Chinatown

Having just sat down for some lunch after an arduous few minutes buying all manner of Chinese New Year gifts for the nieces, nephews and God-children back home, I get a chance to do what I really enjoy and people watch. Chinatown is particularly good for this especially during the run up to CNY when it is busier than usual (although not the mayhem that will ensue this weekend, the last before CNY). The English couple in front if me have just been brought two large bottles of Tiger beer and are staring at them in astonishment (the bottles are 633ml each, more than a pint). The business of ordering lunch looks a hard task too. Menus are large, with a raft of unfamiliar looking food (although all printed in English with Chinese subtitles) and some of the items are apparently live.
'Euw, I couldn't eat anything living',
'It'll be dead by the time you eat it,' I interject, 'don't worry'.
They seemed to take this in the spirit it was meant although when the fish, still flapping in it's bag, was presented for their approval they did blanche slightly. The panic is starting to rise slightly I sense and a discussion ensues about the merits of ordering sweet and sour pork. The spring rolls arrive and much to their relief look 'just like the ones from the Chinese at home'.

Phew, the fries have also arrived. Just in time, it was all starting to look a bit 'Eastern' for my liking.
I must say the white faces and voices (mine amongst them of course), are quite prevalent today. Last Saturday the mayhem was very definitely in favour of the locals. We we're warned by one that it was a human traffic jam in there. He wasn't wrong. This was the evening for Singaporeans to do their CNY shopping. I found it quite enjoyable, however, I wasn't trying to shop.
So, remarkabley the beers have both been sunk and they've just asked for another. I think they're starting to get into the spirit of things. That's the thing about Singapore. It never takes long to relax into it if you give it a chance.

posted from Bloggeroid

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!

A stout entry by our beer drinking friends

The Good Beer Company at Chinatown Complex Jeffrey and Flora

Find something other than Tiger beer on the menu here in Chinatown, Singapore.

Flash floods and BBQs in Singapore

Seems to be a regular occurrence over here, although I would suspect that the vast amount of building work doesn't help matters by diverting the natural flow of water. However, it's still not as bad as many countries and when a country has this much rain, some flooding is inevitable. Isn't it? Still makes a lot of people 'enraged' though! Those 'Stompers' just love to get angry about it!
Meanwhile, chez Chapman, we had a very nice afternoon whiling away the soggy day with some friends, a BBQ and beers. An Australian chef turned up to cook (well, he seemed to reckon he was) and we even enjoyed a star turn by a singing granddad and his guitar. Kids loved it (and so did most of the parents). The wheels on the bus surely do go round and round. That's the way to do it! 

3 independent craft beer joints in Singapore's East Coast | CNNGo.com

As the Chapman clan ventures off to pastures new on the East Coast, I am now wondering whether my family will ever see me again. As well as the wealth of food outlets not a stone's throw from our new house I discover three (count 'em, three!), real beer/ale bars all within walking distance of my new abode. Looks really good too! Can't wait. Bring on April 21!

3 independent craft beer joints in Singapore's East Coast | CNNGo.com

Chinese New Year - It's still going you know!

Well, if I'm honest, I'm feeling a bit lazy which means I really shouldn't be blogging right now. However, it has been quite an eventful, cultural week all-in-all. Starting with a very nice Chinese New Year's Eve meal with new friends. A good traditional Chinese meal starting with throwing (with aid of chopsticks), the food in the air. This is accompanied with some shouting but I cannot remember what (I'm sure someone will let me know The higher the throw, the better your prospects for the coming year. I don't know if this works for random Westerners too but it's worth a try! Now, at this point it's worth saying that my photos of proceedings were rubbish so I have taken the liberty of pinching some from Pam Ha (who we met that night, along with hubby Kevin, both from New Zealand). Thanks Pam! The food was beautifully prepared and presented and tasted

Before the toss!

After the toss!

gorgeous. All washed down with a glass of Champers and of course beer. Courses included the traditional full chicken (meaning prosperity and togetherness of family) along with hard boiled eggs (meaning fertility, not sure I'll be needing those, but they tasted very nice). There were some very tasty meatballs (which I believe represents reunion). And then the traditional chocolate cake. Well, I'm not sure it was traditional, but it tasted great! After all that it was great to just chat round the table and enjoy some new company. Aussies (our hosts), Brits and Kiwis all chatting like we'd known each other for ages and not a sporting quip in sight (well, I'm sure that last bit isn't true, but it's nice to think it could happen).
We left the party happy, full and hopefully more prosperous than we've ever been!
Next day (Chinese New Year's Day) was quiet. I think there were probably a few sore Far Eastern heads about. I decided to take D to the Chinese Gardens to see what was happening there. T and Z decided to chill out and hang at home. So me and D set off on the MRT on a beautifully sunny, warm day to see what we could see. Turned out to be a great idea. Only the second time I had ventured to the gardens and I hadn't appreciated quite how expansive they were the first time around. The first thing we see as we stepped of the train (rather unexpectedly bearing in mind where we were), was a whole posse of Indians playing cricket. It was kind of like seeing Hackney marshes in the UK with all the guys playing football on a Sunday. Although the thing with this lot was there was a certain amount of style and technique with which they bowled and batted.

Clean bowled

Clearly enjoying themselves I left them to venture into the Gardens themselves. Red. It was all red. And yellow. Quite an awful lot of yellow too. Lots of lucky colours. First stop was the towering pagoda as we entered the gardens. A lot of people standing around, photos being taken, laughs being had. And then I realised, much to my surprise, most of these people were Indian too. I still don't know why so many visitors were Indian, although I suspect that they lived close by. Having said that one group of guys had come down from Johor for the long weekend and were busy enjoying themselves (as well as trying to take photos of D, not a chance, he is not impressed with strangers taking photos any more. The general cry is of "NO, only daddy takes photos!". Good boy!). Anyway, D decided that climbing the seven stories up to the top of the pagoda was feasible so we did. Normally he wants to be carried but he was off like a flash, eschewing all attempts at photography along the way. The views from the were fantastic and it was actually one of the clearer days I had seen for a while (as well as one of the sunniest).

I would comment on the colours and the flags and the (fake, I'm afraid), blossom on the trees but I think the easiest and laziest way to let you know what it looked like is by posting some more photos! So here you are! The day was much like New Year's Eve with much humility and good wishes. We had a thoroughly nice time just wandering. Even D couldn't stay in his buggy with the promise of fish and turtles to be seen.

The deep red flags blew and flapped in a pleasant and refreshing breeze. Just what was needed to blow away the cobwebs from the night before. D and I ate the most enormous lumps of ice-cream for only a dollar each (D paying with his newly acquired Hong Bao money. Well chuffed he was). We passed on the 'live' tortoise and turtle museum (that by all accounts is quite a pull). It does makes you wonder about the fact that they make a point of calling it 'live'. I would imagine if the artefacts on show got much slower that you would indeed have trouble calling it 'live', but I suspect that the real reason is more to do with the penchant of people in this region to feast on these slow moving fellas and that live is a bit of a novelty.
To top it all we even managed to miss the rain by a whisker as we got back on the MRT bound for Dover station.

See more photos at Flickr

Top 5 Chill Out Bars in the Lion City

To help him with his first guest blog entry (whilst standing in for his fiancé Laura), I thought you might like to read about @asksirstamford (for tis his nom de plume on Twitter) and his favourite chill out bars in Singapore.

N.B. the views expressed are those of @asksirstamford and not mine as I haven't managed to hit all these bars..... yet!

Expat Adventures in Singapore: Top 5 Chill Out Bars in the Lion City

Lovely

a home from home.....

Time flies when you're having fun!

Where to start. It's been over a week since my last update (way over a week!). Our new home-help, nanny, cook, cleaner and general all-round housekeeper started with us nearly two weeks ago. From the Philippines, Mary's been in Singapore for twenty years and her experience shows! It's felt a little strange getting used to someone else living with us but its starting to feel a little more normal now. The kids have taken to her really well and she's very good with them. She's taken our lead on how to treat and although she appeared a little quiet to start with she's starting to open up a bit now. Her cooking is outstanding and I'm being spoilt rotten with two cooked meals a day. Fish for lunch today followed by beef rendang tonight. You can't argue with that can you? I've a sneaking suspicion that T is a bit jealous (maybe more than a bit!). For the first time today she took Z to the wet market to do the weekly shop. She reckons she can get the whole weekly shop in for around $50, about 50gbp. That is for all the fruit, veg and meat. Not bad. We just pay extra for the beer! Which contrary to popular belief is not that expensive. In the shops. In the bars it's extortionate! Anything from $15-$20 a pint (well 500ml). Not a had a glass of wine yet so I couldn't comment!
So, as Mary is our babysitter too (of course!), we've had a first bit of time to ourselves. A Saturday night out to Chijmes in the City which was very nice. We were invited out by a Kiwi we met at the pool. He asked if I liked rugby to which of course the answer was yes, so we met up with other friends to watch a match and drink a couple of beers. Topped off by some Thai food and it was all good.
I went out the following Thursday to take some night photos of the lanterns on Clarke Quay. It went OK but I still need to fathom out my new camera a bit and remember how to take decent shots (you can see some of them here). The night was topped off with some (an understatement as it turned out), beers with another expat from Glasgow. He's been here 4 months but has lived in various SE Asian countries along the way. And has a big entrepreneurial spirit about him (as well as a big interest in photography). Be interesting to meet up with him again now that the haze has disappeared from the morning after.
Anyway, off to buy the boy a little bike for his third birthday. Then I'm going to try and order a cake from our local Chinese bakery. Should be fun. Hope he likes it. First though, I have to pick up our tickets for the F1 this weekend. Should be a great experience!