What a lovely time we had together - now this blog is gonna be BIG, as I have consolidated the whole two weeks in to one blog. If you're ready I shall begin.
We had a lovely meal with our mates Gordon & Thes at the secret seafood restaurant I have blogged before on "Is Life a Recipe". So razor clams, chili crab, garlic steamed prawns, garlic steamed kai lan, and EVERYONE's favourite lemon grass pork rib in yam basket. It's worth coming to Singapore just to try this one dish - oh yeah baby.
Yep we went back Universal Studios - he he. And not even a suggestion from the kids in the first place, this was Mum's idea. SO off we went on what was one the most quiet days ever in there. Very nice, and as usual of course we had an absolute blast, and actually experienced some new things this time.
Here we go on the first ride of the day, Madagascar The Crate Adventure. A sort of boat ride through a ship to see the story of Madagascar. Very cute. But once it was very frightening for Amy, as her first time on it was all tears and shaking. Now she loves it. Again have a look, just us on it, no one else about - the place was empty, really amazing.
Still in Madagascar, and jumping on to the King Julian's Beach Party-Go-Round. Have to admit I really like this one, takes you back to being a kid in UK at fairs and the like. Round you go, sitting on characters of Madagascar not traditional horses, with loud pumping and really funky music. I was standing this time round though to enable me to get this picture. Nice shot BK, even if I say so myself.
Just slipped in to Far Far Away, and here is a lovely family shot. See if you can do a who's who? Like tagging in Facebook, just hope I don't get tagged as the 4th from the left, ha ha! As you can imagine Amy loved this photo, shame no Mum in this but she was also taking a snap or two of this grouping - very cute.
Two lovely shots with Mum, with Far Far Away Castle behind. These are really nice, one by me and one by Mary. You literally are laying down on the floor with the camera angled up so you get everyone and the castle in the picture. So OK bodies maybe looking a little long, but still it's a lovely family shot.
We all (apart from Mum - he he), managed to escape going on Dino-Sore this time round. Another of Amy's favourites, bless. The music from this ride is sung in the car on the way to and from our trips to Universal - so it can get a little same same Amy my love, but look at your face. Who cares - you love it!
This is uber cool. These guys dress up in costume and run round on stilts. There's lot's of different ones that you may have seen from the other blogs - Egyptian, Science etc. But this is by far the very very best. This is Bumblebee from Transformers, this is so so clever. It looks real!
My munchins mocking up an arrest.
"Book him Danno".
Here is Amy and I on Canopy Flier in The Lost World. Last for about 30 seconds, but from the screams you'll be able to realise it's quite a giggle.
Nearing the end of the day now. Ollie and I have disappeared to do Battlestar Gallactica which has two rides and even with Express tickets will 30 minutes or so. So Mum and Mary are on "keep Amy entertained duty". Good effort.
This was new. We were wandering around when they started to cordon off the path/walkway - and 30 minutes later it was a parade. Now you'll know from previous blogs we have been there many many times, and this really was a first for us. Cool!
And this is the final video of the parade and one I just can't leave out as this made me giggle so much. What the hell is this? Like a black box with 2 sticks of charcoal sticking from the bottom. He was actually a clapper board (film related right), but happens to dance in the campest, weirdest way - I loved it.
Final one of this day excursion. Shrek's house in the swamp. You probably can't see this, but the kids had just walked up to the "outhouse" on the left and it played some sounds of Shrek in there saying "get out of my swamp". Ha Ha, it freaked them a little so they were running down from there, but I said stop so I could take a picture. What a terrible parent!
Then we left for Indonesia - goodness me a lovely place. We decided to scoot over on a "lasminute.com" packages to Bintan Island, Indonesia.
A great adventure for us and I am certain for Mum. Basically leaving Singapore and catching a 45 minute ferry to Indonesia, different language, religion, currency, climate - but so so close. We land at the ferry terminal, jump in a car and we're off South East for an hour to the resort, which happened to be very close to the ferry terminal to Nikoi Island - again you'll have seen this in previous blogs.
Hotel Agro, I would say is 3-Star, a little run down and in renovation phase - but if you want to sit and chill, with no Blackberry signal and flaky wi-fi - and seriously just chill, then get your bum down here. There are some amazing photos to follow which I'll give a little background to.
This is a 5 minute walk from the hotel, past the swimming pool on to the beach. Now that is not a bad view is it! It's just beautiful. In the middle on the horizon is Nikoi Island itself. And to the left on the horizon is White Sandy Beach, which you will see lot's more photos of shortly - WOW!
Above with, and below without a bit of photo-shopping.
It’s just beautiful. Weird was that we met an Australian lady and her daughter over in SEA for a tour, and they said, “they hated this place and could not wait to get home – who in their right mind would be a hotel/resort on mud flats”. Er how could you say something like that about this place – this photo is the other way looking to the pier where we had our lunches – see food blog for that topic.
How can you say that? Indonesia is a developing country, OK with a high GDP in Apac terms, but it's still a tad 3rd world. But such beauty, lovely people, amazing food, girls it ain't Sydney!!!! Stupid cows, p*ss off back to Australia PLEASE! How can you complain with a view like this from the hotel restaurant, now in by books this is pretty amazing! OK no Harbour Bridge or Opera House, but to be honest who gives a f*ck!
Have to add this one though. I know we've all had the emails of "Engrish", where the translation from local to English has had a "wobble". This one did make me giggle. Sorry Hotel Agro, but this is funny.
Also on "Is life a recipe?" I hope you red re our fosskicking & grubbing experience on the beach - picking up cockles and Gong Gong from the beach, and eating them a few hours later freshly prepared by the hotel chef - amazing! Here are the girls at the start of the hunting for food session.
Here is the kids pointing to the fruits of our labour. Not a bad haul is it? Sitting here in some salted water to get the shellfish to "spit" out the sand so they're not crunchy when you're eating them.
And here is me and Ollie checking some crab nets that the local fisherman/villagers lay out on the sand flats in between the seaweeds - clearly where the crabs walk when the tide is up. Baited with some small fish and then just plonked on the sand and checked at next low tide.
Wherever you walked there were these little crabs, size of a thumbnail bolting for cover in their little holes in the sand. Very cute, but when zoomed in like this they look formidable with one huge claw almost the size of the body. Here's two having a wee cuddle in their hole. Very beautiful creatures.
We really got Mum in to local food now and here we are watching the chef make roti prata for breakfast, delicious, with a fantastically spicy curry dipping sauce. Keeps you regular too ha ha!
The next morning we rented a little speed boat, well bought some tickets on the speed boat (as you’ll see from the VT) to go across to White Sandy Beach that I showed you earlier from afar - now you can see it close up. Wow, just breathtaking. Here's Ollie checking the view on the way.
Love this stuff. Here we are from the boat. All we need is Duran Duran playing Rio and we're 100% sorted. A little commentary there for you too, so you get the idea.
Can't tell you how much I love doing these island hop boat trips - you'll have seen us in Vietnam, Thailand etc etc whizzing across bays/seas to go explore somewhere new, well here I go again. I love it!
On the way we sped past these floating fishing platforms. Literally they moor up along the coast and then potter out to see to fish and sleep on board. Keeping the catch in nets in the sea so all remain very fresh. Wonderful sites of Indonesian history and heritage.
As the name suggests, it IS white sandy beaches all over and some. One guy lives on here serving drinks and keeping it tidy. It is just a beautiful beautiful place as you’ll see from this variety of shots, with very little photo shopping. Another “pinch me moment” in the making, just look at it, it can only be described as paradise!
I mean look at this place - here are some random shots I took from over the island.
Mum & the kids at play on the main beach (hot hot hot) - it's just stunning, what a front garden to have and look behind Mum and the kids and there's your back garden - WOW!
I just LOVE this photo. No faces but clearly you know who it is. "Ollie I'd follow you anywhere!" comes to mind, such is the love of brother and sister. It's evident isn't it. Following footsteps in the sand.
No electronics, no wi-fi, no Blackberry, no email, no electronic games - in fact this was the ONLY "logging on" the kids did this day (get it? "logging on").
I mean it, just look at this place - these are front page magazine shots!
Talking of magazine shots, check out Mary in her "model" pose - very nice!
Here's a view back at Nikoi Island, again check previous blogs for some snaps of that place. To the left of it is iPOD Island. Ollie and I have circumnavigated this Island in canoes, great fun hey Ollie. A very beautiful Island indeed.
And here are some lovely shots of everyone milling around, playing - just relaxing and having fun!
I had just had another tattoo done on my leg so was not allowed in swimming pool or to have it too exposed to the sun, so hats and long trousers were in order for me. Had to put one photo of me in as realized I am not in a lot here.
We're all going to the zoo tomorrow! Well actually today was the day. Singapore Zoo is ACE, best I have been to actually. Huge kids water park in middle, free ranging orangutan, chimpanzee etc literally swinging through trees above your head, not cages but open spaces for the animals - you rarely see the pacing animals you see in London Zoo and the like. The animals actually look contented. It's just a beautiful place and about to get even better when they open the river safari in Spring 2012. Go Singapore!
We started with a family of otters, gorgeous little things - squeaking away.
Pygmy Hipos, but you can't see them as we did some family snaps in front of their tanks as the fish were beautiful, sorry Hippos or as Amy calls them "Gloria".
To Tapirs having a swim in the hot sunny Singaporean day.
White tigers emerging from the undergrowth. Again look how beautiful tho place is. This is no concrete caged environment, they really do look happy!
Very strange cannon ball fruits. In fact naughty story here, we visited the Asian Herb Garden in the zoo and stole loads of cuttings, all of which are now growing nicely in pots at my condo ha ha.
Kids driving land rovers (well pretending too, but looks real!)
Monkeys (well orangutans) - both mine and the zoos!
Monitor lizards the size of a small horse, basking in the sun. No Germans would be able to reserve deck chairs with a towel if this puppy was staying at the same hotel and wanted a sunbathe.
And tortoises the size of .................., well Mary. And no BS, there were tortoises this size in the enclosure to Mary's right.
Random snakes, although you'd say there were anything but random if face to face with them. Just the King Cobra, the slightly too green photo (bad lighting in his enclosure), was about 8-9 foot long, huge powerful head and a body the thickness of my arm. Scary!
But how beautiful are these. The colors and markings are incredible. This is all filmed through glass, but the good old camera still got these great shots. All are poisonous so very happy the glass was there of course!
Beautiful gardens with vibrant colors, with the lake behind. It's so so nice here and we're outdoors in fresh air, playing having fun.
Beautiful flowers all around, this one I took a shine too so made some special attention to take a nice zoomed in HD snap. Very pretty.
The to the water park - I won't say a lot here as a picture pains a thousand words and all that. Well readers read on, there's thousands of words contained within, including my absolute favorite of the love birds - brother and sister, Ollie and Amy having a song - "love you Ollie", "love you Amy".
Even the "adonis" Kennett decided to strip off. Well basically I got soaked getting photos of the kids, so twas short of time to allow it to dry a bit! See no flexing of muscles or anything - promise!
Walking the plank???
Amy - check the face = on a flying fox, zip wire thing. A very brave 3 year old, clearly with good grip too.
And of course Ollie had to go one better, by doing same but standing up. Go Ollie!
Sometimes the kids go batty, drive me batty, but all is good in the end. But have a look at these bats. Flying Foxes, fruit eaters but big teeth, but still very cute. This was an incredible part of the zoo, almost like a jungle in a cage. Birds, bats and butterflies flying around, sloths and lemurs sleeping, mouse deer, iguanas all just having a lovely time and of course therefore so did we. My absolute favorite in the zoo.
Blowing a raspberry? Well they are fruit bats. Check the little tongue on the one on the right.
Ok and one artsy one of the bats, all sort of black and white but with the tree in green, nice!
What about the other 6 deadly sins? Well here's sloth! A deadly sin to be absolutely spark at 4pm in the afternoon. Sleep on big man! Clearly you had a busy day, or were out out last night with the boys!
And parrots and iguanas - check the colors, just amazing.
I got absolutely blown away in here. There were these tiny little deer called literally Mouse Deer that were the most gorgeous, timid little things you have ever seen. Usual me, I'm up to my neck in foliage trying to get good photos and spotted this little female one at the back of the cage. I did all the usual things of make yourself smaller, be quiet etc etc and bugger me this gorgeous little cutey comes over and let's us start petting her. She liked us so much she even started to follow us when we were leaving, but people behind kind of stopped that happening. How gorgeous is this little thing. This MADE MY DAY, as I think you'll see from my expression - so impressed to that little Amy got well in to this - it runs in the family!
The chimpanzees were so funny, and of course so human. Here's my favorite two photos.
I'm calling this one Oliver - "Please Sir can I have some more?" - check the face, ha ha!
No name for this one, just if you could have a thought bubble above his head, I think it would be; "Shit I'm bored!"
Mum it was amazing having you here with us to see what we see, do we what do, enjoy what we enjoy on a daily basis, we all miss you massively.
Thanks so much for coming, with all our Love Bri, Amy, Ollie and Mary xxx
