Seasons Greetings (nearly) from Singapore!

Salam from Batam! 

Brian and I are settling in fine and are happy to report that the boat with our shipping container is still afloat and has made i through the Suez Canal :) All being well it should arrive in Singapore on 23rd November. Hopefully it will clear customs okay (eeek!) and should arrive the following week. It will be so nice to have all our stuff here at last, opening all the boxes will be just like Xmas!

Last Thursday was Islamic New Year and as Indonesia is a predominately Muslim country, Brian got the day off work! Woohoo! Bri also had a meeting in Singapore on Friday so we decided to head off there for a few nights.

I found a really good deal on an amazing 5* hotel, £150 a night instead of £600 so I went ahead and booked it :)

Unfortunately, when the confirmation arrived I'd only actually booked it for myself and not Brian...........oooops! Anyway, I couldn't amend or cancel the booking, so I had to sneak him in when no-one was looking.......... bad me!

We headed off late on Wednesday night to the ferry terminal. We had to make sure that we caught the Sindoferry as Brian likes to watch the Tom and Jerry cartoons that it shows and they don't show them on the Batamfast ferry (I wish I was joking).

We had planned to go to Singapore Zoo on Thursday. You can have breakfast with the orang-utans, ride on the elephants and all sorts of other things that health and safety doesn't allow at Edinburgh Zoo :) However, it is monsoon season and Thursday saw some pretty torrential rain.........

.........so we decided to skip the zoo and went to the cinema instead to see Skyfall (in English but with really annoying Chinese subtitles) Still, can't really complain, goodness knows what it would have been like at the cinema in Batam........

Afterwards, we wandered along Orchard road, which is the main shopping street in Singapore. There are lots of street vendors at the side of the road and we found one selling ice cream sandwiches...... I'm not joking, actually blocks of ice cream between two slices of bread (Andrew, I though of you when I saw this, I know you like to put everything on a piece ;P)

Singaporeans are into christmas in a big way and although the christmas lights hadn't bee switched on officially, there seemed to be decorations and christmas trees on every available surface.........it was fab!

Can't wait to go back and see everything all lit up! On Friday, Brian had an early meeting so I had a lazy morning in the hotel then hit the shops :) The shops in Singapore are so much better than in Batam, unless your looking for a 'genuine' Gucci handbag or a rolex for $10, in which case Batam is the place for you! Also, shopping is a national past time in Singapore so it would be rude not to.........

I bought..........1 pair converse all stars in red (love them!) for $59 (about £29), a couple of t-shirts for $16 (£8) and this gorgeous wee thing..............

I couldn't resist his crazy eyes and mad hair and at least if our shipping container doesn't turn up in time for Christmas we'll have one little decoration in our house (he's a reindeer by the way!)

All in all, I think Brian's credit card got off pretty lightly (until the next time........mwahaha!)

So Friday night it was back to Batam! I met Brian and one of his workmates for a few drinks before we got the ferry home. This is what the ferry looks like-

And this is what it has to negotiate........ in the dark.........

So we kind of panicked a tiny wee bit when the engines cut out and a bell started ringing half way home and we were just bobbing about in the sea! People were looking around, talking in foreign tongues and I was wondering how I was going to save my brand new converse from the inky depths................ Anyway, turns out we weren't going to sink, one of the propellors had stopped turning so we limped home on the other propellor and arrive safe and well back home on Batam an hour later than expected. Phew!

So that's another week done........I'm off to lunch with my Ladies Group tomorrow. It's a Pot Luck lunch but really, it will be pot luck if no-one dies from eating whatever I take with me........ha!

Sampai jumpa lagi!

Lou & Brian xoxox

Busy, busy, busy..........

Well, well well....... cant believe I've been here over a week already! Time flies when you don't have to work :)

As promised, some pictures of our new home. Its a wee bit bare inside at the moment but will be just fine when all of our things arrive in 3 weeks time (fingers crossed the boat doesn't sink before then.......)

Brian and I ventured out on Saturday to the shopping centre at a place called Nagoya Hill. We really didn't have a clue where we were going but took off in the general direction of the town and actually only got lost twice. Pretty good navigation skills on my part I think........ 

Unfortunately, they don't allow photographs to be taken in the shopping centres here so I don't have any pictures but the hypermart was like Asda on drugs...... It was crazy busy, absolutely massive and there was a trolley dash taking place (couldn't find Dale Winton though)

We managed to buy everything we had on our list though, including this bad boy........

.........Introducing the Flavorwave Halogen Turbo Oven!! Indonesian homes don't have ovens so someone suggested we bought one of these. It did come with an instruction manual but written in Indonesian so it's pretty much an experiment in cooking (some might say that any cooking I do is experimental!) Anyway, between the two of us we managed to cook some bacon in it for our breakfast on sunday, yeah!

On Monday, Brian was back at work so I went to the local wet market with Dawn and Kelly, two of the girls who live on the Estate with us. It was amazing, all the food looks really fresh and you can pretty much get anything you want as long as you arrive early enough.

Although most of the population here is Muslim, there was still a pork butcher tucked away out of sight in the market. He was very happy to pose for a picture (not sure if he was naked or not though.........)

After our wander, we had a traditional Indonesian breakfast of onion roti, chicken rice, curry sauce and broth. It was really tasty but it's a wee bit strange having stuff like that for your breakfast when you usually have special K........

Yesterday was Melbourne Cup day in Australia and the local expat women's group had organised a lunch to celebrate (any excuse, eh?). So, feeling brave, I decided to go along with Dawn to meet them......eeek! Everyone was dressed up and I managed to borrow a fascinator to wear. The girls made me feel very welcome and had a really lovely afternoon. Maybe I can be a lady that lunches after all :D

Brian is also making an effort to get to know some new people and has signed up for a golf outing with the locals who work for the company. Goodness knows how he'll manage to play 18 holes in this heat. I'll let you know how how he gets on! 

These are some pictures I took at a place we went to today called Waterfront City (more food, really must do some exercise!). 

Batam really is a beautiful place :)

Sampai jumpa lagi!

Lou, Brian and our new pet, Dave the Giant Patio Snail xoxox