Floracks in Singapore

Yves in Sydney!

2008-08-19T01:00:00.001-07:00

Yves went to visit friends in Melbourne and Sydney.

Floracks in Tokyo!

2008-08-04T07:12:00.000-07:00

Sentosa

2008-07-31T09:52:00.001-07:00

Even Singapore has a touristy place for the locals. They call it Sentosa. It's an Island, reachable by car, bus, monorail and even cable car... During the daytime they have many attractions from plain old beach bumming, to luge riding, visiting pink dolphins (poor buggers, and they tell us that drug use is illegal... they never mentioned drugging non-humans), biking, and lots more. During the darkening hours, all the kitsch lighting is switched on, and Disneyland Singapore appears out of nowhere. As much as it may look fairytale-like, it does manage to bring awe to people's faces with their spectacular light/water/fire/sound shows.

Songs of the Sea

Fancy Dessert?

2008-07-29T01:03:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just have to spoil yourself... so if you do take a stroll around the Botanic Gardens of Singapore, watch out for the "Halia Villa" (restaurant), and order dessert of course (with a cardamom/ginger flavoured iced-tea)!

Keep it at that, 'cause it's quite pricy...

PicLens Slide Show

2008-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

To enhance the blog experience, a fun interactive slide show application has been added. PicLens is a fun application to view your photographs and videos all lined up on a 3D Wall. Try it, click on the image below or on the slide show icon.

Upbeat Acappella @ Esplanade

2008-07-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

There's no lack of entertainment to be found here.

Merlion (Symbol of Singapore)

2008-07-26T21:14:00.000-07:00

The merlion (simplified Chinese: 鱼尾狮; pinyin: Yúwěishī ; Tamil:கடல்சிங்கம் ) is a statue with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Its name comes from a portmanteau of mermaid and lion. The merlion was designed by Fabrice Jiew for the Singapore Tourism Board in 1964 and was used as its logo up to 1997. The Merlion continues to be its trademark symbol. It also appears frequently in STB-approved souvenirs.

Based on the Singapore Tourism Board's publicity campaign, the lion head and fish body of the creature recalls the story of the legendary Sang Nila Utama, who saw a lion while hunting on an island, en route to Malacca. The island eventually became the sea port of Temasek, a precursor to Singapore.

[Wikipedia]

Fine City

2008-07-26T20:51:00.000-07:00

What a fine Fine when you get one! If you ever come to Singapore, make sure you check up on the rules (laws) before you get here. Whereas smoking just about got banned in most public spaces in The Netherlands beginning July, I would strongly discourage any attempt on even trying to eat/drink in any MRT (metro) stations or trains here [and always ask wherever-else you are].

Home from above

2008-07-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Thank Go(d)ogle for maps.google.com our home is viewable from an eagle's eye perspective. The icon of a yellow house indicates the specific building which we live in:

View Larger Map

Heritage Fest

2008-07-21T03:54:00.000-07:00

Bintan

2008-07-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

Yves was invited by his friend Angel to join her and her friends for a weekend on the Indonesian Holiday Resort Island Bintan.

Kampong Gelam

2008-07-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

The first to settle in Singapore were the Malaysians. The area of the Island where they based this and which reflects this culture most today is called Kampong Gelam.

Orchard Road

2008-07-14T22:20:00.000-07:00

As shopping is one of the singaporean's favourite past-times, you will find that Orchard Road is the city centre for malls upon malls, concentrated at such a density - it is barely comparable to any other world metropolis (keep in mind I have not been to Shanghai, Hong Kong or Tokyo just yet).

Raffles and Chijmes

2008-07-13T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles (July 6, 1781 – July 5, 1826) was known as the founder of the city of Singapore (now the Republic of Singapore). He is one of the more famous Britons who contributed to the expansion of the British Empire.
[Wikipedia]

Raffles Hotel

Raffles Hotel Long Bar

Chijmes Restaurant Court

Family Sanches avec Elise.

Little India

2008-07-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

Singpore is also known as the multicultural and business centre of Asia. It's the perfect place to start a business if you want to reach all of Asia and possibly Australasia as well. Seeing as there are 4 national Languages spoken and written in this small Island of a Country, namely: English, Mandarin (Chinese), Tamil, and Malay; Chinatown is not the only culturally independent claimed area of Singapore.
Hence you can also find Little India, Kampong (Malay), of course the shopping malls/Orchard Road (UK&US?), and even Holland Village! Below is our experience in the Indian part of town:

Vivo City

2008-07-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

Malls are not scarce in Singapore, food-courts non-the-less. If you ask someone to summarise the essence of Singapore's culture, they would most probably conclude: "Shopping & Eating".
Vivo City, is a good example of one of these malls with a built-in food-court "Food Republic" with foods from all around asia and often even the world, with fresh fruit juices. The costs are incredibly cheap, ranging from 2 to 8 euros for a full meal.

Home in Singapore

2008-07-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Well here are some pictures then! We live in a complex with 3 buildings and share the major facilities such as the pools, the home theatre room, fitness hall...etc.

8 Dover Rise, Tower A, #05-05

2008-07-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

We moved into our new apartment today. It resembles a 5-star holiday resort with 4 swimming pools, tennis court, putting green, and fitness studio... just a lack of jaccuzzis. ;) We will publish the footage tomorrow!

China Town

2008-07-02T03:09:00.000-07:00

While Joop is working, Yves and Nonnie discover Singapore. We went to Orchard street and Chinatown. There are so many people , shops and food courts you don't know where you have to start looking.

June 29th - July 2nd

2008-07-01T12:51:00.000-07:00

Furama Hotel

2008-06-30T02:55:00.000-07:00

We stayed 3 days at the Furama hotel almost in the center of town very near to Orchard road - the shopping street in Singapore - and Chinatown.

Arrival in Singapore

2008-06-29T02:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Singapore on the 29th of June - our 34th wedding anniversary. We waited for Yves, who came two hours later, at the airport.