Today I took my camera out again and decided to shoot some architecture around The Esplanade. Although we've been in Singapore for 1 year now, we hadn't really explored that part of town. It's was a great day for a walk and some photography. We walked from The Esplanade over the Esplanade Drive Bridge to the other side of the river, where the famous water-spitting Merlion stands outside The Fullerton Hotel. We then continued towards the CBD and China Town.

You can find the results over here.

Today I took the whole team (everybody that was there when we spontaneously decided) out for lunch. Got a last minute reservation for 30 at Crystal Jade in Holland Village. It must have been the biggest and greatest lunch in a long time. To give all of you a little flavour of our 7 or 8 course meal, here're some of the things we had today:

• Rice Rolls with Shrimp, BBQ Pork and Gourd


• Ha Kau and Siew Mai


• Steamed Chicken Feet


• Fried Beancurd Skin


• Fried Carrot Cake


• Boat Congee


• Flying Colours


• Sliver Fish


• Chinese Herbal Jelly


• Peking Duck


• Shark fin Soup


• Lemon Chicken


• and Chinese Tea

After 2 hours of fine lunching, we returned to the office (stop-over at StarBucks) and finished the planned activities in time. A great achievement for the team, we have come a long way and the team lunch was a well deserved celebration.

Dear visitor,

You might wonder what happened to this usually busy blog, but I am so busy at work, that I have no time to undertake anything worth writing about. And if I do, I often can't find the time to blog about it. We arrived in Singapore 12 months and a few weeks ago and the one and only reason we came out here, is for me to help my employer through this 3 month testing period. So, testing started as planned about 5 weeks ago and since then, my "normal" Singaporean working day of 9.5 hours, has been extended to a good 12 hours in average. And next week, Olivia will join the Singaporean working force officially as well and she'll start understanding the real meaning of a weekend (time to regenerate).

But I am not complaining, it's just the job I do and will not change unless I start a new career or retirement. So, it's going to be a tough few weeks ahead and potentially busy until the end of the year. During which I will occasionally post something interesting. My weekend remain free of work for now, so I will try to get out and play some golf, shoot some pictures or any other hobby I aspire.

So keep visiting!

So yesterday just after lunchtime, Olivia had the brilliant idea of having some Chinese food. She knew exactly what she wanted, but it took us a long time to find. In the end, we found a Chinese restaurant using Google Maps on my Blackberry and a vague memory I had of a place just outside StarHub's former headquarters called The Eastern Restaurant. We started off with some steamed peanuts and lime-juice and had some very nice spring-rolls, various wanton and dumplings and spicy & sour soup. All together, very nice but nothing compared to what's being serviced in Australian Chinese restaurants.

There're several new malls opening this season on Orchard Road and yesterday we went and have a look at the first one. All these malls are build on the south side of Orchard Road, where other enormous malls like Ngee Ann City or also known as Takashimaya Shopping Centre are located. Construction of 4 of these malls roughly started 12 months ago when we arrived in Singapore. The first one is kind of open (stores are still being build, but the building is open to public), the other 2 are set to be opend in the next few months. No signs of thre credit crisis on Singapore's main shopping street.

Orchard Central is a very impressive mall across the street from Centrepoint. I remember this being under construction for as long as we're in Singapore, because the headquarters of my employer used to be around the corner. With only a few retail outlets opened, it's a little confusing and you easily get lost. It's supposed to be the first "vertical" mall in the world, making use of the valuable space on Orchard Road, but building high up. And by surprise we found this multi-story climbing wall in the middle of the mall, very unique but very fitting in a vertical mall. The roof will feature a garden and fine dining. I am sure I'll be back once all occupants have moved in.

The next one to open is probabaly ION on Orchard further down on Orchard across The Marriott Hotel, which will be even bigger than Ngee Ann City and will become Singapore's biggest mall. It will house several flagship stores from the bigger and more expensive fashion labels and there're be an residence tower with observation deck, an art gallery and large square. It looks absolutely spectacular from the outside and I am sure I'll be posting some pictures in the future when both these malls are complketely finished. ION will definitely become the icon on Orchard.

Towards the end of the year 313@Somerset and Madarin Gallery will also open.

After having decided never to watch a movie in a cinema other than in Gold Class when we were still living in Melbourne, I was glad to see that Singapore also has several Gold Class cinemas. So, this weekend we finally got to the movies and watch Night at the Museum II. Movie wasn't very good (only a little funny), but Gold Class is Gold Class and makes the cinema experience so much better. Mental note to myself: Never book tickets to a kids movie again if you don't want to be the only 2 out of 3 adults in the room and the third adult has a 1 month old baby!

Next movies to watch: Star Trek, Angles & Demons and State of Play.

Today we bought a lot of fruit and vegetables at Singapore's Wholesale market in Pasir Panjang. It's a large area in Singapore's West Coast Industrial Area, where I think all Singapore's market vendors and hawker stall owners buy their daily fresh ingredients. There's sections for dried food (everything from dried scrimp and fish, to nuts and fruits), fresh vegetables and fruit. Although you can really save a lot of money (30% of what you would pay in ColdStorage) and things look really fresh, it's not really a place for small grocery shopping people like you and me. Only a few stalls (especially the fruit section), cater for smaller volumes (that is smaller than a crate or box). Without a car and a big industrial fridge at home, not really worth visiting.

But the fruit-juiceback home was DELICIOUS and half the fridge is filled with yummy healthy snacks.