Showing posts with label Changi Prison. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Changi Prison. Show all posts

Wednesday, 8 February 2012

Changi Museum 'n' Black & White houses


Changi Prison Museum; very interesting and such a moving experience. I highly recommend a treck out of the city to see a little bit of Singapore and World history.


Photos in the indoor area of the museum are forbidden
but the chapel can be photographed


Certainly a tourist attraction not to be missed (Uncle Brian - you'll catch it next year :-)



Next, a little further afield at the very North of Singapore - actually in spitting distance of Malaysia ;-)


Still standing in Sembawang are many old British Naval Base houses.  These nestle in tree-lined roads and all have fabulous gardens.  So, who lives in a house like this?




and after reading the reviews for this book...
I want a copy to display on my coffee table ;-)


Actually, driving around these neighbourhoods I was left thinking "I want to live in that house or that house or even that house!". But, thankfully my Mr Man knows me better than I know myself and declared that Sambawang, Singapore is most probably how Gambais is to France...totally out in the sticks and I would become bored crazy ;-)

Avenue de Neuville, Gambais
proper 'out in the sticks' ;-)


My house in Gambais, France...lovely, lovely old house
but not the right choice for a city loving girl like me! ;-)


So, still smiling here despite the fact my parents have now headed back to the UK  :-(  Got lots of exciting outings, projects and general 'stuff' planned for me and my boys...:-)

The SAM , Snow City , ice skating @ Kallang and for me and my Mr Man...The Woman in Black au cinéma - proper scary snuggle up viewing ;-)  

Lastly, I'm a tiny bit obsessed with this song...

Kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Saturday, 28 January 2012

BellaBox 'n' more Mustafa goodies...

Finally a peek inside the January BellaBox...

Again, as with past month BBoxes, there are perfect goodies to try, test 'n' enjoy :-)  My personal favourite would be the Dr Jart BB cream...I love the texture and coverage this gives. I'm definitely ordering while the postage is free.  Pangea Organics lip balm is currently on my smiley lips :-) mine is lavender and cardamom...lovely.

Yesterday I took a trip to the Mustafa Centre and disappeared inside for over 2 hours! I have yet to make a quick trip there as I get totally blown away by so much stuff on display.  I see something different each time and always that very something I 'need' :-)



blue and green sparkling nails

Extremely random stuff from yesterday's purchased list are... Indian style tunic top, nail varnish x 3 bottles, eye shadow, mascara, eyeliner (waterproof), white polo shirt x 2, white sports trousers, cricket bat and cricket ball...



I am absolutely loving my new Indian style top
with gold detail

Sports wear and cricket stuff need to be explained....these are actually for my boys. School are celebrating a week of culture...the students have already had a dragon and lion dance and on Monday the students will be taking part in a parade of nations. Hence the cricket attire...my boys will be representing England with the very British cricket whites. Of course, India is also a cricket nation so finding the stuff in Mustafa's was pretty good thinking on my part :-). So once again, I'm smiling at the Mustafa centre 'n' all its goodies.

Kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

smiling with numbers...

ni hao ma?  Ok so yes, I am still on the 'very' basics of this wonderful Chinese language but it makes me smile so that is a good thing yes?  Hai ke yi ;-)  pretty good!



Moving onto numbers now... :-)  yi, er, san, si, wu, liu, qi, liu, ba, jiu, shi...learning the numbers and reading telephone numbers in Chinese was a pretty difficult task - erm, my braces made it extremely difficult :-)#) kind of like a Chinese Tongue Twister - my giggling certainly made my teacher laugh and smile of course :-)

So, keeping with the numbers theme this time...

I went along to the cinema to see 'One Day''.  A friend passed me the book early last year and I loved it.  It made me smile and laugh but I didn't remember it making me cry!  Gosh the film had me sobbing :,(  it's ok though, I'm definitely one of those girly-girls who love to cry at movies.  Hey, I even cried at the end of 'Real Steal' - much to the utter embarassment of my boys!



So, One Day...published in 2009, over 400,000 copies sold and translated into 31 languages.  I was certainly unsure about going to see the film - as I'm always the first to say "but the book was better!"  The film though was pretty good although than Anne Hathaway's 'poor' Yorkshire accent had me a little annoyed.  I should have done the voice over - heck I should have played Emma Morley ;-)  My Mr Man did not like :-(  but if your hubby or boyfriend owes you a trip to the movies to see 'your choice', or if you just want a really soppy 'switch off the day' movie, then I recommend 3 out of 5 ;-)
Bellabox still making me smile :-) Yes, reward points - I've got 200 just for ordering this box of goodies, 15 points for every month I receive my goodie box and 5 points for every review I post on the goodies within my Bbox!  So, with 100 points equalling S$10 in their online store, I will soooo be ordering some full size goodies ;-)

More about numbers but now less smiley :-( Following on from the recent trip to Changi Prison with my boys, I did a little research and found some interesting facts, figures and general crime information that should relate to the low crime rate of Singapore.  Singapore has the highest per capita rate of executions in the world - next being Saudi Arabia.  In the last 13 years more than 400 people have been hanged.  In the last 40 years just 6 appeals for clemency were successful.  The death penalty was made mandatory in Singapore in 1975 for murder and drug traffickers.  It is shocking though that since the beginning of 2011 five bodies have been dragged from the Bedok Reservoir - but are they murders or suicides?

OK, moving on swiftly and back to some more smiles :-) 

Doga or Yoga for dogs...

An article in my local paper last week telling of these yoga classes for dogs.  The classes are intended to help dogs find their inner peace and take the canines through a series of exercises and positions designed to improve their heart and digestion.  Yes, it really did make me smile :-)  Anyone tried this with their canine friends?  I think it would be a lot of fun :-D

Lastly, I'm wishing all a Happy Deepavali :-) This very special Indian festival which translates as 'row of lights' and is the 'festival of lights' is celebrated today, and here in Singapore our neighbours are dining on yummy food, lighting candels and lighting up their homes.  Diwali ki Shubhkamnayein (दिवाली की शुभकामनाएं):


;-) our neighbours made this very pretty artwork in the lobby ;-)

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)







Wednesday, 19 October 2011

sun, sand 'n' prison...

We are on October break from school right now.  So, keeping my boys entertained is my top priority - when they are happy I'm smiling ;-)  We've got some pretty fun and interesting projects and days out planned - remote control car racing, bikes on the East Coast Park, picnic at the beach, Changi Prison Museum, National History Museum, ArtScience Museum, swimming, skate park to name a few...I'll do a little review of some of these and other 'keeping the kids entertained' activities at the end of this week.

Yesterday - swimming, work (Kumon Learning Centre), lunch by the beach and Changi Prison.  We are lucky enough to live just 10 minutes by bike to the start of the East Coast Park.  Here there are lots of cafes, restaurants and of course the beach and sea.  Considering the traffic on the sea to and from the busy port - the beach is kept pretty clean and the sea is nice to paddle in.  Will for sure be heading there again this week, going to buy buckets & spades and do some fun sand castle building :-)


Also, yesterday, we took a drive further East in search of the Changi Prison Museum.  I do not have a 'fab' sense of direction but we did finish 'kind of' in the area we wanted :-)  Unfortunately, the Museum was closed - if we had not got 'a little' lost we would have got there in time to visit!  (we will return to see the little P.O.W chapel). 

My boys being real boys did think that to see the 'real prison' would be a good afternoon activity!  So, we took a drive around the 'actual' Changi Prison Complex.  Probably a bit shocking for them really and did enough to scare them some - to say the high fences, barbed wire, security cameras, police and various protection officers with their big guns were impressionnantes would be an understatement.  I do not imagine what we looked like driving around there...slightly more entertaining than tourists of the beaten track no doubt! :-0
Singapore protection officers

Our first October school break in the Singapore sun ;-)  For, I think, the last 7 years my parents-in-law have spent this holidays with us in France.  My boys have always enjoyed the bags and bags of Halloween goodies (outfits, decorations, sweeties) brought over from the UK.  This October we are recreating the Halloween fun but, happily, not experiencing the autumn weather - although I do 'kind of' miss those crispy orange leaves...


So, here in Singapore we headed to Plaza Singapura and found lots of Halloween goodies and fab material (from Spotlight) to make outfits for the boys (and me).  Erm, yes my sewing machine will be seeing the light of day...watch this space for my creations :-)

Lastly, a friend shared this pic with me via Facebook...

could really be the picture of every Mum (and some Dads) during October break :-D

kisses 'n' smiles from me xx ;-)