Smoking in Singapore

Singapore Zoo has to rate as one of the best places to take the family on the island. Especially as I have just discovered the splash park there. Now, I know everyone already knows about it but, for one reason or another, I hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing the wet wonderland. I've seen a few splash parks in my time, as you can imagine with two small kids, but this one takes the biscuit. The effort and design that has gone into it is extraordinary. The design is such that all ages can enjoy it. It's safe, but feels adventurous. I went equipped to get a bit damp, not to fly down the water-flumes with Z and get drenched by D shooting water cannons at me. I'm glad I took a change of shorts. More than be said of T who also got soaked by our son and had to borrow my spare T-shirt. That made me laugh! So as you can tell, great fun for young and old. I'm going to be making regular excursions there from now on. Thank goodness we bought our season ticket the other week. Not to mention being able to drive there which is a real bonus. It takes the sting out of the travelling. Nothing nicer than having to wrangle two tired, irritable kids into a taxi after a hitherto lovely day. By the end of the journey you can sometimes call your sanity into question as to why you went there in the first place. But that's all in the past. Throw the kids in the car seats, buggy in the boot and drive.

Woken up with a headache today. Could be one of three things. One, I've not drunk any beer for the last few nights. Two, my son getting up at 5am (although that's practically a daily occurrence at the moment and I don't always have a headache, just a pain in the neck!). Three, and most likely, it's the haze that has appeared over Singapore in the last few days. Last night seemed particularly bad. Indeed we had begun to think the fogging crew had turned up on the wrong day! What it is, as it turns out, it's the smoke from fires in neighbouring Sumatra. Now I remember visiting Malaysia a few years ago and experiencing the same thing but a lot worse. I believe what happens is that the Sumatran farmers set fires to clear scrub and that they get a bit, well, out of control. It would seem to happen on a regular basis. Quite why no one has thought to ask them to be a bit more careful is a mystery to me. Anyway, it's smells pretty bad and Singapore's usually good air quality has taken a nose dive. A few face masks around too I've noticed. It is fairly acrid but I'm not sure a face mask is going to do much good against it. Hopefully it won't take too long to clear although there's not a breath of wind at the moment which makes it feel even warmer than usual. Even the downpour yesterday morning hasn't made much odds. If you are really concerned you can find the "haze action plan" here.

Ah, just finished my early morning swim and will finish off the blog from the poolside before I go back to see the kids. Music class this morning. Walking there with a friend. Walking? Thought that was a thing of the past!
Ah, just discovered that the photo upload is out of order for a while so you'll just have to imagine what the water park looks like until it's fixed!

Piccys

I keep meaning to post some photos but always seem to blog on my phone. So, here we are.......

Mum and D

Boy on his b irthday bike

Getting the hang of it!

Z watching D

Enjoying the day

That's my drink

Chinese chequers in Chinatown.

Not much action at the table.

Hand-painted name plaques in Chinatown

T enjoying watching the world go by in Chintown

My biggest fans

Backstreet Chinatown

Night time with Pinnacle@Duxton in the background

Click on any of the photos to see the larger versions......

All change

Things are gonna change. We have decided to lease a car! It's going to make it a whole lot easier to get the kids out and about properly, which means they can get to see and do a lot more, which after all, is what we want to do. And after yesterday's bus/shopping/bus/walk home/arms falling off experience, its going to make other things a bit more accessible too! The SatNav is purchased so I'm ready to go. Just need the car. The chap is bringing it round to have a look at this afternoon so hopefully it will come up to scratch. We already have one car seat that we brought with us. I'm getting another one from some unknown place (which will hopefully show up on the SatNav) tomorrow evening. Quite exciting really. It's gonna make a lot of difference I think. Stay tuned for automotive adventures. I say adventures, obviously not having driven in Singapore before, it will probably be an adventure in itself. but how much worse can it be than London in rush hour? It's certainly not as busy and at least the drive on the right side!
On a completely unrelated point. I am sitting in a hawker centre having a drink and watching people eat with chopsticks. Now, I can eat OK with chopsticks, bit I never feel totally in control. But watching these guys it is occurring to me that they are holding them completely differently from the way I do. How are they doing it? I just can't tell. Hmmm, must investigate further!

Lovely

a home from home.....

Happy Birthday!

D's third birthday today. Happy birthday boy! And he had a lie in until 6am which was nice. Shame Z decided to get up with the joys of spring at 430 instead. She couldn't have been happier. We, on the other hand, could have been. No matter, when D arrived in the living he was chuffed to bits to see the balloon we had for him. The fact that it was attached to his brand new sparkly bike seemed to pass him by. Then a little sly smile came over his face. 'What's that bike daddy?', he said with all the coyness of a boy who knows exactly 'what's that bike'.
2 minutes later, to the howls of derision from Z who had already made up her mind that it was hers, he's on and riding. Amazingly well too for a boy just turned three. The apartment bares barely any scars from the ordeal and three hours later we set out on the open road..... of the complex. Well, don't run before you can cycle, eh (hmmm, something like that)?

Aside from birthday plans I've been spending plenty of time getting acquainted with the buses out here. Now I know some of you will think 'he's been there nearly six weeks!', but I was reliably informed that taking two kids and a buggy on a bus was a bad idea. And from what I've seen so far that advice was absolutely sound. The service itself is fantastic and in certain respects more convenient than getting on the MRT. But just don't get kids and a buggy involved! One child is OK as I've proved with D. It's easy and I've been taking him to nursery and back on one. But man alive does that bus driver take no prisoners once you step foot on the bus. No sooner have I 'tapped in' than he's off, auditioning for the upcoming Grand Prix I shouldn't wonder. I've taken to grabbing D around the midrift to stopping him sailing into the rear seats of the bus (or worse). Now with a buggy you're supposed to fold it up before you get on. Right! Then once you're on board you're grabbing two toddlers and 50kg of buggy unless you're looking to watch them career into the rear window. Yesterday a chap and his wife (I guess) got on with child still strapped into buggy. It took the driver (or captain as they're supposed to be known) a couple of stops to notice. Then all hell broke loose. As you can imagine I'm not fluent in Cantonese yet but, the gist of it was 'get that kid out of that buggy' to which the reply was 'I'd really rather not old fellow if its all the same to you. We're only going another couple of stops'. Which, as you can imagine, was fine by the driver so he replied 'OK, sorry to trouble you'. Rather loudly I thought. After which the woman and man rather hurriedly and very sheepishly pulled the young lad out of the buggy and closed it up. Maybe that wasn't what bus captain said after all!
So, you see, I won't be taking the kids on the bus, at the same time, in a buggy!