My folks are in town

My parents had their first trip to Asia last week - Vietnam for 10 days followed by their long awaited visit to Singapore. Their Vietnam leg was all organised for them through an agent so they had requested I do the same for them for Singapore. Challenge accepted. Here's what we got up to:

Day 1: Dinner along the promenade, MBS Light Show, Garden Rhapsody. 

Garden Rhapsody

Day 2: Gardens by the Bay, cocktails at Bar Stories on Haji Lane, dinner at Level 33

Gardens by the Bay

Bar Stories

Blowing away 33 floors up...

Day 3: National Museum of Singapore, cocktails at Raffles, more cocktails at the National Gallery's Smoke and Mirrors bar, dinner along Clarke Quay

Singapore Slings at Raffles

View from Smoke and Mirrors

Day 4: Brunch at Jones' the Grocer and shopping on Dempsey hill, lunch and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in China town, Botanic Gardens

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Botanic Gardens or La La Land?

Day 5: Mani/pedi followed by Afternoon Tea at The Fullerton Bay's Landing Point


It was a really sad farewell as I won't now see them for another 10 months. However, it was great to show them my life here and I'm so happy I now have Singapore experiences and memories with them <3

Diving with Thresher Sharks in the Phillipines

As it was Chinese New Year, Singapore gave everyone a long weekend which Phil and I used to head over to to Malapascua Island, just north of Cebu in the Philippines.

We caught the 8pm flight landing in Cebu at 1am... we then had a 3 hour drive up to Maya port, a 45 minute boat ride to Malapascua Island, then finally a half hour walk to our resort just as the sun was rising over the island.

Sunrise in Malapascua

Although it was a long way to travel, it was well worth it. I liked the Spanish vibe and it's off the beaten track making it far less touristy than other places I've gone to like Bali or Thailand.  

We did four dives over the two days we were there - two of which were pretty incredible. (We dived with Evolution Divers who I would highly recommend)

1. The Monad Shoal. We were up and in the water at the crack of dawn to watch majestic Thresher Sharks enjoy their morning cleaning session. Apparently the sharks go to the Monad Shoal almost every morning to wait for the cleaner fish to nibble all their parasites and dead skin away. Thrshers are pretty rare so I feel pretty lucky to have got the chance to see them in their natural habitat.

Here's a photo of a Thresher Shark... unfortunately I didn't get any good underwater shots of the real thing so this is a carrot version. Basically the same thing.

Thresher Shark

2. Gato Island.  We left the bright sunshine to swim down into the Gato caves where it was completely black except for the small circle of our torch lights. The best bit was moving my torch to find it land upon two 5ft white tipped reef sharks right in front of us. We also watched, mesmerised, as a huge shoal of mackerel glimmered in the sunlight like silver. I have a video, but it really doesn't do it justice:

After the dives, we wandered around the island where we saw whole rows of washed up damaged boats and rubbish from where Typhoon Yolanda had left her mark. There were lots of men building new boats and renewing old ones as their children flew their kites along the beach. 

Eventually we found our way to an idyllic bar where we spent the evening watching the sunset and drinking cocktails. 

To anyone interested in diving, I would recommend visiting Malapascua. It was a good little getaway, but with the travel time we could have definitely done with another night on the island!

Am I a Millennnial?

The other day I was listening to an interview about millenials with Simon Sinek and it really got me thinking about how many weeks I must have spent glued to my phone, my laptop or the TV when there is so much more I could be doing.

It isn't really a new years resolution, but I'm now trying to come home after work and play the piano, swim or paint rather than lying back and scrolling through various news feeds on my phone, looking at other people's lives or wondering how many likes I might have gotten.

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a painting set, so I've been trying it out and am quite proud of my recent attempts:

I'm also exercising again and Phil and I have been trying out another one of our Christmas presents in the pool...

Fintastic

It's been great coming home and achieving something instead of looking at a screen. It probably helps that I'm doing dry January as well, so there's no temptation to go out and guzzle cocktails.

The next few months are going to be a but nuts - we have decided to stay in Singapore for at least one more year so Phil is on the look out for a new job and we are also starting to think about finding a new place to live.

I love this flat and will be really sad to leave, but if I stop for a minute and think about it - we've been so bloody lucky to have lived in this place at all!

Blink and you miss it

With all the excitement of Christmas, I realised it's been ages since my last post.

It was so good to get home and catch up with friends and family.. and of course my gorgeous dog! Early morning walks on the common in the dark with woolly hats and wellies. Cosy nights in with friends, wine and cheese. Pub lunches, ice skating, board games and port.

Polaroid pals

It was all too quick though. And before I knew it, Phil and I were on a plane and back in Singapore.

Thankfully we've had a relatively chilled start back at work and a couple of visitors from the UK passing through to see us which has eased any blues we might have had.

My friend was in town for just a few days, so we planned a weekend soaking up the culture and getting active. (This is the guy who ran 32 marathons in 36 days last year!! Don't even..)

On Friday night we headed over to Art After Dark at Gillman Barracks for some art, music and food. I'm not really into contemporary art, but the live music and set-up they have for their evening open house is pretty cool, so definitely worthwhile checking out.

Art After Dark

As it's Chinese New Year coming up, China Town is buzzing with activity at the moment. The annual international Lion Dance competition took place on Saturday so after an afternoon of dragon boating, we bought our $10 ticket and headed over to see what it was all about.

Not having done any research beforehand, I didn't really know what I was expecting - but it certainly wasn't two acrobats in a lion costume carrying out jaw-dropping manoeuvres and jumps between small raised platforms! Tak a look at the video:

Our final day with my friend saw us pack a picnic and walk the Southern Ridges trail. Starting at Mount Faber, walking over the Henderson Waves, along the Canopy Walk and over to Hortpark. It was a bit of a novelty finding a decent hill in Singapore so I'd recommend it to others who want to get away from the bustle of the city on a weekend. 

I didn't take photos of the walk, but did manage to get a shot of the Bell of Happiness at the top of Mount Faber!

The Bell of Happiness

It's always so nice having friends over and I love that everyone who has visited so far has fallen in love with Singapore just as I have. My folks are going to be in Singapore in just a few weeks an I can't wait!