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

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!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Over the last few weeks I've had my team & work Christmas party, the Gaelic Dragons Christmas party & paddle and Phil and I also had our own little Christmas party at our flat. We also found the time to head over the Palau Ubin where we spent a day cycling around and singing Christmas carols with friends and an evening at Christmas Wonderland at Gardens by the Bay.

After all of this, it's safe to say that I am well and truly in the Christmas spirit and counting down the days until I'm back in the UK with my family and friends! 

Sober Christmas Dragons

Drunk Christmas Dragons

Pedaling around Palau 

Oh the weather outside is frightful
(lol jk its 32 degrees)

Can you tell we're excited?

Festive paddling

Christmas Wonderland

Snow in Singapore

It's going to be a great Christmas this year, I can tell !

Big Kids

Last weekend dragon boating was cancelled because - believe it or not - a crocodile was spotted in the Kallang! As a result, Phil and I spent Saturday watching the new Moana Disney movie at the cinema and trying out all the rides at Universal Studios. Phil's company has hired use of Universal for the evening which meant pretty much no queuing - #winning!

We continued in the same vain on Sunday, hanging out with some pals at LegoLand Malaysia, just one hours drive north over the border of Singapore. Considering most of the rides were aimed at toddlers we still managed to have an amazing time. I won a big cuddly panda, Phil got his face painted and we all screamed our voices hoarse on the rides. The only warning for any other Singapore residents would be to avoid driving back down on Sunday evening. It took us about 4 hours, 3 of which were sat, stationary in traffic. 

This year's Xmas card!

Since my last post, I've bought two new purchases which I'm really excited about...

The first is a Gear VR - the new virtual reality headset from Samsung. I can be under the water swimming with sharks, flying in a fighter jet hundreds of meters up, on stage watching the Lion King with Rafiki, or in a haunted house being chased by zombie children. It's awesome. I took it into work last week and suddenly became the coolest kid at school!

The other new purchase is even better. Phil and I went to the 'IN Art' exhibition at the Australian High Commission as some of the student's art at my school was being exhibited. Just one look at the mandala piece and I knew I had to have it. Take a look:

What makes it even better is that this is the first sale the artist has ever made, and I'm so happy that she's one of the students at school. I can't wait to take it home and display it on our wall!

-----------------------------------------------

As per, Phil and I have also tried a few new places to fill our bellies so here's a mini review...

• White Rabbit, Dempsey - beautiful chapel venue, good food but a tad overpriced.
• The Lighthouse, The Fullerton Hotel - a lovely little roof terrace overlooking the bay. We only stayed for a drink but will be back for sure.
• Original Sin, Holland Village - vegetarian, Mediterranean menu. Absolutely delicious! 

My friends are here! Part 2.

Q: What is there to do in Singapore when you have a couple of friends visiting?
A: SO MUCH

As I've been so busy with work I'd neglected to plan activities or outings with my friends when they came to visit. If we were in London I'm sure this would have proved to be a bit of a disaster, but in Singapore - no fear - there is always heaps to do.

If anyone reading this post is expecting visitors and needs a few ideas, please feel free to steal/replicate as we had an awesome few days.

Day 1

• Dinner at Din Tai Fung
• Marina Bay Sands light show 
• Gardens by the Bay, Garden Rhapsody 

Marina Bay Sands Light Show

Garden Rhapsody

Day 2

• Gardens by the Bay - Cloud Forest, Flower Dome, SuperTree Skyway
• 1 Altitude ($10 cocktails on Wednesday ladies night!)

Day 3

• Sentosa Island - MegaZip, beaches and lunch at Tanjong Beach Club
• Dinner at Club 55, all-you-can-eat cheese and chocolate buffet

Day 4

• ArtScience museum - Future World Exhibition
• Universal Studios
• The Library speak-easy, Potato Head Folk, Club Street

Day 5

• Xcape room (We did the 'Annabelle' room which was terrifying but incredible)
• Brunch at Super Loco
• Ce La Vi  for sunset drinks

There's so much more to do and they've already promised to come back next year. I'm thrilled they loved Singapore as much as I do.

Let's paint the stress away

Work seems to have taken over. 12 hour days, and I'm even dreaming about it at night. Not ideal. 

Phil and I are finding that as we are always so busy, there is never any time to catch up with friends and family back home, watch a movie or read a book. Don't get me wrong, I love Singapore and the lifestyle, but I do miss being able to sit back, switch off and relax sometimes. 

We've just about managed to keep it low-key this weekend: Dinner and drinks with some girls from work on Friday, painting on Saturday, swimming and shopping today. 

I have to tell you about the painting. One of our friends had recommended this little interior design studio called Copper Design who open their doors for people to come along and 'Art Jam'. It's a cool little place with beautiful art, interesting lamps and lots of copper furnishings. Along one side; easels, canvas, paint and brushes had been set up for us when we arrived. We were given a cup of tea, various photos/art books for inspiration and then set to it for 3 hours of painting whatever we wanted.

I'm not thrilled with my painting, but hey, it was such a relaxing thing to do on a Saturday afternoon. It costs just $35 and I'll definitely be back next time I need a zen-weekend.

Singapore's First Wine Tasting Lab

On Wednesday Phil and I popped into 75cl's tasting lab to do what we do best, and drink some wine!

Nuzzled away in Bukit Merah, 75cl's tasting lab is a split-level, airy space filled floor to ceiling with bottles of wine, wine, more wine and spirits.

There were 56 wines to taste on our visit, each costing between $2-$4 SGD for a 30ml measure.

The staff gave us both a smart card when we arrived; so all we had to do was slot the card into the machine, choose our wine, press the button and fill our glass. A pretty nifty concept and meant we could go at our own pace and choose jwhichever wine we wanted throughout the evening.
Here's my new favourite:

NZ, Gladstone Vineyard Pinot Noir

75cl also have an online shop with over 1600 different wines and spirits available to buy at wholesale price. They've opened this new tasting lab for those of us who want to try before we buy - perfect for wine novices like me who want to build their repertoire.

So the moral of the story is: next time you're in Cold Storage and about to buy a bottle for 50 bucks; put it back and go for 75cl instead. You can try before you buy and save money at the same time. Can't go wrong. 

Happy Winesday!