Exploring Upper Pierce

Living in a concrete jungle here in our fast-paced highly urbanised city, it is a real pleasure to find quiet, pockets of greenery. When we came upon this lovely spot, I almost couldn't believe it was Singapore.

There is a beautiful serenity about the place that is Upper Pierce Reservoir. Back when we used to travel along Upper Thomson Road on-route to and from church, my parents used to stop by the reservoir occasionally for a walk or a picnic lunch. It's been years since then though, and I had forgotten quite how lovely the place is. 

We had the opportunity to explore Upper Pierce Reservoir on National Day when we joined an informal outing organised by our church at the reservoir. It was a hot sunny day - perfect for exploring. I'll let the photos do the talking.

Peaceful and serene, even my two rascals stopped for a bit to take it in.

There were plenty of people fishing with lines or wading in the shallow water to catch fish. Noey was fascinated by a box full of shrimp that some one had brought along (complete with a portable air pump) and it kept him occupied for quite a while.

There were plenty of these snails (I think) in the shallow water.

Running free!

Beautiful lantana flowers in the bushes lining the dam separating Upper and Lower Pierce.

We stopped to puff on heads of dandelions we found growing randomly in the grass.

Giving cheeky smiles. Naomi has recently started to pose for the camera, like so.

Taking a walk with her Tata, as she calls my helper.

We spotted an eagle in the sky! Our church's resident bird expert identified it as a white-bellied sea eagle. I never knew you could find eagles around Singapore.

While the kids were a little young to participate in the games which had been organised that morning, like Captain's Ball, we gamely tagged along for the Treasure Hunt, which had been painstakingly designed by our Pastor. Each team started at different points and had to cover 7-8 clues before reaching the end point. Each clue was bible inspired (there would be a relevant verse), and required some nature knowledge. The clues would lead each team to a locked bag secured with a combination lock. Each team would have to figure out the combination to get the prize inside. It was honestly one of the best planned treasure hunts I've ever participated in!

Noey started out enthusiastic, but faded after we had to walk down the slope all the way to the edge of the Lower Pierce reservoir and the back up again. "I need to rush!" he told me breathlessly. "You need to carry me!" That was the end of his participation clearly!

One of the many clues that had been placed around the site.

While I followed on with our team on the treasure hunt till the end, DD and Noey had some father-son time just sitting by the water and talking. I believe they both enjoyed that time they shared very much.

We ended the morning listening to the message by our second pastor and praying for our nation. 

Naomi the garderner does some weeding while everyone else is listening to the message.

We left thereafter for lunch. We hadn't thought to bring a picnic along this time. We will the next time we're back, hopefully soon. 

Children's Season 2012: Island Adventures at the NMS

Guess what? Children's Season isn't quite over yet!

Island Adventures at the National Museum of Singapore is still running, and a couple of Fridays ago, I made a date with some Mums from church and their kiddos to check it out. I had heard good reviews from other friends and thought that it might be a good place for the littler ones to visit. 

The programme is pitched as a child-friendly  "entry point into understanding Singapore's history and heritage". To achieve this, there were activities designed and set out in three different areas.

We arrived at 10am and were dismayed that our plan to visit on a quiet Friday morning had been foiled by a big group of PCF kids on excursion. Argh. Unfortunately there was no way to really avoid them though we tried to wait it out a bit and move in slightly after they had passed through. So we just had to put up with the din and make the most of it. 

The first stop is Ahoy! All Aboard! in the Concourse at Level 1. Here, you hop aboard a ship which is bound for the island of Singapura in 1820 and find out more about the travellers making the journey to this new land at that time, the things they brought with them, and the challenges they faced. There were quite a few interactive exhibits -- the kids could turn a turbine to generate electricity to light up some bulbs, spin some threads, use a magnet to learn how a compass works, and hunt for gold, minerals and precious stones in a sand pit, amongst other things. Unsurprsingly, playing with sand was Noey's favourite!

Learning about spinning

Hunting for precious stones and materials

"Why are you looking at me instead of taking a peek down this port hole, Mummy?"

There was also a little room which showed the routes taken by the early visitors to Singapura, and the kids had some fun moving big ship magnets along the routes on the giant map. 

My unwilling models.

Nomi watching K and M move the ships along the lighted routes.

After disembarking from the ship, we arrived in the second room: Port City, also at Level 1. Here visitors get to explore and discover what life was like on the island of Singapura back in the 19th and 20th centuries. They learn about kampongs and the development of Singapura into a Port City.

There are different stations where the kids can try their hand at being a cobbler, a letter writer, a street hawker, a coolie, and a fisherman. The kids really had a ball of a time here, doing everything over and over!

S, the happy little hawker, mixing up her teh tarik.

Her hungry little customers await.

Mmm! This teh tarik is good!

Noey tries his hand at letter writing. And learns Korean from a previous visitor!

The impatient Nomi can't wait for her slow letter writer to be done and decides to try writing the letter herself.

S fixing soles to shoes.

The fishing station. Totally had the boys captivated for a long time.

Unloading the ship. And loading it again. And unloading it. And loading it again. And...

Nomi picks on a sack her own size.

Building a house on stilts.

You can also put together your own village.

We let the children play for quite a while before we hauled them outside with the promise of blocks and buildings. At Building Singapore in the Salon Foyer at Level 1, there were model of old iconic buildings that have, sadly, made way for development. I enjoyed reading about the old National Library and the Van Kleef Aquarium, both of which I remember fondly. It's so sad that my children will never know these old structures! There are also tables at which you can sit and complete join-the-dots sheets on the different buildings, which I thought was a much better activity than mere colouring. But with blocks around, my son wasn't too interested. They kindly let me bring a couple of sheets home instead, which I appreciated.

Lining up old iconic buildings in a row! That's the National Museum on the right, followed by the National Theater, Great World Amusement Park, and the National Library. 

Some of the posters with information on these old buildings. Really made me feel nostalgic!

Our attempt at a group shot in front of the magnetic board installation. These are all the kids but I guess it was a bit much to hope that they'd all be looking at the camera!

The kids really had a lot of fun here. Maybe the big boys (we had a couple of primary schoolers with us) not so much, but it was perfect for the littler ones who were under 6. One of the mums who went with us is visiting from the US was really happy to have come. She said it was a wonderful space to learn about Singapore's history and that it really should be permanent. I personally agree. It would have been better with the live performing acts, but those sadly only take place in the weekend. Actually, I had misunderstood and thought that the live roving acts were only held during the open house days but have since realised that it's every weekend. So maybe we should have made the visit in the weekend instead!

Island Adventures is on till this Sunday, 22 Jul 2012 at the National Museum of Singapore. This closing weekend is also an Open House - free entry, plus extra activities, plus roving acts! I would bring the kids again, except that I won't be in town this weekend. If you are, it's worth this checking out.

Fishing Fun at Harris

Our church conference was held at Harris Resort, Batam this year. It was the first time for the church, heading to Batam, and the first time we were there as well.

The hotel was very very average. Thankfully I have lower expectations for these group holidays! We don't go for the hotel anyway, but to get away, to enjoy fellowship with one another, and to spend some time learning something new from the word of God. We were warned before hand that the food was pretty bad but somehow, by God's grace, the food actually turned out quite good. We all believe that picking the right sister to be in charge of F&B really made the difference, though she was quick to praise the Chef instead.

We had lectures every morning and evening, but had the afternoons free for exploration. One thing the resort had going for it was the large number of activities there were available. On top of the usual swimming pools, tennis courts, squash courts, table tennis table and pool & billiard tables, it also had a bowling alley and an air rifle range and a large site for paint ball, if you were so inclined. There are water activities like canoeing and banana-boating available too, but I didn't pay much attention to these since they were obviously not suitable for my little ones. What I did discover was their Kids' Club, with an air-conditioned kids' activity room containing some swings, a couple of slide sets, a TV screening kids' videos, colouring sheets and materials, and various other toys. Needless to say, we easily found ourselves gravitating that direction during the hot afternoons!

Commander of the Fort, Naomi, directing her troops.

Another thing we were surprised to discover was that the Kids' Club organized activities like games and even cooking classes for young guests, a lot of it for free. My helper noticed that they had fishing on the schedule, and persuaded me to check it out. When I confirmed that it was REAL FISH we would be catching in a pond on the property (as opposed to plastic ones like I originally thought was the case), I decided we should try it.

Noey & Sophia, our anglers for the day, selecting their equipment.

Stoic looks from my little man.

I did wonder how they were going to catch any fish at all when we started. Having been to Kids' Kampong with both kids where I ended up having to catch all the fish while Noey directed me, I was anticipating my call into action again. The good thing here was that there was bait. The staff member leading the group came with a big bag of bread and the fish just went into a frenzy trying to get at it when she threw some pieces in to start. I took that as a good sign. She helped the kids put bread on their hooks and showed them how to cast their lines in. Most of the time, the tiny fish that attacked the bread were too small to be hooked, but just as I was starting to have my doubts, a girl in the group managed to catch a fish! That was when we realized that there were bigger fish deeper in the murky water.

The staff member moved over to help Noey with his line and in a short span of time, helped him pull one up! Noey was beside himself in excitement, and I felt quite sorry for the poor fish who was left dangling at the end of his line for a while.

The first fish he's ever caught on a line! 

Upon seeing Gor-gor's success, Naomi wanted to have a go too. We found her a safe fishing rod with no hook and let her have a prod in the water.

Poke, poke!

Would you believe we caught 3 fish by the end of our 40 min session? I helped Noey and together we hooked another fish, and after he started losing interest I continued to cast his line and managed to catch one more.

 Two of the catch, lying resignedly in the bucket.

It turned out a lot more fun than I expected. I think I would have gone on trying to catch more fish but Noey had had enough. So we returned the equipment and headed back. I figured they'd throw the fish back into the pond once they were done. We couldn't have brought them home anyway.

It was a kiddy activity, but it was definitely one of the more memorable moments for me on this trip.

We'd make an angler of him yet.

Disconnect, Disengage

We are just back from 4 days in Batam for our church's annual conference. It's only been 4 days, but it feels much longer than that because it's been the first time in the long while that I was almost completely disconnected from the internet for days at a stretch.

Why this happened certainly wasn't planned.

On the night before we left, I grabbed at my phone in the dark after putting Nomi to sleep, and... it fell to the floor. It's not like this hasn't happened before, so I wasn't too concerned. Except. This time when I picked it up, the screen was blue.

Yes, the blue screen of death also haunts iPhones, if you're not careful.

My heart sank. After some desperate attempts to restart it and more even more desperate googling, I realised that the LCD was wrecked. The phone seemed to be working fine, but because I couldn't see a thing on the screen, it was effectively useless. We were to report at the ferry terminal at 9.30am in the morning so there was no way I was going to be able to bring my phone down to the service centre on time before leaving for Batam. I reached for the old 3GS but because the 4S uses a micro-sim, I couldn't use it. On hindsight, I probably should have spent some time googling how to re-size a micro-sim to fit a full sized sim-card slot. I have since found some instructions on how do just that. 

But on Monday night, with packing still yet to be completed, I was resigned to not having a phone throughout my time away. Not that I was about to give up my internet habit quite so easily at that time though. I was informed that the hotel provided free wifi, so I lugged along my iPad and my Macbook, thinking that I could log on when I had some free time in the room.

It seems however, that God had other ideas.

While the hotel did provide free wifi, I found that it really only worked in the common areas. After I found myself standing at the door to my room and sticking my iPad out into the corridor to try to get a connection, I decided to take the hint. I put aside my devices and stopped trying to get online. The funny thing is that DD tells me he had no trouble getting online with the iPad while in the room, so I think that it was me that God just really didn't want online! 

Disconnecting and being virtually uncontactable took a bit of getting used to. It was more than just cutting back, which I consciously make an effort to do most days. I hated not being able to snap and post on Instagram on the go and I kept wondering if I was getting new e-mails and missing tweets. But thankfully, I got over it pretty quickly. By the time the conference ended, I pretty much didn't care any more that I had no phone. Instead, I found that I enjoyed the change of pace. 

So in a way which I didn't intend, I got a good break. I did more reading, talked to those around me, and spent more time just stoning. I probably needed it.

Now that I'm back, I'm wondering if I can engineer more situations where I put away the phone for an extended period. Because sometimes I think having that time to just stop and stare, rather than share and share is a good thing too.

Sydney 2011: Australian Reptile Park

On our way back from Umina to Sydney, we made a stop by the Australian Reptile Park. This park was well-rated in the reviews I had read online and it was therefore one of the must-gos on my itinerary.

Unfortunately, the weather was wet and cold on the day we wanted to go. It continued to be wet and rainy for the rest of the time we were in Australia so it was not as if it would have made a difference if we went another day anyway. The sky was grey and it was threatening to pour when we arrived, but we decided to go ahead since we were already there. It started to rain shortly into our visit but we were glad we went. It is a rather well-maintained park with quite a bit to see.

 The keeper, baiting the crocodile out of the water. The croc is Elvis, NSW's largest crocodile, and it was huge! 

Shudder.

 Noey really wasn't keen on going too near. 

 Alligators that lurk below the surface in the big pond they have on-site. We counted at least 6? It was actually quite creepy seeing them glide noiselessly through the water. Sometimes you barely see them till they're up close.

Little sleeping Tasmanian Devil.

 The Tasmanian Devil wondering about the little Singapore version, terrorising her grandfather. 

 Beautiful Dingoes.

 Where to, Little Wombat?

 A Cassowary (they roam free) deciding on lunch.

 Getting up close with a Mama kangaroo and her joey in her pouch.

 A family pic! Might be our only one. In front of the entrance to the Lost World of Reptiles.

When it was pouring, we were glad that there were a number of indoor exhibits for us to visit. The Lost World of Reptiles was particularly impressive, both in its size as well as the type of exhibits they had.

A large and rather scary looking Perentie, Australia's largest lizard.

 Magnificent Tree Frog. Yes, that is actually it's name. I know this is not a reptile, but it was housed together with them! 

There was also Spider World, which featured, yes, spiders. There was a section with a number of huge tarantulas that was really rather freaky. Viewing it was like viewing a train wreck - I couldn't tear my eyes off the sight even as I couldn't bear to look. Noey was scared off by the giant mechanised spider which started speaking when you entered the chamber and refused to stay inside, so we only got a short look at this.

The cold started to get a bit much for the kids so we bundled them back into the car and headed off shortly before lunch. It was too much for Naomi, and she knocked out in the car. Unfortunately I think the rain that day caused her to catch a chill and she started having a pretty bad cold from that day. Sigh. To think we were in Sydney in Summer!

The rain aside, the Australian Reptile Park is quite worth a visit if you're in the Central Coast. There were plenty of live shows and talks where you could get up close and personal with the animals. The picnic grounds also looked like it would be a lovely spot for lunch on a nice day. Maybe we'll be back again the next time we're in Sydney. 

Knocked out!