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LETTER FROM SINGAPORE
Well we've been here for just over a week now, and we've survived! We left the
UK on Tuesday lunchtime, setting off from Heathrow on SQ319. Mum and Dad drove
me to the airport, where I met Nora outside the check-in. It was quite lovely
actually. No queuing, just straight in. Raffles class, don't you know!!! Even
with the increased luggage allowance, we still went about 10 kilos over, but
nobody seemed to mind. A few tears were shed as we said goodbye, going into
Terminal 3, where we'd landed 2 weeks before hand! Didn't even bother looking
around the shops, so went straight up to the Lounge, which was miles away.
Quite nice, but not what I was expecting. With taking off time half an hour
away, we strolled down to the gate, waited a whole minute and then strolled
right on the plane, in front of everybody else! Brilliant! Up the stairs to
the front seats.
"Champagne sir?" "Don't mind if I do, and I'll have a Singapore Sling as well please" "Certainly Sir". Marvelous. Of course just after take off, I spent the next 2 hours making my seat go up, down sideways and every other combination possible! Had a few problems with the entertainment system, but soon sorted that out, and also figured out how to play games...cool! What was even better was that we were able to fast forward, rewind and do all sorts of things with the films! Anyway, the flight was really bumpy, and I didn't get much sleep (though Nora did). We landed a bit early, and of course, had to get off before everybody else. Fantastic! Our luggage was first out, but then I had a few problems because I'd brought a letter opener with me which had to travel securely and it hadn't arrived. Sorted that out, then went out to meet our man in his big Merc to take us to the hotel. Nora started sweating as soon as we were out of the airport, waiting for the car to come round, but she didn't moan. Hotel was lovely, and we are in the Executive floors, which basically means that we get to go in the lounge. That means brekkie in am, and then in the evg its free drinks from 5-8 with nibbles. Cool. So we've been going to the gym, having a swim, and then going up for a few beers to watch some of the Olympics! I'm on the 34th floor of Raffles Place, which seems to be the centre of the Business District, and has a great view. We've ventured out a little bit, but not too much. The whole of Singapore is dedicated to shopping and its really quite funny. Some stuff is really cheep and some is expensive. Beers are not cheap, but apparently if you know where all the happy hours are its a lot easier on the pocket. CDs are strange...I don't really understand: Madonna is number 1 in the CD chart, yet her CD is cheaper than everyone else's ($16...about 6.50). Weird. Food here is tops as well. Yesterday I went to this enormous warehouse that had been turned into a food hall...loads of different stalls selling 2-3 dishes each. Had a curry, served on a banana leaf, which was pretty good. We're off to our serviced apartment tomorrow, and then flat hunting in the pm. Should be interesting. Last night, whilst having a wander round to work up an appetite, I decided I needed a hair cut. Went into the hairdressers, paid my $8.50 (you pay before the cut!) and sat down. I had a shampoo and cut, but not only that, I also had a head a neck massage that near enough sent me to sleep! I was mashed afterwards!!! The Singaporeans are a strange culture. They are incredibly polite and queue for everything apart from the MRT, where its every man for themselves. I had to have a medical, and they kept calling me Mr. Christopher! On the plane they called me Mr. Huw Maiden! I've even been called Mr. Huweee Maiden!!! They also don't have any eyelids. Weird. On Sunday, PG is flying over on his way to Oz. We're going to go to Little India in the evg as its supposed to be incredible, though nobody tells me why...they say that I have to find out for myself. Tonight, we're off to watch a rugby match...top of the table clash....the Fosters Bedok Kings v the San Miguel Wanderers. I will be playing for Bedok next year, but the seasons nearly over now. Letter 2: 29/09/00Little India is absolutely bonkers on a Sunday night. All the Indonesian and
Sub-Continent builders and workers have the evening off and gather around
talking and smelling, There are absolutely thousands of them doing absolutely
nothing. I was amazed at how so many people could just stand. Most of them
weren't even talking to each other. Anyway, we went for a curry there. The
curries over here aren't like the traditional curry back home!! For a start, no
plates. It all gets served on a large banana leaf. The ultimate in recycling I
suppose. Letter 3: 06/10/00Norris McWhirter would have a field day over here. Not only have I seen the
worlds smallest woman (she has no front teeth by the way and has a huge
toothless grin plastered on her face!), but I've also seen some other strange
sights: lunchtime a couple of days ago, I saw the tallest turban in the world:
the man was about 5ft tall sans turban, and about 8'6" with!!! I've also
seen the most hunchbacked man in the world, whose chin is practically bashing
against his knees, and the thinnest man in the world, who sits at the bus stop I
sometime walk past on the way home, and who's so thin, he could pass through the
eye of a needle and disappears when he turns sideways. Letter 4: 13/10/00Another strange thing about this place...all the offices are freezing. Its nice for the first 10 mins, once you've come in out of the blistering heat, but it gets to the point where you have to go outside to thaw out and warm up. Very strange. And its not even just this office....every one I've been in is exactly the same. People actually bring jumpers and coats into work to wear in the office!I met the rugby team that I'm going to be joining the other day. They were playing the last match of the normal season and had to win and score 4 tries to get into the play-offs. Needless to say that they bashed the other who were all little chinamen and won by 60 points. I think that I'll wait until I get fit first though. They went on tour last week and played in an international 7's tourney in Bali...won the plate which wasn't bad. I had my first experience of a Singapore massage on Sunday pm. Nora persuaded me that it would be good for me, but I didn't realise that it was shiatsu, which is particularly violent. The bloke was only doing my head, shoulder neck and arms, but it felt like I'd been beaten up quite badly. It didn't help either that I started to get massive back pain straight after, but more of that later. We went to Ikea this week to buy all the furniture for the flat. It wasn't as much fun spending someone elses money as I thought it would be, but it's so much cheaper over here. Also, there are no queues. I think that its like everywhere else here. People go shopping for something to do (probably because the tv is so rubbish!) but never buy anything, so although the place was packed it was all pretty quick. One strange thing that they do over here is that they are very stingy on napkins. If you go to the hawker centres or even cheep restaurants they never give you anything to mop up the inevitable mess that you make with all the rice and noodles. So you find all the locals carry around small packets of tissues with them. Its really annoying because they reserve their tables by placing these tissues on the table and then go and get their food. winds me up. Well I've experienced the health service over here now. The pain in my back got so bad, that I had to go and see the company doctor. she gave me an anti-inflamatory injection and a bucket load of pills. No change the next day, so went to the hospital. you have to pay for everything there and then, so quickly ran out of cash. anyway, got to go back tomorrow for blood tests. Could be another kidney infection like I had a few years back so that would be easily cleared up. Very quick and efficient though. Had to have 2 days off work lying in bed. Unfortunately, in the serviced apartment, theres only cable tv in the living room, so i had the delights of terrestial telly in the bedroom...a choice of 7 channels. 5 are chinese/malay, then you've got channel news asia (bit boring and reptitive after a while) and tcs5, the Singapore equivelant of ITV. Going to try and not get ill ever again!!!!! Letter 5: 23/10/00Right, where do I start? Well I've now had a more in-depth study of the Singapore Health System, and all in all, it seems pretty good. I do have to say though, that the hospitals and equipment are built for midgets. I was nearly too big to fit on the table for the numurous x-rays that I have had. The doctors here are very happy to send you for as many tests as possible and give you as many pills as possible. It could be because its all private, but it seems to have worked anyway, and my double kidney infection is clearing up and feeling a lot better now. Had my first ever barium meal, which wasn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be (or perhaps I was just feeling so rough that they could have done anything to me!!!). Anyway, onwards and upwards.There are loads of people who ride motor bikes here, probably because its the cheepst form of private transport. The thing is that they are all absolutely mad. They undertake up the kerb, and quite often up the pavement. But the funny thing is that rather than get dressed up in motorbike gear, they all have normal shellsuit jackets, which they wear back to front to stop the wind cutting through them. The strange thing is that I've seen taxi drivers wearing them in their cars!!! It also seems that when driving, as long as you are signalling, it doesn't matter about anyone else on the road. Even if you are signalling in the wrong direction! Been quite lucky...going on a course next month for a few days. Only problem being that the closest course is Melbourne! Result!!! Norris wold be having a mixed time this week: The thinnest man in the world appears to have just vanished into thin air. But I did see the rustiest bike in the world...every square milimetre of the bike was pure rust...amazing. Letter 6: 27/10/00Well as I speak, we are in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. You could see it come screaming across the Island, and the noise is just unbelievable. The rain is flowing down the streets which now look like rivers, and the lightening is amazing (as it hits the building next to me). In fact, its raining so hard, its impossible to see the building about 50 yards across the street!!! All part of the fun, because it will clear up in about half an hour!. So what else has been happening? Well, Singapore had a national holiday yesterday. Of course, we were all down our local hindu temple to do a bit of praying to celebrate Deepavali (its the same as Divali back home, but they seem to have added a few letters!!!). Nora and I ventured into Little India to have a look at the lights and see what all the fuss was about. It was bonkers. I thought that it was packed and smelly when we went to Little India before, but this was twice as bad! First of all, its all concentrated down Serangoon Road, which has this enormous bridge sort of thing over the top of it with a huge peacock that unfurls its wings and moves its head (its a bit difficult to explain, but I'll post the photos on the website later). On strolling down the street, you come across stalls selling flower garlands and other smelly stuff. Nothing strange in that you think, but then you realise that you are standing in the middle of the road and the cars are roaring past about 6 inches away from your back!!!. Nora ventured into one of these temple to have a nose round, whilst I took some photos at the strange lanterns that are incredibly tacky (that peacock thing is the height of tackiness). Feeling quite traditional, we went of course for a curry. Having had a wonderful garlic naan the day before with lunch, I thought that we'd have it again. Out it came, and it had to be the most disgusting peice of bread I've ever tasted. It was more like a crushed garlic with a slither of bread...they could not have fitted more garlic on it if they had tried!!! anyway, the curry was top and we did our bit to say ta for the day off work.We've finally moved into the flat now. Got a few teething problems, but I'm sure that they'll sort themselves out soon. I'll post photos when the place is tidy and I've taken some snaps. Main problem being that I'm finding it a bit difficult to buy a scaletrix set for the study!!! Going out tonight. Off to the Australian High Commission for a so-called "wine and cheese" evening. Apparently we get there about 6 and just drink as much as we can. Should be good. And then I'm going to watch a bit of cricket tomorrow at the local club that I'm joining, and off to the races on Sunday night to watch the Singapore Gold Cup, which is apparently one of the richest races in the World (though I've never heard of it!!!). Got to take my passport and look naive (shouldnt be hard) in order to get in to a certain part of the track as a tourist!!! Funny thing here is how racist everyone is. On all the forms for banks etc, it always asks for your race. I still dont know how to spell caucasian so I put British, which lets face it could mean anything now!!! All the taxi drivers are desperate to know what we do as well. I get fed up of explaining about brokers and blah blah blah. So Nora and I have decided that from now on, we both either work as nuclear physicists or I'm a brain surgeon whilst she is a dinner lady!!! They all think that we're Australian as well which is quite funny. I'll stick some stuff on the web next Monday when I download the photos. Got a couple of busy weeks coming up...Claire, Pittsy and Tara are coming over (Tara for 6 months) so out on the beers a bit (so will probably be bankrupt!!!) Letter 7: 03/11/00The Cheese and Wine night at the Aussie High Commission was quite good fun...not really what I expected. It was basically wine tasting and cheep (for Singapore) wine purchases. Managed to knock back quite a few Fosters anyway. Had a good time, and dont think that I made a fool of myself!!!Last night (Sun) saw the Singapore Gold Cup being run, so we had a trip to the Races. It was an interesting experience. Everything there was just liek Hong Kong, but we pretended to be tourists and so got in the Hibiscus Room which was air conditioned etc. Very nice. Managed to pick 2 winners out of 6 which wasn't bad going, but didn't make any money. We went down into the stands for the big race (s$1m) and the atmosphere was pretty good. And the amazing thing was that there wasn't the enormous pushing crowd at the station that you normall get at Wembley or Twickenham for these sort of things (there was about 35000 people there). I've got no idea where they all went!!! Here's a strange thing...mobile phones over here are really really expensive...its like they were in the UK 5 years ago. But everyone has got one...its some sort of status symbol. They have them hanging round their necks, clipped on to anything and everything, and even have little chairs for them to sit in on their desk. Even stranger, the phone shops, are always packed. wondered why to start with, but then realsised...you are allowed to make free calls from their demo phones in the shop!!! Top!!! Well we've moved into the flat at last. Haven't found the boogie pool (the one with the underwater music) yet, but its ok so far. Really nice view, but the lifts are absolutely boiling...get in them feeling not too hot (if thats possible in Sing!) and 20 secs later, get out on the 17th floor drenched!!! Nice. Got to get back to commuting again...takes me 22 mins door to door thanks to the shuttle bus from the complex. All air-conditioned luckily. Of course, its quite amusing on the MRT...really packed (still cool though) and everybody is pushing and shoving. Of course, I'm twice as big and taller than everyone else, so they just bounce off my when they try and push past!!! Quite funny as well as the government are running a huge "courtesy campaign" asking people to let people off the MRT before getting on...hasn't worked though!!! This week-end is the Noras dinner & dance. Big prizes up for grabs so should be good. Letter 8: 10/11/00I know that we're in a strange (sometimes very strange!) country, but the names here are just weird. They range from good old English names to some weird sounding Chinese names! For example, my trip into work consists of stopping at the following stations: Buona Vista (Spanish?), Commonwealth, Queensway, Redhill, Tiong Bahru, Outram Park, Tanjong Pagar (my personal favourite!) and Raffles Place. Awful, but gets worse when you go up North to places like Choa Chu Kang!!! But doesn't excuse Nora (sorry!) for asking where Nuh was! "Nuh?""yeah, Nuh...look, over there on that bus" "oh...N.U.H......National University Hospital!!!!" Well we're in the flat, and we've got our first board game over here...we bought the Singapore version of Monopoly. Its really cool as all the roads are local,,,just like being back in London! So last Sat we went to Noras Dinner and Dance. The theme was Wild West. As you can see from the website, Nora got dressed as an Indian Squaw. I tried on numerous costumes, but the only one that fitted me (which was really cool) was a double lined Indian outfit that was triple lined...I was sweating just looking at it!!!. So managed to get some guns and a hat and stuff, and went as a cowboy...bit of a cop out I know, but searched everywhere for a decent costume. Well we got there...really posh hotel: The Sheraton Towers. Half the people were dressed up and half were not. I mean this was a formal dinner, and there people there in scruffy surf shorts and worn out t shirts!!! Well we had a reception...loads of beer, casino etc. then went through to the main hall. To be fair, the compere was very good, and there were dancers and a dj and stuff, but it was just like being at a kids party. First of all there were the speeches: 3/4 of an hour later, after a grand multimedia presentation of who's been in the company for 10 years and blah blah blah they brought some food out. It then started to get really silly. The party games began. People form each table had to run up to the stage with womens shoes and stuff. Really childish. Then the audience were asked for the tallest people...so they got on stage and the tallest man won a prize. They then had to grab their partners (not many partners there) and have a piggy back race. And this was the boss of Asia!!! Then it was the fattest men in the audience...and then the compere shouted "that's right...if you've got a waist of 34" or even above" !!! So of course I was up there. Not one local was there!!!! We did levitation trick and I got given a golf umbrella (hurrah for Bloomberg!). Then they had the raffle draw ...100 prizes, so of course that went on for about and hour and a half, and it was all fixed anyway. Nora got a consolation prize of a clock radio for her costume and she also won a bbq steamboat (whatever that is) in the raffle. Good fun over all, if a bit silly. Going to bite the bullet this week-end and get a mobile, pc, and another TV and video. Got to be done. Been out quite a lot as well. Claire has been here, and we're off to JB tomorrow in Malaysia for the day. On Wednesday I'm flying out to Melbourne for a course with a couple of the lads here...should be good fun. Will write in 10 days to tell you all about it. Letter 9: 20/11/00Well, its been a busy week. Claire was here at the beginning of the week. We went over to Jahor Barhu in Malaysia which was an experience...we got the train to the top of the island, then got on a bus which took us to the border. walked through the lovely, clean, air-conditioned customs of Sing and decided not to join the huge queue for a bus, but to walk across the Causeway. The actual walk wasn't too bad, and we saw some quite amusing sights, including lorries driving over walls and barriers to push into queues!. We then accidentally tried to smuggle our way into the country...there was no directions to where pedestrians are supposed to go. So, we then got directed into the Malay customs...it was basically a shed, no aircon, no fans, and packed with people. There is actually a bloke who sits outside and does the writing for people who cant write. Quite good though...hundreds of Sing and Malays queuing up to get in, and foreigners go straight down to the front of the queue!!! But filling out the forms, the sweat was just pouring off me!!! Nice!.We got through, and got a cab (which turned out to be a rip off) to the dodgy shopping centre. After a bit of food and a cool down, we bought a few vcd films to watch on a player we haven't got yet! But the films are pretty good quality and only cost a pound each for films that aren't even out here yet! anyway, we got in a cab to take us to the city centre square, but we decided to go to see some waterfalls that were supposed to be just out of town. Well, 2 hours later (!) we had just got there. We had been in the heaviest rain that I've ever seen...there was literally no point in putting the wipers on in the cab, as they were useless against it. It was mad. We got to the falls, and they were pretty cool. climbed up to the top and took a load of photos. there were loads of locals there, bathing away (reminded me a bit of the Ganges!...I think its because there were loads messing around with all their clothes on in the water!). We then took the long trip back, and back to customs. we decided to catch a bus over the causeway as we were practically asleep! Got back, got changed and went straight out. A load of my mates were playing in the National Championships Grand Final for the rugby side that I will be joining next year, Absolutely bonkers atmosphere...quite a few hundred people there, and best of all was that Bedok won!!! hurrah! Then had to have a bit of a rest for a few days. Claire went back, and then I went off to Melbourne on Wed morning. Qantas business class is rubbish (though I do like the fact that they push the food round on a trolly so you can see what you're getting! Anyway, I was travelling with a mate (Chris) so we had a few beers on the way over, then a few more when we got to the hotel. The course was pretty good, and Melbourne seems a nice place with lots to do and loads going on. Sorry...no real observations this week...been a bit asleep!!! We'll see what happens this week. I'm supposed to be going to the British Club tonight to playa bit of squash with Jesse's mate, and then on Sat, I might be playing for a team called the Asian Barabarians in the International 10's tournament...we'll see. Letter 10: 20/11/00Well I've made my debut in Singapore rugby now. Saturday saw the 4th International Country of Origin Tournament, billed as Singapore's World Cup on Sentosa Island. I turned out for the World Barbarians, who had an average age of about 37, which isn't altogether good for a rugby 10's comp. But, we pulled on the Black and White jerseys, immediately started sweating in the 30+ degree heat and got on with the job. We were pooled with Scotland and Ireland in the morning, and the heat was building up. I thought that we'd never survive, and would quite happily play in the bowl competition looking at the quality/seriousness of the other sides. Anyway, 10.40am comes around, and we line up against the Scots, who looked pretty big, athletic and competent. Don't ask me how, but we stuffed them 42-12!!!However, 20 mins of running around (even with constant subbing) almost killed me. Ireland next, 2 hours later, so just enough time to cool down and get a bit sunburnt. They were tough, and we were pretty unlucky. I went off after 2 mins with blood pumping out of my head after a 20m charge for the line was stopped 1m short by a paddy knee to my eyebrow. I came on in the 2nd half, but we went down 18-14, so we were through to the Plate Semi's against the N Americans. Now the Yanks had looked pretty competent and nearly beat the Aussies (the over all winners) so weren't too confident, but put 20 points on them in the first 5minutes and didn't let them touch the ball!!! Game over, and we'd won by 40, and even with the stupid strapping on my head, we were through to the final. The other semi saw the English take on the Welsh, with the large crowd all supporting the Welsh, so it was good to see them stuff the English. So what a dilemma...playing for the Baa-Baa's against the Welsh in the Final. the Welsh had been the pre-tourney favourites, and seeing them go out to a Hong Kong touring side was a pretty big surprise. Anyway, the old fogies battled away up front, and with 1 minute to go, we were only 2 points behind. Maidens tactical nouse, then redirected the Baa-Baa's binding technique (mainly for defence) at a 5m scrum on the Baa-Baa's line. The ball squirmed free, and I picked it up and started to leg it down the line. Got to the 20m line and the oppo's hadn't touched me...started to tire, but kept going. Dummied the winger and went past him. Half way line and getting really tired now...could see a couple of oppos closing. 10m line and running out of steam...luckily our flanker was with me now. Handed off one tackler, and that slowed (!!!) me down enough for the fly-half to come in and wallop me. Just managed to get the pass inside in time. I lay there, rolled off the pitch and called for a sub to run on, just as the Baa-Baa's scored under the posts!!! (don't ask me what happened...I was collapsed on the sideline!). So we held out for the last 30 seconds, and won the bowl. We had only kicked the ball twice in the whole tournament in true barbarians style. Had a right old mixture in the team, including a bloke who looked like Willie Nelson, and a captain who looked like Alex Benjamin. But although we were underdogs all the way, we won!!! Straight into the sponsors tent for shed loads of beer. Spent Sunday in pain. I had sweated most of the sun block off and was horribly burnt...my head was even a bit blistered and my muscles are just dead. No energy. Oh well, better get fit I suppose. Letter 11: 01/12/00What I forgot to mention was that we had a bloke on our rugby side, whose name was Mr Shaw. his first name was Rick. Very appropriate in this country and the commentator had great delight in this every time he touched the ball (which being an old bloke, wasn't very often!).Well, we've bitten the bullet. We're become slaves to the consumer society. Video is not a big format over here. Everything is on VCD, which is a better quality than tape, but not as good as DVD. So, We finally decided to invest in a DVD player. After a bit of haggling and the like, we walked out the shop with a quite lovely Pioneer machine. The only downfall being that they love their gold stuff over here, so you cant get a discrete black. Oh no! You have to have bright gold or silver for all your consumables. So we're got a great machine at about 70% of the price of it in the UK (when it gets launched) but it had to be gold! Another investment is that we've now got mobile phones. I wont go through the hassle it was...complete pain, and incredibly expensive, but very useful. Well I'm still peeling from Saturday. I feel like a snake shedding its skin, and the white line across my forehead is still there, but slowly fading. One thing that I have noticed and have been told is that any scratches and cuts take an age to heal. Apparently its something to do with the way that they grow the grass (what little there is on the pitch), but basically everything gets infected. So my knees are not only burnt, but are weeping from the grazes from the hard ground (although apparently the ground was like a sponge compared to the usual grounds! Tomorrow we are having our PC delivered so expect a few changes on the website when I get around to it over the next few weeks Letter 12: 08/12/00Well we went to Malaysia again at the week-end. Sounds grand, but is about half an hour away in effect. Sunday morning, got up early, and were in Johor Barhu by 10am. Bought some software and got back by 11! Fantastic. I think that it will be a regular visit.In the afternoon, we went to the Singapore Discovery Centre. thinking that it was going to be quite a cool interactive museum place, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, although there were some cool things there, it was more like and advert for the government. A 3d film supposedly showing Singapore into the new century basically told Singaporeans to work together and we can achieve anything!!! It was pretty violent as well. For a country that appears to despise any sort of conflict, the museum allowed kids to play on all sorts of simulated war machines. Good thing was that I got to actually fire a real M16 rifle which was pretty cool! Christmas is here big time now. If I go downstairs in my building, Yahoo are sponsoring a choir to sing Christmas carols. lovely, you may think, but of course it has to have a twist to it. these choristers are draped in Yahoo corporate colours (purple and yellow) but they are all wearing huge Afro wigs?!!! they just look really weird...little Singaporeans dressed in purple with enormous afros singing in the heat! I don't understand! I went to the Indian equivalent of McDonalds today...it was just like being in McDonalds with the seats and stuff, but I was eating curry. Also, a bit weird was the fact that there were loads of basins on the restaurant (not in the toilets) because you have to eat with your hands!!! Tonight sees the company Christmas Party. Should be quite good. Its at the Hotel Intercontinental. The theme is the wild West, so I've got my red Indian outfit ready! Report to follow Letter 13: 20/12/00Well this is the last before Christmas. It’s all a bit strange really. Even though it’s not hugely Christian here, Christmas is enormous. there are lights and decorations everywhere. down Orchard Road (a nice version of Oxford St.) it’s amazing. they have thousands and thousands of strobe lights across the road going off...drives you mad. As well as the 7 story high Christmas tree and the plastic snowmen etc. In one centre, they even pump out foam into the air to make it look like it’s snowing, although of course everyone is standing around in shorts!!!! anyway, pretty rocking. The office is nearly empty as most of the Aussies are going home, and so its all pretty cool (esp. now the average temp has dropped to a chilly 29 degs!)Anyway, went to my company's Christmas do last week. I don't think that I've been to such a wild party though. As soon as it started (6.30!!!) everyone was just chucking as much tequila and beer down the throats as possible, and were mullered by the time we went into the dining room. that's where the fun and games started. On each chair, they'd left either a bow and some sucker-arrows or a plastic knife. anyway, things got massively out of hand and there were arrows going all over the shop, especially at the boss when he was trying to make a speech!!! then of course, the owner of the company got up, and he's pretty shy, said something that was like a muffle "thanks" and sat down again and it all took off again. then the games started. Once again we had those classic Christmas Ball games like "fattest bloke", "hairiest man" that sort of thing. Unfortunately for the 2nd in Charge of Asia, he was up on stage, proudly displaying his belly, when, whoomf, he had his Ali Baabar trousers (?!) pulled down. quite amusing really. but even funnier considering that 1) he had the spotlight right on him at the front of the stage, 2) he was standing right in front of the owner and a table of Muslim ladies, and 3) he is well known (apparently) for not wearing any underwear!!!!!!! So there he was, on stage, spotlight on the lot!!!! there was of course the essential fancy dress competition, which didn't exactly go to the best dressed bloke. It went to a Chinese bloke who dressed up as a Chinese bloke (like a white satin suit) who looked as though he was in his pyjamas!. But then he was carrying 2 absolutely enormous machetes with him, which when it got to his turn to display his costume, he started to flail about. not really much of a surprise that he won I suppose. but then again, they could have given it to the bloke with the 5ft samurai sword!!!! Of course, the food didn't matter...it was a 9 course Chinese banquet, that I have to say was disgusting, but no-body touched it...would have wasted serious beer-drinking or arrow-throwing time! We've now got a broadband connection at home, so can pick up uk radio, and all sorts of stuff, so will be looking to re-jigg the website soon. I've bought a bike as well...go myself a great 2nd hand cannondale at a pretty good price, so am looking around at getting Nora one so we can get up to the Bukit Timah Reserve...a big jungle in the middle of Sing. I think that I was pushing my luck. Although the drivers over here are absolute nutters - hardly anybody uses indicators, they just go where they feel etc, I've never seen a crash yet. Bet then last Tuesday, Nora jumps in a cab, tootling along, screech, another car runs straight into the back of the cab she's in. Cheeky driver even keeps the meter running whilst he sorts it all out!!! As you probably know, we've just got back from Bali. Had a great holiday apart from 2 things. I lost my credit card (duh!) and then we both got really bad food poisoning. We'd planned on spending the day that we were coming back (we weren't leaving til 5) down at Nusa Dua shopping for pressies and stuff, but couldn't leave the room, so got hardly any souvenirs at all. And we're still not really good. apart from that it was great. We stayed in Sanur, which is quite cool and chilled, but went over to have a look at Kuta and Ubud. We had a tour round the temples and stuff. Its amazing...near enough every other building in Bali is a temple! they really like to take their religion seriously! we even got up early one day and went to the paddy fields where it was all explained which was great as I didn't really have a clue how it worked!!! However, everywhere you go, there are people grabbing hold of you trying to sell you something all the time (normally chess sets, awful copies of surf t-shirts, or a nasty wooden statue!), and they are really hard to shake off. Even if you tell them no, they keep hassling you. when we were at the volcano, this women was following us for about 5 mins. there was no way I was going to buy as the shirts were not nice. but the price went from 1 for 10,000 to 4 for 5,000 in 3 mins even though we were just ignoring her!!!!!! we also did the cultural thing, saw some of the local dances and costumes and how they made their jewellery and paintings. which was cool But we also did some adventure. we went white water rafting. the rapids were only a grade 2/3 compared to the 4/5 I'd done in Oz, it was still good fun if a little chaotic. It was actually just a nice way to see some of the countryside as we floated in between the rapids. Of course, we then started coming across the locals, who it seemed hadn't had their lives changed at all. they were all having a bath in the river or washing their cows or just chilling out with no kit on!!!! very strange. then coming up to the end of the course, Nora fell in and started getting worried a bit. I dragged her back in the boat before we finished the course. good laugh, even if we did have to climb up about 300 steps afterwards, soaking wet, being hassled by hawkers!!!!! we then got ill, and it was touch and go whether we'd make it back to Sing on the plane!!!! Letter 14: 02/01/01Well it’s been a while. What with being ill and all the religious festivals that we have over here, I’ve hardly been at work. Worse of all is the fact that everyone else in the office has gone away for 2 weeks, so Billy here is sitting in the office practically on my own (I’ve got the cleaner/tea lady to keep me company, but her limited English and my 5 words of Mandarin don’t go very far in a conversation!).Well Christmas was different. I was still ill from Bali (still recovering now, nearly 3 weeks later!). Couldn’t go out at all on Christmas Eve, so Nora had to go to the Church on her own. Apparently it was very happy clappy and not really the sort of thing that you normally get at home for Christmas eve; bit to much “praise the lord!”. Anyway, Christmas Day came, felt bit better, and managed to open my pressies. Best of all had to be the Scalextric set…..hasn’t been put away yet, and Dads coming next week, so will stay out for them! Of course, my David Coulthard skills are far superior to Nora’s, but then she is a girl and still hasn’t found 4th gear yet ! (ouch!). For Christmas dinner, we went into town, down to Clarke Quay to Brewerkz. We’d decided that as we weren’t at home, we wouldn’t try to recreate a “home” Christmas, so had something different. Down there for lunch, steak and beer on the waterfront! Top! Went for a wander around Chinatown, which was a strange experience. Of course, it was just another day to the Chinese so all the shops were open and they were all sitting there eating their smelly noodles!!! Weird! Boxing Day was just a normal day for us here…back into work, to sit around, see whats going on that sort of thing, and then we had the 27th off. Hari Raya Pusa don’t you know (doesn’t everyone celebrate it?!). We went over to Sentosa to play on their “International” crazy golf course(!!!). It was blisteringly hot and humid, and I got massively dehydrated and we had to come back early! Not a lot else really happened. For New Years Eve, we met up with a load of people form the expatsingapore.com website, most of whom were from London. Quite good really. Had a bucket load of lager, ended up at Brewerkz again for midnight and partying. Then we tried to grab a cab at 1.30. At 3, we eventually got one, more by luck than anything. By that time I was ready to go to sleep on the pavement! Mum and Dad are around at the moment. They are in Borneo at present, and then come to us next week so I’ve got a full agenda planned for them. Nora’s bought a bike now, so we’re a bit more mobile than before. She’s got a GT (if anyone knows anything about bikes) and I’ve got a Cannondale now. We’re going to try and explore the Bukit Timah jungle soon I think…got to get a bit fitter first!!! Letter 15: 23/01/01What I did forget that happened on NYE....we went to this pub first and all met there and then they started handing out bingo cards...and everyone in the pub played bingo for a couple of hours!!!! Weird. Good prizes as well, but unfortunately, my numbers didn't come up! Probably the first time I've played bingo on NYE!Adam and Andrew were over last week (not together!). Andrew was on his way back from being out in Aus over new year, and Adam had been working here for a bit. Anyway, we met up, had a couple of kegs of beer and a v large night out. Ended up at the infamous Carnegies, where its traditional to get up on the tables and start dancing. I have no recollection of that, but then anything could have happened!!! Its Chinese New year out here this week (2 days off yeah!). anyway, everywhere has been building up to it. Chinatown is packed. Well we went out to our local hawker for dinner last week and wondered what all the noise was: we'd missed all the lion dancing etc, and so didn't think that anything would be going on. Anyway, walked around the corner, to find a full blown concert/variety show complete with massive PA system going on in the car park!!! there was all sorts of singing and awful comedy...well I think that it was comedy...people were either laughing with or at it!!!! strange though. also, for a society that is so strict about litter and stuff, they don't mind it when it gets to CNY and everyone starts burning stuff on the floor!!! (they're actually burning awful incense and fake money for the dead!). You have to be careful not to step in the fires!!!! One thing that I have noticed here is they're not too hot on naming things: parks aren't called parks...they're called "open spaces" e.g. Queenstown Open Space?!!! What is that about?! I think that they have run out of road names as well: the area called Ang Mo Kio has loads of road but they are all just numbered: Ang Mo Kio Ave 1, Ang Mo Kio Ave 2 etc. Their translation sometimes leads a little to be desired: personally I don't find the offer of "pig organs" very enticing. I'm sure its a translation thing! Booked up for coming back to the UK: will be home at Easter for a few days, so that should be fun. I am so hoping that the weather is chilly so I can wear a fleece...I miss wearing more than 1 layer!!!! Burnsy and Karen are here next week....cool Letter 16: 12/02/01Well Burnsy and Karen were here a couple of week-ends ago. They arrived on the Thursday evening and we went straight out. First of all, we treated them to an authentic local dinner at the local hawker centre (Wah Kees) as it was their first time in Asia! Then we went out for quite a large night on the beers, taking in a few bars down at Boat Quay. During the Friday, I gave them a bit of a guided tour around Sing, including a large boozy lunch at Brewerkz and a trip to Chinatown. After the pain of skirt shopping(!) we met Nora and had a cheeky drink in Raffles Long Bar, which was cool, but as usual, incredibly expensive. Off we went to a couple of places in Orchard, for a bit of dinner and beers, and then we decided that it would be good fun to do a bit of karaoke. We walked over the road to what we thought would be a bar with a bit of karaoke to boot. Basically, we walked into an incredibly strange place. They wanted us to have a room to ourselves and sing a bit of karaoke to ourselves! Not sure what else was going on in these rooms, but we didn't stay very long. Went off to Bubbles n Beer, where we went with Gonch. Proper pub and karaoke, like in the good old days! Everybody had a session on the mike ranging from Take That to Madonna and then back home. Burnsy and Karen left early the next day, but the photos are on the board. I went to cricket nets on the Sat. I've joined a club called the UWCCC (United World College CC) who used to be at the end of our road, but have since lost their ground. Anyway, nets was pretty good, taking wickets and slapping the bowlers all over the shop, including nearly taking the skippers head off who's been sledging me a bit. Pretty tiring work though in the heat. Then came the 6 Nations. Still quite a reasonably big event in the expat community here. Unfortunately, the games are on pretty late: Wales were on at midnight live. Watched both games in Muddy Murpheys, but was really disappointed at the way that Wales played (esp. that 1st try being disallowed...think that that knocked the wind out of them). We've started a PADI open water diving course. we've done all the classroom lessons now, and have got 2 pool lessons. We're then off to Malaysia to complete the course and become certified divers, which will be good. We're doing it with another English woman (who works for Cap Gemini). She's about 45, and doesn't like going under water....work that one out! Well I got selected for the UWCCC first game ...for the 3's! Anyway, I turned up early for the game against Singapore National Under 17s at the school. The pitch was diabolical....half as hard as concrete, half a swamp. Still had the rugby posts up , and worse still (is that possible?!) there were huge mounds of sand all over the pitch. The kids tried to spread the sand out a bit, and flattened it a bit using a scrum machine, but I was still keeping wicket on basically a baseball pitchers mound (better than fielding though!). Anyway, kept wicket brilliantly, but batted pants (11). On top of the ground, the school cadet force (basically the whole school) were practising for a parade, so there was a band playing and orders being shouted out right behind the bowlers arm! We won by 2 wickets, so are through to the semi-finals!!! I've also started rugby training as well. Its pretty hot, and I reckon I'm loosing 2 litres of water a session. who needs a sauna! Letter 17: 12/03/01
Letter 18 April 26My letters have become monthly now, but this one has been delayed due to seeing most of you last week! So what have we been up to? Loads basically. The last time I wrote was just before the Malaysian Grand Prix. What a week-end that was. I've never been to a grand prix before so didn't really know what to expect. Well I'm sure that its different to other GP's around the world. Didn't really think much of Kuala Lumpur...just seemed a bit like a third world country (which it is) trying to be amazingly high-tec (which it isn't). Did all the touristy things like going up the KL Tower (which is pretty high) and had a look at the Petronas Towers (which are pretty impressive) but I just found the whole place a bit scummy. Maybe I didn't see the best bits! But its typical of the country apparently: they are trying to be the best, but dont really cut it: got the tallest building in the world (except they haven't as the Petronas isn't counted apparently), the tallest flagpole in the World (big whoop) etc, and yet they haven't sorted out any of the major probs in the city such as transport: it is so strange: the underground system (which is their pride and joy apparently) is rubbish. Its all based on buying tickets (which are never checked) from a machine or from a table that looks as though its been set up for a cake stand at the local scout fair. Then to change lines, you actually have to leave the station and walk 100 yards to another station by the same name! strange. Anyway, the grand prix was great. We had cheap seats as we only wanted to go there for the Sunday, but saw a lot of the track and got pretty close as we were on a slow corner. Couldn't believe how loud they were. The race was exciting as there was a huge thunderstorm and loads of cars went off, but the problem with our seats was that we didn't have a ny shelter (from the heat or the rain) and there was no scoreboard so we couldn't relly see who was winning! There was an awesome disply by the Malaysian Air Force as well tho...really nutty stunts just above the gound right in front of us! Totally illegal I expect. Then a fortnight after that, we went to Hong Kong for the 7's tournament. The best way that I can describe the 7's stadium on a Sat, is to imagine a Munich beer festival hall, in the open air, with a rugby pitch rather than oom-pah band in the middle. It was a riot. Really strange to see all these old executives in their late 40's standing on tables in their corporate boxes and pulling moonies and then getting carted off by the police! Some great costumes as well. Its not often you see Zena sitting next to Robin Hood sitting next to a Sesame Street ninja warrior! Top week-end and looking forward to next year already. I'd played against a team who were playing in the 10s comp a week before. It was a good day, although the pitch was flooded. We carried on with the game as they had come from Wellington in NZ, but they completely trounced us. they did quite well as well in the actual comp in HK, getting through to the Cup, but knocked out in the Semis. Been playing a bit of cricket (not altogether successfully) but nearly started a fight on sat: I was given out out completely incorrectly and the teams went mental! I was pretty angry, but apparently, the umpire has been reported now, so wont be taking any more games. Then of course we came home. Top week-end out with everyone on the thurs, and then a Croydon night out on the sat. It was nice to feel cold again as the only time that ever happens is when you've been in a shop or office for too long! Good to have British food again...roast dinner, chips etc....top! So whats coming up? I'm playing rugby tomorrow night for SCC (the posh club in the middle of town) v HMS Gloucester, so that will be fun! We're then taking part in a big beach volleyball competition on sat which is apparently just a not very cunning ruse for an all-day drinking sesision in fancy dress ending up in a massive foam party! Letter 19 May 24Well a couple of weeks ago we were enrolled in what is now a Singapore Legend...no not the Chinese Triad Association, but the Kunta Kinta King Muppers Beach Volleyball Team. They are traditionally the most prepared in terms of fancy dress but least prepared in terms of volleyball technique and ability in the Fosters Beach Volleyball Tournament. True to form, we easily won the fancy dress award with our mix of custom team vests, cow-print bandanas and sarongs, and artistic tattoos (all of which can be seen on the website) and started off the tournament in the usual fashion...after downing several large jugs of lager and by loosing 15-1 in the first game! We then figured out how to play the game, and as long as we had at least 2 jugs on the sidelines, had kidnapped the oppos captain to dunk in the sea, and water pistols at hand, we actually found ourselves on a winning streak. This unbeaten run led us to go through to the Cup section, where were thought that we would be duly beaten, but lo and behold, we kept on going, and even though most of the squad couldn't stand, found ourselves in the final!!! Now the final (which I don't remember a lot of!) was a different matter against a team who were a) no fun, b) despised by everyone c) practiced at every opportunity and d) cheated! I'm sure we played a good game, and we only just lost, but pretty amazing anyway! Then came the foam party, which was all a bit nutty really. Mental day. Another thing that I've noticed here that is a really good idea, but totally actually quite good: I get to watch Trans World Sport on the bus when I go to cricket training! A couple of weeks ago, we managed to get to see an international rugby match as a warm up for the Lions tour next month. Okay, it wasn't exactly between 2 heavyweights of the oval ball world, but was reasonably good anyway (even if the skill level wasn't) as Singapore took on Hong Kong. We had a couple of guys playing from the Bedok Kings (the team I play for), and there was a good turn out, but the fact that Singapore only had 3 expats compared to HK's 14 expats showed through in the last 5 mins of the game as HK went away to win. Good fun though. I'm not sure whether its a respect thing, but anyone whos doing anything for you and their elder, you call them aunty or uncle. We have a woman in the office who basically does all the cleaning and looks after the mail and kitchen and stuff (she also brings me a bottle of water and a coffee in most amazing belly ever. Its a bit like Mr Greedy, but more amazing...thing is its always on show as he probably cant get a top to fit. His belly is actually round and absolutely enormous and completely out of proportion to the rest of his body. Remarkable. The cricket league season has nearly finished now. UWC are top of the league, but have played more games, so just waiting to see the results of the other matches. We've absolutely demolished the last 2 teams that we've played, but our 2 silly defeats early in the season may have lost us the title. Anyway, got the Championship play-offs next month. Letter no 20 July 24LARGE! that about sums up Australia! actually, we had a great time, apart form the rugby which sort of spoilt things a little! We arrived at a dreary Melbourne on the Friday morning, completely tired from the overnight flight, and out we went exploring. Ended up at the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) and joined the thousands of other Lions fans on the tour around the enormous grounds which was excellent. went in all the changing rooms and stands and the Long Room and saw where they had the Olympics back in 56. Then met up with Andrew for a few beers which turned into quite a lot of beers in a Lion Red town. The Day of the match saw a slow start to the day (!) and a wonder round town, bumping into John Vigor from the Mids who was on Honeymoon. It was then a case of getting into the pub (PJ O'Briens) early enough to get in there (there were huge queues at about 2pm!). Anyway, after much singing and drinking, and meeting up with various peaople from around the world, it was off to the match. As you can tell form the photos on the website, we had seats right behind the goal and could see everything. Was a great match til half time, when the referree and touch judges obviously took a couple of bungs, a Johnny the Aussie Wilko got bribed as well! was thoroughly depressed in the evening and couldnt even watch the tennis at Wimbledon due to the rain. Got up early on the Sunday and hired a car to get about in. First stop: pilgrimmage to Ramsey Street. What can I say...you cant be too happy living anywhere near there...its just a normal little street in the suburbs! We then moved onto the Dandedongs National Park which was really cool, with the weather clearing up. Stopped off at an animal sanctuary to see a platypus for the first time, then back hom and out down the pub again to see some absolutely rocking Irish band with Andrew (who's had a few beers in the 6 hours previously that theyd been in the pub!) What a night, ending up at the casino trying to figure out pokie machines (impossible to understand fruit machines!). Monday saw and even earlier start as we were catching the train from Melbourne to Sydney, a 10 hour ride. We thought that it would be more interesting that another flight, and it was actually quite good fun. Our carriage was full of Welsh, one of whom was celebrating his 60th birthday, and after about 10 bottles of chamagne, we all had a good old male voice choir sing song, including request. Most unusual was the total harmony of R Kellys " I believe I can fly!". It was excellent tho. Sydney saw us go on a bit of a pub crawl with Andrews mob, ending up in the Orient for Clays 30th birthday... Bit of a dive of a pub, but excellent fun with pints and pies. On Wednesday, we chilled out a bit, went to Taronga Zoo which was cool, and then spent the afternoon at Bondi beach. It gets a load of bad press, but i thought it was a great place. We took a tour on the Thursday to the Blue Moutnains. It was actually a load of stuff packed into one day. First we went to the Olympic Stadium. I wasn't overly impressed (especcially at the match), but it was ok. Then off to meet some "indiginous people" for a bit of didgereedoo playing and stuff. Then back on the bus to go off to a sanctuary, where we actually got to meet koalas and roo's and stuff. Then off to Penrith Panthers rugby club for lunch. Its actually a huge leisure place with a casino and golf and all sorts of things...great place. WE eventualy got to the Blue Mountains, but it was raining, but soon cleared up for some cool views and great photo opportunities (on the website). Down on the cable car and back up on the railway. Back on teh bus to get to the ferry to catch back into town at sunset. Really cool day. Friday was a chill day, ending up with dinner with Andrew and Nick at an Italian. All very civilised until a fight broke out the other side of the restaurant. Whats worse was the fact that it was between a table of 10 50+ year old Aussie blokes and an English family who took objection to something. Anyway, this little bloke was all over their table chicking punches and his wife wasnt too far behind, leaving their 2 young daughters to fend for themselves. Anyway, they left the place and the Aussies carried on in their loud manner, only for 10 minutes later the bloke to come charging through the restaurant (wife in tow whilst their kids were crying) to start chucking punches again. Really bonkers. Anyway, it was liek something out of a western at one point with all the waiters piling in as well but the police were soon there to sort it all out! mad! Saturday. Match day. Everyone was massively nervous. Met David, but he felt/looked rough as anything. We had a very nice lunch at Woolfies on the Rocks in the sunshine, everyone resplendant in their Lions shirts, cheering all the old internationals walking past (Derek Quinnell, Bill Beaumont, Ben Clarke, Jerry Guscott and his surprisingly ugly wife) and then onto the match. After acquiring the wallaby frreebies that they were giving away as they are really sad, I found that I was sitting in the wrong seat. Finally get to the right one to see the game. Thought that the English let the Lions down massively. Back to sydney for a few beers, but all a bit of an anticlimax really. On the Sunday, we took the ferery to Manley after visitng the Rocks Market. Manley was cool, and saw the Lions players there (not holding their heads low enough in shame for my liking!). We were just walking along the front when we literally bumped into PG and Reggie from the Mids. Small world. Running back to the ferry, Nora managed to get stuck in the barriers, which was not funny. Overall, a top holiday, seeing all the sights, some rugby and plenty of beer. Now the rugby season starts and the cricket season goes into the playoffs. Here goes!!!! Letter 21 August 14Well it makes you proud to be Singaporean! Well it would do if you were. We've just celebrated Singapore National Day...the birthday of Singapore...36 years old. A national holiday over here, so a day off! Basically, there is an enormous parade that is apparently exactly the same every year with the army and municipal workers (even the bus drivers got to march past!!!). Then there were the Air Force fly pass and then huge firework display. However, what was really cool was in the fireworks, they had a load that went off and created smiley faces in the sky!!! Cool. Anyway, things are settling back down again and all the huge amounts of flags are being taken down.A couple of weeks ago, I played in the National Rugby 10s tournament. It was quite eventful as we were favourites, but ended up not winning. The main problem being that we didnt have a full squad and we all had to play all the games. Anyway, the last group game ended up in a mass brawl. It was against one of the better local sides and they were out to prove something. That basically meant throwing punches at every point of contact. Unfortunately, it got out of hand at one point and there was a huge punch up, involving all their subs and manager and a few of our players. It ended up with them being disqualified, but we lost in the semis as we were all so tired (tho i did score my first try for the club !!!)We then went on to the beginning of the full season proper, with Bedok v SCC as the featured match of the first week. It was all a bit over the top really. We'd been in the paper the day before...big photo (see my website) and there was quite a large crowd there, with commentary. We all had to line up and be introduced to the MD of the main sponsor (the singapore equivelant of Cellnet) and then play...i thought we were all going to have to sing the national anthem at one point! Anyway, we won quite convincingly even if i didnt have a good game. The week after, we played on a pitch that had suffered a torrential downpour on it. At one point I was at the bottom of a ruck and I was a little worried about drowning as my head was pushed further and further underwater! Same result...we put 40 odd points on the board to their not many and another victory in the bag.In between playing rugby, I played in the National cricket 6s. I was playing for the UWCCC Bojangles side (one of our sponsors) and we werent really expected to do very well with a bit of a make shift side. Got there on the Sunday morning, and it was absolutely lashing it down. It didnt stop raining until about 11.30, so we had an hour or so for the pitch to become partially visable again and drain off some of the water. Anyway, it was decided that the games should be half length matches, with overs only being 3 balls rather than 6 in order to fit all the games in. Well I got in there, and slapped a few balls about, including quite a few 6s. I do have to say tho, that we were drawn agains the rather cocky 1st team in the quarter finals. They thought that they'd walk all over us, but we absolutely demolished them to get through to the semis on the Pedang. unfortunately we lost to the eventual champs, but a good day anyway.What else has been going on then...we went to a Ball...it was the rugby club awards dinner, and the dress for ladies was smart black tie. For men it was Bedok No 1's...Dinner jacket from waist cup, coupled with bermuda shorts, rugby socks and drinking boots. I felt an idiot going to get the cab, but thought it looked not too bad when we were all there!!! Excellent fun tho. There was one of our sponsors teams over from Japan for the Aisan Masters Touch Rugby Champs...a whole load of japanese 40-50 somethings who I'm sure were a bit bemused by all the antics that were going on. Excellent fun tho, and it was announced that we may be taken over to Japan for an all-expenses paid tour (but I wont hold my breath!!!).On Saturday, we have a cricket club social...nothing special I hear you cry! Well it is when I tell you that its being held in a flat that costs 10,000 quid a month to rent!!! One of the cricketers is MD of Asia Pacific Breweries, so it should be interesting jsut to have a nose around the place!!! Apparently his balcony is bigger than our flat!!!Alos going to be doing a bit of wakeboarding (in between all the enormous tankers out in the Straits!) as soon as a mate of mine fixes his boat...he managed to sink it the other day!!! We've booked our flights home for Christmas now...just as well as I think that we managed to get the last 2 seats!!! We'll be back on the morning of Friday 21st Dec and be at home for 10 days so I'll be expecting to see you all for a beer or 10Letter from Singapore 22 (Sept 10, 2001)Well we've been here a whole year this week...time seems to have flown by. The last month appears to have been pretty hectic as well. We've been up to all sorts of things. We went to a bbq in a penthouse which was awesome. The balcony was enormous...absolutely massive (it held about 90 people quite comfortably) and they had a dj and stuff and the chef had the biggest bbq I'd ever seen...massive. Good fun, and raised some money for the cricket club. We also had another on Saturday round Mervs house, again for the cricket club, but more of a leaving do for Simon, who was the 3rd team skipper. Merv had a top house, with its own pool and stuff...the place was enormous. Anyway, it ended with a rather painful session of karaoke. Painful in the fact that Smokey Dawson, the most naturally untalented singer in the world was unable to release one of the microphones from his hand and felt he had to sing every song in the style of Johnny Rotten!!! Nora went down to Perth a couple of weeks back now for her cousins wedding. She had a good time, but didnt see much of Perth, so thats still on teh must do list as its reasonably close to here. Photos of the wedding are on the website if you're interested. The rugby season is hotting up. Both the 1st and 2nd teams are in leading their divisions, and if things go to plan, should be still there at the end of the season, but you never know! The 1sts are still in the Cup (we're at the semi-final stage now) but an unlucky draw saw the 2s go out in the quarters. I actually scored last week...my first try for ages, and it was v reminiscent of Scotty Gibbs winner back in 99 apart from the fact that the move started a lot further out, back in our own half (although i'm sure by the end of the season it will have started under our own posts!!!!). Anyway, needless to say, that run almost killed me!!! With just the same excitement, we won the match in the 3rd minute of injury time...a match that we really needed to win. I also ended up playing in the centres on Sat in the Cup match. I was having quite a good game, making a few breaks and stopping anything that came my way til 2 minutes from the end when I was thrown a bit of a hospital pass and got absolutely clobbered!!! The bloke (who amazingly for a local was bigger than me!) knocked me back about 5 yards (even though I didnt have the ball!), and completely knocked the stuffing out of me...couldnt breathe, felt sick and just hurting all over. Shame really! Anyway, should be fit for Friday, where we are the featured match of the round again under the floodlights. Nora starts going to yoga soon which she's very excited about, as well as doing netball training, so its all very busy at the moment. We also finally managed to get out in the Boys boat yesterday to go wakeboarding. The engine was a bit temperamental to say the least, but once we got going it was fab. I hadnt done it for nearly 2 years, but got up first time and was going along nicely, but after that, my arm was hurting too much from rugby, so i ended up driving the boat! Great laugh tho.
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