Chinese Gardens with my boy

Just for a change I thought I'd post about the kind of thing I used to when I started this blog.
Last Tuesday I had the happy job of accompanying my son on only his second school trip. D had been counting down the sleeps until we travelled to the Chinese Gardens with his little classmates and was very excited. The excitement, I think, was borne not out of the Chinese Gardens themselves (he's been there a handful of times before) but the means with which we would get there. Not, as I assumed, by school bus. Oh no. By public transport. Now as we all know, public transport in Singapore is a breeze and taking a four year old boy on there poses no concerns on my part but taking nineteen excitable boys and girls on board may be a slightly different matter. Fortunately (for everyone concerned), I was not solely responsible for the entire number an indeed each child was required to have a parent or guardian in attendance. This was quite reassuring and I think everyone felt pretty confident that everything would be simple. That was, until, Mrs P. (D's class teacher) herded all the parents outside (to howls of derision from some of the kids in the class) to give us the a detailed blow-by-blow account of how the morning was going to unfold right from the point of leaving the sanctity of the school playground to the point where she could relinquish responsibilities once we were back on school turf. Don't get me wrong, I really like Mrs P. and think she's a fantastic teacher, but the calculated way in which she was telling us everything started to put the wind up us wide-eyed parents. I felt it was likely to be more of an education for us than for the kids by the sounds of things!
Anyway, briefing over and hand-in-hand with our charges (at all times, a very clear stipulation) we were handed plastic zip-loc bags of coins. All named with the mode of transport and the person (me or D) that had to use it. Now, I'd assumed we were just going to use EZ-Link cards as per usual but, oh no, we were paying cash. A first for me and for most of the other parents (those that had ever used public transport). And also, the kids would be paying. We queued for the bus which leaves from just outside the school gates, on the opposite side of the road. Lots of excited chatter from the kids. I took the bags of change form D and appropriated the amounts between us. He seemed to know exactly what he was doing (I guess they had been prepped at school). So, as the bus approached, 41 rustling plastic bags were opened to the tune of 'hold on to it tightly' and we boarded the bus. The look on bus captains face said it all. 19 kids all being lifted up to reach so they could deposit their coins then grab the ticket followed closely by their guardians doing likewise (without the lifting in most cases) and shouting 'go and sit down'!

Finally we were all on, paid and accounted for (I'm pretty sure Mrs P. has a built-in child-aware abacus in her head). And we were. A maximum 5 minute ride to the MRT station. It must have taken twice that time to get everyone on board! But of course, it's all about the experience. Spontaneous outbreaks of 'wheels on the bus' and waving to the school as we depart. Five minutes later and much to the relief of captain we disembark and (hand-in-hand) make our way to the station which, once on the train, will take us straight to our destination. Up we go to the ticket hall, cash bags distributed accordingly, and try (myself included) to work out how to purchase a one-way ticket to the Chinese Gardens (for it is the name of the MRT station). A few buttons later and we are geting there, 'money goes in that hole and press that button and wait there for the ticket', D tells me. Sure enough, the ticket appeared 'there' so I took it. AT this point in proceedings an MRT operative to get things moving and once we had all paid up shepherded us up the next set of escalators and on to the platform. We didn't really need the help to be honest and you couldn't help wondering if he was just more concerned about getting the hoard on the next train and off his station/hands.  Well, we didn't have to wait long (trains every two minutes at that time of the day) and once Mrs P. had used her kiddy-radar to asses numbers we boarded the train. Remarkably there were seats available so, within a few seconds every child took up the time honored position of knees on seat and facing out of the window. We were nearly there with the kids loving every minute of the journey. Off at the Chinese Gardens (hand-in-hand) and time for the obligatory group shot and also the obligatory crying child refusing to play ball (not D!).
Then the walk down to the gardens themselves, over the bridge ('look at the water monitor lizard, daddy', being one of those expressions you never thought you'd hear from your offspring, but now do with surprising regularity) and on towards the pagoda where we stop for snacks. Well, most of us do but one of the dads has left son's snack-pack in his school bag (not required for this trip) and son is very, very hungry. 'D, can your friend have some of your snack, please?'. 'No', comes the reply! Well, you know who your mates are!
After finishing snacks (and sneaking out some of D's leftovers for his mate) we wobble across the stepping stones and on towards the other side of the park. There's some moaning about tiredness starting to break out and we are on a mission to get to the car park where the school coach is waiting (I wasn't aware we were getting the coach and am somewhat relieved, thinking we were on for the return trip on the MRT/bus). Still time left for the kids to break rank and  charge over the bridge giving Mrs P. mild palpitations as she knows the other side is very steep. Amazingly all the kids negotiate it with no skinned knees or crying and we are nearly home and dry. Just the head count on to the coach and we are there. Homeward bound. And tired out!

West Coast Park in Singapore

So the last time I came over to West Coast Park was at least in April when we still lived in Dover Park View. Several months and a lot of work (not to mention money) later and the kids play area has been transformed into a veritable adventure playground for kids of all ages (yes, of course I had a go!). It was just staying to happen as we moved away but I didn't think it would end up looking like this!
Previously the kids area looked like this.


Now there are myriad areas to explore and they aren't all aimed at my two's age group (2 & 4 years old). There are even some quite scarily high climbs to be had which is quite a surprise given Singapore's usually conservative approach to kids and potential danger.



There are some additional younger kids play things which my two thoroughly enjoyed. Having said that they eventually gravitated back to the original play area with it's ships and slides and sand.





Sufficed to say the kids had a great time and I don't think it will be the last time we venture out this way as pretty much the only thing missing from East Coast Park where we live is a kids playground (somewhat unbelievabley)! Oh and the parking's free too. Bonus!

posted from Bloggeroid

At home in the East Coast

At home, a photo by SingaPaulie on Flickr.

The kids enjoy some time out..... just water babies at heart!

Bali - Part 3 - School and mountains

Tuesday and back to Bukti today to visit the school in Putu's home village. The schools in Bali are private and parents must pay for their kids to get educated. Having spoken to the Villa gardener it's not that cheap but  most parents (as parents do), will find the money somehow as they realise how important it is. As we have littl'uns we went to the primary part of the school where the kids are aged between four and six years old. As soon as you arrive (for those of us with families) you get a very familiar feel to the place. Toys in the playground, bright colours and cartoons adorning the walls and cheeky kids everywhere. Well, not everywhere. The school was slightly emptier than usual owing to the fact that the village was celebrating Black Moon Day where the majority of the village stops to make flower offerings and gather in the temples to pay devotions to nature's energies. Those children that were in school were dressed in their traditional robes topped off with the 'peci' or hat. Also in evidence was the traditional Batik design (which is actually named after the technique used to make it), so famous in Indonesia.

I really like Batik, but I don't think it's something I could get away with wearing. It just doesn't suit me. I've seen many westerners that have tried it and not many pull it off!
A little reserved at first, it didn't take the kids long to come out of themselves. The girls gathering round D (how does he always do that?), while he ignored them coz he had scissors.
You'll notice that in my pictures on Flickr they are mainly of the boys being cheeky. I thought the girls were being reserved through some sort of cultural reason but the teacher told me that their 'gang' wasn't together today whereas the boys 'gang' was which gave them the confidence to show off. Same the world over, eh? The children sang some songs. A lot of which were exactly the same as songs they sing in the UK and Singapore (only with Indonesian words of course!). D even recognised some of them and thought about joining in. But not quite. He decided afterwards that he'd like to go to school, on his own. Which was nice, because he will be soon (nursery is on the agenda and then proper school in September)!
Back in the car and off to see a waterfall in the mountains. Was pleasantly surprised by the great quality of the roads a we ventured up the narrow tacks into the hills. One village was particularly large. It turned out that these were the well off guys in the area as the nature of the weather allowed them to harvest different types of fruit the whole year round. Just enough rain and just enough sun to grow most fruit, vegetables, spices and cocoa throughout the year. Parking up at a friend of Putu's house, we embark on the long, hot and humid walk to the 'falls. Putu immediately takes control of the buggy with Z in it and ploughs on up the hills with the aroma of the many clove trees hanging in the dense, humid air. The steep track through beautiful padi fields lead us up to the 'spice-man'.

This guy is about 1000m up the side of the mountain selling, amongst other things, refreshments for the weary tourist. And a very good trade he does too. As well as the refreshments he sells spices, lots of spices. And coffee beans. Notably the mongoose coffee bean. I won't go into detail but sufficed to say, Mongoose love to eat the coffee beans. They'll only eat the really good ones and they don't get digested so off course they come out the other end. This apparently starts of the fermentation process and gives it a 'particular' flavour. I'm sure it does, but not quite my cup of, er, tea. But it does sell very well and for quite a lot of money (surprisingly there aren't too many people practising mongoose poo coffee making), so he can't be wrong. What I wanted to know was who had discovered this process in the first place? He seemed unable to answer that question. D was quite fascinated by the mongoose though. Of course, we bought some spices, quite a lot of them. I think I probably paid over the odds, but hey, I'm gonna pay a whole lot more in Singapore and they aren't going to be freshly harvested from a Balinese mountainside! And then on to the waterfall itself. Spectacular certainly, and very tall. But on account of us not being able to get too close because of the kids and heat we didn't really see too much of it. As they say, sometimes it's the journey not the arrival and to be honest, really the revelation was the 'Poo Coffee'. I like finding things like that.

On the way back down I start to become aware of the amount of people who do actually live and work up here. The smell of fermenting cocoa beans and spices out in the sun greets us at almost every homestead we pass. The aroma is terrific and a world away from the busy land of Singapore. D is doing very well with walking up and down these tracks until half-way back he trips and sprawls over the track, bangs his knees and ends up on dad's shoulders. Can't say I blame him. It is very warm by now and the water is being drunk by the bottle. I have to say though that it would have been much more of a struggle without having been acclimatised first in Singapore. We met some Dutch tourists on the way looking very red and hot and needing a long sit down at the Spice Hut. Think they were slightly amazed at the way Z and D were going at it. Even with D on my shoulders we couldn't catch Putu who by now was off like a startled rabbit with Z in buggy. Great fun, with the most beautiful scenery and great weather. Not to mention seeing the biggest spider since our arrival. A good six inches across. What's not to like?

See more photos of our Bali trip on Flickr.

Cocoa beans fermenting in the sun

Hillside homstead

No kids today

Thanks to the grandparents I've had the chance to make phone calls and send emails uninterrupted today. What a luxury. It all gets a bit more real everyday. Today I spoke to an old mate at Crown Relocations. He's an account manager there and as it was already one of the recommended companies to go with, well, I can't really see any point in not using them. I've already had a whole bundle of info from them and some phone calls. It's made me feel more at ease with the move already. They'll be with us from door-to-door. Richard's said he'll make sure we're well taken care of when we get to Singapore (or S'pore as everyone seems to spell it), which is nice as I can imagine we'll need it! However, knowing Rich, it'll probably involve being taken to some of the more dubious parts of Singapore!
I think we might get more room than we thought for shipping which is good. Can take all the cooking stuff with after all. And it takes less time to ship than I thought. 4-5 weeks apparently. One other company was quoting 7-9 weeks door-to-door!
Unsurprisingly the only phone call which didn't bare any fruit was the one to HMRC. They didn't even pick up the phone. I let it ring for ten minutes. Probably got too many people stuck in The Ash to pick up regular calls!