Yellow gold

One of the things that we still need to do for the wedding is buying the rings. It's a small detail but an important one.
We've browsed through the jewellery shops in the malls nearby and so far were not very lucky. We are looking for something simple and everything they have is designed to shine and sparkle as much as possible.
Little India is mentioned in several guides and expat websites as a good place to go when you want to buy jewellery. So we went and quickly we figured out that we won't find our wedding bands there.
First reason: the style, too much Indian for us.
Second reason: it's all yellow gold and we are more into white or rose gold. Not to mention it's 22 carats yellow gold vs. the 24 carats we are used to; and that makes the gold even more yellow.
Third reason: the style, the more you browse the more Bollywood it gets. It might be nice in India, but on a pale European skin, it's highly debatable.

Luckily for us Singapore is one giant shopping center. We will find our wedding rings, fingers crossed. It might take a bit of time and visits to many shopping malls.

Stolen

"Stolen.

Nearly 5 million kg of maple syrup, worth $30 million from Quebec; it was a quarter of the province's strategic reserve. Quebec produces 75% of the world's maple syrup."

I read this in Time magazine today and it made me laugh. Why would you have a strategic reserve of maple syrup?

I had to share this with you and will for sure ask my brother to check next time he goes to Quebec.

Searching for a new sofa

Now that we have an apartment - at least good hope that we get it - we need a sofa (and a TV....).
Today we explored several shopping malls dedicated to furniture: IMM, The Furniture Mall and Park Mall.
After three hours of scouting in many shops we found two sofas that could do the job with a reasonable price.
We did learn a lot over the time we spent in the shops:
- many of the sofas look the same
- some shops offer customization, i.e. when it's made in Asia (likely China). Some shops don't offer customization, i.e. when the sofas are imported.
- for leather, one should read the fine prints. There are sofas in Italian leather made in Italy that cost a fortune (up to 40 000 S$ !!!!) and there are sofas in Italian leather BUT made in China. The Italian leather is imported to China and then assembled. Like the iPhone: Designed in California, Made in China. Those are much cheaper (5-10 000 S$).
- majority of the sofas are soft which is killing my back and requires extra strength to get back on your feet.
- majority of the sofas have a low back which for the tall people that we are is a problem. I can't imagine buying a sofa with the back stopping half way through my back.

There are still a few other malls we haven't checked out, before we end up at Ikea out of despair :)
Let's see next weekend.

A few facts about Singapore

When moving to a new country, it's always good to learn a few facts about it. After almost one month in Singapore, here are a few facts that I've read or been told.

Singapore is among the 20 smallest countries in the world, with a total land area of just 683 square kilometers. Yes, each time I move to a new country it's a smaller one: France to Italy to Belgium to Singapore. Maybe next one will be Monaco or the Vatican.

Singapore's average daily temperature is 26.7 C. I can confirm that it's nice and warm no matter the time of the day. The only time when I'm cold is actually indoor because of the air conditioning. Somehow the it's a complete different mindset to be col inside and warm outside. In Belgium and most of northern Europe, it's usually the other way around.

Singapore has over 300 bird species. While so far I haven't seen many of them, I've heard them in the evening. It sounds like thousands of birds are sitting on the trees simging even if it's hard to see them. I guess a visit to the bird park will fix that.

The landlord signed

To get an apartment in Singapore, step one, once the apartment is found, is to write a letter of intent with all your requests and submit it to the landlord. Once the landlord signs, it means the property is off the market while the tenancy agreement is being prepared which can take 2-3 weeks.
We wrote ours last week and were a bit stressed during the weekend as we didn't have any answer.
But this morning, an short email from agent informed us that the landlord had signed the letter.
If everything works out fine from now, the apartment is ours.

Keep your fingers crossed that we go through the paperwork as smoothly as everything else so far in Singapore and that the container will arrive on time.

It feels good to know we have found our home. It doesn't matter how nice the serviced apartment is, it's not home.

The Chinese and Japanese gardens

Since we've been in Singapore we've spent most of our time, when not in the office, in the center: Orchard road, the Botanic Garden, the Marina Bay area, etc. It was about time we started explore the rest of the island.
We decided for the combo of the Chinese and Japanese gardens on the west part of the island. It took 45 minutes or so to get to the entrance of the Chinese garden. While getting there was pretty simple thanks to the well developed subway system, it still took quite a bit of time. The subway speed reminded me more of the RER in Paris than anything else. From the subway it was a quick walk to the entrance so I cannot complain much.
What we had not anticipated is that with the Chinese Lantern festival going on, the access to the Chinese garden was not free today due to the festival that was supposed to take place later today. I can't help asking myself why people coming in the morning should pay 12S$ to enter a festival that will only start 8 hours later. There was not much we could do there. Still we came all this way and there was still the Japanese Garden, which we were told could be accessed for free today. Just need to get to the other entrance.
That was easier said than done. Why, you may ask. Because once the access to the Japanese garden from the Chinese garden is closed, the other access is located on the other side of the lake, some 3 km further away. That's not much as a distance but with the ambient heat it makes the walk harder.

Anyhow, we came all the way so we had to at least see one of the gardens.
The more we walked the more we anticipated there would not be much to see in the Japanese garden. And there were not much indeed. Still it's a nice peaceful garden. Whether it's really Japanese I couldn't judge but it had enough Japanese cues to give that feeling to someone who's never been to Japan.

While the garden didn't make a big impression on me, something else did: a HUGE lizard. When I say huge, I mean it. It was easily 1m long.
What happened? Wolfram insisted we would walk on the red bridges. As I made my way toward the first one, I passed close to a tree and something moved. I screamed and while my heart stopped for a second the beast for rushing to the water, with Wolfram chasing it to get a picture of it.
I could have been dying there by the tree and my beloved husband is running after the creature to take a picture.
It turned out I nearly stepped on a mummy lizard which was taking care of her eggs, buried under the tree.

A little later I spotted another lizard, a bit smaller. Might have been the daddy. Curious we stayed a bit longer hoping to see them coming out of the bush where the mother lizard had been hiding since our encounter. Eventually she would have to get back to her eggs.
And they did both get out of the bush quickly swimming back to the land. I managed to get a shot at the "beast" confirming how big it was.

It's just crazy to think I was so close to such a creature. But again, now we are living in a tropical country. That might be like seeing a fox or a deer in Europe.

Still it scared the hell out of me.

Some changes by the pool

For many years people were entertaining themselves by the pool by reading books, magazines or newspapers, chatting with friends, taking a nap, etc.
Since I've been in Singapore I've observed that the habits have changed a bit.
People still read but on their phone, tablet or laptop. Myself, I'm writing those lines nicely sitting by the pool with my laptop.
People still talk with friends but those may not be there with them. Thanks to Skype and Facetime, now I can sit by the pool and chat with my family and friends back in Europe or wherever they are.

One thing has not changed: people still take naps. It doesn't matter how much technology helps us staying connected, when someone is tired, he sleeps.