♫♫♥♫♥♫♫ down by the riverside ♫♫♥♫♥♫♫

we wandered around down by the riverside last Friday evening.....

and as usual much colour, music, lights, activities, people, fun and performers all come together to have a wonderful time during the Singapore River Festival......



Singapore River Festival 2009

June 19 - June 27

The Singapore River Festival 2009 returns for a second year, from June 19-June 27, to set abuzz Singapore’s 24-hour nightlife entertainment district with exciting lifestyle and entertainment events on and along the river. From Boat Quay and Empress Place to Clarke Quay and Robertson Quay, the whole river will come alive with free events and activities.

Revellers will be spoilt for choice with nightly activities that include a specially commissioned romantic musical and bumboat parade, paying tribute to the people of the river, a music festival celebrating our vibrant musical past, spectacular aerial performances, a Mojito festival, themed parties, an attempt at a record-making performance of mega illusions and a dance marathon.

With its wide array of dining establishments along the river, the Festival also promises great deals and a host of other irresistible food and beverage promotions to complement this not-to-be-missed nightlife experience.

free bumboat rides, one for one meals, half price drinks, free admission to the Asian Civilisation Museum and much more ....... so it was a very economical evening!!!


these are just a few of the images I took on Friday night so you have a little bit of an idea how vibrant Singapore is - especially at night!


looking forward to next years festival which is sure to be bigger, brighter and better!!!

see you there....

♫♫♥♫♥♫♫ down by the riverside ♫♫♥♫♥♫♫

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Sleepless in Singapore

the above images are of my pillow when I woke this morning...... all crumpled and upside down. I don't know why I bothered to iron those pillowcases yesterday!!!

....... and I should have taken a photo of the bed as the Doona ( Duvet or quilt to some) was not any better.

John has said that some times when he wakes he sees me laying across the foot of the bed or at right angles with my feet hanging out ......

well, we can't all be perfect!

but I do need to have a restful sleep tonight.

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some behavioral differences

When I first started this blog two and a half years ago, my idea was to capture the following:

"my thoughts and feelings about my life whilst living in Singapore, what we have seen, the places we have been to, what we have done and the people we have met"

But it seems to be more about where we have been and what we have done rather than "my thoughts and feelings" of being here in Singapore!

So here are my 'thoughts' on just a few of the cultural differences:

First off, gotta say I do not like people pushing and shoving to get on the train first, or on the bus first, or on the ferry first ...... they just seem to be a bunch of inconsiderate individuals who are only thinking of themselves, no matter what, they have to be first on first off. .. or get to the seat first!

Now I do not like it, not one little bit ..... at first I used to be very vocal and tell people to please wait till we get off, even letting them know how rude they are.......

But wait - are they rude or just ignorant?

(Ignorance is the state in which one lacks knowledge, is unaware of something or chooses to subjectively ignore information)

Yes, they are being rude by my standards.

and yes, probably being rude by the standards of many people and lot of us believe they are also not acting "well mannered".

But in my home country I can tell you there are a lot of rude and ignorant people there too, they will push and shove with the best of them and I wont even start on the "road rage" subject!

Have given these behavioral differences a lot of thought (and after all of those thoughts - I still don't like it) but starting to accept these differences of the local population.

We - as expats - are here as "guests", so we are the ones that have to accept what is happening around us and start to have some understanding of the cultural differences.

Otherwise we are the ones that are going to
have a very unhappy time while we are here.

It is not up to us to tell the local people how to behave in their own country.

images from: Newspaper Clippings


No one can tell me there is a country anywhere in the world that is PERFECT , there are people elsewhere that will also push and shove or speak rude or spit or are bad mannered. It all depends on what effects you or how you react to it. What you accept might not be what I would accept.

We cannot just say "everyone here is so rude" because they are not. Some people may behave different to how you would expect them to in your country or places you have lived.

This is all part of the cultural difference's.

If you - as an expat - expected it to be the same as where you call home, you may as well have 'stayed home' as you are not open to learning about a new culture.

Some one once told me when I first came here that I should live in "Holland Village" because that's where all the Expats are ..... my thought on this was that if I wanted to live "where all the Expats lived" I may as well have stayed at home!

On some of the expat forums, you can read what people say about the "rude Singaporeans" on a daily basis:

MRT crowds, there is no give way, no queuing, people just crash in as soon the door opens, without letting people getting off first.

And people don't move into the centre of the train, all cramped around the doorway, so poeple can't get on to the train and when you ask people Politely to move, they'll just pretend they either don't know your existence, dont hear you, or simply just ignore.

Used to be so MAD about this, later on, found out, oh well, there isn't much you can do. Either you say *excuse me* and push yourself in to try to give people behind you more space to come into the train, or, you somehow become one of them, just well pretend it doesn't bother you, and that's what everyone does anyway.

or another one:

The crowds getting on the MRT is a good one. Similarly, people getting onto elevators are annoying. Also when I am waiting for a bus and the bus pulls up in front of me, why is that other's who are waiting behind me think it is OK to push in front of me to get in the door? It's only common courtesy that the person closest to the door gets on first.

For a nation that, in some people's opinions, is good a queuing I am shocked at the impatience on display.

I am still adjusting to this.






...... and yes, I am still adjusting to this after 28 months of living here. I am just trying to have a better understanding of the people around me, the people I meet daily, the people that are part of my community while I am here.

If I am to enjoy the time that I am here in Singapore it is me that has to make some changes, be it acceptance and understanding or standing back to let them all jump in ahead of me.

Not the local people.

Maybe we can show by example - to always be polite and well mannered?

will it work?

I don't know.

It would be really nice if they could change some habits that I don't particularly like, but it is not up to me to make that happen.

it is not up to us either to be angry or to fester the situation 

by telling others about how rude everyone is.

To live in harmony and have a peaceful life
is to have more understanding of community around you.

My belief is that if you want to have understanding of another person -

stand in their shoes for one day
and see if you still feel the same way at the end of that day.

I still don't like rude people though
regardless of where they come from or where they live!

May 2011:

well it is now two years later and I do notice that some things have changed, not everything, but some. The most noticable being there is less shoving "to be on the train first", the bus is OK, but certainly not the ferry situation. That has got worse if anything. I truly have no idea WHY they feel the need to be on first (maybe to get the better seat??) but to push and shove to get on the ferry is downright dangerous.

Service in most stores - or lack of - has not changed, the sales person will ignore you if a 'better looking customer comes along' by that I mean a 'fatter wallet'!!

If you are being served by the sales person, another customer will come along and rudely push in front and ask a question about items in the store.  Wait a minute .... one person at a time PLEASE!

so some things have changed in the past two years and some have not.

.... and I was at Tekka Market yesterday ..... I was at one store and the three staff were sitting there, in the store, on the floor eating their lunch. They were Indians and were eating from the paper wrapped food with their hands.  I didn't think anything of it, but could see it was their lunch break, so I sat on the chair and waited.

The lady said to me: "You must think this is a terrible way to eat, you would never eat like this so it must look really awful for you"

My reply to her was " No, It does not bother me at all, I don't think it rude or awful"

She then added.... "but you don't eat with your hands"

"No, I don't, well yes, sometimes, it will depend on what I am eating .... but it is not wrong to me, it is different to what I would do but that does not make it wrong... so please finish your lunch ... I am not bothered about you eating and I don't mind waiting".

I actually felt sad to think she had to apologise to me for her 'normal way of eating'. Do we (as Westerners) make them feel that way?

like I mentioned earlier in this blog posting:

We - as expats - are here as "guests", so we are the ones that have to accept what is happening around us and start to have some understanding of the cultural differences.

Otherwise we are the ones that are going to
have a very unhappy time while we are here.

It is not up to us to tell the local people how to behave in their own country.

To live in harmony and have a peaceful life
is to have more understanding of community around you.

a PhotoShoot around Kampong Glam.....

Last weekend John and I went on a photoshoot with the BuzzSingapore Photography Group .... the idea being to do some "Street Photography" around Kampong Glam.

We all had a great time, even though it really was incredibly HOT to say the least.

But we got to see much more than we would otherwise have done on a normal 'tourist jaunt' around the area ...... we saw the men sitting around smoking the Shisha Pipe and drinking Peppermint Tea - as seen here:
we also saw a few very unusual sites that seemed a bit prickly!

and then we came across the more colourful fabrics, beading and accessories of the clothing stores....







But street photography is also about capturing people when they least expect it.....
and to capture what we see when we even manage to look UP .....
all in all it was a great afternoon, even though we had to leave early as we had visitors arriving from Melbourne..... we are both looking forward to our next PhotoShoot with BuzzSingapore!

BuzzSingapore


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my eighth year

today is a special day on my calendar

I have survived another year!

http://www.nbcf.org.au/


June 22 2001

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Singapore Chinese Orchestra

e had a lovely weekend which of course started on Friday evening when we went to see the Singapore Chinese Orchestra.

The concert was titled JAZZ YOU UP

We saw Jazz musician Chris Brubeck and his group Triple Play fellows, Peter Madcat Ruth and Joel Brown, perform alongside the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) in an evening of distinct musical styles. Thrill to the sensation of this East-meets-West encounter as Chris and his Triple Play jazz to the newly-arranged trio of Bach Prelude in D Minor, Rhapsody of the Grassland and Summer Palace.

At the end, Take Five was brought back upon popular demand. No surprise there!!

The SCO is a distinctive Chinese orchestra that is fast establishing itself among similar counterparts in the world, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra (SCO) is the only professional Chinese orchestra in Singapore.

Inaugurated in 1997, the 75-strong orchestra has the patronage of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and finds its performing home at the Singapore Conference Hall.

........... and Tsung Yeh is my all time favorite Musical Director!!

What an amazing gentleman.

Just love him.

if anyone wants to attend any of the concerts or wants to know a little more about the SCO, this is their website:

http://www.sco.com.sg/

fabulous! fabulous! fabulous!

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water for the village of Phum Leang Dai, Cambodia

if you read the previous posting it is about us ordering a well for this village in Siem Reap (Cambodia) and we are happy to say that it is now completed and the villagers have WATER ...... they no longer have to walk 3 or 5 klms to fetch the water from the river. It is right there in the village for them to use for drinking, cooking and bathing!

The above photo is where they are erecting the new sign to say it has been donated by Australia, with our names beneath.
This is Ly Heng showing the children how to get the water to bathe. Ly Heng was the person we had to organise the drilling of the well. Here is his first email to us last week:

Dear Leone + John,

Today is such happy time that villager come and see you well drilling.
They say thanks to you. I wish you are here see this happy people. I send you some pics for today and will send the finish tomorrow. God bless you.

Best Regard. Ly Heng

and here we have a very happy Ly Heng standing in front of the completed well:

and the second email we rec'd last night:

June 10 2009 :

Dear John and Leone, I am sorry for late sending you photos of well, it is finished two days.

Water now come out please see the photos.

The village that I dig the well for is the most poorest village in Siem Reap. The house we placed the well there are four orphans live. The last day I went to the house the lady near that house asked me to take care those orphans. I could not stand in front of this situation because, I couldn't help them at all, just the well.

You know you are one part of their lives. villager so thankfull..... On behaft the kids would like say THANK YOU so much, may this goodex come to be happyness in your life and familly.

God bless you and familly

Best Regard, Ly Heng

Here the children are being shown the use of the well, they obviously find it fascinating!


This lady is a widow and has four young children.....
.... and now some of the villagers all dressed in their very best to pose for the photo.....

I am going to start planning a second well, so be warned my friends,

I will be asking you for a donation to help.

soon!

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a little water goes a long way

http://www.sustainablecambodia.org/cambodia/VillageLife.asp

in the above website it says:

There are perhaps 50 adults and 250 children living in and around Osdao, a village that is about 2 square kilometers in size in the province of Pursat. The two nearest villages are Svay Ath and Krangpophlack.

There is a great deal of transit that takes place between the surrounding villages and Osdao, with methods of travel including bicycle, motorbike, lorries on train tracks, walking and carts pulled by motorbike or oxen. The people transport fruits, vegetable and rice for sale in the markets.

Roads that connect the villages are the primary transportation corridors for the population. In the central business district of Pursat town, homes are connected to the city water treatment facility, yet most homes beyond the central business district, including those in the village of Osdao, get their water from the nearest water source: Pursat River, small ponds, or from rice paddies. There is a general inaccessibility to water for the majority of the people in Pursat province.

For those living outside the central business district, water from lakes, rivers and irrigation networks is transported in buckets typically carried by the families. Most people boil the water and use it for non-human consumption. Otherwise it is untreated. Those who can afford it collect rain water in large clay pots or buy bottled water.

The community needs better connectivity to clean drinking water and irrigation for crops during the dry season. This means improvement and expansion of water pipelines, expansion and improvement of the treatment facility to ensure the water's safety and rebuilding and improving the irrigation networks. The best thing we could do is to build them some deep wells.



the above report could be written anywhere in Cambodia, not just Osdao. Villages thoughout Cambodia are in need of help in any shape or form. We chose to install a well at PHUM LEANG DAI (hope I have spelt that right) it is a village about 35 klms out of Siem Reap......

When we were in Cambodia last month, we realised that many villages did not have water. No water unless of course they drag it up from the river by bucket.

after much negotiation we rec'd the following email last night:

Dear Leone + John,
Today is such happy time that villager come and see you well drilling.
They say thanks to you. I wish you are here see this happy people. I send you some pics for today and will send the finish tomorrow. God bless you. Best Regard. Ly Heng

Ly Heng took some images for us yesterday to show us the pre drilling, the work in progress and a few of the villagers that the well will help.



we are over the moon, am in tears...... it's exciting, emotional, heartwarming ... you name it, all the emotions are there just to know that the people in this particular village are getting a well.

more images in the next few days!

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an air tragedy can affect us all

We have all been concerned about the Air France tragedy .... and today the headlines state:

Air France jet likely broke apart above ocean

which is what we had all been talking about ... hoping and praying that nobody did suffer.

and in the news this morning:

The pilot sent a manual signal at 11 p.m. local time saying he was flying through an area of "CBs" — black, electrically charged cumulonimbus clouds that come with violent winds and lightning. Satellite data has shown that towering thunderheads were sending 100 mph (160 kph) updraft winds into the jet's flight path at the time.

Ten minutes later, a cascade of problems began: Automatic messages indicate the autopilot had disengaged, a key computer system switched to alternative power, and controls needed to keep the plane stable had been damaged. An alarm sounded indicating the deterioration of flight systems.

Three minutes after that, more automatic messages reported the failure of systems to monitor air speed, altitude and direction. Control of the main flight computer and wing spoilers failed as well.

The last automatic message, at 11:14 p.m., signaled loss of cabin pressure and complete electrical failure — catastrophic events in a plane that was likely already plunging toward the ocean.

"This clearly looks like the story of the airplane coming apart," the airline industry official told The Associated Press. "We just don't know why it did, but that is what the investigation will show.


I wanted to blog yesterday about this tragedy, but no words could describe how I felt. That is until another Expat friend wrote the following on her blog and describes perfectly how we all feel:

Since I am officially an expat in another country, when we hear of plane crashes they hit close to home. The chances we know of *someone* on that plane have gone up tremendously since we took this job. Most expats spend a good bit of time in the air; for us it is 24+ hours flying home and 27+ hours flying back. It is difficult to plan your lives around expat life. Our friends in Singapore are expats as well, and fly as often as we do.

I have no idea why I am posting this on here. Maybe I wanted the world to know that even though we lost someone we have never met, they are 'family' in a different way and we are deeply affected by their deaths and saddened we will never have the opportunity to get to know them. Maybe I am posting this to ask for prayers, not only for their families, but for all the other families affected by this tragedy. Maybe I am posting this to say 'I love you' to all the other expats I have met. You have certainly changed my life and I love what you have given me in return. Every day is precious and today I realize that even more than yesterday.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a sister in our company informing us of the worst possible news; we have lost 2 (company) family members - we lost not only an employee (vice president of a division) but another employee's young son as well. The young man was apparently going home for holiday. He was not yet a teenager.

Maybe I am posting this, just because it hits so close to home it hurts. Words seem inadequate to express the loss we feel. Our company has been touched by a tragedy worse than the financial crisis - we have lost a colleague and a child.

to read her blog in better detail, click here.

She is an excellent writer and puts me to shame with her very newsy, informative, funny and sometimes sad postings.

my reply to her was:

.. .. this posting has brought tears to my eyes.... you could never have spoken a truer word.

It is not until we live away from 'home' that we begin to appreciate what each and everyone of us has to go thru.

Some people wonder why I am concerned about the Air France tragedy as we did not know anyone on it.

Do we have to, to feel the pain and anguish of others?

But as expats we all have friends here that work in the oil industry, and we did hear of the (oil) people on the flight ... and immediately you do a mental check as to where everyone is.

Thanks for this very heart warming post.

Thoughts and prayers to all family, friends
and work colleagues of the crew and passengers from the Air France disaster.

why do people complain and criticize so much?

a couple of times a week I log onto one or two of the Expat Forums .... not for any particular reason, maybe just to see whats happening, or who is going on holidays, or where to buy some books .... just basic info.

But lately the forums are full of complaints and criticisms.

People put up a question asking where to buy this or that, or where to go for a weekend, or maybe they are looking for friends.

But there are always so many replies in the negative.

Many people say the most ridiculous things that just don't help anyone, or the situation and certainly not helping those that asked the question.

This morning reading where a person was looking for a desk. She found one here in Singapore but it was "ridiculously expensive" and went on to make comment how much it was in the UK. That is fine...... some things are more expensive, some things less so....

but the usual stupid reply arrived:

QUOTE:

Does anything make sense in this ridiculous country?
Nope.
Just enjoy this place for what is can bring to you, which, I admit, is very little.

UNQUOTE

why reply like this?

It was not necessary.

Such a selfish person ....... typical to think of just themselves........ it sends a very bad message to the local people, and in all honesty does nothing but create unrest.

The person that wrote this must surely gain a lot from living here, he/she would take home good pay and most likely have a good lifestyle.

But they are ready and willing to knock living in Singapore!

He/She is one of those Expats that only here here for one reason: to take what they can and not think about giving.

unfortunately there are many of them.

I am often ashamed and embarrassed to be known as an "expat", as we are all lumped into the same 'box' by the local population.

I often wonder how Singaporeans would fare living overseas (many of them do) but wonder how they react to costs, lifestyle, friends etc .... do they constantly complain? Are they unhappy? Do they have their own "Expat Forums" where they vent their anger and frustration as above?

Not everything is as it is at "home" wherever that maybe. Some prices maybe a little higher, some a little lower. So what? The wages they earn covers all that!

I know someone from the US here that is always complaining about the cost of things .... but totally forgets the exchange rate!!

I also try to remind her that so many things are made in the US .... here EVERYTHING is imported, so we need to pay extra for the duty, the storage, the shipping. But it is totally beyond her.

We have all been given the opportunity to come and live here, mostly due to work.

We have to make the best of what we have and enjoy it while we can. It can be a great experience to have the opportunity to live elsewhere and be part of a different culture.

We are happy that we are here, most people work and live together in harmony, the sun shines, the people are friendly towards us, we have lots of opportunities to travel, we have food on the table and a roof over our head. Not always do we see our family and friends but they are only as far away as the phone or email, there are some things I dislike (like pushing and shoving to get there first!) but we have to try and ignore these 'cultural differences' and accept things are different.

But why make such ridiculous comments?

Can't they just shut up and accept what they have?

It is such a beautiful day, lets all enjoy it whatever it may bring us.