Pulau Ubin

Having lived in Singapore for 8 weeks now, we decided we had better visit one of the local islands which the locals talk so fondly of. We had previously been to the island 'resort' Sentosa, and weren't all too impressed, but we went with good spirits and high-hopes. (And, on the way, we had a great Nasi Lemak, so we were quite happy regardless).


Pulau Ubin is a small island off the north-east coast of Singapore, and very close to Malaysia (our mobiles kept switching between Singapore and Malaysia signals, and the resulting sms's welcoming and farewelling us kept the phone's as busy as we were).


On appearances alone, Pulau Ubin is very much like Bali, on a smaller scale. There is a small row of bike-rental places, a couple of seafood restaurants, and nothing else. We decided we'd follow the pack, and hire a bike for the day.Hanna hasn't ridden a bike for 20+ years, and whilst you never forget how to ride a bike, you can lose some of your coordination... So we settled for a tandem bike (no gears, no brakes) and headed off around the island.There isn't really much to see, and its a bit like riding around bicentennial park in Sydney, even though it is a 'natural' environment, it still seems strangely manufactured. We decided (well, Alan did) that it would be a good idea to head off the main path, and follow a smaller, less frequented path. Twenty minutes later, after peddling through mud and dirt, we decided that we were on the wrong path, and needed to turn back. Hanna, being just above the back wheel was an effective mud-flap, as can be seen in the photo below...


After stopping for a young coconut at one of the local kampungs, we decided to call it a day and head home. The bum-boat ride back was relaxing (as it didn't involve peddling), and unlike the journey to the island, the driver didn't drive full-steam into the pier!


After the activity on the island, we settled down in Changi Village and enjoyed a local meal of Fish Head curry, fried baby octopus and beer... The fish-head curry, which we've been wanting to try for a while, was delicious. You always picture this curry with little fish heads in it, but the head has more meat than the average fish you eat in a fish n chips store, and was great...definitely worth a try!Alan & Hanna 

Esplande, Singapore

What would a page about Singapore be without some of the stereotypical images of the Esplanade and the Merlion be? We had wondered down to the Esplanade with the intention of trying Uber Burger, home to the $101 burger (not that we were actually going to eat the $101 burger). This place (well from the website's pictures at least) has some wicked burgers, and we were keen to try them.

Unfortunately, by the time we got there the place was closed (10pm), and so we ate at the Outback Steakhouse, complete with wombat and kangaroo cutouts... Afterwards, we thought we'd take our new camera (Canon Ixus 65) out for a test drive.

This is the Esplanade, Singapore's answer to the Opera House... It is a giant Durian, which at night is quite spectacular, but not as amazing... I was a bit disappointed with the new camera, but the photo is a bit better on the computer than the LCD, but not as bright as my previous camera.


This is the famous Merlion (half Mermaid, half Lion), which represents the city. Not much to say on this really...
I tried to take some pictures of Boat Quay, but they didn't turn out quite right, so we'll leave you with a picture of a naked lady... a statue on the walk back home from the Esplande... It seems very popular, and there's always someone posing with it .


Alan & Hanna 

Bule Masuk Kampung Petemesan

Bule Masuk Kampung, quite literally, 'white man enters the village', is a rather infamous (and most likely crap) movie in Indonesia, is also a phrase Shelda and Dylan often scream at me when I come to Indonesia...

On that note, this is the first photo I've ever taken of Kampung Petemesan, being Hanna's childhood street, and home to her mum and sister Merry.


What you see above is the entrance to the Kampung (village), and its not entirely obvious, but its a very narrow entrance. Actually, the Honda Accord just manages to scrape through the opening. The kampong traditionally houses families with strong bonds, often representing a small community who work together and help out each other.

Hanna lived has lived in this street over 18 years, and its an entirely different style of living

This kampung is in the industrial/trade chinatown area of Semarang, and is home to a number of businesses, including Hanna's family business, a Bir Bintang distributor (Bir Bintang being THE local beer). Its humerous watching the dozen or so trucks squeeze down the driveway each morning and afternoon...


These two photos were taken from the entrance of the Kampung, up and down Jalan Pekojan (one of the main Chinatown streets). The place is a little deserted as this was a Sunday afternoon. The man in the photo above seemed genuinely confused about my photo-taking antics. I don’t think many people stop and stand in the middle of the road to take photos.


Finally, our parting shot. This photo was taken at Hanna’s friends house. Hanna and Cathy met each other while studying at Billy Blue School of Graphic Arts (1996-1998) and have stayed in touch since. Cathy married and moved to Semarang (from Jakarta) and has since started a small family. From left, there’s Alan and Hanna, Alicia, Cathy, Elena, Cia Sun.


That’s about all for now from us from our short trip to Indonesia. We didn’t really do much there, other than a lot of eating. Fried crabs, fried chicken, fried fish, fried sweet pancakes amongst other things have helped add to our girth over the weekend.

Alan & Hanna 

Candi, Semarang

Six weeks have past now since we left Sydney, and we're starting to feel like Singapore is now our home. This feeling was really strong when we stepped off the plane on Monday night (11:45pm) and knew we were only a 15 minute taxi ride from home. (As opposed to the 7 hour flight we would normally be facing after a visit to our family in Indonesia.

We left Singapore on Thrusday morning, bound for Surabaya, in the west of Java. We spent a good couple of hours here, mainly playing Eye-Toy with our neice and nephew. A series of simple games is made a whole lot more fun by having to move around using the camera... Highly recommended.

Next, we moved on to Semarang, taking with us our neice Shelda, to spend 4 days with Hanna's mum and sister (Merry).

Whilst in Semarang, we stay in Hanna's mum's second home, Candi, up in the hills surrounding the generally flat city of Semarang.


I like this patch of vegatation. Its actually across the street from the house, and is just a vacant lot which hasn't yet been developed. I love that everything seems to grow here, with bananas, peanuts, chilli, starfruit amongst other herbs. Everything seems to just grow randomly. We tried the peanuts (steamed) and have eaten the bananas.. :)


This is the house, and I included it mainly as a comparison to the other house (which unfortunately I didn't manage to photograph as it was raining when I had the camera). So its a future reference point.


This is the wall across the front of the house. Houses in Indonesia appear to be built as miniture forts, with barbed walls around the front, and high-gardenless backyards with walls which generally reach as high as the roofs. I am not sure if this is common in Asia, or just in city Indonesia, but it doesn't exactly make you feel that its a very safe place.


One final shot before leaving Candi, the manicured backyard (showing the rather high brick wall). When the kids are in town, there's often a turtle or two from the local market in the pond (though there were none in there this time... I don't know where the turtles go when the kids go). 

Singapore Sling - Week 4

Time just seems to fly when you are having fun and keeping busy. Its been four weeks now since we first landed in Singapore. Over the last couple of weeks, we've spent a fair bit of time exploring our new home, but in typical Beaver fashion we haven't taken many photos.

This weekend, we treked out to the Red-Light district of Geylang, and managed to be the only people who couldn't find anything remotely 'red'. We think we managed to see a G rated version without even trying! After that we settled for an afternoon in a mall, followed by King Kong.

We also walked along the river between Clarke Quay and Boat Quay, both being Cockle Bay but a little bit nicer, and a lot more history...There are some really nice photo opportunities...but alas, no camera.

It seems in the Lion City, there is a love for Bulls, with these statues to be found randomly around the place, in a variety of colours.


Today we decided to head towards what we think must be one of the ugliest buildings in the world. The building, Pearl's Park ws a renowned design in its time, for being the highest density housing in Asia. It also boasts increadible views as it has been built as a crescent.


Singapore's a great place, but they really didn't think about their architecture. Housing in Singapore is generally what they call HDB (Housing Development Board), which is similar to our Housing Commission, but on a whole different level.


This was a pond beside the much loved building. Not sure if its really clear, but it was a horrid pond, with no sign of fishes, but in good Singapore fashion, there's a cute no fishing sign. (Or, as Hanna suggests, is this a no Fish Allowed sign, which seems a lot more fitting).


We're trying to make it a habit to take the camera with us on our journeys around the city...

So until then...