Lau Pa Sat

Lau Pa Sat
Originally uploaded by whowesit

Here we are with Logan at Lau Pa Sat for Satay and a beer. It was the start of what ended up being a great week long celebration of my turning 50. It was good to see Logan and spend the time with him.
A week wasn't long enough so we hope he saves hard and comes back again soon.

Another year older and another year wiser!

October 2008 has almost passed and I have turned fifty. The big 5O. I am not really someone who goes hard out about birthdays. I always think of them as just another day when the clock ticks over, you get reminded that you have plenty of things to see and do on that list and less time to do it in. Turning 50 seemed to emphasize this even more and except for the fantastic week of my birthday I really don’t feel any different than after any other birthday. I did enjoy not just the birthday but the whole week.

We enjoyed the company of our youngest son Logan during the week of my birthday. It was great to be able to spend some time with him and to trip around some of the spots we have enjoyed during our time in Singapore. My birthday the 13 October just happened to fall on my day off so we could really make the most of it.

We started on Sunday evening after work by heading down to Lau Pa Sat via Little India. We felt Logan had to experience Little India on a Sunday evening. With the lights on for Deepavali it made a great little stroll. He was blown away by the numbers of Indian men, as we wandered through wave after wave of them. Lau Pa Sat was another new experience that I always enjoy made even more pleasant by the fact that there happened to be a group of teachers from Bishan enjoying the evening there as well. From here we decided to visit “Devine”, the fairy bar, where the fairy flies up and get your wine. It was almost midnight and it was the only time I would be turning 50 so Ruth ordered a bottle of NZ wine. It was a great idea because we got special service from the fairy. A great start to a new decade.

My big day and the celebrations continued with a trip to town and a Singapore sling at Raffles in the Long bar. We sat enjoyed the surroundings soaking up the atmosphere while I wondered about the various famous people who frequented this hotel in days gone by. Logan was not impressed with the peanut shells all over the floor.

From here we did wandered to the Merlion and up the river. We had planned to meet friends at a little bar we enjoy called Check In for few drinks to celebrate. It was a typical warm Singapore afternoon so we did stop and have a couple drinks as we wandered. The atmosphere along the river is always pleasant and I enjoy this area very much. Logan seemed to enjoy the sights, we made a point of taking a bumboat ride as well, these are reasonable in price and give a commentary of interesting features along the river.

As evening fell we made our way to Check In and enjoyed the company of friends. It was great to spend the time socializing with friends. A number of the younger members offered to take Logan on the town but he declined. He did seem to be enjoying taking it easy and kicking back with his parents. We actually got home at a reasonable time having enjoyed fine drinks, fine food and great company.

There were many other highlights for the rest of the week Breakfast at the zoo with the Orang Utans before work on Wednesday. The MASC birthday cake, by the way my only birthday cake this year. High Tea at Shangri La on Friday. A great birthday pack from Beth and her family, Pineapple lumps, Marmite, fishing Magazine and DVD. My first chance to wear the all blacks silver fern even if it does say number 50 on the back.

For me the celebrations were rounded off with the MASC Dinner at the Ritz Carlton on the Monday following my birthday. I will remember my 50th as a great week, in a special part of the world, with some very dear people. Thanks all those people who helped to make it memorable.

Night Race in Singapore

Away from the track Singapore looked spetacular

The Singapore F1 Grand Prix is now over, the winner was Fernando Alonso, second Nico Rosberg and third Lewis Hamilton. This was an exciting event with many spectacular moments throughout that were made all the more exciting by the fact that it was the first night race. I am not a huge F1 fan and usually I would not sit and watch F1, but because it was here and it was my first opportunity to follow the events in the city where I live I was drawn into the action.

Alonso the winner!

Sadly I could not afford the tickets at the time. But I did go down to the circuit during the week before to marvel at the lights and how spectacular the city looked all lit up for the event. The track itself was just over 5 km with 14 turns throughout. The tightest coming off Anderson Bridge which the cars crossed at a speed of 150km/hr. Just off the bridge they had to turn almost 180 degrees and head back up the longest straight where they reached speeds of 300 km/hr. The lighting for this event was an amazing engineering feat it included 110km of cables, 1500 metal halide light projectors or one light every 4m along the track. Designed and built at a cost of $16 million. Down at street level the lights made it brighter than daylight and you weren’t aware of the bulbs.
The track as seen from a slotcar.

We watched the race at home. We watched in awe as Felipe Massa pulled away at the front of the cars from the start. The cars jostled for position on what was a difficult track to overtake on. Lap 15 we saw Nelson Piquet hit the wall and climb out of his car safely. Lap 17 Massa pulled out of the pit lane with the fuel hose still attached to his car. . Lap 50 Adrian Sutil crashed out of the race, the fourth retirement of the day. Lap 57 Kimi Raikkonen crashed into the wall and totaled the front of his car. He climbed out and walked away. Lap 61 Alonso took the checkered flag after 1hr 57min 16.304 sec. There was some great driving and a lot of luck involved in this race.
Raikkonen hit the wall Lap 57.

I think that the night race in Singapore was a spectacular event and I can’t wait for it to return to Singapore.
Ruth checking out the singapore track.