BOWLING

What to do on a very rainy Saturday afternoon.... well go bowling of course!

What? you can't go bowling and not

Yeah so we live in Asia but TRUST me, we still get horrid rainy Saturdays, which are good for nothing bar some form of indoor activity that involves either cheesy viewing, cheesy activities or cheesy eating, if I had my way we'd have had all three, but at Brad's refusal to watch legally blonde and eat babybelles, we settled on Bowling.

The original plan was actually to go to 'pitch and put' golf on Saturday where I could get myself a semi legitimate golfers tan to parade round the office on Monday and Brad could, well, win. The rain soon put a dampener on this plan (oo pardon the pun), and a desperate plea was posted on Facebook, our new age prayers were swiftly answered and off we trotted to Marina square Super Bowl (details at end of post)

I'll be honest with you, bowling is bowling wherever in the world you choose to pursue it. But just to tick off the boxes for any of you doubters, here is what to expect:

• An endless choice of "all you can eat buffet" restaurants in the vicinity. At least one Chinese, one American Diner.
• An arcade
• Grabby toy machines that don't grab anything...ever
• Large groups of teenagers lingering awkwardly, inclusive of one (minimum) acne ridden rogue, a token emo with backpack (contents unknown), miscellaneous others, and the "cool guy" who is clearly leader of the pack, but will predictably peak at school, giggling girls.
• pool tables (always blue?!)
• Awkward teenage afternoon dates, occasionaly supervised
• forced family outings
• The keenos
• The ones who can't programme the screen. 

Slot us into the appropriate category at your leisure...Anyway we had a fittingly fun afternoon, Brad got competitive and I managed to bowl the ball 6 times in a row without actually hitting anything- if he thinks he is ever getting that $250 dollars I was duped into owing him (backed myself a bit too much at the betting stage) he can dream on.

"Brad are these to protect your feet in case you drop the bowling ball"
"No Sian they are to protect the floor, unless they have steel toe caps, your feet would be pretty much f*ucked"

A sucker for statement accessorise

that's going in the gutter

THE DETAILS

As far as bowling alley's go its pretty basic, they have gone for a err,cheap "minimalistic' approach with the decor opting for plastic tables and chairs over the usual fittings...I hoped that the freedom of chair positioning meant you could tactfully place yourself at the end of the lane and just sit waiting your turn (less up and downing involved) this wasn't allowed, and I overlooked the minor detail of how to retrieve my ball.

Snacks:

There arent actually any amenities in the alley, not even a Wimpy burger, but it seemed that you could just bring your own refreshments in, saw a few people with Starbucks, subway and the odd Tiger beer knocking about. I quite liked this, probably much cheaper too. (A woman did walk round offering drinks but I am not 100% sure if she actually worked there!?!)

Location:

6 Raffles Boulevard
No.03-200
Singapore
39594

Website
Visit Website

Telephone
65 6334 1000

Always good to have something in the locker for a rainy day. Happy bowling people.

XXX

Singapore Zoo

"Never work with animals and children" but be prepared to find both, in unruly vigour, when visiting the zoo.

As we live right in the centre of Singapore the concrete jungle can become a little claustraphobic at times, great when you have a weekend trip planned, but if not you have to improvise. You can quickly start to miss the rolling British countryside, fresh air and pointless strolls, it has also dawned on me recently that I have not seen one animal whilst here- not one. There is no real solution to this, as its par for the course, except perhaps watching re runs of 'escape to the country' online, but we all have our limits. So time to think outside the box, where could we go in Singapore thats Green, spacious and smells a bit like manure... Singapore Zoo, obviously. 

The History Bit

Singapore Zoo was opened in 1973, there are approx 315 species of animals 16% of which are considered to be threatened. It attracts 1.6 million visitors each year, at least half of these seemed to choose the same day as us to visit for 2012.

From the beginning, Singapore Zoo followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits with hidden barriers, moats, and glass between the animals and visitors. It houses the largest captive colony of orangutans in the world (apparently). In 1977, primatologist Dr Francine Neagolived inside a cage with eighteen orangutans for six months to study their behavior and communication, what a nutter.

excited/ apprehensive zoo goers

Like excited children, well, going to a zoo! We hopped in a taxi late morning to cram in a good day of animal viewing, they did after all close at 6. To Brads excitement lunch was available in only zoo themed varieties, I must be honest though they peaked with 'Pizzafari" it then got lazy and they were just throwing in token animal references, a RhinoShake, despite their best efforts, was sadly still just a milkshake.   

Fed and watered we purchased tickets- we went for the Ticket and Tram option which was $25 each not exactly a big stretch but my advice would be don't bother with the Tram as its easily walkable, and means you don't miss anything- even in the heat it wasn't too bad, although the trams were decorated to look like different animals,  I liked this. A lot. 

Once through the gates it was apparent that we had chosen the same day to visit the zoo as the majority of Singapore's school children, it was a little stressful as all several thousand of them insisted on stopping to take pictures of everything (normally my trick) but seriously, trees, fences, signs... EVERYTHING.

Entering the zoo was initially like that chaotic moment on a toll road when there are no lanes, you are just spat into a messy, every man for himself, free for all. some children may have been elbowed, but in my defence I took a few hits too. Brad had made it out front, he was winning all round.

Panic soon subsided as once you are through the funnel you are spat into the expanse of 'Zooness', and the options are endless about which worldly region you want to get lost in first- we went African. 

I must be honest, I was sightly daunted by how touristy the day may be, but it seems that local Singaporeans genuinely seem to enjoy a day at the zoo too which was refreshing. There were lots of families around and everyone in generally seemed in good spirits. The variety of animals and activities from Marine shows to elephant rides was impressive and true to Singapore it was all very clean, tidy and well presented. My favourite part of the day was seeing what animals get up to when, they're just chilling out, being animals.

Here are some snaps I took from the day, there are much better pictures online, but I don't have a steady hand or a long lens so mine are more "real"...

I thought this was a joke...

This was some kind of tusked pig (name clearly forgotten) looks suspiciously like the rat that was washed up in NY. urgh.

thats them on the move.

White Tiger, he was the celeb of the Zoo, his poster was everywhere.

He wouldn't do autographs. Diva. 

I swear this thing was mechanical. definite robotic eye

He got my leg.

This is what too much sun does to your skin

Panic face. I could have sworn there were lizards in the footwell. urrrrrrgh.

just resting a bolder on my head

 chilling with ma' boys

Wants to be one of the boys

Elefumps

spot the monkey

Classic embarrassing Dad

quite a entrance

Loose Cannon

if  you eat your greens...

you'll be this big

you want my picture? find me. 

you're an idiot mate

handbag?

odd sponsorship

unfortunate nasal proportions

more sensible sponsorship

that one off TV

After the gym we decided to go to the Hard Rock cafe for to round off a proper tourist day. Cheap oversized western food was just what we needed after a day on foot in the sun.

I have never actually been to a zoo before, but I had it on good authority that this was 'a good one'. So if you're out of ideas in Singapore, and willing to embrace the crowds, my advice would be take a trip to the zoo.

Speak soon.

XXX

Sunshiney Days

In all honesty wherever you are in the world, work is work "Same Sh!t different view" as they say...

This is true. Although I do enjoy my job, once consumed by the stark white walls and strip lighting of the office, getting on with your day to day tasks is much of a much. Yeah ok so there are little perks about being in a country where its never below 30 degrees i.e. no jackets (come winter I will be eating my words when I'm missing out on coats scarfs and boots) always being warm when you walk home etc. However it is the weekends that you have to make it count. 

This weekend my friend from work and I did just that. The sun was shining, her Fiancé was out of town and we were lacking on the tan front. So we hit the beach. That's right, Singapore has a beach. In fact Singapore has an entire holiday-esque resort named Sentosa.

Sentosa, for those of you who haven't had the pleasure is worlds away from the Singapore the rest of the world sees. You can get to it by road, Shuttle train or gondola (as in ski lift type not Venecian boat powered by a man with a stick). It boasts 2 golf courses, 2 five star hotels, Casino, Villas of the mega rich, universal studios and 2 massive man made beaches. If you live on the equator, this is exactly what you're after. 

Anyway, my friend and I spent saturday afternoon at Tanjong beach club, chilling in the pool, lazing on the beach, making our way through strawberry daiquiris like they were going out of fashion and a couple of cheeky Tiger beers concealed in my shoes. 

It was the perfect way to spend a saturday afternoon, experiencing some more of Singapore and also catching some rays. For those of you who know it, Tanjong Beach club is rather like a slightly more laid back, family friendly, budget, version of Nikki Beach, you can hire beds and day time slouching seamlessly transitions into evening sleazing. Perfect. 

They also host events at TBC such as the 'Full Moon Party' and 'Smack my beach up" we will attend all of these and party our very hardest all in the name of good blogging material.

photos courtesy of Yatzer.com 

 I though I would share with you the internets portrayal of TBC (above). It was very nice however think of these pics as the 'show home version'. Below are the few snaps I managed to get, apologies, my focus appears to have been the sand.

Another perk I have been revelling in as a result of the beaming sunshine in Singapore, is the opportunity to wear summery clothes (well at the weekends) I am a big endorser of the 'seasonal wardrobe' so I may start to tire of this soon, however I'm still on a bit of a honeymoon period with my shorts, so long may it continue. Gone is my uniform of Black skinnies and ankle boots, and in its place a rainbow array of hot pants (thanks topshop) bikinis and floaty tops. Have a gander at some of my recent faves below.

Inspired by Joseph 

Sian and her technicoloured dream shorts

I learnt a valuable lesson on week one about bikini lines and office attire. They do not mix. So I have purchased some new detachable strap bikinis to get me through the tough times. This mother, is what I presume you meant by wise investments. 

Blue Toppers Bikini, available in white Here 

Neon Warehouse number, available Here

Classic H&M Combo, availalbe Here

 Hope the weather's not too bad wherever you're reading from, we've always got a spare room my walk in wardrobe where are you are welcome to crash, maybe I should sack in the day job and run an overseas B&B...

Sunshine season's a'comin

XXX