Post #177 8 June 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes some of our activities during the month of May 2018.

We had such an exciting month in April (Dubai, Iran, Penang, Singapore) that being back to our normal routine in Australia seems a little tame.  Still, life continues to be busy.

The weather was great in May - late Autumn - sunny days, nights getting colder.

The first week back involved dental (Vera, implant) and medical (Alex, prostrate) appointments.  Alex saw Dr Al Sameraaii who recommended a "re-bore" (he called it an "endoscopic enucleation"). It was all done very quickly, and relatively painlessly; seems to have been a success.

We had a long-weekend in Sydney to catch up with Andrew & co there, and then drove up to Brisbane (about 1,300km each way) to see Jen & co.

In Brisbane we had lunch with Kristine Cant and Ross Stewart who were part of the Iran tour group; they are an interesting couple, widely travelled, and we are delighted to have met them.

Here are some photos of activities in May:

Sunday 6 May picnic lunch with the Australia Indonesia Family Association; on the shores of Lake Ginninderra. Lovely day.

Ducks and swans on Lake Ginninderra, where we had the AIFA picnic.

We caught the train (11 - 14 May) to Sydney to see Andrew, Caroline, Eddie & Jay.  Here is Andrew with little Jay-Jay; she is almost walking.

Fast Eddie at home; he is standing on the jigsaw puzzle he and Andrew completed.

Big hug for Vera on Mother's Day (13 May 2018)

Two young German guys, Moritz (20) and Valentin (19), came around to Andrew & Caz's apartment; Moritz is the grandson of my cousin Oda.  He and Valentin have one-year Working Holiday visas; they plan to travel around Australia.  Vera knocked up a quick dinner for everyone.  The following day they drove to Canberra, met us at the train station, and stayed with us for the week.  Two very nice young men.

Back to Canberra, and I attended a meeting of the Committee of the Australia China Friendship Society.  Here the President Carol Keil, is thanking Shirley Jones for the 20 years she was on the Committee; for many years Shirley ran a monthly "Conversation Evening" in her home - first hour Chinese, the second hour English.

Carol, Shirley and Suzie with the beautiful patchwork quilt made by Suzie and presented to Shirley on behalf of the ACFS Committee.

I took Moritz and Valentin up to the Australian Parliament House.

We did a guided tour of the Parliament House - impressive building - here are the boys in the Senate chamber.

Dinner at the Ainslie Football Club, from left: Vera, Valentin, Peter Carey, me, Moritz, Aniko Carey.

We showed Moritz and Valentin around Canberra - found this mob of kangaroos in a local park.  They were amazed to see wild animals so close to habitation.  Canberra isn't called the Bush Capital for nothing!

Lunch at home to introduce the boys to Britt and Angie.

From left: Valentin, Britt, Angie, and Moritz.  Both boys are over 190 cm, so Angie asked them to kneel for the photo!

 Valentin and Moritz saying goodbye when they left Canberra.  They bought a VW Transporter (Trakka),  they can sleep in it.  But Canberra and Sydney are too cold now, so they are heading north to warmer climes.   Actually, we also left shortly after them, headed for Sydney and then Nambucca and finally Brisbane to visit Jen & Tom & co.  We ran into Moritz and Valentin in Coffs Harbour, and then again at Jen's place in Brisbane.

In Nambucca Heads we stayed with good friends Siri and Bob Morrison.  I accompanied Bob to a Lions Club meeting - here is Bob making and announcement.

Nambucca has a sea-wall built to form the mouth of the Nambucca River.  Visitors draw on available rocks - here are some of the interesting images.

We called on old friend Hugo Hofgartner who has retired at Helensvale, in the hinterland of the Gold Coast. Hugo is a gentle giant, and one of the nicest people around.

In Brisbane Vera & I caught up with Michael Tjoeng, with whom I worked at the Australian Embassy Beijing 30 years ago. 

Dinner at Jen & Tom's place.  From left: Vera, Tom, Nate (partly obscured), Valentin, Sid, Moritz, Jen and Kurt.

Tom checking out jobs and accommodation in Brisbane for Moritz and Valentin.  Tom identified a possible job for Moritz (a qualified mechanic) and helped Moritz submit an application, a couple of days later Moritz went for an interview, and got the job (a 4 month contract doing pre-delivery inspections for a hoist importer). They like Brisbane and will spend a few months there before continuing their journey up the coast to Cairns and beyond.

We watched Nate and Kurt play rugby, Nate for GPS (he made the Districts team) and Kurt for Marist Ashgrove. Sid is recovering from a broken collar-bone (bike accident) and can't play rugby for another month.

I took their dog, a Ridgeback called Ketut, for a walk in the mornings. Some early mornings were quite cool, below 10C, but then it would warm up to over 20C - that's winter in Brisbane!

With the three boys.  From left: me. Nate(11), Vera, Sid (9), and Kurt (almost 13).

The Roberts Family. From left: Sid, Tom, Vera, me, Jen, and Kurt (Nate took the photo).

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That's all for now.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah
Canberra Australia
Friday 8 June 2018

Post #176 5 June 2018

Gentlefolk,

This post describes our stay in Singapore, 26 - 29 April 2018.

What is it about this tiny Island-State which makes it so successful and appealing?

Total area of 720 sq km and a population of 5.6 million - it is roughly the same size of urban Canberra but with a population more than 10 times as large!

It just works well: clean, with lots of parks and gardens, good public transportation (MRT, buses); taxis are reasonable;  great attractions; great personal safety; great variety of food.

They have created an oasis of wealth out of nothing; it keeps re-inventing itself. Amazing.

We lived in Singapore 1994-96 when I worked at the Australian High Commission.  It was good then, and is even better now.

The only real down-side is that it is usually hot and humid - walk 100 meters and the perspiration starts.

Singapore is a small Island-State at the foot of the Malayan Peninsula. Over 15 million tourists visit every year.

Our hotel was near Clarke Quay and not far from China Town - good location.  It had a nice roof-top swimming pool which we used every day.

A view from the top of our hotel, across to some Government-built apartment blocks which locals could buy.  Home ownership is 90%, probably the highest in the world.

The Rugby Sevens were on while we were there.  Not as big as the Hong Kong event, but still get good numbers.

Our hotel was near Clarke Quay - not very busy during the day, but pumping at night. We counted four live bands in just one block.

Clarke Quay at night.  A belly-dancer performed outside the Shiraz Restaurant, people drinking wine and beer, and not a hijab in sight - very different from the real Shiraz in Iran where we were just a week ago.

We walked along the Singapore River - lots of historic buildings - including a statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, who in 1819 claimed the island for the East India Company and the British Crown. At that time it had a few hundred inhabitants, mostly primitive fishermen.  He would be amazed to see it now.

We went into the Asian Civilisations Museum. Fine collection.  

The Museum had a special exhibition on Angkor Wat in Cambodia. A tour was just starting so we joined in.

Our excellent tour guide (or Dosen).

Cavanagh Bridge, one of the first permanent crossings over the River.

A tribute to Deng Xiao Ping who opened up China.  Deng visited Singapore in November 1978, shortly before he introduced the "Reform and Opening" policy which created modern China.  He was 74 years old at the time, had been a dedicated, tough, battle-hardened Communist for more than half a century, had the vision and flexibility to try a new path; he saw the prosperity of Singapore which obviously impressed him; a remarkable man.

We headed for Merlion Park.

The Merlion, symbol of Singapore, and from where it derives its other name of "Lion City". A bigger Merlion  Statue has been built on Sentosa Island.  In the background are some of the buildings in Singapore's Central Business District. Singapore is the financial and trading hub of South East Asia.

We went to a Hawker Center near China Town - delicious food, and inexpensive - we ate for less than US$10.

A stall in the Hawker Center.

Another food stall.

A large Chinese Temple near Chinatown.

One of the alleys in Chinatown.  It's busier in the evenings when the temperature cools down.

Another alley in Chinatown. Lots of shops and restaurants.

We had a look at Orchard Road, Singapore's premier shopping street.  Singapore is a shoppers paradise; literally thousands of shops - how do they all survive???

We called on Mr Lai who has a sports shop in Lucky Plaza; we used to buy all our tennis gear from Mr Lai when we lived in Singapore 20 years ago.  

A free yoga class outside the Takashimaya Department Store on Orchard Road.

We visited the Gardens by the Bay, which occupies 100 hectares - all on reclaimed land.  

Some of the "Super Trees".

The Gardens are free, but there are two special areas where you pay to enter US$24 per person for two giant greenhouses called the Cloud Forest and the Flower Dome. Singapore residents paid one-third.  This site was called Cloud Forest.

We took an elevator up to the top and then walked down.  It's always busy, and we had to line up for about 40 minutes to reach the top.

The walkway down from the top of Cloud Forest - impressive engineering.

Vera took a photo from the walkway.  It was a long way up.

A exhibit in the Cloud Forest.

We also went through the Flower Dome; very well presented, but didn't have the "Wow Factor" of the Cloud Forest.

At night the Super Trees are lit up, and there are two light & music shows, one at 7.45pm and again at 8.45pm.  The Gardens close at 2am. 

The incredible Marina Bay Sands Hotel.  Rooms start at US$300 per night.  The "ship" on top has an observation deck, infinity swimming pools and restaurants.  Our taxi driver told us that the Government wants new hotels to be at least 5 stars - they want to take Singapore up market.

A view of one of the reception areas on the ground floor of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

There is a huge modern shopping mall next to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

A "digital platform" where kids can play.

A water feature inside the Mall; gondola ride anyone?

Some models were doing a fashion shoot at the Mall.

Another model showing off a wedding dress.

A third model; exotic.

A Chinese temple near our hotel.  About 75% of Singaporeans are Chinese, 13% Malay, 9% Indian, 3% Other (lots of Brits, Aussies, Americans).  Singapore has four official languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil.

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We flew from Singapore to Melbourne and then another flight to Canberra; home sweet home.  We were away a month (Dubai, Iran, Penang and Singapore) - saw and did a lot, had a great time - but always nice to get home again.

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Best wishes, stay healthy and keep smiling.

Alex Olah and Vera Olah
Canberra, Australia
Tuesday 5 June 2018