ball of flapping splashing fish would appear wherever the food landed. Even Carl was impressed, for once speechless for a few seconds are he’d chucked the first handful of food in. (Being a McIntyre male Carl is doomed to be an endless chatterer, as anyone who has met my Dad will know! Recently Dad’s niece got married in Australia and one of the speeches referred to how it was widely known that her father (my uncle) could even speak underwater!)





Finally, having finished our food and drained our drinks it was time to get our pink sweaty faces back in the car and head home. Half an hour after leaving the Gardens a hush fell over Balmoral Crescent once more as we all slept off our exertions. Another successful Sunday outing.

He Did It!!!

He did it!!!

That was the text message I sent to Holger this afternoon after Niels had returned triumphant from his Swimming Diploma test (Zwemdiploma A). Finally, after months of lessons, endless moaning and groaning about how he didn’t want to go any more, umpteen occasions when we’ve been half way to the location only to have the lesson cancelled due to thunderstorms....finally, it’s over.

We made what I suspect is a common mistake and enrolled Niels in swimming lessons back in Holland far, far too early. The swimming pool Gestapo in Lochem would have everybody believe that your child has to start lessons at four years old. So there was Niels, a kid who loves swimming and is very confident and able in the water, stuck on the side of the pool with 15 other kids, some who were even afraid to stand in the knee-deep water, let alone swim. Months of shivering on the sidelines had well and truly wrecked his motivation by the time we moved here.
Fortunately we chanced upon a very good teacher and Niels only shared his 40 minute lesson with one other child most of the time. The lessons were held at a nearby condo which has a gorgeous huge pool, plus big paddling pool where I could entertain Carl every week. Even so, we are all pretty bored with it by now so hip hip hooray for Niels for getting his certificate!



He was convinced that getting your swimming diploma actually meant you got a gold cup, so I arranged that for him too, because he deserves it.

Hairy Fruit and Gorgeous Prawns

I feel like I’ve restrained myself for ages so it’s time to move back to one of my favourite topics…food! This morning on returning from the Tiong Bahru wet market I thought to myself once again that it’s great to live in a place where there is such an incredible range of fresh food available. I go to the market every week to buy fruit, vegetables, chicken and fish, and occasionally pick up some pork or flowers as well. I keep meaning to take my camera and get some shots of this bustling Chinese market to show you what it’s like but haven’t got around to it yet.
Basically Tiong Bahru is a large triangular marketplace. All around the outside are tiny shops selling a myriad of little things. Women’s clothing (in tiny Asian sizes I couldn’t even fit one leg into), similarly petite shoes, cheap handbags, pyjamas, towels, hardware, pots and pans, live fish and plants. There are a couple of shops selling paper effigies to burn at the temples; perfect paper and cardboard miniatures ranging from tuxedos to sewing machines to sport cars, clothes, shoes and jewellery. The idea is you burn these as an offering to the Gods and you will be rewarded by receiving these items in the afterlife. There are also quite a few Chinese medicine and spice stalls, plus two tiny places selling the unique finely ground coffee powder the Chinese love so much.
Inside the market, one side of the triangle is lined with vegetable and flower stalls, another with fruit and eggs plus pork and beef down at one end; and the third is a large collection of stalls selling fresh chicken, seafood and tofu products. In the centre is opento the sky to let the sunlight pour in. Everything is incredibly fresh, kept carefully chilled on piles of ice or refrigerated shelving, and spotlessly clean. It arrives from 11pm the night before, largely from Malaysia and Indonesia, and the market is open for business from the wee hours. By midday it’s basically all over. Above is a hawkers market where for about $2.50 you can sit down to a meal of soup and noodles, rice, steamed buns, satay, Chinese pancakes, pig organ soup…any Chinese food you can imagine.
Today’s purchases included, as always, fresh prawns. I’m not afraid to admit it: prawns are my addiction. In the picture above you can see the 2 kgs (yet that’s two kilograms) I got for $7/kg. That’s 3.50 euros per kilo! Ridiculously cheap and utterly fresh and delicious, the friendly vendor is happy to chuck in some big chunks of ice to keep them cool until I get home. My favourite market day lunch is prawns thrown into a hot wok with minced garlic and ginger and sprinkled with sea salt. Toss until just cooked then tip into a big serving bowl and drizzle with fresh lime juice. MMMMMMM! Only takes about 7 minutes and utterly delicious. Carl and I can eat our way through a huge pile of these babies. Today I bought more than usual but I’ll drop a pile of them together with some chunks of snapper into a smoky seafood chowder for dinner tomorrow, plus there will be enough for lunch too. I also purchased red snapper, at about $22/kg. The fish vendors are always very cheerful and offer to fillet and remove the skin from your fish. They are always surprised I don’t want the bones, head and skin; the Chinese cook these up into all sorts of tasty dishes but frankly it’s just not my thing.
On to fruit & veg: at the back right of this photo you will see a big bowl of rambutans. If you don’t know what these are, they basically look like…well….testicles. Really. Bright red when ripe, they are covered in thick fleshy hairs on a leathery skin which you split open to pop out the balls of white fruit inside. They taste a bit similar to lychees with a touch of citrus. To the left of the rambutans is a bowl of lychees, which look like shaved testicles! There seems to be a theme here…
The bright yellow pieces on the right are the pods from inside a jack fruit, which if you see a whole one is a huge ugly green pimply fruit of irregular shape which looks like a deflated rugby ball. Far too big to eat a whole one before it goes off, you just buy a dish of segments at a time. It tastes like banana crossed with mango.
In the middle is a bunch of local (Malay) bananas, deep red/brown in colour and quite short. They are very fat – Carl can’t fit them in his mouth! – and taste incredibly sweet and creamy.
Under the bananas is a bag of ginko nuts, from the ginko tree I suppose. These have been peeled and blanched and you toss them into your stir fry for a lovely soft nutty flavour.
There are a couple of different sorts of green leafy plants, kind of like miniature bok choy or spinach. I don’t know what they are called but there are about 20 different types and I get a couple each week to toss in the wok with sweet ketchup manis soy sauce, garlic and ginger.
The long skinny green things are beans which are just like regular ones except they are about 50 cm long! You can ties them in big knots and have all sorts of fun with these crazy things. If ever you need proof that plants thrive in this hot humid climate these ‘Jack in the Beanstalk’ proportion legumes would have to be it.
So that was today’s collection of weird and wonderful things. Next time I’ll pick up a kampong (“village”) chicken complete with head and feet and gross you out!

Isn't he an angel...when he's asleep?

I just had to share with you a few photos which were taken of Carl recently.

We love this first one of him fast asleep on his bedroom floor – for some reason Carl seems to prefer falling asleep on the floor, as often as not flat on his face on the wooden floorboards just inside his room! At least on this occasion he chose his nice soft airplane mat to snooze on (see blog about the mat here: http://thesingaporesling.blogspot.com/2006/10/they-are-for-kidshonestly.html).
At night when we do our last check of the kids before going to bed we'll usually have to hoist Carl up into his bed from a little warm spot on the floor. It's amazing how heavy 15 kg can seem when it's an unconcious little boy. You can see in this photo that he still curls up into the foetal position to sleep sometimes – this is how babies are positioned in the womb. Aaaaahhhhhhhh…

The next one I snapped when Carl was playing with a fireman’s hat he’d made at pre-school. He was very proud of his creation and this photo shows a hint of his true character – fun loving, mischievous, and definitely planning his next naughty move! I don't know if he will really end up ever being a fireman but the volume of noise he can achieve when he is "being a siren" as he so succinctly puts it certainly puts him in the running for an honorary position.

Finally there are a couple taken at his pre-school when they had an animal day, with all sorts of baby animals for the kids to see and talk about.

Carl is now 3 years and 4 months old, and growing up so quickly. He still loves to cuddle up to me and whisper “I love your boobies” in my ear but he’s also developing quite a temper and has been known to shout “I’m not naughty, you’re the naughty one – so there!”
He'll then yell at the top of his lungs "you are you are you are you are..." repeat that about 20 more times at 90 decibels and you'll get the idea.
He has also developed a very dramatic flick of the head and sticking of his nose in the air when he doesn’t want to do something!
Last Sunday, right on queue for when hubby was home Carl picked a fight with him about staying is his room to sleep. Actually it doesn't matter what the subject is, the routine doesn't vary much. After ten minutes of doing the Good Dad routine - quietly reasoning and forcefully sitcking to his guns - Holger was being worn down by Carl's relentless screeches and series of "NO! NO! NO!" Finally after what must have felt like an eternity hubby staggered out of Carl's bedroom, pulled the door shut behind him and leaned his head back on the door. "My God" I heard him mutter to himself. I couldn't resist: with a sweet smile I said to him "welcome to my world".

The other day I was telling Carl off for doing something – probably waking us up yet again in the middle of the night. I was giving him my very sternest bad-cop routine complete with wagging finger when he suddenly put his hands on his hips, fixed me with a glare from under his crinkled brow and snarled “GGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!”. I was so surprised and it was so funny I cracked up laughing, which of course was exactly the reaction he was after. With a devilish smile he said “bye Mummy!” then skipped back to bed with an obvious sense of victory.

Who could stay angry with a kid like that?

Carl at Jip & Janneke pre-school

Happy Birthday Niels

Last week was Niels 6th birthday, a much-anticipated event in his calander. This is the first year he has looked forward to his birthday with such excitement; he made up a list of presents he wanted (Lego, an army jeep, superheroes…), agonised about who to invite (limited to 6 kids by his parents but eventually extended to 8), and even dictated what he wanted to eat! (hotdogs, pizza and hot chips).

This year Niels decided he wanted to invite a girl from his class, so we suggested he invite two to keep each other company if the boys’ games didn’t interest them, and that worked well. Niels had long ago decided that his birthday cake should be a tank, so that kept me busy on the morning of the party.
The day was a great success. We decided to have the party from 10am until 1 pm, because it was a pool party and if it’s going to rain over here, then that usually happens in the afternoon. As it turned out it was a gorgeous sunny day so we needn’t have worried. To keep the kids busy I bought a huge floating ‘island’ for in the pool which about 6 kids could fit on, and they played with it non-stop. After about an hour I brought out a big bag of water pistols, enough for everybody, and they were a big hit too. Later, after a noisy meal I brought out the bubble making machine which was also a big hit, and then suddenly it was time to go home. Never mind worrying about entertaining little kids, with a pool and some simple toys they do it all themselves.
Earlier in the week he'd had his birthday shout at school, providing blue cupcakes with smiley faces and flags with his name on top for his class buddies and being made a fuss of by the teacher. He was allowed to choose a couple of special things to do; he choose to light sparklers and have a story read to him. Carl was there as well, providing moral support for his big brother and very proud to be able to sit in the big kids class for the event.

It’s hard to believe he’s six already although of course he thinks he knows more than we do by now. Every second sentence seems to start with “Actually,….” He can talk for ages about his favourite subjects like knights, vikings, pirates or Superman, reciting every fact he has ever been told. After a bit if a bumpy start at this new school here he’s scored a B and an A in his last two tests and is shooting ahead, while soon, with a bit of luck, he will have his Swimming Diploma. Fortuantley he is still a cuddly kid and loves to snuggle up for a hug. When I tucked him into bed the night of his birthday party I asked him “Are you still my scrunchy munchkin?” he answered sleepily “Yes…but actually, I’m a big kid now”.

Update From Rocco And Ashley

Recently Liesbeth moved Rocco and Ashley into larger living quarters at her bunny utopia in Eindhoven, Holland (see http://www.opvangfranky.nl). My furry kids love their new home, which they will share with another bonded pair on an alternating basis, month about, rotating between the pen pictured left and the enclosure next door.

They will be especially pleased because in one of the pens, Liesbeth has constructed a system of underground tunnels which they can run through and hide in to their hearts content. She’s also buried a layer of wire mesh about 60 cm underground so that bunnies can’t dig out completely (important unless you want your bunnies to move to the neighbours one night). She calls it ‘Colditz’ for obvious reasons. They have plenty of opportunities to dig, which is my bunnies idea of heaven. Apparently nothing is quite so satisfying as getting your claws into the dirt and sending it flying out between your back legs, sending it shooting at least a metre in all directions. Digging is what rabbits do. OK not all rabbits, but I reckon that given the chance, almost all bunnies would love to dig regularly. After all, in the wild it’s what provides them with shelter, exercise, and a chance to impress to the girls.
My very first bunny was Fudge, a magnificent glossy back lop-eared male with a cute flat nose and a passion for digging. This was a little unfortunate because we lived in a third floor apartment at the time. However he was nothing if not innovative and fairly early on he found a favourite spot on the linoleum that he started to dig at. When he was very young he could squeeeeeeeeze under a radiator in a corner of the kitchen, but as he grew he no longer fitted. Solution? Simply dig under it. That rabbit would dig dig dig dig for half an hour at a stretch, the steady “scritch scritch scritch” of his claws announcing that he was hard at work. He had the shoulders of a street fighter and probably the cardiovascular fitness to match, but alas he never did succeed in digging a hole under the radiator. Being three-legged for most of his life Flopsy was never a digger, although he would attack things like carpet, wallpaper, lino, telephone wires, speakers etc with his teeth to great satisfaction. That’s his satisfaction obviously, not ours.
Once we moved to our house and the bunnies were given the run of the garden, their true natures emerged. Flopsy’s new mate Coco (who succeeded Fudge when he died), and subsequently Rocco and Ashley have all proven to be fanatic diggers. Apparently that was the reason why Rocco was dumped by his previous owners; he “messed up the garden”. Personally I find that a couple of burrows add character to the back lawn and for entertainment value few things in life compare to watching two rabbits work in turns like a professional tag team to construct an underground fortress in the kids’ sandbox. So come on all you bunny owners, let your bunnies mess things up a little, it will be worth it for all of you.

Tough discipline

Most people seem to have heard caning is used for punishment in Singapore. I have to admit before we moved here I thought it was a barbaric thing to do and many Western countries have over the years tried to apply pressure to the government to have the practice stopped. However…once you’ve lived here you quickly realise that this is one of the few places where you can walk around the city at all hours of the night without being harassed, mugged or in fear of your life. It’s a common sight to see women walking on their own at night – I’ve often popped down to the local supermarket at 10pm – without any concerns for their safety. There is also no graffiti, no vandalism, and a much higher degree of respect for people than anywhere else I have lived. Not all of this is down to caning of course but I’m willing to bet that if the little bastards who keep spray painting the church in Lochem knew they would get a good wallop if they got caught, graffiti wouldn’t be a problem there. Anyway, I’ve done a bit of research for those of you who are interested in the facts because lots of our visitors have asked about it. The original source is http://www.corpun.com/singfeat.htm#offences

Interestingly, the article contained this quote: “The idea that criminals might be reformed has been explicitly abandoned, at least by the most senior member of Singapore's judiciary: Chief Justice Yong Pung How has said, "Rehabilitation is something I have never understood [...] Compassion went out the window a long time ago. Now I just deliver justice." ("Hard stand on crime and punishment", The Star, Malaysia, 5 May 1996).” How’s that for a hard line!
For caning the recipient is bent over a wooden frame and their ankles and wrists are restrained. Padding is put over the lower back (to protect the kidneys) and below the buttocks (to protect the genitals) so only the butt cheeks are exposed.

“The Singapore Criminal Procedure Code lays down that 24 strokes is the maximum that can be ordered at any one trial. The strokes must all be inflicted on the same occasion, and not in instalments. The Singapore Prison cane is made of rattan. Unlike bamboo, this is very flexible when wet. In some pictures the soaked rattan appears to be so bendy that it may be understandable that some observers are said to have mistakenly thought the implements were actually leather whips. The size and dimensions of the cane are prescribed by regulation. For adult men it is 1.2 metres long and 1.3cm thick, thus about as long as a broom handle and as thick as a man's little finger. A smaller cane, the "light rattan", is used for boys under 16”.
“There are dozens of offences for which a man might be given the cane in Singapore - from serious violent crimes to some non-violent offences that seem relatively minor in the West but are regarded as serious in Singapore, a highly authoritarian state where the importation and sale of chewing gum is an offence (though not a caneable one) and where people can be prosecuted and fined significant sums for dropping litter, smoking in public places, or failing to flush a public toilet after use."
"Caning in Singapore is mandatory for over 40 different offences. These range from serious crime, such as rape, robbery, or drug-trafficking, to lesser offences - possession of offensive weapons (such as a knife, dagger or sword), vandalism (including spray painting or a second offence of affixing a poster to a wall), or the sale, transport, delivery, or import of fireworks.
Men who enter Singapore illegally or who overstay their visas by more than 90 days automatically receive a minimum of 3 strokes of the cane. In some cases a mandatory minimum number of strokes is required -- up to 15 for certain offences."
"Caning is optional for many further offences including rioting, extortion, living off the earnings of prostitution, manslaughter, and causing hurt. It has also been introduced for a third offence for certain road traffic offences, though there are few reports of this being applied in practice.
Since the 1990s, moreover, the highest courts have been more inclined to impose sentences of caning even where it is not mandatory. Examples are in cases of rape; "road bullying" where grievous hurt results; hiring of persons to assault another; and molesting women.
The Chief Justice has stated that in cases of "outraging the modesty of a woman" (indecent assault), all courts are expected to order a minimum of 9 months' imprisonment and three strokes of the cane if the offence involves touching the woman's private parts.
In a few instances, Singapore legislation requires that male employees be caned for offences committed by a company. The Dangerous Fireworks Act requires that a manager, director or owner of a company which deliberately or negligently imports, delivers or sells dangerous fireworks must be caned.” (Given the Enschede fireworks disaster I can understand their logic here). Prisoners can also be given up to 12 strokes for misbehaving. Those int eh armed forces may also be caned for disciplinary reasons.
“A former employee at the Drug Rehabilitation Unit in Changi prison said six strokes were given for drugs in the urine or for homosexuality (illegal in Singapore), and three for fighting.
The Singapore High Court is empowered to order the cane for boys under 16 although this is rare. In July 1999 the High Court ordered three 15-year-olds to be caned for offences committed while one of them was still only 14 (a rape trial). Three months later the Court went even further, sentencing a boy still only 14 to five years in jail and ten strokes of the cane for kicking and robbing an elderly man. Ten strokes is the maximum for boys under 16 and the caning in such cases is applied with a "light rattan".

If you want to watch an 'educational video' designed to scare kids straight called Prison Me No Way, follow this link for a mock-up of what would happen during a real caning: http://www.corpun.com/sgjur1.htm

Up, Up, and Away!

Back in February Carl turned three and we really hoped to toilet train him as soon as possible. Anybody who has had kids will know that this is Priority Number 1. It’s the holy grail of early childhood which symbolises parents freedom from bags of nappies and wipes, the expense of buying said items and of course the indignity of having to clean another persons’ bum. Frequently.
One of hubby’s colleagues was telling us recently that they have finally toilet trained their third child. He gloomily mused that they have been changing nappies for eleven years and he reckons it has cost them 7,000 euros!!!
For us it was going to be a particular challenge because hubby and I have never actually succeeded in toilet training a child before. Aha, but what about Niels, I hear you ask. It’s time to confess – we didn’t do the job ourselves. Instead we called in a professional: my sister Christine. We were in New Zealand at the time – Niels was 3 years 8 months old - and despite our best efforts and utter despair Niels applied his particular style of pig-headed stubbornness and refused to comply. My sister said “leave it to me, he can stay here for a couple of days. And don’t leave any nappies”.
Filled with awe at her self confidence and a hefty dose of scepticism we left Niels with his cousins on the farm, wondering how it would go. Christine fixed him with a steely glare and told him “I don’t have any nappies in this house. If you need to go, there’s the toilet. And you’re not having any more rides in the tractor until you do everything in the toilet”.
Would you believe it, he was instantly toilet trained? DAY AND NIGHT! He never wore a nappy again, and only had a couple of wee accidents at night in the following months. Amazing. And also obviously incredibly infuriating for his parents who had tried everything up to that point to get the same result.
We’d already warned Christine when she visited in February that her expertise would be required again for Carl, but he has surprised and elated us by deciding that yes, actually he is a big boy now and no, he doesn’t need nappies!! OK there was some bribery in the background. He wanted to go up in the DHL balloon, the worlds’ largest tethered helium balloon which is in downtown Singapore. No problem, I said, but the price is that you have to be toilet trained. Well, in the last couple of weeks he has done just that. Our little boy is a man at last. I’ve included some photos of the balloon trip – it rises to 150 metres on a tether and the views are amazing.
For those of you who may have the impression that we don’t really live in a city, I’ve put a big red dot approximately where our condominium is (behind the white building a bit). We are lucky to live somewhere very quiet with lots of greenery around us, but as you can see we are in the centre of Singapore City. There are about 4.8 million of us on this little island!

So here’s to Carl, our little champion who still melts hearts by sidling up to people with a grin and declaring “you’re my friend”, who refused to smile for the camera even though he loved riding in the balloon, and who several times a day clasps my hand in his and bursting with pride says “no more nappies, heh?”

Just Another Day At The Office

I’m not usually one to boast. When something good is happening in our lives I think we should appreciate it, enjoy the moment and take time to savour the good feeling for as long as possible, storing away the memory like a favourite book kept on a shelf to be dug out and dusted and read through once more in less fortunate times.
However, today I was thinking that I would share with you what I’ve been up to and why I’m so happy about it. Check out the photo. This was my office this morning as I sat typing this blog and editing articles about the poultry industry (hardly inspiring topics, but hey!...the surroundings made up for that!).
Thank God for laptops and internet and email and all the wonderful modern gadgets that make the world a much smaller and more accessible place!

More Wildlife

As you all know the subject of wildlife is one that occupies much of my time here – most notably praying I never come across another cockroach (yes there really has been only one) and chasing geckos around the house trying to catch them. However there is a lot of wildlife here that we see which some of you may not be aware off.
Monkeys are abundant in Singapore – not around our condominum thankfully but there are plenty in wooded areas such as around the Dutch school, and the route Holger takes to work goes through an area bordering a nature reserve which is full of them. Now I know that monkeys are quite cute and clever etc etc but to be honest I’ve never really liked them. OK from a distance, but if I never have to get closer than 10 metres to one for the rest of my life then I’d be quite happy with that. For a start, they bite, are territorial, make an awful noise and I suspect they quite calculatingly combine their toilet routines with warfare. Any animal that considers poo to be a valid weapon of deterrence is low on the list of creatures to be loved in my books.
Another interesting local creature which I also plan to keep a healthy distance from is the crocodile. Now until last week I didn’t even know we had crocs here. Before you get worried, no we didn’t find out the hard way while swimming at Sentosa. Hubby came home from work one night and said “guess what I saw at work today!” Apparently he looked over the side of the ship and saw a 3-4 metre crocodile swimming past! Still, I wasn’t entirely convinced he wasn’t kidding until last weekend when we took the kids to Sungei Buloh wetland reserve for a walk. The photo on the left was taken from oneof the 'hides' which you can climb up to enjoy the view. In the foreground are some of the park's mudflats, in the background you can see the city of Johor in Malaysia, just over the Johor Strait. (This photo illustrates well how close Singapore and Malaysia are, you can almost wave to people over the border!) The reserve is full of mangroves and mudflats and…signs to watch out for the crocodiles. Also handy tips on what to do if you encounter one lying on the path (“don’t step over it”….duh!). Unfortunately despite an hour of intensive croc hunting we didn’t spot a single one. Better luck next time I guess. Mind you we did keep a close eye on the kids - can't you just imagine a croc leaping out of the mangroves to grab Niels as he posed for this photo!

Koninginnedag (Queens Birthday)

Yesterday was the day that all of Holland and it’s far-flung ex-pat populations celebrated the Queen’s birthday. This is always a day when national pride and tearful flag waving reaches fever pitch for the Dutch, although to be honest they really don’t need much encouragement to don bright orange clothes, silly hats and boas to indulge in a bit of ‘orange fever’ at any time of year. The absolute over-the-top hysterical climax is whenever football is involved, but Queens Birthday is also a favourite day for cloggies at home and abroad.
This year of course we’re here in Singapore and as in often the case with ex-pat populations, the cloggies here seem to be trying to be more Dutch than their home based family and friends. This is a phenomenon I often saw when I was living in London. The Kiwis and Aussies over there go crazy for anything antipodean, drinking in Kiwi/Oz pubs, staying with people from ‘home’, only socialising with people from their own country who they really wouldn’t give the time of day if they were back in their own country. It’s all a bizarre but very common occurrence for ex-pat populations, their need to reassert their national identity multiplied by a factor of ten when they are living abroad. Perhaps I’ve lived abroad for too long but I’ve never felt the need to join New Zealand clubs or visit people who recently returned from their holidays there to drool over photos. Sure I miss lots of things about the country, but why make yourself miserable or pretend that if you were still living there that packaged ‘local’ things would have any special meaning to you?
I digress. Queens Day was duly celebrated here on the equator with orange fever hitting the Dutch School. It is of course lovely for the kids and a big part of their national identity. It was also a lot of fun with everybody dressing up in orange or red/white/blue and gathering in the gym (air conditioned thank God) to watch the Singapore and Dutch flags being raised and the national anthems sung. Actually no-one was game to have a crack at singing the Singapore anthem in Malay, but we all dutifully listened attentively. I’ve always found the Wilhelmus – the Dtuch anthem – a bit odd as it more or less starts off with the words “I am German” but since this isn’t a history lesson I’m not even gong to go there.

The Dutch Ambassador and his wife were in attendance and he gave a short speech about Queen Beatrix (known as Trixie in our household) before presenting the school and pre-school with fluorescent orange cakes to be shared amongst the kids. Ironically the massive hit of sugar and food colouring would have been perfectly timed to go off like a time bomb about the moment the kids were expected to sit quietly in the school buses going home.
The pre-school (called Jip & Janneke) stood on stage and sang a cute little song, and I was able to get a pic of Carl as he waved his flag like a trooper. Niels was in the front wearing a big hat with the rest of his class so was also easy to spot. A good time was had by all and the cloggies seemed satisfied with their fix of orange fever.

Here’s hoping we’ll still be here to celebrate this day next year as well – bottoms up Trixie!

The Parade Continues...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big Cahoonas

OK I know we’ve been back from Bintan for a week already, but it’s SCHOOL HOLIDAYS over here. Anyone who knows me at all knows that these can be difficult times to cope with. Thank God school starts back on Monday, because I need a break!
Before that though I want to tell you about one of the highlights of our stay in Bintan, Indonesia. All my life I have wanted to ride on an elephant and I finally got my chance at Bintan Elephant Park, just a hair-raising bone jolting stomach churning half hour trip over bumpy dirt roads in a speeding minivan that felt about as safe as a rocket propelled beer can. For the return trip we were in a full-sized bus which was a great relief until we started moving and realised that the same driver was in charge, only he now had a bigger engine, could only find two crunching gears and apparently felt that survival of the fittest was the only road code required. As we were grimly holding on in the back seat we really worked up some g-forces and given the huge swing we made around the final bend, we arrived at our destination sometime after the rest of the passengers.
I digress. The elephants were marvellous. Now I know that there are debates about these types of places. Are the animals being exploited? Is it demeaning for an animal which is probably more intelligent that some people I’ve met to be coerced into doing tricks, giving tourists rides, and posing for photos? I can’t answer that question but I can say that in exchange for a gentle one-hour show each day these seven elephants (4 females, 3 males) were well fed, seemed happy, and got to live in a social unit with a good level of care. I was so excited, and I was really hoping that the kids would get the same thrill of being up close to such large, majestic, gentle creatures, whose wrinkled faces seem timeless and wise and who, although they could crush us in a second, instead are friendly and seem to respond to our voices.
And indeed, the elephants did make an impression on the kids. As the boys were sitting on the leg of one posing for the first photo it broke wind, loudly. Peals of laughter, pointing fingers and: “The elephant farted! Really LOUD, did you hear that it FARTED!” was screamed at the top of their little lungs. OK, not quite the awesome first impression I’d hoped for, but we persevered. We had ample opportunity before the show to walk amongst the elephants and pat them and one of the large males was very relaxed, as it demonstrated by um…..letting it all hang out. Literally.
Carl put his hands on his hips, bent over almost double for a better look then pointed and yelled to anybody who would listen “what a big PENIS!”
By now the other visitors were starting to chuckle a bit as well. Probably they were all thinking the same thing but only a three year old had the cahoonas to say it. With a fixed smile and me still muttering about magnificent beasts, highly intelligent, feelings of awe etc etc we took our places. The elephants walked in single file, their handlers standing on the backs. And of course, one had a dump just as it entered. A staff member hurried out with a bucket and spade. Niels took one look and yelled “Oooooooh he’s picking up POO!” More giggles and sniggers and all attempts at instilling a sense of awe in my children was abandoned. For the rest of the show Holger did his World’s Best Daddy impression by volunteering to be walked over by an elephant (see left), helping both boys to play football with one (above left), even disco dancing with the boys amongst the elephants, and we all had a ride. But at the end of the day, when Carl was snuggled up in bed with his arm around my neck in a headlock having a last cuddle, what was his final comment about the magnificent beasts at the elephant park?
“He had a really big penis, didn’t he Mummy!”

So Where Have We Been?

Hi again everyone, it's been a while since my last posting but we have been away on holiday. Can you guess where?
It's somewhere close by, it's even hotter than here, and it's an island...
If you live in Singapore you wouldn't be surprised to hear that we've been to Bintan Island, a nearby part of Indonesia, for a week staying at the Nirwana Gardens resort. It's almost an enclave of Singapore really, just 1 hour by catamaran away. Here are a few photos to whet your appetite until I can get organised enough to write some proper postings.

We only returned home this evening so it's a quick one tonight.
My apologies to those who I neglected to tell we were going away, I will be less negligent in future!

Will post again soon to tell you about our holiday.