Singapore Arrival

It was a short night from Bangalore with less than four hours in the air and a 6am arrival so by the time that we got to the hotel they were not quite ready for us - but breakfast was on offer and we went for a walk along Clarke Quay and Boat Quay while we waited. The Singapore skyline continues to change and an enormous new casino and three towered tourist hotel is being built in Marina Bay. In addition the Singapore river has been dammed and no longer flows into the sea so what used to be the main external jetty is now part of a large reservoir to enhance Singapore's water supply - much currently comes across the Causeway from Malaysia and they still yearn to be self sufficient. Singapore is also becoming much 'greener' and a local and ethical food campaign dominated the local paper today.

The good news when we got back to the hotel was that free laundry was on offer and the first 17 items have just returned beautifully folded - so the rest of the contents of the suitcases will go over the balance of the week!

Much of the next week's meeting people will be around meals and today we met Joan and Pauline for lunch. Joan was part of our Singapore church and is good friends with Pauline - they have been involved in mission activities to Japan and Pauline is still involved in Japanese interpretation and translation whilst Joan is now a secondary school counsellor - so it was a Japanese lunch....

In the evening we met up with Mel and Dan from A Rocha in Chinatown - they are skilled filmmakers and travelled internationally with A Rocha for three years - and are now settling back into Singapore. Mel still working for A Rocha but Dan largely free lancing. We arranged to meet them at Chinatown MRT station (underground) but failed to note that it has six exits up to 400 metres apart...and it was the one of the busiest days on the Chinese calendar it is only two weeks to Chinese new year - the streets were absolutely packed - Oxford St has nothing on Chinatown. It was only by God's grace that we both emerged from the same exit at the same time half an hour later! Chicken rice, Beef Kway Teow, and Oyster Omelette in the local food court helped the conversation though.

As Jean and I returned to the hotel we realised that the Thaipusam festival was still happening at the local Indian temple. Men who wish to either earn merit from or give thanks to the god Durgha march though the city for several miles in a long procession with a huge metal frame on their head topped with peacock feathers and often fixed to them by metal pins through their flesh. Another full day ended. (Photos - skyline, Joan and Pauline, Chinatown, Mel and Dan, and Thaipusam participant)