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Bintan back to Singapore

I was hoping to have an early breakfast today so I could fit in as much as possible of Club Med Bintan before our departure.  But Mum had a bad night sleep due to indigestion and needed to sleep in.  We ate breakfast about 0800. I checked-out the gym around 0915 and did a workout […]

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On the flying trapeze

With the one-hour time difference from Singapore, I woke early at 0630.  How cool is that while on holiday.  I could go back to sleep for another hour till 0730.  We had breakfast as a family around 0800. I was keen to do or try out as many activities as possible during my only full […]

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Club Med

We took a taxi to the Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal near Changi Airport for the ferry to Bintan, Indonesia where we would spend a couple of nights at Club Med.  Check-in went smoothly and I was impressed that our Indonesian arrival and departure cards had been filled in for us! The terminal wasn’t maintained to […]

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Relatives and Gulangyu Again

Maternal great grandfather’s home Breakfast at the hotel was a repeat of the greasy fare from two days ago.  I skipped the greasy rice and noodles and settled for congee and greasy vegetables.  Even the pickles were greasy but they went quite well with the congee, as did the very fine ikan bilis. We had […]

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Daytrip to Zhao An

Getting to Zhao An Step-dad woke me up at 0510 because he thought I should have been up for my daytrip to Chan Village in Zhao An.  But I had taken care of my wake-up time with an alarm for 0545.  I took a taxi to the bus station.  With the ride only taking five […]

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Sightseeing & relatives

Gulangyu gone wrong The Chinese breakfast at the hotel was very greasy.  But it didn’t put off the domestic tourists from filling up big-time on the food. After breakfast, we headed out to try some change SGD to CNY at the Bank of China across the road.  I was surprised it was open being a […]

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Trip with the oldies

Above:  Chinese Opera performer on the street in Xiamen. Leaving Singapore Today I take Mum and step-dad to Xiamen for a little holiday.  Despite booking the SilkAir ticket online, electronic ticketing wasn’t available and we had to collect the ticket from a counter before proceeding to check-in. The flight 1120 flight left slightly late and […]

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Chinatown by night

Above:  Chinatown by night in the lead-up to the Mooncake Festival. In the evening, Jacob and Janet took us out for a drive and a wander around Chinatown.  The area was very nicely illuminated and decorated with lanterns for the Mooncake or Mid-autumn Festival.  Janet was very proud of how Singapore celebrates the various multi-ethnic […]

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Unpleasant conversations

It was after 2100 when I was picked up by step-dad, Lawrence, from Changi Airport.  Roaming charges in Singapore are quite reasonable and I was able to ring him from inside the plane before disembarking, so that I didn’t have to wait too long. Back at Lawrence’s place, Mum had been out and was dropped […]

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Scaring the Singaporeans

I hate flying from west to east because it’s hard to get up in the mornings.  I woke at 0700.  After a momentary doze, it was 0900.  There’s not much we had to do anyway, being with parents who are approaching 80 years of age. Step-dad’s relatives Jacob and Janet came to visit.  Mum asked me […]

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