January and February had a couple of very cool weekend adventures..and by cool we mean really hot (still over 30 C) …but even with the temperature rising who wants to sit inside the apartment – (and even when we do, Dad doesn’t let us)
The 1st weekend was a boys weekend with Mom traveling for work, so we took a 20 k bike ride to Marina Bay and then went on our 1st of several quests to find the best authentic dumpling restaurant in Singapore (Swee Chun- see food review blog). On Sunday, we caught a Singapore Slingers game- kind of a minor league for basketball- with 3 Americans on each team dominating the action- and occasionally letting the locals shoot the ball too. Highlight might have been the “cringy” Merlion Mascot…Slingers lost a heartbreaker at the buzzer to a team from Thailand whose was named after the company sponsor (think back to Little League where the sponsor name was on the back of your jersey)
Of course, as we had been all season, we managed to keep up as the Eagles soared into the playoffs- with the special 5:30 AM kickoffs – are you ready for some football! Some Monday morning football?
January also featured Jack’s finishing off his soccer season, a few good meals/ high teas (and by good meals we mean big desserts)
Another awesome January event was the Singapore SMBC golf tournament – and Jay, Bee, and Dad headed out to catch the lead group tee off during the Final Round on Sunday. They also got within 5 feet of Sergio Garcia teeing off on the 7th. Mom joined for a few holes mid round- and Jay and Bob stayed to see the Thai upstart, Jazz Janewattanond, upset the PGA and Euro tour favorites such as Sergio, Paul Casey and Davis Love III – carding a -18 for the tournament. An awesome experience to walk the course with the pros. (A very pretty course on Sentosa but odd with giant container ships in the background) A highlight was getting inches away from a ball that snuck off the fairway!
Aunt Shanuga visited in late January- we gave her a taste of the boys’ favorite Magnum Chocolate Ice Cream Bars at the crazy Ion shopping Mall, a great Thai meal at Jim Thompson’s and dumpling at Din Thai Fun. Mom and Aunt Shanuga explored Marina Bay and then took a 3 day escape to Bali- for beaching, shopping, early morning yoga and the Ulu Wata temple!
During their getaway- the boys went on a joint Boy Scout- Cub Scout camp-out. Jay tried to his best to entertain some Tiger Cubs and do some serious lashing to make the Webelos cross-over bridge. Bee mastered knot tying, 1st aid, fire-starting and compass work. Highlight was a huge campfire with the shooting off of the Arrows of Light…and of course Smores! Then Jay went back-to-back with camping weekends- taking his 1st international camping trip- (and didn’t even loose his passport) to Bintan Island in Indonesia. While it was not as posh as the Club Med we stayed in the past August, (see previous blog) Loola resort did allow for awesome experiences of zip-lining, rocket climbing, small-boat sailing (Jay earned his merit badge for that, watch out Grandpop) and even boom net jumping off the back of a boat (you have to ask Jay, even after watching the video, I still don’t get it).
Of course while Jack was away Bee, Dad and Mom partied on..with loads of fun Chinese New Year Activities (including Ben’s awesome CNY show- which included him doing a Chinese rap and finding all of the pigs in Singapore), and a visit to the Art Science Museum and some awesome wagu beef at a Japanese restaurant in Ion. And one last dose of Monday Morning Football- as Bee and Dad had to leave the Super Bowl after the 1st half due to work… (also pictured- Mom during work CNY events in Shanghai)
After our Darwin trips, scout activities dominated- a 8 km hike for Jay (with a snake and otter siting), Bee extinguishing some serious flames at the fire house and a bike ride on East Coast Park..Jay and Dad got confused and biked all the way back and forth- 47 k- (that’s about 28 and a half miles for you Americans) not too shabby!
We even escaped for our 1st golfing adventure in Singapore- 9 holes of battling the heat and the jungle-filled rough- lost maybe a dozen balls (but battled the snakes to find 14 more- so ahead for the day- there really were signs warning you not to look for your ball because of snakes). Jay and Bee both recorded their 1st pars on real holes! Throw in a cool “giant toy box” on Sentosa when Bee and Jay did a Clue Themed Escape room and a neat “illuminations” festival at Marina Bay- and it was a busy couple of weekends!
And of course, two more trips to find our favorite dumplings..Mong Gong in Greyland had some interesting options (spinach flavored dumpling, yam filled pastry items, and some excellent har gau) but the clear star was their custard bun- smooth, creamy and delicious!
Then we had a true adventure at Lai Kee- a hawker in Bukit Batok – but not you run of the mill tourist hawker…this one was real, under an HDB. Jay and Bee even had to break out their Madarin to talk to many of the vendors…pretty sensational dim sum though- not quite in the Swee Chun level – but the “Big Bau” was awesome and huge and the char siew bao was one of the tastiest we’ve had…Also we finally discovered the reason why our lime tree produced limes with orange on the inside…it is not indeed a lime tree but a calamansi tree- a sweet fruit that looks like a lime on the outside but an orange on the inside- native to the Phillipines…we tried calamansi juice at the hawker and it was delicious! (Completely unrelated but Jay is finding a way to farm via robot- as part of the Dulwich “farmbot” team- pictured below)
