Singapore - November 7, 2011 Edition

Wednesday, October 26, was Deepavali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepavali). This day, during which Indians spend time with family, is also called the Festival of Lights. Singapore has designated this a holiday to honor its Indian population. Wednesday afternoon Joan and I went to the part of town called Little India where we had dinner at a restaurant called the Jungle Tandoori and then looked at the lights.



We stayed in The Regent hotel until the 1st of November when we moved into a serviced apartment (furnished with 6 days of maid service + continental breakfast Monday thru Saturday) called Le Grove. More on that later. We had noticed there was a buffet in the lobby of the hotel on Saturdays and Sundays, and decided to give it a try. It is called High Tea and was a tremendous selection of foods of all types. There was Wagyu beef (like Kobe beef), salmon, caviar, satay (sort of a minced chicken, beef, or mutton bar-b-qued on a stick), sushi, other Chinese foods, and a tremendous selection of desserts. Here are a few pics of those dishes and a satisfied couple of eaters!

Might as well start with the best part, the desserts:


These guys are making the crepes.

Here is Joan's plate. I would never eat that much!

Getting some Wagyu beef and slamon.


Fully full.

On November 1st, we moved into Le Grove, a serviced apartment on Orange Grove Road. We are about 10 minutes walk from the famous shopping street, Orchard Road. This find was the culmination of a couple weeks of searching, by Joan, for a comfortable residence located within easy walking distance of "the action." Le Grove has a pool (which we probably seldom use), bar-b-ques (which we haven't used yet, but will), work-out room (which we have and will continue to use), continental breakfast Monday to Saturday, cable TV (with limited and mostly UK programs of interest), and more-or-less high speed internet. One additional benny is a shuttle bus which runs a circuit from Le Grove to the business district and back. It takes about 45 minutes to make the run and the best part is it stops right near the grocery store. We can ride to the store, shop, and catch the bus home. We do not live that far from this, or a couple of other popular groceries, but walking 15 - 20 minutes with bags of groceries up some slight hills in 90 degree, 90% humidity is not the method of choice.

Here are a few pics of the apartment.

Each room has a separate thermostat. The rent pays for the elecricity each month up to Singapore $200 (US$160); thereafter, we pay. Since we don't know how far $200 will go, we shut off the air con in rooms we don't use and when we leave the apartment.

The kitchen is sparsely furnished. I'm guessing it is set up for bachelors who eat out every night. If I make bacon and pancakes on the weekend, I fry the bacon in a saucepan and the bacon in the one and only fry pan. The "washer cum dryer" as it is refered to is a single machine. To do both processes it takes about 2 1/2 hours. So to do a load of light, then a load of dark, it pretty much takes an afternoon. To shorten the time a bit, I hang up damp laundry. Even with the air con on, clothes take overnight or longer to dry.

So humidity is with us inside and out. In Minnesota I put together our medications in a 1-week plastic box so that we could dispense one day at a time. I quickly discovered that humidity and some pills don't mix:



We tried storing the plastic box in the frig, but found that when taken out, the pills quickly had condensation on them, and thus began to deteriorate. My next plan is to assemble just 3 days of meds, put the box in a ziplock bag, remove as much air as possible and store it at room temp.