Back in La France

We are back in the country that we love. After landing at Toulouse, and getting a lift up to Senaillac-Lauzes, near Cahors, we were re-acquainted with this beautiful part of France.


The rolling hills and limestone gorges, and the fields of poppies. June is a lovely time of year here, everything is flowering, the hotter sun of the summer yet to dry everything up.













We were treated to views of chateaux and little medieval villages, clinging to the hillsides,






















with the Lot river rushing though the valleys. The architecture in these parts has very steep roofs and are made from creamy limestone, a bit like Cotswold stone. Every village is very picturesque.

Back to Blighty

After a good flight from Singapore, we got back to Heathrow on 5th May. We stayed a night at an airport hotel as, although it was 6.30pm when we arrived, to our body clock it was the early hours of the morning. The following day we collected a hire car and drove back to Bristol.

We struggled with jet lag for about a week, feeling extremely tired about 3pm in the afternoon and keeping ourselves awake, and occupied until a reasonable bed time. Waking up at about 5.30am to start with, but gradually getting back to normal as the week went on.

We were treated to a meal by Pete, Tracy's Dad on the Friday, being joined by Lee, Molly and Faye, it was great to catch up with everyone after a year away. We were amazed at how much Faye, who is now 13 had changed, into a young lady. We had a Chinese meal which brought back memories of our two weeks in Singapore! Luckily not a pig organ soup in sight, this meal was much more tame.

We soon got into a routine at Della's Mum and Dad's catching up on a year's worth of correspondence, mostly junk. Sorting through our clothes, getting rid of another black bag of clothes that didn't fit or were out dated, Della finally let go of her flares!! We were ruthless and very brave, to the benefit of the CLIC shop, where Della's Mum volunteers.

We met Christine and Phil at The Crown, Giddeahall, a quaint little pub in the heart of the Cotswolds, and had a lovely Sunday lunch with them. It was great to hear all their news, although Christine has always kept us posted with very entertaining letters throughout our travels.

The following week the Smith household was struck with the lurgy, First Della's Dad, then Della and Della's Mum, luckily Tracy avoided the horror of loss of control from every orifice! Della's Dad, being the first to recover, became the Consultant for the other two remaining patients and Tracy was given the unenviable task of Matron! The pair passed each other on the landing, like zombies, carrying bowls and fresh bedding to and from the bedrooms. The house was calm and peaceful for a week, the nursing staff seemed to be enjoying it far too much!

We met Pat for lunch at the Folly, yet another pub, on the Thursday, and caught up with her news, daughter's wedding plans etc. Pat being an avid blog reader, obviously was well up on our news, probably could tell us what we have been doing! It is due to this lovely lady that the blog is updated regularly, as she tells us off if we don't 'post' regularly!

We went to Lee and Molly's, Tracy's Brother and Sister in law's for dinner on the Saturday evening, we had lots of chats and laughs, and a delicious vegetable curry.

Tracy's mum came back from her holidays on Sunday, so we spent the day with her. We were able to show her some of our photos, as she hasn't a computer. We came home with some new tops which Sandra had bought for us, which will come in really handy for the impending summer.

Now that Della was back on form, we went to the dentist, had our hair cut, met Sandra and Aunty Linda at the new Cabot Circus, in Bristol, very posh! Did all our little jobs that had to be sorted out. Obviously we found time to have dinner at Sue and John's meeting their daughter and son in law. We had a lovely evening, with lots of good food, company and laughter.

Tracy got chance to play golf with Faye, at Bristol Golf Club. Faye is having lessons and Tracy hadn't played for 3 years, so they were very evenly matched. Pete and Della were the caddies, and the sun stayed out for a glorious afternoon overlooking the River Severn and the Severn Bridge. The Welsh coastline was clear, making the backdrop to the tense competition very pleasant! Age won out in the end, but not by much!






The bank holiday weekend came around, Mum and Dad went off to Llandudno, Wales, for the weekend, to a barbershop convention, Dad is in the Great Western Chorus. (www.greatwesternchorus.com) We had the house to ourselves and took the opportunity to invite Jane and Steve and Lydia and Tom for the evening. We had a great time, Tracy prepared a lovely meal, Della did some creative cooking in the way of Tom's dessert! suffice to say he had to do without! Della has been banned from the kitchen for the foreseeable future! phew!

Faye played in a football tournament on the weekend and her team won the cup. They all called in on their way back and had supper with us. We got to meet Callum, Faye's boyfriend, for the first time. He was a lovely boy, very polite. He knew just what to say to butter up two mad aunties! He'll go far.

We did a fair amount of walking whilst we were home, as we didn't have the use of our car, long story. We used Mum and Dad's when they weren't using it, and in between we walked where possible and took the bus a few times as well. That was an experience! Not only was it expensive, but it took a degree to work out the timetable,bus stop and bus number, we couldn't have done it without the help of the mums.

We went to yet another pub, The Bird in Hand, at Saltford, with Della's Mum and Dad, on our last Wednesday. We had yet another lovely meal, enjoyed more for the fact that mum had a voucher for money off! We were quite a rowdy table, as we all had a fit of the giggles at one point, recounting the events of our visit, but nobody took any notice due to the fact that Manchester United were being hammered by Barcelona on the big screen!




Jacob, Della's Nephew, turned 10 on the Friday, 29th, and we had breakfast with him. This gave us the opportunity to see Julia's, Della's Sister's new house. We had the guided tour and then we all had breakfast. Jacob had a new bike and his first mobile, so after breakfast he cycled off to find a quiet spot to do what all young people do with their mobile phones! His parting words as he went out of the door were "Call me" It is now a permanent fixture on his thumb.







We went to our final pub on Friday, to have lunch in the gardens of the Folly, with Sandra and Pete, Tracy's Mum and Dad. It was a lovely, sunny day, and we made the most of the warm weather, we were the last to leave, all the other diners having eaten and gone. We talked about old times and had lots of laughs.













The time passed all too quickly, although we did manage to fit a lot in whilst we were home. Tracy doubled as a travel agent for Margaret and Brian, and compiled an itinerary for them to visit New Zealand next year, as well as showing Brian the many virtues of Google! He will be glad to have his computer room back again, after we took it over on our arrival.

Aunty Mary and Uncle Mervyn came round on Saturday evening, and we all watched the final of Britain's Got Talent, we were all rooting for Stavros Flatley, or the little Welsh boy!(Aunty Mary's favorite), Tracy and Della walked to a nearby Chinese takeaway to get our last fix of Asian cuisine before getting back to France.

Margaret and Brian took us to Bristol airport on the Sunday morning, and we waved them off in the warm sunshine, hopefully this is the start of a nice summer for the UK this year.

We had a great visit home, catching up with almost everyone. It really didn't seem like we had been away a year, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore seem a lifetime away. We are looking forward to going over our many photos and readinfg our blog, so that we can remember every last detail.

Chinatown

Chinatown was created on the recommendation of Sir Stamford Raffles, in 1828, and retains much of the architecture and a little of the atmosphere of old Singapore. Many old shophouses and many temples and other old buildings erected by the early immigrants remain. You can also see the towering structures of the Financial District dominating the skyline.

We took the MRT into Chinatown, (alighting at Tanjong Pagar)! We headed towards the Chinatown Complex, via Sago Street, which was once infamous for its 'Death Houses', where the terminally ill came to die. It is named after the many sago factories which used to operate here. Sago Street is filled with shops that peddle mainly Chinese goods, from lanterns and crockery to foodstuffs such as Chinese cakes.













On the corner of Sago Street there is Buddhist temple where we saw the morning prayer taking place. We had to wear a wrap to cover our bare shoulders, and thought we looked rather glam!After browsing the stalls in Sago Street, we went to the Chinatown Complex, which has one of the most boisterous wet markets in the city. We saw a bewildering variety of fresh produce on sale including fresh fruit and vegetables, seafood, caged live frogs and huge eels. The air was pungent. Needless to say we didn't hang around for long!

We walked down streets filled with busy open air cafes, bars and shops. We also saw some very distinctive shophouse architecture, with the top overhanging floor being built entirely of timber. The shophouse is a memorable feature of the local architectural landscape.

We passed by the Sri Mariamman Temple, the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. It was being renovated, so couldn't see the spectacularly colourful gopuram.

Whilst we were waiting to cross the road we spied another vegetarian restaurant, offering local Chinese cuisine. We had a lovely meal of 'mock' chicken and rice and 'mock' duck and noodles for a very reasonable price once again.

After lunch we made our way to the Thain Hock Keng Temple. This is the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore. Built on the site of a joss house, by Hokkien sailors, it was the place where seafarers gave thanks for a safe passage to Singapore. Today people give their thanks to Ma Zhu Po, the goddess of the sea.

Kampong Glam & Little India

Friday 1st May 2009

Feeling refreshed and revitalised from our mini break in Indonesia, we decided to explore some more and later on Friday we headed out to the area of Singapore known as Kampong Glam and Little India.

Kampong Glam is derived from the words "Kampong" (village), and "Glam" (a type of tree), that once grew in the area.

Arab traders were among the early settlers here creating a muslim enclave. Buildings are predominantly Art-Deco-style shophouses and grander colonial architecture with a middle eastern feel.

Little India is an attractive blend of interesting sights, spicy scents and heady sounds. Even more so during our Friday afternoon visit as the locals were going to worship and their prayer songs and sounds of the calls to prayer added to the ambiance and atmosphere around us.
Little India is the spiritual heart and the commercial centre of the local Indian community.

There are numerous restaurants, large and small, traditional shophouses and ornate temples. Crowds flock here, especially at weekends, to worship, eat and socialise.

We began our tour of the area in Arab Street - which has rows of shops selling cane, rattan and straw products, it is also famous for its textile stores, bales of colourful cloth overflow on to the pavement and cram the store fronts - fabrics such as cotton, chiffon, organza and silk can easily be purchased here. Arab Street is also renowned for its batik from Indonesia and Malaysia, typically sold in sarong lengths.

The majestic Sultan mosque also looms strikingly in the neighbourhood. Calls to prayer from the minaret were clearly heard during our visit and locals flocked in to the mosque with women and children sitting, shoeless on mats outside in the courtyard.

We watched respectfully, as the men used the Ablution areas where they washed their hands and feet before entering the mosque to worship.

Opposite the mosque is Bussorah Mall which is a paved street and which has lots of stalls selling foodstuffs and religious items.

From Arab Street we walked towards the vicinity of Serangoon Road. We passed an open air market with all the items strewn, haphazardly across the ground, reminding us somewhat of a car boot sale back home!! We cut through a side street which was heaving with people - all men and all Indian - we were the only Westerners and the only females and as such a tad conspicuous.

All around there was a pleasant hustle and bustle, and the scents from joss sticks and culinary smells filled the balmy evening air.

The early Indian migrants to Singapore in the 19th century settled along the banks of the Rochore canal - the area eventually became a cattle breeding and trading centre and this is reflected in the name of some of the streets in the area; Buffalo Road and Kerbaw(buffalo) Road.
With more Indian arrivals in Singapore, Serangoon Road became Little India.

Serangoon Road, the heart of Little India is one of the oldest roads in Singapore. The cafes and restaurants were packed with mainly male Indians who were using their fingers to eat from banana leaves that serve as plates.

Also on the Serangoon Road is the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, which is a temple in honour of the Hindu goddess Kali.

We had read that the more famous Indian restaurant, The Komala Vilas Restaurant specialising in South and North Indian vegetarian cuisine (www.komalavilas.com.sg) was worth a visit so we went in search of it and found it located further along the Serangoon Road. It was very busy!

The menu was varied and there was lots of choice - we decided to go with our waiters recommendations and had simply one of the best Indian meals yet!
We had Masala Dhosai which is pieces of paper-thin Indian bread filled with potato and peas (a bit like an English pasty!), and a selection of dips. We also had the Ghee Butter Masala with paneer and Kashmiri naan - very tasty and very cheap! Many of the other customers were eating with their hands as is the tradition, and there were sinks and taps available for hand washing pre and post meal - we were treated to the luxury of a fork and spoon!! The staff were friendly and accommodating. It was a fantastic experience and we felt well and truly immersed in the local Indian culture.

Nongsa Village, Batam, Indonesia

Our hosts also own a villa on the island of Batam which is just across the water in Indonesia. They kindly allowed us the chance to stay at their villa for a few days to enjoy the area and their home there.

On Tuesday 28th April 2009 we took a taxi with Leone (our host), to the ferry terminal at Tanah Merah and where we boarded the Batam Fast ferry which took us across international waters to Batam. The channel of water was full of container ships, boats, trawlers, tugs and local fishermen which made for an unusual sight but which truly demonstrated the busyness of the port. We also had views of Singapore CBD in the hazy distance as we made our way across the waters.

The crossing took no more than 45 minutes and on arrival after being issued with our temporary visa we took a shuttle to Nongsa Village. This was a short drive but a complete contrast to the sights of Singapore. Small shanty towns were dotted alongside the road and little children, their parents, chickens, dogs and cats were going about their daily lives.

The villa at Nongsa Village is beautiful. A true retreat, set amongst native bush with views of the Singapore Straits. Yet more ships and fishing boats could be seen out on the water.

Leone settled us in and took us to the nearby resort (Turi Resort), where we enjoyed lunch overlooking the beach.

We spent the next 2 days enjoying the peace and tranquility of the island, the friendliness of the locals and the fantastic sunrises!!

We walked and read, saw monkeys, geckos and birds. We swam and relaxed under palms, we ate
and drank and relaxed some more!!

The Chinese Gardens

Monday 27th April 2009

We took the MRT (only 1 stop), to the Chinese Gardens. This is a 33 acre Chinese Garden which characterises the Imperial Sung dynasty style and mirrors the resplendence of Beijing's Summer Palace. It has twin pergodas, a stone boat and a classical tea room. The Chinese Garden also has an interesting collection of Bonsai and herbs. The herbs found here have medicinal value and are used as ingredients in traditional recipes.

It was extremely hot during our tour of the Chinese Gardens so we endeavoured to stay in the shady areas as much as possible. There were a number of relaxing, shady spots where you can sit and enjoy the gardens.

We climbed a pergoda and enjoyed panoramic views of the lake and 13-arch bridge. We saw turtles sunbathing on the river bank and Koy Carp (the size of dolphins!), swimming in the lake. We spotted a gecko and chipmunks climbing in the trees. We also saw huge snails on the river bed.

Our favourite part was the Bonsai Garden where chinese music was playing gently in the background and we found it very peaceful and relaxing. We saw a local tending to the Bonsai trees and were in awe at the marvellous specimens on show there.

We were forced to cut short our visit as by early afternoon we were flagging fast due to the high humidity and very hot temperatures.

Still, it was well worth the trip and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

The Jade Complex

Our temporary home here in Singapore is an apartment in a complex which consists of 2 buildings each 30 storeys high - we are on the 18th floor. The views are superb from the balcony, to the west we can see the numerous high rise apartments home to the local population - to the east we can see Singapore city - the MRT runs directly opposite the building. There are plenty of green areas with a profusion of trees which has the effect of softening the surrounding panorama of buildings. At night the view is even more impressive as lights twinkle and shine in each of the buildings, along the roadside and in the near distance.

The amenities at the Jade include a tennis court, gym, sauna and pool. It is just like a resort!!