The prospect of cooler temperatures, tall pine trees, red spotted newts, blooming hydrangea, sandboxes and cheaper everything is too much for the Aldous Adventurers to handle. Missing our beloved family, friends, Market Basket (we certainly hope the current situation is resolved soon), station wagon and cozy “red house” in the woods is killing us! To keep our mind off of New England (and our impending 21 hour plane and 6 hour layover) we have attempted to stay busy, busy, busy.

Highlights:

Mama and the children hit up Sentosa Beach and the Port of Lost Wonder.

 

Michael’s  generous colleagues sent him home with a bag of mangoes and of mangosteen (shown below). This delicious fruit is dubbed the Queen of Fruits. Once you crack the skin, and peel back the brightly colored flesh, you find very  melt- in- your- mouth, deliciousness.

To keep little minds occupied (and out of air conditioning) we  bid adieu to our friends at the Singapore Zoo. Some of favorites this time around . . .

 

We walked along Boat Quay and Clarke Quay one final time. We enjoyed fish briyani and prata with sugar on Circular Road. We completed the afternoon with a Singaporean ice cream sandwich. Kids had peppermint. Mama and Daddy had durian!

  

Although warned by the locals to save our SGD and skip this one tourist attraction, we threw caution to the wind and boarded the Singapore Flyer. It was a little dull, as expected, but we timed it right and were able to watch National Day practice parades and fireworks – bonus!

      

 

Monday was a public holiday in honor of Hari Raya. As folks celebrating were feasting with family, we escaped the heat at yet another indoor playground … this one was complete with glow mini-golf. Our first time golfing as a family proved exciting and competitive. Maggie Lou’s short game is pretty good – she managed to get two hole in ones!

   

Here is a picture of the LIU team’s send-off. We are very thankful for all of the thoughtful parting gifts – LIU you will me missed! Check out our new batik sundress & shirt.

                    

And finally, we spent our final evening with good friends and good food. We look forward to more adventures with our CDP friends!

 

As we we wait to start our journey back home we  find ourselves conflicted about leaving the Lion City. We are saddened and excited. The Aldous Advnenturers are so grateful for this opportunity – and Mama and Daddy are hopeful about the positive impact this experience may have on the children’s developing outlook on the world, adventure and the idea of “other.” Although the children are over the moon excited to go home, they intermittently ask about where we are going next. Only time will tell!

Until next time …

再見/再见 Singapore!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say it ain’t so! Our time spent 2 degrees north of the equator is quickly coming to a close. We are continuing to take every opportunity we can to learn new things, spend time with new friends and enjoy our Asian adventure. Will Maggie Lou & Jack remember this? We certainly hope so, and although it’s inevitable, we’ll get a little sad when we’re back home and a band-aid will no longer be  a “plaster,” and a shrimp will no longer be a “prawn.” Soon catching the MRT will be a memory and we will go months instead of minutes without visiting a mall.

No more bunk beds … lots of boxes. Sniff, sniff.

The packing has commenced, and the furniture we purchased was easily sold on the Craigslist of Singapore. The reality of a long plane ride is rearing it’s ugly head, and as we prepare we cannot help but reflect. We can’t say enough good about this city. The blogosphere and travel writers who paint this place as sterile and “lacking,” we feel, are using a very narrow lens (one, maybe lacking in forming relationships with Singaporeans) in which to view this modern marvel. It’s not perfect (is anyplace?), but we were certainly glad to call it home, albeit temporarily.

Highlights from the last two weeks:

We went to a landmark restaurant in Little India, the Apollo Banana Leaf, with Michael’s colleagues. Maggie Lou tried her hand at eating with her hand, Jack made friends by making sure everyone had a  matchbox card and Mama and Daddy devoured their food! Mama is still dreaming of the fish head curry.

The children and Mama adventured to the Science Center, yet again. We were all excited to see the Human Body exhibit. Unfortunately, the kiddos got spooked and decided they were too frightened to go in, much to Mama’s chagrin. We carried on though – and saw parts of the center we had yet to see during previous visits. They must not be my children as they declared “the maths” room was their favorite!

      

  

A popular food center VERY close to our building has been under construction – the opening kept getting pushed back and we were worried we would miss it completely, but at last it opened. Lau Pa Sat is now a favorite dinner spot – we met up with friends recently and ended the night with a Tropical Fruit 101 lesson!  The small round smooth fruits are longans (dragon’s eyes), the red, coarse fruit are lychees and the, spiky, red fruits in the botton photo are rambutans.

 

Mama and Daddy had one last date night in Little India – biryani at Tekka Market and shopping at Mustafa (a 24 hours complex that houses EVERYTHING you would need under the sun). People had encouraged us to check it out – although we didn’t buy anything it was an experience we won’t soon forget – very crowded, very stocked and a bit claustrophobic. Mama was good after 20 minutes.

 

The children spent their afternoons this past week at the Canadian International School’s summer camp: Science, Art & Soccer series. They finished with a trip to the ArtScience Museum.

We finally scooted around East Coast Park. We watched the simulated water ski park, attempted to play in the sand (it was very polluted) and indulged in our last chili & black pepper crab. We have decided eating crab in Singapore is so messy that eating lobster back home is going to seem super clean and easy.

Some of the things we will certainly miss:

 

Just lounging in the pool!

The past two weeks links revealed:

Miss from NH: the sandbox, swings, the Birch Hill pigs, cheaper alcohol, cheaper bacon, having pets, lots of picture books, the grill

Miss from Singapore: scooting inside the mall, elevators, escalators, clean subways, sliced fish porridge, laksa, real dim sum, Andrew & Family, Nick & Rachael, the East Coast

Mama has writer’s block. Not sure what to say about the Island of the Gods, other than we want to go back. Relaxing, majestic, fun, beautiful all seem trite in the face of such a glorious island. Even the pictures don’t do it justice, but we will try anyway … grab a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, it’s going to be a long one!

We arrived in Bali on Sunday night – we spent most of Monday enjoying the pool and exploring the grounds.

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On Tuesday the children checked out the Kids’ Club while Mama and Daddy hit the spa – we enjoyed an Aquatonic Pool treatment and Balinese massage. So. Very. Amazing. After two hours in the pool, we felt totally relaxed and ready for more! Later that night we enjoyed Indonesian cuisine and took in some traditional music and dancing.

From the left: Kids’ Club (learning about making  Canang Sari, daily offerings in woven coconut leaves), shell and sand art, Jemima our newest pen-pal from Australia, Mama & Daddy at the spa, dinner at Padi, Jack and Maggie Lou joined the band – check out Jack in the “udeng,” the traditional Balinese headress.

On Wednesday we went into Ubud where we learned about the Batik process, went to a locally renowned wood carver’s compound, and saw some lovely rattan. We also visited a Luwak Coffee Farm. Luwak Coffee is unique to Indonesia.  The coffee beans have been selected by civets (a cat like mammal) ingested and defecated, yes, defecated. The beans are then collected, cleaned and bleached by the sun. The coffee was actually quite good.

Above: Dotting the cotton and silk blend with hot wax, tools including stamp and jantings.

Below: Luwak coffee, Maggie Lou and Daddy sampling coffee, cocoa and tea, “poop beans,” civet, Manis Artshop and Wood Carver’s Compound, oiling an elephant carving, Michael’s new souvenir and Mama’s new bowl.

  

  

   

 

Out the window driving through Ubud District we saw lots of rice, lots of kites and lots of beautiful woven offerings and decorations

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We stopped for lunch in the jungle, riverside.

    

On Wednesday Mama and Daddy checked out the infinity pool overlooking the Indian Ocean. Speechless . . .

       

The whole family enjoyed the river pool, higher up on the hill. More exploring . . .

                 

Later that night Mama and Daddy took advantage of the fine dining, famous Rock Bar and the serene setting. Check out the DJ’s perch on the cliff, spinning records in the jungle … crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were are a few monkeys around the resort …

On Friday we hit Kubu beach. The surf was too rough for swimming. We explored and played in the sand. Note the huge lava rocks and black sand.

    

Then, sadly, we left Bali.

Random pics from the week:

          

    

 

Funny Bali bloopers:

On the flight to Bali an airline attendant announced (in a mixed Dutch and French accent) that someone on board had “a severe allergy to peanuts.” She unfortunately left out the “t” – leaving everyone on board, including Maggie Lou and Jack, in complete stitches. The children now  repeat the phrase, in their best accent, cracking us up. Parenting fail, but laughter is good for the soul, right?

Travelling with a little “Messi” definitely creates community. People from all over the world  attempted to talk football with us … not knowing much about it, we would just smile and say GO ARGENTINA!

Maggie Lou learned about “putting things on the room” – after purchasing “free” (according to Maggie Lou) smoothies for she and a friend. Cute, but not cute. 140,000 rupis later, she now understands about what “free” means!

Jack decided to put on dance performance at the one of the restaurants, showing off his best hip hop moves. He should have put an “udeng” down to collect some rupi.

During lunch one day we saw a monkey eating the offering right off the statue. Good haul – mini bananas, hard boiled eggs, dried ramen noodles.

This week’s chains revealed:

Miss in NH: full kitchen, Munchkins at the drive through, Atlantic Ocean, Seacoast Science Center, The Works Health Club

Miss in Singapore: Buddha Statues, Peekaboo (indoor playspace), garbage chute, water slides, proximity to Bali.

***Three weeks left in the Lion City!***