When the party's over.....

Over the last couple of weeks the River Hongbao has been on at Marina Bay. This is to celebrate Chinese New Year and people come from all over Singapore to see it. Beside it is the fairground and Sunday was it's last day (for this year). I thought I'd take the opportunity to take some photos of the aftermath and the ensuing clean-up operation. Something rather melancholy about seeing all the fantastic lanterns and decorations being set aside.

But there's always next year.....

Marina Bay Sands - a photo set

Finally.

I got round to seeing a sunset from the top of Marina Bay Sands. There were, I guess, a couple reasons for this. One - the excuse. My in-laws are here and they 'needed' to get up top to see what all the fuss is about. Two - the sun. It's been in short supply over the last month or so leaving the opportunities for sunset spotting pretty slim. It is, in fact, only the second time I've been up there since living here. The first time was for free (which involved a generous bit of BS to get them to let us up to Ku Da Ta without charge). This time we paid the $20(!) fee, although the oldies got away with $17 each. At that price it could be a while until I venture up there again. But it's worth it once in a blue moon (and if one of those occurs I'll definitely be there). Anyway, that aside, the sunset was pretty good with minimal smog so the camera came out and then later the tripod. The other excuse, if one was needed, is that my father-in-law is photo mad which gave me the perfect reason to have to stay up there for a few hours while the 'girls' went to watch 'Wicked' (which seems to have taken Singapore by storm) at the theatre. Very definitely not my cup of tea so the option of photos from the top of MBS was certainly a winner!
The results were variable, but here are some of the more acceptable photos that transpired (in my opinion).

Marina Bay, a set on Flickr.

The Chapman's Singapore Christmas

Christmas 2011, a set on Flickr.

So Christmas has been..... and gone just about. All-in-all it's been a real nice time and a lot more fun than last year's somewhat forced affair. This year we were lucky enough to have genuine friends and family here to celebrate with. Thirteen for lunch (including three under fives) and not a hitch, probably because I stayed out of the kitchen! Good food and good company. The dinner was a traditional turkey affair (and beef.... and ham) although there were suggestions (threats?) of salads from the antipodean faction (thankfully quashed). The food was great thanks the work of the girls (and a boy, not me) and we all sat down with paper hats on heads and proceeded to eat more than we should for any normal week. As is traditional, evening approached and the remaining survivors settled down with the Monopoly set (Singapore edition) which remained completely untouched as the 15 year old malt made an appearance and with that Christmas Day was slowly put to bed.
New Year's Eve now and getting ready to go to Marina Bay with the in-laws to watch the fireworks. That, of course, is on the assumption the our daughter gets rid of her 39C something temperature or it's going to be a quiet one at home!
We're finally getting some blue skies and sun after several weeks of rain, rain and more lightning and thunder. The in-laws have been stunned about the lack of sunlight. Granddad had visions of a sunny Christmas with BBQs, Aussies and beers. Well, he's had the beer part! Maybe we'll manage the BBQ and Aussie bit in the New Year before they depart for the UK.
Time for a G'n'T before the sun disappears I think!
In other news, I believe this is my 100th blog post. Seems it should be a milestone so, HURRAY!

Singapore Christmas on the Esplanade

Esplanade Christmas, a photo by SingaPaulie on Flickr.

Christmas is starting build in Singapore (well, has been for a while with some Christmas classics being played in Fairprice since early November). Standing in the same place but turning 180 degrees gave a good impression of the changeable nature of the weather here at the moment. Black looking towards the theatres and bright sunshine towards the Swisshotel in the other direction.

National Day Parade - Rehearsals

A quick photo blog of the National Day Parade rehearsals yesterday evening in Marina Bay area. They really like to practise. There are three Saturdays to go before the real thing and they've already been at it for at least the previous three. They don't hold back either, lots of military presence (which I didn't catch) and lots of fireworks (which I did). You can see more on my Flickr feed.

Sing or swim

Well, I've done a lot of swimming, in a lot of pools, but, I have never seen anything like this before. Pretty spectacular to say the least. It's definitely going on my lsit of 'to dos' when I get out there!

Marina Bay Sands roof top pool.