>>> Another Chillin' Day! <<<

Went to visit my grandmother's ashes today at the Church of the Holy Spirit Columbarium. I felt bad that I couldn't attend her funeral last December. She died a few days before her 92nd birthday. Visiting her ashes she brought tears to my eyes... she used to look after me when I was a baby and taught me the Hokkien dialect as she couldn't speak English. She was also a great cook too and used to make a lot of homemake Nonya cakes and goodies. Every Chinese New Year, she would get orders for them. I even helped her at some stage too but unfortunately, these days, it's far easier to purchase them. But they don't have the same quality and taste as homemade ones though!

In the afternoon, we took the boys to see the Dinosaur exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre only to find that they close every Mondays! Great! Dad then brought us to his clubhouse nearby to explore it. Man, it's big and have lots of facilities available. According to my dad it's under-utilised too. Pity! There were lots of swimming pools around for various purposes i.e. for kids, for adults and even a water slide. My boys wanted to swim but we didn't bring their trunks along.

That's one pool of the the rest.

Upon further exploration, found a bowling alley and booked a lane for Ollie to play. He was pleased as punch and his granddad showed him how to bowl as well. Zac wasn't too pleased about it but they didn't have bowling shoes in his sizes.

Got back in time to get ready to go out with my brother. He had arranged for us to meet up with his friend whom had visited us in Birmingham a few years back. He's now married to a French lady. We went to this very isolated part of Singapore, Seletar air base and we could see the colonial houses left empty. They were really beautiful and if refurbished, would make lovely homes. I'm told that land is protected so not sure what is the future of those houses. Singapore used to be a British colony, hence we can see find the remnants of colonialism in certain parts of the Island.

Dinner was at an open air restaurant, against the backdrop of private airplanes and helicopters. It was western cuisine, much to my dismay so I had breaded prawns and squids while the others took a panfried fish meal. Didn't say I enjoyed my meal much. Later, we decided to go to Geylang, a very interesting area of food, fruits and hookers. You can get really delicious meals there as well as a wide variety of local fruits (my fav). Unfortunately, hookers are also part of the scenery as well although they don't bother me too much! The area is packed with people most of the nite, due to the attraction of food and fruits (I hope!) Went to my fav fruit stall and spent almost $50 on various fruits.
Firstly, durians - hit the best variety no less. This fruit has a pungent smell to those who can't bear it. It has been described as the smell of rotten eggs or really smelly cheese! To me it's plain heavens! The fruit itself is rich with protein. Unfortunately, after eating one or two pieces, it's enough for me.

That's moi, tasting the duku to see if it's sweet. Next to it is the mangosteen, the purple ones. Talk about fruit paradise!

Then I spied the fruit I craved for... duku, a hard skin small fruit with several translucent flesh inside. It can sometimes be really sweet or sour. I totally 'heart' that fruit and can't find it at all in the UK! Bought some manages too for the boys as they luv it and some mangosteen.

The group then drove to Clarke Quay, an area by the riverside where we sat on the grass and had a fruit feast. Gosh, it feels so good to be eating local fruits. You can find mangosteen in the UK but they sell like 65p per piece. Here I buy 4 kg for $10. For small fruits, they tend to sell per kg basis as opposed to per piece. So you can imagine my frustration at the crazy price I've to pay in the UK!

We walked around Clarke Quay and came upon some people filming a movie. They had taken a fountain area (with water shooting out from the ground) as the main scene. The actors were Indians so we guessed they were shooting a Bollywood movie. Looking at the scene we fathomed that it had to be a singing/dancing scene, very typical of the Bollywood movie. We watched and had a good laugh as it was a scene of a romantic couple, stopping the water from coming out and dancing through the shooting fountain. Gosh, I sure would like to see the movie.

Later, we parted company with my brother's friend & his wife. As we were walking toward the carpark, the aroma of coffee beckoned and we stopped at a coffee cafe. Hubby took a ginger coffee blend while my brother went for an Oreo mocha one. I ended up with a blend of banana and soymilk instead! It was fun to sit, chilled out (without the kids) and people watched!

Got home to find the boys fast asleep. They hadn't given my parents too much hassle. Later hubby, dad and moi sat down to discuss the boys' future. We decided they should apply for Permanent Resident (PR) status as well as sorting a primary school out for Oliver. Children here go to school officially at age 7. Hence Ollie would have to start school next year. I do want him to learn Mandarin as I feel it's important for him to know his mother tongue. It will probably serve him well in the future too. My dad wants him to learn to play tennis too. Anyway, I will need to call the Immigration tomorrow to find out about getting PR status for them. Hopefully it wouldn't be a hassle since I'm still a Singaporean. Perhaps the notion of returning here is in sight...... thanx to my son! TTFN!