Shopping... windmills... shopping... badminton... shopping

I survived my first weekend in SG. Thanks to Winnie and John for adopting me. Winnie is my manager from my first industrial training in 2001 and is now living in SG with her lovely husband John.

Things I learnt this weekend:

• Film festivals follow me when I travel. Some of you may know I have been to the Berlin Film Festival and the Rotterdam Film Festival and even Cannes, all by accident on my last big adventure. I found out that The Singapore Film Festival has been kind enough to start this week. I caught some free films on Friday night just around the corner from where I live.



• I am rubbish at badminton. I went with a few people living in the same place as I do went to Winnie's for a game of badminton on Saturday. Makes me wish I listened more when Nick (brother) tried to give me tennis lessons! Thanks for your patience guys.



• Singapore has a giant hand. We went to Suntec City for dinner. Suntec is made up of four tall buildings (fingers) one shorter building (thumb) and the worlds biggest fountain (a ring of fortune in the palm of this hand).



• Fungus can be a dessert too! At the chinese restaurant (interestingly called Soup Restaurant) the dessert was white fungus. I have just added something to the 'must show B when he comes to Singapore' list. I know he can't wait.



• SG has double-decker buses! I was quite chuffed with myself for figuring out the #7 bus was the best way to get from home to brunch and more excited than I should have been when it turned out I could sit upstairs and watch the world go by. SG is also very green, so I recommend a ride on a double decker bus to appreciate this garden city.



• The Windmill game can be played in SG. Yes, I found a windmill, and I had no-one to punch! Brunch on Sunday was at Holland Village. The only thing that linked this rather nice collection of shops, restaurants and bars to The Netherlands was this windmill on top of a building. I didn't take a photo as I was trying not
  to look like a tourist, but I will get one when I go back and stop caring whether I look like a tourist or not.



• All outdoor markets sell the same cr@p. I know there will be lots of exceptions to this, but Chinatown in SG certainly supported this arguement on Sunday. It was crazily hot too, so we didn't last long before hunting down some air conditioning.



• My company recruits talented musicians here! Luckily or unluckily it is not the policy in Oz, but at our flat on Sunday night after an impromptu dinner party we enjoyed a sing-along to three lovely guitarists. The sing-along was missing a camp fire and kumbyah, but had the high-tech touch of a laptop display of the lyrics of each song. I tried my best with the songs in Malay, but my pronounciation needs some work.



• The national pastime of Singapore is shopping. Pretty much all the time not accounted for above was spent wandering aorund the infinite number of shopping malls along Orchard Road, Suntec city & Holland Village. Although I found this disturbing at first, I am starting to understand the appeal of free air conditioning in this heat. I also found myself slowing down to the energy efficient pace of the locals.

So that was my weekend. Looking forward to the cooler and dryer weather in Sydneytown this weekend. Also - FuShMuSh has published a smashing review of our party on the 1st of April if you are interested.