Tuesday 15 November 2011



Thanks to everyone who has read my blog so far - I've been looking forward to updating it but thought I'd keep you all in suspense for a couple of days ;) Actually, we had a very busy weekend followed by a day of housework yesterday! 

Busy Orchard Road

We managed to find our way to Orchard Road on Saturday after Nick's conference ended at around midday. Note to self - stay away from Orchard Road on the weekends - ESPECIALLY when it's raining! it was complete mayhem - people everywhere, dashing across the roads with umbrella's teetering above them which really does not make for easy navigation. Certainly, what they say about Orchard Rd is true - it is a shoppers mecca. And being a shopper myself the frenzied mass of people swiping credit cards left, right and centre really didn't phase me! I was most surprised that it didn't seem to phase Nick either and instead of whinging about leaving he managed to buy himself 2 t-shirts, 3 pairs of slacks and 2 work shirts. Astounding! I think I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast choice on offer and didn't buy anything other than some dim sum for dinner which was delicious!

I decided to seize Nick's "pro-crowd" state of mind and after a quick swim and a shower we headed out on foot to Geylang which is the so called "red light district" not far from where we live. We figured it was Saturday night and the place would be pumping and we'd been slipped a few tips that Geylang is considered by locals to be the long time favourite culinary district in Singapore and were guaranteed a good meal! After walking some 4 km's I finally spotted a restaurant I'd read about in my little travel guide aptly named "No Signage Seafood". After demonstrating some excellent persuasion skills to get Nick into a restaurant that had the word "seafood" in its name, we crossed the road and were ushered to a table. It was utter chaos! We were seated at a big round table with 8 yellow plastic chairs in what seemed to be the driveway. In no time at all a waitress appeared and offered us cold beer, which my husband quickly accepted. Then into the menu. I had read that the black pepper crab was a must at this joint so I eyed out the options. 

Bull Frog on the Menu

Nick decided to go for the safe option - the Champagne Chicken - as the various seafood dishes and bull frog didn't overwhelm him with confidence. I finally settled on the black pepper crab and the waitress came over to take our order. I've discovered that Nick is far better at deciphering the locals version of English than I am, as I quite literally didn't understand a word our waitress said. But somehow, we placed our order and as she left Nick said to me that he thinks I just ordered S$50 worth of crab! I told him it was impossible as it's S$50 per kg and there is no way that one helping is as much as a kg. But he insisted that I go and check with the waitress. 

Bizarre restaurant - but good food!

So I did. I had ordered S$50 worth of crab! I quickly cancelled the order and replaced it with the Thai Chicken.  The meal was excellent and the beer was cold so we sat and enjoyed ourselves in the most bizarre establishment either of us has ever eaten in. The entire service staff communicated by walky-talky using callcentre style headsets with microphones. When the table next to us had finished and were about to leave, instead of clearing the table, two male waiters simply picked up the table top and carried it through to the kitchen! We then noticed that the driveway we were sitting in was the entrance and exit to the "valet" parking situated at the back of the restaurant and we watched as the Touregs and BMW's were collected and dropped off as people came and went. What a mad house! But a fun evening. An American dud sitting across the way from us obviously saw the "first timers" look on our faces and wandered over to offer to take a picture of us. We obliged! 

Ah cute! Us at "No Signboard Seafood"



Nick's day of "crowd control" definitely didn't go unnoticed as we slept until 1pm on Sunday! 12 hours straight! We woke up in a bit of a panic but then decided to celebrate that it's still possible to sleep like that be grateful that the skill hadn't deserted us on leaving Grahamstown. We decided that a relaxing afternoon was in order so we headed out to the Botanical Gardens. It was threatening to rain but we had our umbrellas on us and figured that it would cool things down if it did. As we emerged from the Orchard Road MRT we were confronted by a group of people in yellow and blue t-shirts dishing out yellow gerbera's to passers-by. It was World Kindness Day! How fabulous is that! 

World Kindness Day Campaign

My gerbera was strategically placed in a pocket in my hand bag and came along to the Botanical Gardens with us!

By the time we arrived at the Gardens, my poor husband looked like he had run a half marathon across the desert. He was dripping wet from head to toe and it hadn't started raining yet.  

Orchard Road

We managed to find a cold drink in a vending machine and decided that it would be "cute" if he walked around the gardens with his umbrella up - even though it wasn't raining.

The gardens are spectacular! Like most things in Singapore, they are manicured to perfection and not a piece of litter in sight. There were some crazy Thai women having an all-girls picnic which seemed rather raucous and we spotted a couple of bottles of gin and red wine doing the rounds, but other than that it was peaceful and certainly just what we had expected.  

Singapore Botanical Gardens

The Orchard Gardens are breathtaking and if you don't get too distracted by the clothed poodles on leads you really can zone out and be at one with nature.  

Seriously, as if the poor dog isn't hot enough with just its hair on!!! Animal cruelty i tell you! 



Swan Lake at Bot Gardens





 

Bot Gardens

We grabbed a tuna croissant from a hawkers stall on our way home and manged to catch a bus that took us all the way to our road which was a bargain! We arrived back half frozen thanks to the very effective air-conditioning in the bus but were glad to be home. We had a beautiful piece of salmon in the fridge which I poached in orange juice, accompanied with a salad and a bowl of rice making the perfect Sunday night dinner!

Yesterday was a week exactly since we arrived! I decided to commemorate the day by doing a "Nicola" and scrubbing our apartment down from head to toe. We've decided not to keep the maid as she is completely useless and I'd rather use the S$90 a week to go shopping! 6 hours later, the place was looking shiny and new and I was happy. I popped off to the mall to get a couple of photos printed and I now have images of all my family and friends dotted around the house! Feels more like home! Gemma and Freddy take centre stage on the fridge - my beautiful doggies! I miss them so much.



Wedding photo shoot in Bot Gardens

The wretched courier bag also arrived yesterday which means that I now have a hair dryer! You'll be impressed to know that I haven't blow dried my hair once since I've been here! Are'nt you impressed? The only snag with the bag was that Customs took it upon themselves to remove by entire nail polish collection. Yip! 13 nail polishes 'removed' from the suitcase. Bizarre!