A very trying week

This week has not been the best that I’ve had in Singapore, and I blame it all on work. The battle of the bosses continues, which is tiring, stressful and occasionally annoying, but I’ve tried to just focus on our lovely little weekend away and power on through.

            Trying to make the most of any time not spent in the office I’ve used one of my many GroupOn deals to get a nice manicure and pedicure ahead of our trip (I ended up with sparkly Christmas colours even though we’re jetting off to the tropics but never mind). I’ve done a little shopping, I’ve finished all my Christmas preparation, I’ve caught up with a couple of friends that we won’t be seeing again until after the Christmas holidays and I’ve pretty much done anything and everything I can to not thing about work.

            Now it’s Thursday morning and I am just a few hours away from being free of the office and on our way to the Gilis to finish up celebrating my birthday (haha, sort of). I can’t wait!!! 

Pizza and moustaches

Whilst most of our weekend was purely Christmas themed, we had to concede that it was still November just once, when we attended a Movember event at one of our favourite restaurants, Burnt Ends.

            Whilst they normally use their wood-burning oven for slow-roasting meat and fish, this weekend they were only offering up pizzas (and very good pizza they were too) with all the food and drinks were donated, with any cash donations going straight to charity.

Party Chef! 

There was gin and pizza, which means I was pretty much in my element, but add to that the fact that every member of staff had grown and perfected some very questionable moustaches (and had obviously had beer for breakfast that day) it made for a bizarre but really enjoyable afternoon of random fun – all in the name of charity! 

Ready for Christmas

We only had two weekends left in the flat before we head home for Christmas, so although it was only the end of November this weekend, I broke all my usual rules, and we set the full weekend aside for Christmas activities.

            Starting straight after work on Friday afternoon we headed down to Orchard Road (Singapore’s equivalent of Oxford Street) to gather as many sparkly and fir tree inspired decorations as we could carry. It turns out that whilst Singapore does Christmas slightly wrong (lights are pink rather than white, red or green) and exotic flowers are often included in their winter evergreen arrangements, but they don’t half love to try!

            Orchard Road could not have physically held another string of Christmas lights, another Christmas tree or any more sparkly reindeer. It was boiling hot and pretty sweaty, but it was super Christmassy, and it was a little bit glorious!

One we were all stocked up with Christmas treats the rest of our weekend passed in a fairly glorious blur of turkey dinners (Thanksgiving with some American buddies) and mince pies (because they’re fabulous).

It’s still a bit too early to start packing for the trip home, but my bags are out and my winter clothes have all be flung over them – it’s getting very, very close to Christmas time! 

Veggies and sleep

San Francisco and Hong Kong have been well and truly ticked off my list this month, and so with a full ten or so days to go before our next (final and most fabulous) trip for 2014, I am getting back into best behaviour.

            Sleep, veggies, cleaning and life sorting are going to be top of my agenda for the next two weeks, and I can’t wait! 

Another weekend, another love affair

And I am sorry to say, another cheating blog post full of photos and not much talk.

            This weekend I headed off to Hong Kong to meet up with Nick and spend the weekend with our buddies Kate and Duncan who have been living over there for the past few months since their relocation out from Singapore.

The view from Kate and Duncan's apartment 

As they are both working hard to open up new offices and set up new business, Nick was recovering from a heavy week of work socialising and I was still sleeping off my American time difference we were all looking forward to a nice relaxed weekend, wandering around the city and trying out a couple of favourite eateries and bars to fill our days.

            Even with no major plans to tick off, I absolutely loved the place and the minute I stepped off the airport express in the centre of the city I knew I was going to have a great few days. Another very accessibly London style city, but this time it was one that stretched up to ridiculous heights, with pretty much every other building rising up to at least 80 floors or more. Plus we had ready made buddies there to play with and to show us around - what was not to love?

Best view in the city from the top of the peak 

Cheesy Peak selfie

Crazy Soho streets

The lovely Kate and Duncan at Ozone, the tallest bar in the world!