three weddings in three countries

they say a wedding is an expensive affair. wait till you have an international wedding and you will know how expensive it can get. imagine having three wedding receptions, having to pay for at least beauticians, three videographers, three photographers, printing of three sets of invitation cards, floral arrangements for three wedding venues, decorating three bridal cars and getting down to deal with lots of nitty gritty stuff. and it took me away from blogging as i had to be at all three weddings.

my elder girl, ivy married ian, a kuching boy. the first round of celebrations took place in kuching on 19 september. we had to fly in one day earlier. the wedding entourage from singapore were accommodated in seven rooms at the four points sheraton hotel in kuching. we were hosted to lunch at the heritage restaurant in town and a 9-course chinese dinner at the hotel's ballroom.

we flew back to singapore one day after the kuching's wedding reception. the wedding party from the groom's side stayed at the four seasons hotel where the second wedding reception was held. because the date was so close to the f1 race, they had to pay nearly double for their stay in the hotel.

the final round was held in melbourne where ivy and ian, the bride and groom, are living and working. it was a garden party held up in the dandenong mountains. the tulips were in bloom and so they went to the tesselaar tulip farm for some photo shoots. the ceremony was conducted in a small chapel, where most of the guests had to stand throughout the slightly more than an hour programme.

another waterfront park in the making

now that the dairy farm nature park has finally been opened to the public, i am looking forward to the completion of another nparks project in the north of singapore - the woodlands waterfront promenade. i enjoy following the progress of the work at such sites. i will go back once in a while (few months) to update myself on the development. this was my second visit since they hoarded up the place.

they had already hoarded up the entire stretch of the proposed promenade, and construction works started a few months back. looks like the old path will be replaced by a boardwalk that will extend over the water of the straits. the skyline of johor bahru will be just a bit nearer and more visible.

work on the vacant land at the end of the promenade had started earlier. there will be picnic areas, fitness corners and playgrounds for children. included is also a nature trail which will link up with the one at admiralty park, located just across the road.

the little grebes at the s'pore quarry

picture from another source

today, i visited the s'pore quarry, a part of the newly opened dairy farm nature park. there are a few ways to get to this enclosed disused quarry. most people would park their cars at car-park 'a' and walk past the moe adventure camp to get to the road leading all the way to the quarry. a shorter route can be had by parking your car at railway mall and walking to the end of jalan asas, which will eventually join up with the road to the quarry. a third way is to follow the mountain bike trail till you come to the tunnel. above the tunnel is the same road that leads to the quarry. you can actually get to the s'pore quarry from the bukit timah nature reserve by following the mountain bike trail.

besides enjoying the serenity of the place, we also indulged in a bit of bird-watching today. i have read about the precious little grebes that inhabit the shallow waters of the quarry pond. some visitors pointed them out to me and i realised that i had seen similar birds somewhere, though i am not able to put a finger to the place.

the little grebe was too far away from me. if you follow the streak in the water, you can visualise the bird at one end of it.

there was another majestic bird we saw - the white bellied sea-eagle perched high on a 'matchstick' tree. according to another regular visitor to the place, two young eagles are often seen in the vicinity. i am familiar with the eagles because i always hear and see them from my bedroom windows, though the same ones.

i also managed to spot another medium-sized bird on a raft-like structure. i was told that it was a common sandpiper. the sandpiper has this peculiar habit of bouncing a few times when it lands on the ground or any surface.




however, what really captivated me was the playfulness of the little grebes and their ability to disappear and reappear somewhere else. from my two visits to the quarry pond, i have observed that this bird is very fond of diving. the birds build their floating nests among the reeds. you can tell that there is a family among some reeds when you hear their distinctive trill.

if you visit the singapore quarry, you should armed yourself with a pair of binoculars otherwise you may miss the sight of these beautiful birds. a lot of people miss this attraction because the little grebes tend to keep far away from humans and they hide themselves by diving into the water the moment they are disturbed by loud noise.

most visitors notice the kois, tiger barbs and other small fish in the water. unfortunately, a lot of them miss seeing the liitle grebes. they may also notice the'sausages' on the reeds sticking out of the water but not the birds hidden among the reeds.

what used to be here?

in the second photo, bounded by the four lamp-posts was a structure. what was the structure that used to occupy this irregular patch. i do not think it was octagonal in shape (like this).

pick up at east coast park and

drop at changi village

when my two girls were younger, we travelled extensively, and we enjoyed self-drive tours, especially in australia. we have also driven in new zealand, west malaysia and the united kingdom. for self-drive, it is cheaper to return the rented vehicle to the point of collection. however, there were instances when we had to drop the car at another point; for example, when we drove from sydney to melbourne, we dropped the car at the agent's office in melbourne.

now, in singapore, there is also this sort of arrangement. you can rent a 'vehicle' from east coast park and drop 'it' at either changi beach park, near changi village, or a choice of a few other locations that suits your purpose and need.




today, i rented a bicycle from the station at changi beach park and cycled to the east coast park. however, i did not drop it at east coast park because i had to get back to my car which was parked at changi. this was my second time cycling along this section of the eastern park connector. one week earlier, i had cycled with my blogger friends, peter and victor, from east coast to changi village and back. then, we used our own bicycles. to be exact, i rode a bike provided by victor.



it is literally a 'breeze' cycling on this 42-km eastern park connector. you get the breeze blowing in your face even on a warm afternoon. the track is flat most of the way and there is no need to huff and puff because you have to conquer some steep gradient.

so, this second trip, i rented a bike from the pitstop. it cost me $6 for a two-hour ride. any additional hour, you pay another $3. the bike and skates rental company have two outlets at east coast park (car-parks c4 and g1), two at changi beach park (car-parks c1 and c7), one each at telok kurau and sun plaza. so, you can pick up the bike at east coast park and drop it at changi beach park if you have had enough of pedalling.






as you cycle along the stretch of changi coastal road, you get to meet a lot of cyclists, some of whom appear to be tourists, going in either direction. you also get to see planes taking off and landing at the changi international airport. on the ground, there are also some interesting mushrooms, some of which look very much like those grown on the mushroom farm in kranji.






on both occasions, we cycled in the mid-afternoon, just past noon. although it was warm, with the light wind coming in from the sea, we did not feel the 'burning' effect. in fact, we felt quite comfortable cycling at that time of the day. however, we were advised to hydrate ourselves by drinking plenty of water. there are a few drinking fountains along the way from which you can refill your water-bottle.