Throwing ourselves into Singapore life: part 2

This week has been filled with walking, swimming, yoga, boxing, art galleries, eating, drinking.. and most exciting of all... furniture!

At the beginning of the week I tried a class at MMA Evolve which is the #1 martial arts organisation in Asia. I had a 1-on-1 Muay Thai boxing lesson and was still aching three days later! I'm going to go back for another trial in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu to suss out whether I want to join - the problem is that they ask all members to commit to training a minimum of three hours per week which I'm not sure I can do.. it is also something like £150/month!!

Phil and I tried out a new yoga class on Friday night with Yoga Movement - the class was hard work but the instructor - Amy - made the class fun amidst all the pain. Yoga Movement have four venues across the city and run several classes each day - it's so handy so I'm definitely going to do one or two classes a week while I'm living here. 

Yoga Movement

On one of the more overcast days this week, I popped in to the Singapore Art Museum which is running two exhibitions called 'Odyssey: Navigating Nameless Seas's' and 'Imaginarium: Over the Ocean, Under the Sea'. It was all quite interactive and one of my favourite collections was Entang Wiharso's surrealistic seascapes - the whole room was filled with underwater 'memoryscapes' of when Wiharso almost drowned as a child and of the Indonesian pedicabs which were outlawed by the government and thrown in the sea. A lot of the collections focused on sea pollution. There was a display by Tan Zi Xi called 'An Effort Most Futile' which I loved - a whole room filled with suspended rubbish giving the feeling of being underwater.

On Tuesday, Phil and I had an amazing evening out; first at the Indochine bar in SuperTree Grove with views of MBS and the bay, followed by the tastiest steak I have ever eaten at CUT by Wolfgang Puck. We went to Wolfgang Puck's other restaurant - Spago - when we were here on holiday a couple of months ago and loved it. This was another level of mouth-watering deliciousness. Highly recommend all to try it - but don't make the mistake we made by filling up on all the fresh bread beforehand!

Drinks at the top of this wonder!

CUT

 Also met some cool new people this week. I had got to know a girl from a Singapore expat Facebook group, so arranged for us to go on a bit of a double-date to get to know on another. We went to Aura which is the rooftop bar above the National Gallery - the views were stunning, and we all got on really well.

I also had lunch with someone I met last Friday at a place called Kazbar near Raffles Place MRT which serves great Middle-Eastern food. There are so many good eateries around there as it's where all the main banks and everything is (think, the Canary Wharf of Singapore). Then met her again on Sunday for brunch at Super Loco on Robertson Quay. It was the best brunch ever - here is a pic if you don't believe me :P

El Mexicano Grande

It's alot easier to make friends over here than it would be in London. One of the guys we met up with hit the nail on the head saying that Singapore is like one big university campus. It is like being at freshers week all over again - everyone talks to everyone and there is always something going on with new sports and activities to try.

The other social this week was an InterNations 'Singapore newcomers' event which was... interesting. We swapped numbers with one or two people who we might meet up with again, but I think those kind of events would be good if you've come to the country alone, or if you want to network. It all felt rather forced and intense so I'm not sure if we will be going back to another one.

So the final update for this week is.. furniture! It was all freighted over and it's just arriving as I type. Will be so nice to have a sofa, TV and storage and make the place feel a bit more homely :)