December is often the rainiest month in Singapore with big thunderstorms that roll through for an hour or two each day torrentially covering the city and then drifting back out to sea. Here are a few awesome photos of a waterspout that went directly over our condo and then out to sea. The power of Mother Nature always leaves me in awe.
Labels:
Living in Singapore
In early December I made a quick trip to Seattle, as my mom went through a fairly major surgery. It was a week and a half of high stress and very little sleep. However, the surgery went exactly as expected and my mom is now, thankfully, recovering very well. Despite a very limited social agenda, I will still able to squeeze in a visit with a few friends AND to sneak in a quick visit to Santa with my friend Jen.
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Seattle
This year has been an exceptionally busy Christmas season. With our calendars overflowing with end of year celebrations, I am feeling so thankful for the amazing friendships we have made over the last few years living in Singapore.
Fiesta Blanc Christmas party
COSMO Squash end of year party -
the Singapore Cricket Club team got 3rd place in the league.
Cutis Medical Clinic - Christmas Party
with my amazing nursing team
Book Club Christmas brunch at Sara's house
CE LA VI - Christmas party
Labels:
Living in Singapore
As an early Christmas gift, Kingsley got us amazing tickets to see
Totem, one of the new Cirque du soleil shows that is currently touring in Singapore. This was my fourth Cirque du soleil show that I have seen and, like the previous three, it took my breath away. The Totem story line is a “journey into the evolution of mankind”, which includes monkeys, Neanderthals, humans, scientists, and a continuous stream of impressive acrobatic feats with each one seeming to defy the laws of gravity.
One of our favorite acts of the night was five unicyclists, Bai Xiangjie, Hao Yuting, He Xuedi, Wu Yurong and Yang Jie, feathered, flowered and pedalling in serene synchronicity as they catch metal bowls on their heads, flung from their feet.
Totem unicycle from
Lynn Wood on
Vimeo.
MVI_8412 from
Lynn Wood on
Vimeo.
Labels:
Living in Singapore
Kingsley and I attended our fourth Diner en Blanc event, this time with our friends Andrea and Ashley. Due to the haze in Singapore the event was initially postponed for a month and, additionally we suspect that the location was moved. The secret location this year was very near our condo at the Old Kallang Airport. It was also a significantly smaller crowd with about 700 guests compared to the 3000 that attended last year. We found the organization to be very different (in not a good way) from previous years as well, with a new team running the show it felt like many critical things like music and the MC being on time, were an after thought. However, when you are there with great friends you can only have a wonderful time...and we did! We had a lovely picnic dinner, shared some wine and enjoyed a little post dinner dancing. Overall another successful year!
Labels:
Living in Singapore
Hakone is a gorgeous mountainous area in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. Officially classified as a Geopark by UNESCO, Hakone is famous throughout Japan for its sulfur hot springs, Shinto shrines, and black eggs hard boiled in sulfur. Kingsley and I had a lovely relaxing weekend getaway here staying at the Hyatt Hakone.
Selfie on my way to the onsen ended up looking like an advertisement for a Japanese horror movie.
This cute little restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team. They speak very little English but since I can speak Japanese we had no trouble communicating. We had the horse mackerel sashimi special and chef special omakase. The mackerel was delicious! It was so good that we ordered another one. Sushi was fresh and delicious assortment of fish and the miso was excellent.
The husband makes many beautiful, tiny paper cranes, these are displayed throughout the shop. We were also given a tiny keepsake with two little cranes inside as a parting gift.
This is an orchid made only of origami, the most impressive part was the leaves were made of hundreds of tiny cranes.
The misty fall colors, chilly temperatures, cedar fires and onsens made it a perfect fall weekend escape.
Labels:
Japan
After a month apart, Kingsley and I were finally reunited in Tokyo and spent a long wonderful weekend together.
We went to the Imperial Palace to explore an Kingsley decided to tag alone with group tour # 357
Hello Kitty Mania
Christmas decorations were all over Tokyo and we found Santas sleigh flying over Kyoto.
Labels:
Japan
