The past few months have seen a lot of festival and celebrations in this multi-cultural town. After hungry ghosts, there was the mid-autumn festival with lanterns and moon cakes everywhere. We tasted lots of different versions of moon cakes filled with a variety of different pastes: red bean, lotus, green tea, fruit and nuts and so on. We even had a tin of skinless mooncakes presented to us filled with ‘yolks’ of chocolate cointreau and ‘hazelnut-chocolate’ – very delicious. 
One thing I now know about Ramadan is that it is only the first month of celebration. It is followed by Hari Raya Puasa- which I had thought was only a day or a long weekend, but in fact goes on for another month, and Muslim families visit each other and eat and celebrate together. We were invited for celebrations at two house holds, both teachers from my school. We were treated to lots of special Hari Rayi food, cakes and delicacies, which were all very lovely to try.
One thing I now know about Ramadan is that it is only the first month of celebration. It is followed by Hari Raya Puasa- which I had thought was only a day or a long weekend, but in fact goes on for another month, and Muslim families visit each other and eat and celebrate together. We were invited for celebrations at two house holds, both teachers from my school. We were treated to lots of special Hari Rayi food, cakes and delicacies, which were all very lovely to try.
Most recently we have had Deepavali – the Hindu festival, which also scored us another long weekend. Little India has been ablaze with lights (as too have Geylang and Chinatown). We went down for a meal at our favourite Indian place then wandered over to Racecourse road to watch a procession of a wide variety of Indian dancers which was finished off with a spectacular Chinese dragon dance and fireworks. We also had the good fortune to be invited to Felicity’s friend Helen’s HDB apartment in Toa Payoh for Deepavali. She lives on the 12th floor with her 78 year old Tamil speaking grandmother – shrine to Ganesh in the bedroom. Curries and ‘murukku’ the traditional festive biscuits and pineapple tarts offered around, it was quite a night. 
Actually, the boys & I were pretty exhausted as we had spent the day across the border in Johor Bahru. I forgot my Lonely Planet travel advice not to go on a long weekend. It was sheer hell getting over there – two and a half hours of queues, with all the Singaporeans heading to Malaysia for the weekend. Getting back was a breeze – 45 mins to clear two border checkpoints. This photo is on the Malaysian side looking back at Singers. The colourful thing that looks like a carpet is actually a sand mandala on the floor of a big Malaysian shopping centre - a speciality of Deepavali.
In the mid term break we also had a visit from our Melb friends, the Shergusons, which was great. We love having people over. We took them to a few of our favourite spots as well as venturing out to some new places including Pulau Ubin and a Halal restaurant up on the water overlooking Malaysia for some chili crab. The boys had a couple of trips to East Coast Park and got stuck into some wake boarding – their time was up and they nearly had the hang of it. I’m sure they’ll be heading back there any time soon. 
Now up its exams and marking then at the end of term Felicity Xavier & Jordan are heading back to Melb for Christmas and I’m off to Zhongguo for a bit of an adventure – mandarin phrase book in hand.
Actually, the boys & I were pretty exhausted as we had spent the day across the border in Johor Bahru. I forgot my Lonely Planet travel advice not to go on a long weekend. It was sheer hell getting over there – two and a half hours of queues, with all the Singaporeans heading to Malaysia for the weekend. Getting back was a breeze – 45 mins to clear two border checkpoints. This photo is on the Malaysian side looking back at Singers. The colourful thing that looks like a carpet is actually a sand mandala on the floor of a big Malaysian shopping centre - a speciality of Deepavali.
In the mid term break we also had a visit from our Melb friends, the Shergusons, which was great. We love having people over. We took them to a few of our favourite spots as well as venturing out to some new places including Pulau Ubin and a Halal restaurant up on the water overlooking Malaysia for some chili crab. The boys had a couple of trips to East Coast Park and got stuck into some wake boarding – their time was up and they nearly had the hang of it. I’m sure they’ll be heading back there any time soon. 
Now up its exams and marking then at the end of term Felicity Xavier & Jordan are heading back to Melb for Christmas and I’m off to Zhongguo for a bit of an adventure – mandarin phrase book in hand.
