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| For lunch on Tuesday we went to Shang Palace |
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| Here are the boys just doing what they do best... |
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| Jac and Pa argue about the menu |
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| Those tea cups cost $95...its kinda mental really |
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| The famous Shangrila koi |
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| Ah, a real rainforest...well sort of |
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| Post rain and slightly baffled by this rainforest experience |
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A granite quarry which filled up...it fills at 3 m a year. In 1989
it was COMPLETE empty. |
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| Nothing says traquility like camera crew |
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Around fifteen people to do this one shoot, you'd think they
were filming The Great Gatsby |
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| Ma arranges dinner with Jac |
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| Turf City, this was the old Turf Club |
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A lot of Singapore looks like this...
concrete and carparks |
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| We have Japanese for lunch!! |
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| Tamago... |
That's us up to date now.
Getting to the Bukit Timah Nature reserve was interesting. For a start my mom had never been there and it was raining cats and dogs. I don't care about the rain anymore, of course. If we waited for the rain to stop before we did anything in Ireland we would never do anything. Oisin also pointed out that this would have been a hot day in Ireland. Everyone would have remarked on how wonderful the weather was. So anyway we set off.
All of Singapore is now made of the most complicatedly laid out highways. Singaporeans know them by a bewildering array of acronyms which actually don't make any etymological sense. How does that abbreviate to this i asked my sister once. She gave me a withering glare. Clearly some questions were too stupid.
Well, we set off on the PIE - or Pan Island Expressway. The first one built, which actually did make life better for everyone. I cannot remember when the law of diminishing returns set in for expressways. Possibly when they began the eletronic road pricing system - then it no longer became a way of alleviating jams, but mostly making money.
Anyhow, we then turned off somewhere before Adam Road because there was going to be a massive jam if we were to continue. We then headed down Dunearn Road and then Bukit Timah Road - and they were now digging up the entire length to make way for the new MRT line. There were giant hoardings now saying it would take 8 mins to get to Newton Road and this would then leave you time for the more important things in life. This better thing in life was implied by the photograph which showed four women shopping. It was completely moronic. The rain continued and we continued to go along Bukit Timah Road. you need to turn right later i told my mom. At which point she realised that she was not in the correct lane and then decided she needed to signal to move out.
She turned on her left indicator and waited for someone to give her way. Asking someone to give you way in Singapore is like taking your life in your own hands. It's like stepping out into a busy highway without a thought or care for your life. Interestingly, while my mom did a move which would have reduced Bruce Willis to tears, the man in the Audi 7 behind her, a young man in a large white car, honked her incessantly. It was pretty awesome. Why he did this i do not know.
We finally did arrive at the nature reserve. It was very wet but the rain had stopped and there was the strongest smell of petai, which my mom detected with delight. Despite being one of the few wild places left in Singapore, the publically accessible bit of the forest was mostly turned into a fitness park. Albeit a rather low key fitness park. I'm sure that if they were to redesign the place it would not look like this anymore. Although i would not put it past NParks to balls up a natural experience.
All the time i eyed the landscape behind the walkways and the concrete pavement. It was not big at all. I could easily cross the jungle in less than two hours with a map and a compass. An idea began forming in my mind...
Well now i am going to write the school reports. I'm really looking forward to doing this, reviewing the year. If i EVER did something right, it was to become a Steiner teacher. I really do hope that the children get as much out of the lessons and the day to day work as i have done from being with them and doing the preparation. I have been so touched by the presents and the daily contact i have had with them. Really really lucky here. The school as well has been so wonderfully supportive and nourishing. Well, off to work now. Yes, at 4 am in the morning. At this rate i don't think i'm EVER going to end with the jetlag.
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