Bertrams to the rescue

Last weekend was eventful - a disco fever party at the condo on Friday night, Saturday morning we woke a little early as the girls turned into savages, made enough noise for a whole tribe and then put on quite a good dance show. We then went on a trip to Kusu Island, the Melbourne Comedy Festival Roadshow was on Saturday night, and on Sunday, after church, we were invited back to a family's house where we whiled away the afternoon by their pool. busy but all fun!

Our trip to Kusu Island turned into another little adventure. Kusu is a small island and has a Chinese temple, a Malay shrine, a giant turtle statue and two swimming lagoons. Legend has it that a giant turtle saved two shipwrecked sailors, one Malay and one Chinese, and hence they built the shrines as a thank you. Loads of people come here in the ninth lunar month to write a message of hope or hang one in the trees - we read a few - lots of people wanting to do well in exams, a few more wanted ipods.... After exploring the island, which didn't take long, we settled down to our picnic lunch and a swim and a play on the beach. It's amazing being in Singapore and having a beach to yourself.

Matt and the girls did some scrambling on the breakwater rocks when they spotted a jet ski that had four people on it. The people began waving for help and Matt realised the jet ski had stalled, they couldn't get it started and were drifting out into the shipping lane where containers ship were frequently passing. As there were no giant turtles in the vicinity it was left up to us to handle the rescue. I ran to ask a gardener if he could ring for help, thinking he might know the coastguards number, while Matt ran to the office on the island to ask them if they had a boat they could use. The guy at the office told Matt he could see a police boat coming near to the jet ski so it looked like the drama was over. The guy I had been speaking hadn't actually rung the coast guard like I thought but instead had rung the office. So the guy told me "the police already know about it". So I rang Matt and say "apparently the police have been called". When we got back to the beach and watched the police boat pass by a few hundred metres from the jet ski without offering assistance we realised how the man at the office had assumed wrongly that the police knew and so we rang the coastguard ourselves. They said they would be half an hour. In the meantime the jet ski kept floating further out coming very close to the traffic in the shipping lane. Matt managed to hail another jet ski and ask that man to go out to the stranded jetski people, let them know the coastguard were on their way and see what the problem was. The jet ski man managed to start the jet ski for the stranded family and we were all mightily relieved. They had been floating out to sea for about 45 minutes by this time. What adventures lies in wait for the Bertram family next weekend...stay tuned to find out.

Handling the heat in Japan

I'm in Tokyo and it's pretty hot.  Around 36 degrees and humid and it hasn't been cooling down in the evening or overnight.  Having an image in my head of Japan as a very formal business environment, I packed my suit jacket and a few ties.  However, a few years ago the government passed a law that air conditioners in buildings cannot be set lower than 24 degrees, in order to reduce CO2 emissions (a bit different to Singapore where women often put cardigans or pashminas on inside the super-cool shopping malls and office buildings).  For Japan, this policy has resulted in a lessening of business formality over the summer months.  While there are still some people in full suits walking around, there are much more men just in long- (and even short-) sleeve business shirts with no tie.  Something which you don't see in Australia or Singapore are businessmen carrying what is essentially a thin hand washer around with which to wipe away sweat from their face and neck.  Nor do you see men in a meeting or on the train pull out a hand fan and wave it against their face to cool down.  It's very interesting to see things that are normal in one culture but would be considered uncool or daggy in another.



 

Hiking hazards

Our plan was to walk the whole way around Macritchie Reservoir with the girls - a distance of 11km. Actually it was Felicity's idea. We planned to get up at 6am! on a Saturday! to avoid the heat in the middle of the day but when thunder, lightning and heavy storms rolled in a 4.30am and hung around for 2 hours we postponed the hike until the afternoon. But MacRitchie Reservoir was overflowing by then, literally litres of water pouring into the overflow drains, and it did not look at all the same from when we had gone with Rohan and Kim the previous Saturday. The original 11km seemed a big enough feat for our girls without the addition of mudslides, fallen trees, the sound of falling trees, submerged boardwalk and track that looked more like creek beds. A guy we met along the way said he'd been coming to MacRitchie for 30 years and had never seen it like this. However it did not deter the girls at all who found walking in knee deep water quite fun. We spotted lots of wildlife - monitors, lizards, turtles, eagles, kingfishers, monkeys and a flying lemur (not flying at the time) which we'd never seen before and had to google to find out what it was. We finished in 3.5 hours, slowed down by the mud and water, but very happy with our achievement.

As the Days go bye

So we returned from our luxury (no hot water, no air-con, no tv, no phone, no computers*, no internet access** and no worries) island holiday to have another two days in Singapore with the Days before they jetted off to Melbourne. We did another walk at MacRitchie, high tea in the Botannical Gardens and also the fabulous bird park. It was very sad to see the cousins go. We'd had a great time showing them around and for a while there we had no one booked into Hotel Bertram until our MFV (Most Frequent Visitor) phoned on Wednesday placing his reservation for Sunday.

* Unless you're Rohan.

** Unless you're Rohan and don't mind doing a little bit of detective work to find out where you might get internet access and then being happy to sit in between a few shrubs with the laptop on your knee, and a garbage bag over your head shielding both you and the laptop from the light mist.

The GSS - One Day Only

Well, we've been back in Singapore for a mere 3 hours and Kim and Lucinda are out shopping.  After a week on a beautiful tropical island with absolutely no shops, the girls were almost tripping over in their haste to leave Rohan and I to put the kids to bed and get down to Orchard Rd.  Being July, the Great Singapore Sale (or GSS - Singaporeans love acronyms) is still on which provides shoppers with even more ways to justify their purchases to their husbands. "It was 20% off!" 

Speaking of beautiful tropical islands, we've had a great relaxing time at Sea Gypsy Resort on Sibu Island in Malaysia.  Sleeping in shacks overlooking a sandy beach ringed by palm trees.  Sending the kids off to Kids Club each morning so we could read in peace. Snorkelling over coral among schools of fish. Jetty Jumping.  Fishing.  Scuba diving.  Playing lots of board games.  Turning the phone off for a whole week.  We had a wonderful time.  A fuller account and more photos to come soon...

the Days of our lives

So we've been ticking things off the list with the Days - the Chinese Gardens and the Turtle museum, Jurong Water Park, Universal Studios, MacRitchie Jungle walk, Little India, Botanical Gardens and breakfast with the orang-utans at the Zoo. We also took Rohan and Kim to Chjimes for dinner and a drink at the Eurasia bar to admire the views. Kim and I have managed some shopping and for perhaps the most quintessential Singaporean experience Rohan tried a durian ice cream from an Uncle selling ice-cream sandwiches on Orchard Road. Apparently it wasn't too bad...but I'll have to take his word for it. Personally I believe that anything that smells like rotting meat shouldn't be made into ice cream.