Archive for the ‘Singapore’ Category
Quite a long while ago, I made an exultant post announcing that I’d pretty well finished the book. Hmm. I have had plenty of opportunity to regret that assumption. Apart from the ‘minor’ task of drafting dozens of maps, there have been 101 jobs to do still, big and small. All through yesterday for instance, I worked on the index for the book. How hard can that be, you might ask? Answer: like having your nails pulled out one by one.
Anyway, this time I *think* that it’s pretty well all done. Pesda are well underway with putting it together, one day very soon it’s going to materialise as a real book. Nothing can go wrong. All good. Fingers crossed.
Anyway, a few snaps from our holiday last week, before we return to normal service (i.e. pictures of the south west) …
The gentleman above is Thomas Stamford Raffles, who landed at that spot in 1819 and created Singapore from swamps and rainforest.
Here’s Heather doing the cultural thing.
All of the greenery is part of Bukit Timah, Singapore’s largest remaining tract of primary rainforest. Hot, humid, dense and full of huge lizards and weird flying mammals whose name I forget.
Because the standard of life in Singapore is so high, they draft in workers from the Indian sub-continent to do the lousy jobs. ‘Little India’ was quite amazing, a little slice of Delhi with its crowded streets, pumping Bollywood sounds and mouth scorching food. We’ll be in India proper in a few weeks’ time, this was a great taster.
The number of shopping malls in Singapore exceeds the actual number of residents (well, nearly) and it would seem that shopping – for expensive designer clothes, naturally – is the number one activity, indeed the only activity for most Singaporeans. Amusingly (for me, anyway) all the clothes that Heather tried on were too small – in Singapore, she is a giant among women.
I hadn’t been to a zoo in over 25 years. So why not? Like most of the inmates, these guys seemed happy enough.
Chinatown is great fun and always lively, especially given that the Chinese New Year celebrations were still underway. The food was awesome, I can never face a crappy UK takeaway meal again. I achieved a ‘Number of Chillis Consumed in One Meal’ personal best.
Pulau Ubin is an island on the border between Singapore and Malaysia, pretty much the only undeveloped island left, a lovely spot. We saw mangrove forests and floating fish farms amongst numerous other completely unfamiliar sights. We were lucky enough to paddle through and around Pulau Ubin in the company of two local experts; Huey and Justin. Cheers Guys, we had a great day!
Special thanks to the lady who pointed us to the competition in the first place. Watch for the postman, Helen …
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South East Asia, that is.
We’re in Singapore. We’re having a lot of fun.
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I just agreed to write an article for Paddle World magazine, an annually published touring/sea kayaking publication with international content and circulation. I suggested writing about the Isles of Scilly. The editor, a Frenchman, had never heard of them, so I sent him some photos. His response made me laugh out loud …
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Mark, just checked all the shots, and we should be good to go!
Great news. These places sounds really amazing AND unexpected (England is for most people is known as the “mud island…”). That is what I like most! Perfect!
Philippe.
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Well, we do have our fair share of mud, but the name ‘Scilly’ derives from ‘Sun’. The article will be called ‘The Sun Isles’.
Incidentally, I have just this moment completed an extremely busy week, in which I’ve sorted out numerous invites to the Book Launch, finally completed all the draft maps for the book and still pulled off the day job. I think I’ve sat at a desk for at least 75 hours since Monday morning. The good news is that tomorrow my wife and I fly to Singapore for a much needed holiday!
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No seafaring this weekend. We spent it celebrating my Dad’s 60th birthday. He is going to try and walk 60 miles on his actual birthday this week, good luck Dad!
This was all happening three miles from England’s most inland spot, at the house where I grew up. I actually learned to paddle on canals, with kids throwing breeze blocks at us out of the windows of ruined warehouses. I don’t exactly have a salty maritime background …
PS I was fortunate enough to win this. Grateful thanks to all who voted!
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All of the UK sea kayaking that I’ve been doing during 2007 has been mightily pleasant. However, I’ve been sorely missing my usual white water paddling and overseas travelling fix. Hence, I have already have a few trips planned between now and next Easter* that will help make up the shortfall.
But … what I could really use is a short luxury holiday abroad with Mrs R, somewhere very hot and exotic, with the possibility of a days’ warm water sea paddling perhaps. So … I recently entered a photographic competition organised by the Independent newspaper entitled ‘Where Worlds Meet’. My photo entry is above (taken during a trip to India in 2006) and I am well chuffed to see that it has somehow made the final 10 photos.
Please take a look at the competition entries, and vote for the photos you like best! You can vote for as many pics as you like.
*In order; Spain, Portugal, Iceland, Germany, Poland, Belgium, France and Nepal. Really.
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