Xmas and New Year in Singapore. Part 2 -. The Long Xmas Weekend. Xmas Eve and Xmas Day.

First I must begin with an apology for being so behind on the blog. Timbo has not been well and I have been looking after him and we have also moved on to Melaka (Malacca in English) and are almost ready to move on to KL (Kuala Lumpur) so we have been doing lots of packing and unpacking.

Phew! It is very tiring! Anyway, here is the blog.

Xmas Eve

We did not sleep very well, so when it was time to get up we made a coffee before breakfast. As Special K was having a meal with friends we chose to relax by the pool after breakfast.

Do you remember Timbo bought a short Wallander story by Henning Mankel from the Orrell Füssli bookshop at Zurich airport? He took it down to read by the pool. Our room overlooks the pool, so we can see if it is busy or not. Fortunately for us there were not too many people about, so Timbo and I packed a bag and dashed down to the pool. Even though I have a good covering of fur and I am used to the weather in this part if the world, I know instinctively I need to be very careful on the first few days. Timbo needs even more care as he does not have a covering of good quality strong fur.

Well, the lovely thing about this hotel is there are three pavilions at one end of the pool. I rushed down and bagged the one on the right which is perfect as I can see our room from down here and I can keep an eye on all the humans and make sure they do not misbehave. Timbo enjoyed himself. He snoozed on and off, he read bits of the book on and off, and he did these so well he was both  fully rested and he finished the book. To be fair, the book is short and has larger than usual print. Timbo was best pleased with the book. He told me the film and TV stories with Krister Henriksson as Wallander and this story fit so well, like hand in glove. I think he liked it. We will watch all the Wallander stories he has on DVD together sometime. He wants me with him as some are very scary.

We got back to the room and cleaned up, and met up again at last with Special K. I was so glad to see him again. He even gave me a few cuddles. Now that is what I call a really good friend. We all had a little chat and then started to think it would be an idea to eat something.

We then went out to our favouritest place in Singapore, Real Food in Killinney Road. Sadly for us they are moving to new premises in Orchard, but not that far from where they are now. We had a lovely dinner, I shared a dessert with Timbo. Then after eating it was almost bedtime and we all nodded off to sleep ready for the excitement of Xmas Day.

Xmas Day

We had to get up early on Xmas Day, not because we had masses of presents to open, but we needed to get to the old railway terminus at Tanjong Pagar. Since the last train left here on 30 June 2011, the station has been closed off and only opened on public holidays, and today was to be the last for a very long time until the redevelopment finishes. Timbo was there taking loads of photos, and so were many other people. We even got our own special free fans to help keep us cool. I was certainly glad of mine!

All too soon we left, but the numbers of people arriving was getting greater. We walked all the way from the station, up Cantonment Link, into Hoe Chiang Road and then all the way along Tanjong Pagar Road, stopping off to buy a most refreshing sugar cane drink each from the same uncle Timbo and Special K went to last time they walked along here. The nice walk ended at the Raffles Place MRT station and we made our way back to the hotel for a rest and snooze.

Everybody was taking photos on this special day

Even in Singapore there are reindeer.

The loneliness of the long distance signal box

Everybody is making tracks

Us at the station, plus fans.

All too soon we left, but the numbers of people arriving was getting greater. We walked all the way from the station, up Cantonment Link, into Hoe Chiang Road and then all the way along Tanjong Pagar Road, stopping off to buy a most refreshing sugar cane drink each from the same uncle Timbo and Special K went to last time they walked along here. 

Uncle making sugar cane drinks for us

The nice walk ended at the Raffles Place MRT station and we made our way back to the hotel for a rest and snooze.

Relaxing with my adoring fans back in the hotel

It was a long snooze, but Special K had a treat for Xmas day dinner for us. We had no idea what it was, but when we found out when we got there, cor! He had only taken us too the Jim Thompson on Dempsey Hill as our treat.

Starters!

Main course

Noodles in half a pineapple. Yummy!

As it was a special day, Timbo wanted to drink bubbles, but Special K is not very keen on them. So Timbo got the best of both worlds and ordered a Bellini each. Special K Liked his. Then came the food. The nosh was so noshy. I nibbled some. Yes. This is a noshy place and it was a lovely surprise. Timbo was thrilled to bits. It was a lovely treat and now you probably know why K is called Special now.

Timbo fell into conversation with a couple next to us. He said he thought they were Swiss but he didn't recognise the accent. It did not sound like it was a Züricher accent he said. He was right. They were from Basel.
It was time to sleep again. So a taxi trip back to the hotel and a crawl into the bed and lots of sleepy sleep.