Here we go
Emma
Luke
Susie “Treehouse at the Science Centre”
The Weekend
It’s been lovely to have Tony off work and to be able to do things with all the Hunts. We spent Saturday morning chilling by the pool again but this time with the addition of Josh and James while Tony and Ally took Isabelle to view a potential school. After lunch we headed to the Singapore Science Centre. Loads of really interesting things for the kids to do ( and the adults!) and heavenly air conditioning. We are all struggling with blisters on our feet although we are used to our shoes just because of the level of heat and humidity.
In the evening Ally had booked us a BBQ pit next to the pool at the condo so we had delicious food and a late night swim in the pool. A late night for the kids but definitely worth it! We are STILL struggling with jet lag – only Luke has got the hang of sleeping through the night so far. Hopefully the rest of us will work it out soon.
Today we planned to visit a wildlife park and a boat trip but looking at all the tired faces we are scaling back to just the boat trip. We are looking forward to it, and tomorrow we have to leave the luxury of staying with Tony and Ally and head off by ourselves. We’ve found it hard to find accommodatioion the islands we wanted so we have pre-booked for 2 nights on Sibu – three hours north of here, off the Malaysian East coast. Bizarrely, although we first contacted them before we left the UK it turns out Tony and Ally have stayed in the same hotel before and are able to recommend them. Should be fun!
Botanical gardens
We ventured out today onto the SMRT the Singapore equivalent of the tube. It was awesome not least because it was air-conditioned. Destination botanical gardens. We had begun to think it was a terrible idea since it was sweltering again and about 30 mins after we got in Jenni felt very wobbly. The gardens were fabulourps though and showcased everything the tropics has to offer in terms of flora. We saw lobster claw, bananas, Bougainvillia and dozens of other plants in he healing garden and sensory gardens. The food court had re-opened and so we ate duck and rice, wanton noodles and ….
For adventurous types we gave up after lunch and headed back to swim (cool down) once more. I had been testing the diving commuter I bought in anticipation of the opportunities in North Eastern Malaysia.
The kids managed to find a praying mantis hanging onto the bin and also a red dragon fly so we have stuck this up as they will likely write about something very peculiar again on their journal tomorrow.
I found out from Tony that to own a car here you need a Certificate of Entitelment to drive before you are allowed to purchase one. This certificate costing £20-30k and the exorbitant price of cars means you have to be very privileged to own your own.
The papers are full of a court hearing going on where a church has funnelled donations into shell accounts to boost a pop singers career and Luke is outraged! :). How could they?
I was hoping we would get a thunderstorm but it looks like my bug toe was wrong. Probably still acclimatising!
Children’s journals 29th June
Hiya here we have everyone’s journal entries for today.
Emma
Susie
Luke
Singapore chillin’
Our poolside video. Singapore chillin’
Password is queens.
Getting braver!
Well despite my best intentions we’re still a bit all over the place with jet-lag. We spent yesterday morning zonked out in the condo and the afternoon splashing in the pool. Phil took some lovely video of the cousins playing together in the water which I’m sure he will put on here in due course. We all had a fantastic time.
In the evening Ally and the kids escorted us to the local hawker centre. Susie gave is all a fright – she kept crouching down to hold her sore tummy and turned the brightest shade of red. It was only a 10 minute walk although it was incredibly hot. Fortunately once sat down in the hawker centre under a fan and with a large juice she returned quite quickly to a normal colour!
Tony joined us at e centre and he and Ally showed us some of their favourite Singapore food. We loved the dumplings filled with soup (how do they get the soup to stay inside?) and Phil enjoyed the cereal prawns (yes, really prawns covered in oatmeal). I couldn’t get my head around the bahkuhtae noodles which were very dark brown. The look was just so off putting, I did try them but I didn’t like them!
Today we are braving heading out alone on the MRT to the Botanical Gardens. Maybe some more swimming later – even the people who live here are saying it is unusually hot!
Emma’s journal 28th June
Here is the first of Emma’s journal entries
Quiet day recovering
Eventually persuaded Jenni to get up at 11:00am after insisting she would not lie in – hehe.
We had a very gentle day getting over being dog tired from the travel. Very proud we were able to stand having just a fan rather than opting for the aircon overnight.
We had some lunch with Ally and the kids and then headed off for the pool. It is really exactly like being on holiday. It is a great privilege to have such a lovely pool onsite.
Then a dramatic sortie to the supermarket to get the essentials we had forgotten. Wishing we had got them at the airport as the prices for basics are as warned very high indeed. The supermarket was only 500yds away but it still felt very brave with 3 kids. Going to have to get ourselves sorted before we depart for Mersing at the end of the weekend. It is hard to believe 3 days of our time away has passed already.
Great thunderstorm in the morning too to take some of the heat out of the day.
27th June – Singapore jet lagging
I am sitting with Luke helping him with his journal after an interesting (read restless) nights sleep. Susie and Emma struggled to settle which meant I was able to help them. Having said that I don’t feel like death warmed up just yet. It is predictably sweltering but the sun is not even out today. We have so much acclimatatising to do! Everyone else still asleep. I am worried they are dehydrating as I have drunk a litre or so of water so far to stave off headaches. The view from the apartment is amazing. 34 floors up the business district and the port make a great backdrop and there is always something going on. We tried the swimming pool last night and it really feels like we are on holiday. Still hard to believe that we have so much more holiday time coming up. Venturing off on our own seems still a bit too brave and I am really grateful that Tony and Ally are here and have made us feel so welcome.
Hoping to mooch about a bit later to get my bearings. Will take the camera and pop some images up.
Help everyone is doing well and look forward to posting more updates later.
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Actually I did take a pic using the iPad late last night to get a feel for the vista.
We’ve arrived!
We’re here in Singapore! The flights went remarkably smoothly with little newsworthy except for the idiot smoking in the toilets…. Twice!
It was lovely to be met in our state of dazed exhaustion by Tony who brought us straight to his condo. The cousins started playing together almost immediately. We found time for a very brief dip in their fantastic pool and now it’s time for sleep. I don’t think we know which way is up now never mind what time of day or night it is, but with only a couple of hours sleep between us in the last 45 we are definitely ready for bed.