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Thursday, July 3rd, 2008
On Wednesday Andrea and I eventually got to see the Sex and The City Movie. We arrived just as the movie was about to start, not expecting a full house for a 3:45pm show, and could only get front-row seats! Uuuugh!
I was quite surprised by the amount of nudity, both male and female, and sexual content! Especially up that close! There were plenty of giggles from the audience. The loudest, and most negative reaction, came from homo-sexual content and innuendo. Lots of "aai-ing", "tutting" and "tsk-ing"!!!

Saturday, July 5th, 2008
Going to the doctors in Singapore is surprisingly efficient! I've become used to getting to my appointment on time, and then having to sit in a germ infested waiting room for the nurse to appear, usually a good 15 minutes, at least, after the appointment time. After taking vitals and discussing all your problems with the nurse, and waiting for another 15 minutes, the doctor might appear, ready to go over everything again! If your lucky your out of there in just over an hour. Then off to the pharmacy, where you wait another 30 minutes, if they have your medication!
Here, I got to my appointment ahead of time, purely by chance, and was seen straight away by the nurse who only took vitals. Then straight in to the doctor to discuss my issues with the person who would actually be diagnosing me! She keyed my prescription directly into the computer. What a novel concept - helps avoid all those misread prescriptions and dosing errors! I paid at the counter immediately after leaving the doctors room, and my prescription was already waiting for me - less than 1 minute later - dispensed from the doctor's rooms! No waiting at the pharmacy!!!! Yippeee! So, from the moment I walked in to the moment I walked out the door, I was in there less than 30 minutes, medication in hand! Awesome!!!

Granny left for Perth yesterday on Tiger Air, a budget airline. So budget that the "Budget Terminal" where all the cheapy airlines fly out of doesn't even look like its part of the airport! She got there just fine though and is staying with a friend for 2½ weeks.

We went to Funan IT Mall today to look for a PlayStation for the "kids". The mall is full if electronic and computer stores - 7 stories of them!!! We found numerous stores selling the consoles but they were all in the S$650 range for PlayStation 3, so we decided to think on it before forking out that much money for an electronic baby-sitter. We came home and Rory got onto Ebay Singapore and found a PlayStation 2, along with 4 games for $$100. We figured we could afford to take a chance with that price. We'd have to sell it when we return to the USA anyway as it won't work there. We bought and paid for it online and had it in our hands within the hour! We were quite intrigued by the other items the women was selling….a matrix-style black leather coat, a dozen pairs of stilettos, a black tube top and white Armani cocktail dress - we weren't sure quite what to expect when picking up the PlayStation!!! After grabbing supper at PizzaHut (curry chicken pizza!!) we came home and Rory and the girls have been racing, skating and jet-skiing for the last 3 hours! Now all we need is another TV…..

Wednesday, July 9, 2008
While Maxine and Sydney were at their modeling clay class this morning I took the opportunity to investigate the area. We were right in the middle of Chinatown. Within the hour I had found another four beading stores! One in the same center and three in the center across the road. They are by no means large stores but still manage to cram in an extraordinarily vast selection of beads and findings along their narrow aisles. While they all carry various types of beading supplies, each store seems to specialize in one or another item. Mix and Match had a great selection of Swarovski glass beads, whereas Lai Guan had more large pendants and acrylic beads, although not the best quality. When the girls go back to school I'd like to do some more courses, learning how to work with wire, bead weaving and learning how to use a wig-jig to form wire designs. I'd also like to do the clay bead workshop where you learn to do marble techniques, standard cane designs, 3D designs, and what I really am looking forward to - lentil and swirl beads.

The one shopping center we went to, Chinatown Place, is circular in design. While the exterior is bright yellow and black, art deco inspired, the interior is much like a run-down, decades old Guggenheim Museum with a significant Asian flair! Once I'd figured out that since each floor had a slight incline and I'd be exhausted by the time I got to the 10th floor, I rode the elevator up, and walked the spirals down!
Across the road at People's Place it was your usual run-of-the-mill ethnic shopping center with stalls selling local food items and hundreds of small stores each offering their specific wares. As you walk in the entrance you literally have to stop and look around for a minute or two. For one, to get your bearings so you know where you came in because it's very easy to get lost in these centers, and secondly, just to take in the immense onslaught of sensations. The pungent smells coming from the hawkers stalls, the hustle and bustle of people jostling about you that always seem to want to go in the opposite direction in which they're heading, the visual assault of stuff just crammed everywhere, and the unrelenting noise. It quite an overwhelming, yet interesting, experience. Not one I could do everyday!

Saturday, July 19, 2008
After searching through the expat forums I managed to find a recommendation for a hair stylist that was good with Caucasian hair, especially curly hair. My appointment on Friday morning at Next, The Salon, started with a cup of iced tea. After the Stylist, or rather Art Director discusses your requirements for your new do, and makes some suggestions of her own, the Color Technician comes and takes a look and offers up some of her own advise. Then you're whisked off to the wash station. Nothing in this salon is conventional. To start with the décor is borderline Gothic, which I became increasingly concerned about as I climbed the stairs from the entry, large black chandeliers dangling overhead. The wash station followed suit. The "chairs" were actually a padded bench of sorts, shaped to conform to your back, along with a bar to rest your feet upon, or support yourself. Upon first slight I was a little unsure as to whether I should climb up onto it and then roll over, or just shimmy up onto it. I took the more "graceful" approach and shimmed myself into position, resting my head upon the small pedestal within the sink. What proceeded what nothing short of heavenly - a scalp massage like no other! After a glorious fifteen minutes of pure heaven, I reluctantly moved back to the lounge chair to proceed with creation of my new coiff! Before the stylist arrived, another young lady prepared the work station, setting out the stylists combs, scissors, hair-drier, water-spray, etc. The stylist arrived and sat on a short rolling stool, so that she was "hair-level" with me. After a while of lifting and snipping Cheryl was done and the Color Technician, Liz (their "Western names, of course) continued. I was colored, foiled, and then wrapped in Glad Wrap by two guys ( I'll let your mind go where it wants to with that one) and left to process for fifteen minutes. Back to the wash station for yet another 30 minutes of head massage! I couldn't believe my luck! I was still in quite a heavenly state by the time Cheryl had finished blow-drying my hair, making a few more snips and paying for my new do. A darned good thing to, since I dropped a cool US$272!!! I figured the head massage was worth at least $200 of that!

I've got Rory trained pretty well. He knows that since every day is a "wash and wear" day and that if I've had my hair done, and actually look half-way decent for a change, there's no way on earth I'm cooking and eating at home! So, he made reservations at Margaritas, one of the very few Mexican restaurants in Singapore. It's located in a small enclave of strip shopping centers that consists mostly of overpriced art galleries, gourmet food stores, also overpriced, and more restaurants than you could count on all your fingers and toes! The décor was much like any Mexican restaurant you'd find in Dallas - colorful ceramics and blankets, etc. The margaritas were superb, and very strong! I'm pretty sure it wasn't just the fact that we hadn't had one in almost 3 months! We started with quesso which wasn't quite was we were used to, but went down as fast as any other we'd ever eaten! Maxine had a Kitchen sink burrito which was huge and apparently delish since she polished off the whole thing. Sydney had chicken quesadillas - none left their either. Rory had a beef chimichanga which was better than any he'd ever had! And I had pork carnitas - which I devoured in no time! So, if it weren't so darned expensive we'd probably be eating there 3 times a week, instead of the 3 times a year which we might limit ourselves to. We met the owner on the way out and complimented him on the delicious food, explaining that we were from Texas and that we thought knew what we were talking about!!!

Monday, 28th July, 2008
We went to Bintan on Thursday evening, to spend the weekend. We traveled on a ferry. I had pictures of those huge, over-filled ones that always seem to be sinking in the Philippines! I was very relieved to see that the ferry was a high speed katamaran that holds about 260 people. The ride was surprisingly smooth, except for when we got caught in the wake of a large container ship. We had a little Chinese boy and girl sitting in front of us who kept us occupied the whole trip. They had been living in L.A. and were now in Singapore before returning to China. He was in Kindergarten in the USA and had an accent which seemed very out of place since his younger sister wasn't really talking yet, but when she did it was Chinese, and his mom could hardly speak a word of English. He was really funny though, telling us about his mean teacher! He's quite a handful so I can only imagine what the poor woman had to put up with. He told us that she was going to wash his mouth out with soap if he said "shut-up" again (as he peeked around his sister to see if his mom had heard him say it) and that she would pull his ears hard if he didn't get his math homework correct. He didn't look very happy telling us about that! It all made for quite an entertaining ride and in no time we had reached our destination.

Bintan is a beautiful little island southeast of Singapore. It's about double the size of Singapore, but kind of an upside-down L-shape. It's a regular vacation spot for people in Singapore because it's so close and because of the amazing golf courses.
We stayed at the Angsana Resort and Spa, on the north side of the island, about a 10 minute drive from the ferry terminal. The resort is set in a small cove, with beautiful white sand beaches edged with huge granite boulders. The water was incredibly clear and we could walk out about 50 feet to a few large rocks and a small reef where there were thousands of beautiful fish. We saw lots of Nemo's and a few small barracuda-shaped fish - we're not sure what they were but they seemed to like to hover around. There was also one big fish, just one, that would swim around and check everyone out. One morning we took a bread-roll with us and he would jump out the water to catch the pieces of bread! Not very eco-friendly - but it was wholewheat bread!
On Friday it was overcast but still nice enough to spend time on the beach, until the rain came. We, along with a bunch of other travelers, decided to wait it our under the beach umbrellas. It wasn't raining all that hard and we had a bunch of towels and some books to read so we were okay. After an hour or so we figured it wasn't going to stop anytime soon, so we made our way back to get some lunch. It continued to rain for at least a couple of hours. The staff were so friendly, knew you and greeted you by name, without fail! I think that and the genuine happiness and friendliness of the staff surprised us more than anything. Sunset was quite early - 6:15pm, but it really didn't get dark until about 7pm. Most nights were early ones since we'd spent the whole day in the water and were ready for a good night sleep. On Saturday I went out canoeing with Rory, Maxine and Sydney to a tiny hidden cove. Half way there Sydney starts squealing that there's huge spider crawling towards her in her canoe. So in the panic, Rory jumps overboard to save her from being eaten alive and kills the spider. In the meanwhile, I'm now the one panicing because we now have Rory floating in the water and me, not knowing what to do. I'm terrified of deep water as it is so I'm doing a fair amount of squealing and cussing! He did manage to get back into the canoe though and we continued on our way, a little shaken! We paddled our way to a tiny beach, covered in small seashells, no wider than 15 feet, hidden between a bunch of boulders. We didn't stay long as we had only hired the boats for 30 minutes and still had to get back, so we gathered a few shells and plopped back into the canoes. The worst part was getting back onto the beach while trying to avoid be flipped over I the waves, as little as they were! Maxine and I went in sideways - not very good! Later that day, Rory and the kids went out sailing. The wind wasn't that great so sailing was a bit dull - apparently the best time for sailing and wind-surfing is during monsoon season! By Saturday afternoon we were all totally fried, looking very red, and very sore. Although we'd put on sunscreen, we had still managed to burn to a crisp. The kids were fine, it was the adults who all got burned! Grrrr! So, Sunday was a quiet day, out of the sun, next to the pool, under the umbrella!
We all had a wonderfully relaxing weekend and will definitely go back there since it was such a nice location, and only a 40 minute ferry ride away!

Tuesday 29th July, 2008
It's Sydney's 11th Birthday today!!!
She got some really cute Build-a-Bear clothes - a little black & white polka dotted raincoat and boots. Lulu, the best traveled bear, is now going to be the best dressed bear! She also got a book, a cute little beaded dog, some charms for her crocs, and a hamster! Yes, a hamster. There's actually a Singapore Hamster Club, which we've joined. They're a very popular pet here and many different breeds are available. We got a very cute little Winter White Sapphire. This morning Syd got just the cage along with a "coupon" for a hamster so she could choose her own one. We went to a part of town we hadn't visited before, Serangoon, about 20 minutes North-east of us. It's an area that is more built up with lots of flats and apartments, but in this arcade of shops, below all these flats were about a dozen different pet stores! For the most part, each specialized in something different. A lot had fish, both tropical and marine. One shop had huge round gold fish about the size of a softballs. There were also a few bird shops selling all kinds of tropical birds. I felt really sorry for the birds though, cooped up in small cages. The bird stores were selling beautiful carved wood and bamboo Chinese bird cages for the song birds. They were so beautiful. We might have to take another trip there this weekend so I can take some pictures! I would have bought one just as an ornament, if it weren't for the $300 price tag!
Well, hammie (I don't think he has an official name yet) has a very cute home, along with a little blue sofa, and television/bed that he can sleep in.
Rory came home for lunch - chocolate cake - which I made! It's actually chocolate cake with chocolate pudding added to the mixture, as well as a bag of mini chop-chips and topped off with chocolate fudge frosting!!!! Sydney wanted chocolate - she sure got it!

Thursday, 31st July 2008
Yesterday we went to Wild Wild Wet Water Park for Sydney's birthday, even though it was a day late. We caught a taxi there and Rory met us after work to bring us all home. It's a really nice water park, not too big, but with some cool rides for the kids - a few tube rides, lazy river, wave pool and thankfully, plenty of shade! We spent the whole afternoon there, from 1 until 6:30 with no complaining from the kids! There was a girl with the same swimsuit as Sydney, which was funny because we'd bought it at Target last summer! There was also a Ukranian granny there, sporting her black, very lacy bra and panties as swimwear, with a babooshka on her head! I couldn't help but think of the bunko babes! I could see a few areas where her babooshka would have been better placed though, but oh well…..she seemed very proud of her ensemble!