Two year Singaversary

It’s official, I have been living in Singapore for a full two years today! Sometimes it feels like way longer, and sometimes it feels like hardly any time at all.

I can’t believe that it was just two years ago that I packed up my life in London, threw nearly all my worldly possessions under the road in front of Debbie’s house, and I got on a plane to the other side of the world “just to see” how things would go.

           

Well that was a rather bold move at the time, but I like to think that it was a decision for the very best. Here we are, two years later, happily married and drinking cocktails for brunch in the first restaurant that we went out to dinner at when I first arrived in Singapore. Time flies!

Gym, gym, gym

That’s right, it’s Friday night and I have managed to maintain prime good behaviour all week! There have been three early morning gym sessions, two post-work swims, two after work classes at the gym, and whatever excitement I can bring myself to participate in this evening and for the rest of the weekend.

Naughty Friday lunch treats are apparently no more!

The dull pace of life that I have now adopted means that there is very little to share with you today. Even my Friday lunch catch up with Jules was as green as it could be with all the good bits on the side. (That's a raspberry based dressing on the side there by the way, not ketchup - I'm not that gross!) Life just doesn’t get much more exciting than this!

Only in Asia

There are many things about Asian culture that I am still getting to grips with, but one of the most regularly confusing is the love for Hello Kitty.

            As a child I am sure that I would have loved the cartoon cat as much as the next girl with pink ribbons in her hair (well, I would if Disney had mad a beautiful and slightly terrifying film about it),  but you see people in their thirties wearing Hello Kitty branded clothing, and carrying the accessories all over the place in Asia, and I just don’t understand it!

            That said, when it was the new girls birthday at work this Friday, and her love of Hello Kitty resulted in little mini cakes being bought for the team, I most certainly wasn’t going to complain! 

Week one – done and dusted

Having completed the first week of life in Singapore, it feels like I’ve done loads (learnt as much as I could about the town, visited some of the standard tourist haunts, and found my new local coffee shops) and hardly anything at the same time. Trying to find my feet and work out where everything is and how everything works is a fairly stressful thing, but then when I look back over the week I actually have very little show for it. I suppose the easiest way to summarise it is in picture form (that way you are spared from updates like - I learnt where the supermarket was, and that you can buy Waitrose Essential items in there - yay!), so here you go:

I spent a day investigating the amazing world that is Chinatown - better still, it was the day before their big weekend of New Year celebrations kicked off, so there were some fabulous "Year of the Horse" decorations to enjoy, and a really festive atmosphere too!

The hug horse lantern that will mark the opening of the New Year parade

Some tasteful home decorations that Nick told me I was absolutely not allowed to buy

Flying horses!

Later that same day I also went on a bit of a tour of the city - I wanted to work out where my house was compared to Chinatown, work, the river and some of the main entertainment areas. It turns out that everything is pretty much a 40 minute walk away, if not less.  If it wasn't so darn hot here it would be the perfect sized town to never have to get public transport! 

Temple visits

River residents

The national mascot - the Merlion

Then there was the morning I walked the 15k route around five parks along the eastern edge of the island. I was promised naughty (terrifying) wild monkeys in the parks, who sadly failed to make an appearance, but at least there was a pretty spectacular route to make up for it:

Canopy walks through four parks, connected by bridges

The Henderson Waves - one impressive bridge!

There wasn't only nature and cultural areas to keep me entertained! I tried out the pool at the flat - it was chilly, but one floor down, open air and perfect for laps:

 

Our pool

I had some fabulous solo lunches out on our cute little balcony in the glorious sunshine (I like to think of it as part of my acclimatising routine):

Best seat in the house 


On the days when the rest of the world weren't at work, there were dinner parties, lunch gatherings and even a cheeky little champagne brunch at a fabulous tapas place:

Tapas and bubbles - a real Sunday treat

I was brave and (with a little encouragement) tried many of the local specialty dishes, including chicken and rice - it's a lot of food, and it costs less than two pounds for the lot - bargain!

For less than a couple of pounds, your money goes a long way on the hawker stalls! 

I realise that this blog entry is a bit of a cheat, but from now on I promise I will be much better at actually updating you on what I've been doing...well, once I'm back from a week of holiday in Thailand I will. The next entry on here is likely to be in a similar grouped format. Hopefully with even more amazing photos though!