A Weekend In Phuket

When we were living in London, we used to love going away for the weekend.

These visits usually involved getting the train either to Kent, where my family are based, or Hampshire, where Alex’s family live. However, now we live in Singapore, although weekend visits home are sadly out of our reach, weekend beach holidays are made easy! Hurrah!

Thus, this weekend, Alex and I got ourselves up first thing in the morning, made our way to the airport, and flew to Phuket in Thailand. Phuket is where Alex’s father’s resort – also, as of two weeks ago, my employer! – is based. It’s called The Village, Coconut Island.

The flight is so quick – about an hour and twenty minutes – and plus you gain an hour when you get into Thailand. This meant that we left the flat in Singapore at 7.30am, and were outside Phuket airport with an iced coffee by 9.00am local time!

As we walked out of Arrivals, we were accosted by a large looming figure booming at us. Turned out it was our friend Ben!

Ben works at The Village and is one of Alex’s oldest friends. I think I might have introduced him to you before, but for the record he looks like this:

 

That’s a rather excited Ben on the construction site. He loves construction sites.

Anyway, Ben had taken some of the Thai staff to the Airport to have a look around, so that if any guests rang and said they were lost in or around the airport, the staff would be able to help them. A simple yet brilliant plan; and one which we thoroughly approved of, as it meant that we got a lift back to Laem Hin (the little pier on Phuket which the Village’s boats go from) and thus had great company AND saved on the taxi fare. Result!

When we got back to the island, we had an utterly delicious breakfast courtesy of The Village’s lovely Executive Chef, Lee, whilst watching an incredible Thai man shimmy up a really tall palm tree and pull out the coconuts! The tree was right over the bar and he was worried that they would fall on guests’ heads, so he just sort of vertically RAN up the tree, no rope or anything, and started pulling the coconuts off, and lowering them down on a string! I tried to take a picture, but you can’t really see him very well. Sorry.

If that had been me, it would have taken me about a day to get up there, and that would be with a harness and everything…he’s amazing!

However, amongst all the fun and games, our day then sadly had a shadow cast over it. We were meant to be going over to Kata beach to meet Alex’s Daddy, who had been sailing his boat Chrysalis in the King’s Cup Regatta, one of Southeast Asia’s biggest regattas, which is held in Phuket. We were just getting ready to go at about 3.30pm when we had a jumbled call from him, telling us not to go over, as the beach was ‘carnage’ but that the crew of Chrysalis were ‘all safe’. His phone battery then died! Really worried, we frantically tried to find out what on earth had been going on. It later transpired that many of the yachts racing had been anchored off Kata Beach in the morning, when unexpected 25-knot onshore winds and heavy surf swept about ten yachts onto the beach, causing a huge pile up in the bay. One yacht was rolled in the shallow surf and lost both its keel and mast. Thankfully Chrysalis was ok, but a horrible situation for everyone involved.

The picture below is courtesy of Cameron Dueck for the Wall Street Journal, as obviously I wasn’t there to take a picture:

 

After this, not surprisingly, nobody was in the mood for a celebration as had been planned to mark the end of Regatta week. So, instead, we went into Phuket Town and had a lovely dinner at a Belgian restaurant called The Brasserie. It was REALLY good – Alex had foie gras and a really tender beef stew, and I had an incredible cheese croquette and a sort of deconstructed chicken pie which was just basically chicken, tarragon, white wine, cream and puff pastry. We felt very well-fed afterwards but needless to say my diet had slipped off track…

Sunday was gorgeous – the weather wasn’t amazing, but we took the speedboat out into the bay and cruised around for a bit, then went to an amazing beach called Reggae Beach. It is about half an hour away from Coconut Island by boat, and it is basically just a beautiful little island with a stunning white sand beach and turquoise water, with a solitary little beach bar / hut run by a Thai man who likes to wear dreadlocks and play Bob Marley in a loop (hence the name Reggae Beach!) We had some beer, and the boys caught a chicken!

 

It was very well behaved so they stroked it a bit then let it go.

We also had a swim in the sea – here we are:

It got to five o’clock and suddenly, as dusk began to descend, so did the mosquitos! Oh no! We swam back to the boat as quickly as we could, but not before all of us had sustained some pretty nasty bug-munches…

They made me look like this, the horrid things. Next time I go back I will declare war, with bug spray.

 

We then headed back to the island and scrubbed up and headed to the Island’s newly-opened Deli where a party was taking place to celebrate the completion of the island’s construction work! We had a great time and plenty of amazing food and drink, and after one too many glasses of wine things quickly descended to a point where we felt it was best to go to bed. As Alex found out, glass doors can be problematic when you have had a few glasses of wine.

The next morning, Alex was up early (and grudgingly) as he had to get back to Singapore for work. I spent the day on the Island, working, and then flew back at 10.00pm to Singapore.

I am writing this from our balcony – it’s currently 5.00pm, and I am very excited as I am flying back to London TONIGHT!! I can’t wait! Obviously I will be really sad to leave Alex for Christmas, but I miss my family and friends very much. Also, Alex has a brunch planned at a nice hotel in Singapore, The Fullerton, on Sunday which starts at 11.30am with freeflow champagne, so I think it is a good idea that I leave them to it….

Next time I speak to you, I shall be back in the UK, and the macaroni necklace will be delivered to its winner! Bet you are so excited…and you should be for, as you will see, it is an epic work of art.

Lots of love,

Jessy xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Feeling More Than A Little Chunky…

So, moving to Singapore. Land of humidity, outdoor pursuits,  green tea, sashimi and a high water intake. Recipe for weight loss, you would think. Wrong, my friends, wrong!

For Singapore is also the land of refreshingly cool beer, condensed milk in your tea, ‘Mc Deliveries’ , and an utter inability to walk more than about fifty metres outside before keeling over in the heat.

This does not a trim waistline make.

Alex, in typical boy fashion (and probably due to being at work for about a squillion hours a day and so not actually having the chance to eat stuff) has lost weight. I have put it on. I only really noticed a couple of days ago, when I kicked the washing machine for shrinking all my clothes. It wasn’t until I tried on a dress that hadn’t yet been through the washing machine here and found it tight that I realised that I may have done the washing machine a disservice, and I might actually just have been eating too much.

Sweaty and scared, I was taunted with visions of me looking like this:

 

I decided that something had to be done. So, ladies and gentlemen – I hit the gym. There is a little gym in our building which I duly trotted down to, and after a bit of dubious poking of the machines I climbed on the treadmill and started to run. I will let you know how this new thing goes.

This, therefore, is my first piece of real advice to anyone who moves to Asia – learn to use a treadmill, or try to actually swim in your pool rather than just flopping around in it like I do. It’s too hot to exercise outside, and unless you eat practically nothing you will end up kicking your washing machine quite often.

In other news, thank you for all the snow pictures! I should be most grateful if you would keep them coming please; I cannot pick the best one yet as the amazing prize is not finished. Turns out that macaroni necklaces are quite tricky and time-consuming to make. So; more snow pictures please!

Lots and lots of love xxxxx

 

 

Once Upon A Time In Singapore…

‘Once upon a time in Singapore, an English couple sat down to dinner at a Himalayan restaurant in Little India with an Australian, an Indian, and a Japanese lady.’

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn’t it? Well, this was our Sunday evening!

Alex’s lovely Australian colleague, Karl, who has lived in Singapore for years, kindly invited us to join him for dinner yesterday evening. We accepted, and he told us to head for a Himalayan restaurant – very aptly named ‘Everest’ – in Singapore’s Little India. I had never been to Little India before, and it was such an experience!

Just getting into the area by taxi was an event in itself. We were very surprised on getting to Little India to see the streets packed full of local residents, all standing outside in big, lively groups, chatting, sitting on the side of the road, and milling about. We had to drive very slowly to get to our restaurant without knocking anybody over! It was a completely different atmosphere to anywhere else we have seen yet in Singapore.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were introduced to Karl’s friends whom we were joining for dinner; a very nice Indian gentleman and a lovely Japanese lady who had spent many years living in Australia. After taking a quick look at the menu it became apparent that we had no idea what to order, so we sat back and let our food be ordered for us. And when it came – oh my goodness, it was incredible!

We had flat, freshly baked unleavened bread – sort of like naan bread, but thinner and more doughy, and stuffed with garlic and spices. We had paneer cheese in a thick spinach sauce, and a meltingly tender lamb Rogan Josh –  very different to what is served in Indian restaurants in England! There was an amazing basil chicken dish, and an incredibly bitter vegetable that looked sort of like celery – I think it is called Karela, but I might well be mistaken – which I only ate because our knowledgable Indian dining companion told me it was very good for my circulation!

Karl also saw me pointing to something on the menu called ‘Lady Fingers’ so he ordered it – delicious, wafer-thin strips of Okra fried with Cumin. Yummy!

So, in a way it was a bit like home, having a curry on a Sunday night – but what an experience! And – the best bit – the bill for five of us and a LOT of very good food came to just $60.00 – so about thirty pounds. Not per head – for the WHOLE MEAL. This, I could get used to!

Skipping back over the weekend, on  Friday evening we joined Nick and some of his lovely friends for some cocktails, and on Saturday we went for a lovely lunch at Boat Quay on the river. The view was gorgeous!

There are little turtle things in the river!

On Sunday we went to Sentosa for a relaxing day on the beach.

Here’s where we were:

Alex was very happy – we had some lunch, then he settled down with his book and slept for pretty much the entire afternoon – I think he needed it!

The weather here has been a bit so-so – it has been hot, but rainy and quite overcast. I am actually very jealous of all the snow you have been enjoying in England!

I am still enjoying it here but I am very, VERY excited about coming home for Christmas. Only nine days left now until I come back! I feel really bad about leaving Alex here, but he won’t be alone – he is spending Christmas in Thailand with his Daddy – and I really can’t wait to see my family and my friends. I am going to eat SO MUCH CHEESE. It is very expensive here. Cannot wait.

Over and out!

xxxxxxxxx

PS: Abs, you don’t actually want a panic room, it scares me. I am worried about shutting myself in.

PPS: Please send me some snow pictures! The best one will get a special Jessica award, which may consist of a macaroni necklace or similar.

If you do not send my any snow photo’s, I will have to resort to making my own, which is very time-consuming and not particularly effective. Like this.

A Job and A Flat…What More Does A Girl Need?

So, a couple of weeks into Singapore life, i’m starting to settle in a bit!

I’m starting to really like our little tiny weeny flat! It’s just a temporary one – Alex’s employment pass hasn’t come through yet, which means that we can’t really do much at all – can’t open bank accounts, can’t rent a flat – it all makes me feel a bit illegal, actually! But the little flat that Alex’s company has put us into is really nice, and his boss really sweetly sorted it all out for us. We are in here for a month, which takes us to the 22nd of December. I’ll be back in London from the 15th until the 25th (hurrah!) so we are really hoping that Alex’s EP comes through in the next week or so, so that we can get somewhere to live sorted out before I go, otherwise it’ll be another month here.

The flat is quite sweet – it’s a little studio in a new development called The Lumiere which is only 5 minutes walk from Alex’s work, so really perfect (Kitty, if you are reading this, it’s about the same size as yours!) It’s lucky that both Alex and I are slightly vertically-challenged otherwise it might be a bit of a squeeze in here. We are very central and can get pretty much anywhere in town within about 10 minutes. The view from the balcony is really fun – it overlooks the sea and all the shipping stuff, which Alex loves, seeing as it’s what has enabled us to come here.

Here’s the view:

The flat is also really funny –  just next to the bathroom, it has this little room which you step down into with a big solid door which can be locked from the inside. We keep our clothes in it, but according to a little note on the door, it’s actually a ‘Civil Defence Room’ whatever that may mean. The tagline is ‘Readiness is your only protection’ which freaks me out a little! I suppose it’s like a sort of panic room, that you can lock yourself into if there is trouble and wait until the police arrive – but it’s certainly not a standard feature of flats in London!

Here’s the note. I don’t know if you can read it, as unfortunately I selected my camera for it’s colour (pink) rather than its ability to take good photographs.

And whilst i’m here – here is the kitchen:

 

 

And yes, observant readers – that IS a bottle of the UK’s finest Fairy Liquid! I stumbled over this bottle at the back of a shelf in Cold Storage and attracted some very strange looks as I swooped down and scooped it up cackling in triumph, then shielded it inside my basket and slinked away. What can I say; a taste of home is precious to me!

 

And…I also have a JOB! I’m working for Alex’s Daddy, opening aSingapore Sales and Marketing office for his beautiful resort in Phuket, the Village Coconut Island.

I flew down to Phuket on Tuesday afternoon and back yesterday evening (that in itself excited me; being able to go to Thailand for the evening!) and had a look at how the resort is progressing. It has been closed for the last few months as the final phase of development was being completed – and it’s nearly there. There are some incredible touches going in – like an amazing Deli, which will stock parma ham, incredible cheeses and the like – with it’s own hand-built wood fired pizza oven! I sampled one of the pizza’s yesterday and OH MY GOODNESS it was amazing. Not something to eat every day, perhaps…

Here’s our friend and Assistant Resort Manager, Benjy, looking beautiful in front of the still-under-construction deli.

 

 

And here, in all it’s glory…it’s the star of the show: the pizza oven! Mmmm, delicious!

 

Sorry for yet another overlong post. I hope that everything is ok with everyone at home! Apparently the snow is incredible – I am very jealous! Any pictures gratefully received…

And lastly – a big hello to my lovely Auntie Pauline who got in touch today to tell me she’d been reading. Thank you and lots of love!

Jessica xxx

A Glorious Weekend!

Well, what a lovely weekend!

On Friday evening, Alex finished work early, and he called me and asked me to come and meet him as he was taking me for a drink. So very excitedly I put a dress and some heels on and trotted off to meet him.

First of all, he took me to an amazing bar called Altitude at Raffles Place, right in the middle of town. It is a really tall building and on the rooftop – the 60-something-th floor (wow, that was terrible English) is a really great bar from which you have an uninterrupted, 360 degree view of Singapore.

The view was AMAZING! Here it is in all its glory (file photo courtesy of Time Out as neither of us had a camera, oops)

Isn’t it wonderful? I would recommend a trip up to Altitude to any Singapore newbies like me – apart from being a wonderful view, it really helped me work out where things in this city are in relation to other things, and get my bearings a bit!

We stayed for another drink (the initial entry fee is $15, but this gives you a free drink at the bar) and as we were about to leave, a fellow roof-person kindly took a photo of us on his phone and emailed it to Alex – (thank you very much indeed, Dave from Scotland!)

So here we are!

After our rooftop adventure, Alex took me on another adventure of sorts – he decided we could take a scenic walk to Chinatown, where we were having dinner. It was a lovwely walk but I regretted my choice of heels about four minutes in. With the heat and the walking, I arrived at our destination in Chinatown a little hot and bothered, but soon cooled down when we sat down at our table at Indochine.

Indochine is a really gorgeous restaurant in Chinatown – I think there is also one by the river somewhere too. I had steamed cod with ginger and oyster sauce and jasmine rice, and Alex had a seafood linguine – both were gorgeous, although Alex got a bit cross because they covered his clams with Parmesan. But apart from that, a lovely evening!

On Saturday we went to Sentosa, ‘Singapore’s Playground’ – basically an island filled with lots of fun things to do and some lovely beaches. I spent the day trying to change my pasty Engliish hue into something resembling a tan (wasn’t very sucessful) whilst Alex and Nick Brown (who joined us) wandered around around in a manly fashion, (chest puffed out, beer in hand) having very important man-like conversations.

I also had the hugest burger in the WORLD for lunch – see!

I have inserted it in the hope that a little public humiliation might stop me from eating anything that big ever again.

Then, we went banana boating (the less said about that the better, I think Nick Brown still has the bruises) and went hom to change.

After that, we went out for some drinks and were introduced to a very lovely couple called Franck and Wendy, from Holland, who had been travelling the world together for the last sixteen months, which we thought was incredible! Alex and I net up with them on Sunday for their last day in Singapore, and we strolled through Chinatown together, had some lovely Dim Sum for lunch, and had a drink together at the Penny Black, a ‘Victorian English’ pub by the river!

All in all, a really lovely weekend.

Now – what have you all been doing? Fill me in!

xxxxxxxxx

In Singapore! (with a little help from our Singapore Airlines Angel)

Firstly – i’m really sorry I haven’t posted for ages. As you can imagine, the last couple of weeks have been some of the busiest I have ever experienced, and on top of that we have not had internet for a while! But all up and running now, so here’s what’s happened over the last couple of weeks!

I flew out to join Alex in Singapore on Tuesday the 16th of November. I’d just spent a gorgeous weekend with my family in Cambridge celebrating my sister Abigail’s birthday, and was really sad to leave! My lovely mummy loaded me up in a taxi on Tuesday evening, and I made my way to Heathrow, feeling really apprehensive!

The problems started when I got to the airport. I went to the Singapore Airlines desk to check in, nervously clutching about ten copies of my itinery. However, once I placed my bag on the scales, a major problem manifested itself.

For other countries, Singapore Airlines allows emigrating travellers double baggage allowance; my standard allowance was 20kg so I had packed expecting 40kg, and my bag was right (so I thought) on the nail at 40kg. However, upon being weighed, the check-in man cast me a look of absolute horror and told me that my bag was double my allotted weight, and that I couldn’t possibly take it. He explained that Singapore is exempt from the double emigration allowance. Stunned and scared, I asked what I ought to do – he said that he had no option but to apply excess baggage charges. ‘Alright’ I thought; ‘Not ideal, but it;s money well spent to get our things to our new home’.

The charges were SIX HUNDRED POUNDS.

I didn’t have six hundred pounds – more like twenty in my wallet. Plus, I was scared and the past few weeks had been so stressful, I did the only thing I could think of – I promptly threw my bag on the floor and burst into tears. Very loudly. I must have looked an absolute sight – wearing a rabbit-shaped knitted hat complete with ears (it was very cold) with a huge cow-shaped suitcase and a massive bright pink jumper. Everyone in the queue was looking at me in absolute horror; the check-in guy, bless him, looked really awkward, and said he was really sorry but there was nothing he could do.

Just as I was leaning down to try to pick up my very heavy cow suitcase, vision blurring through my copious childish tears, a man suddenly materialised at my elbow, handed me a tissue from his pocket, and very gently asked me what the matter was (which, of course, set me off again!). Through my sobs, I explained the situation. He checked my ticket with the check-in guy, and verified that I really didn’t have a return ticket. He then patted me on the shoulder , and told me to dry my eyes and stop crying.

‘The only thing you have to worry about now is which of the hundreds of movies we have onboard you’ll choose to watch on the flight over’ he smiled. ‘I’m authorising your entire baggage allowance under my name. I can see that it was an honest mistake, and one you won’t be making again’.

Talk about grateful – I nearly kissed the man! Crying again (but this time with sobs of relief) I redistributed some of my baggage, checked my bags and proceeded onto the plane. And in the hurry, I never got his name – so thank you Singapore Airlines Angel man – I am incredibly grateful.

Apart from that, everything has been ok! Singapore is hot, sticky, and humid – and fun. It has been glorious being with Alex again, and not having to worry about packing any more. I wouldn’t say i’ve adjusted yet, as I still feel like i’m on holiday! but I am sort of beginning to understand the very basics of what it means to live here.

These are some things i’ve noticed so far:

• Taxi’s are cheap, reliable, air-conditioned, plentiful, and incredibly efficient. You just call when you want a taxi, they store your pick-up addresses electronically, and one is with you in usually about 3 minutes! So different to London…
• Fresh fish is cheap; Marmite is very expensive (obviously). A great supermarket chain here, called Cold Storage, sells loads of English and American brands – my fridge is full of Heinz Baked Beans, Tomato Ketchup, Marmite and Bertolli Butter and olive oil, which makes me feel loads more at home!
• The local Singaporean people are INCREDIBLY welcoming and friendly. Stop to ask for help, and you’ll have five people trying to help you within a minute, all weighing in. One lovely old Chinese cab driver yesterday drove me home, then proceeded to, with great care, draw me a little map showing me how to get to the local 7-11’s and supermarkets from our new apartment, so that I wouldn’t get lost!
• EVERYONE has maids here – it’s really strange. Lots of them are live-in, too. This is not something I will ever get used to…I like doing my own cleaning. It is my predominant form of exercise!
• I don’t understand ‘Singlish‘ (the local Singaporean way of speaking English) AT ALL. Do you know when someone tells you something, and you say ‘Excuse me, i’m sorry; would you repeat that?’ and it happens again, and you feel like you just can’t ask them to repeat it AGAIN because you have no clue what they have said? Happens to me on a daily basis.
• I have had five plus expat ladies come up to me in the Supermarket and ask me how I keep my hair blonde in this country. Apparently, the only colour you can get here for hair, even in Salons, is a sort of brassy orange (explains Charles’ hair mishap…sorry Charles). I’m going to have to get creative with the lemon juice!

Apart from all that, i’m still learning constantly. Alex is working incredibly hard – he goes in about midday or one, and is leaves about 2.00am – but he assures me that he is loving it, which is all that matters. I miss my family and friends very very much, but hoping Skype will help a little bit with that. We are currently in a serviced apartment in a building called The Lumiere whilst we wait for Alex’s employment pass to come through, without which we can’t rent a flat. It’s a really nice building with a great pool and incredible views, and very central; just 5 minutes to Alex’s work which is very good for him with his long hours.

After this very long and probably very boring post (sorry) i’ll leave you with a picture  of the pool (it’s not all bad really)

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Rememberance Day and Nearing The End

Today was Rememberance Day, and it was very moving. Apparently there has been a huge public reinvigoration of Rememberance Day in the UK, due in part I imagine to the current war making the public feel more connected to the idea of mourning those who gave their lives for our country. It was a really moving day and I was so touched by the amount of people from overseas and visitors to our country who observed the silence at 11.00am.

In other news, the shippers are coming tomorrow, and only 5 days to go until the move. Things are really starting to get a bit scary! It is quarter to midnight, and I am surrounded by boxes trying to get everything sorted before the morning.

The flat looks dreadful! Look:

I know – what a MESS! You know when you atart something and half way through think ‘oh no, I wish I’d never started’? That’s how I feel right now!

But the good thing about this being Rememberance Day is that I can put my problems into perspective and realise that actually I am very lucky indeed.

I wish I could just go and cuddle up in bed and forget about it. Never mind

At The World Travel Market in London!

I’m writing this from Excel – a huge conference and exhibitions centre in London’s Docklands (and I mean huge – I think I’ve walked about 10 miles today, in heels, and my feet HURT!)

Ok, moaning over – i’m here with Jason Harling, Director of Breeze Marketing, to promote Alex’s father’s incredible project, The Village Coconut Island, in Phuket.

Here we are!

The Village is utterly gorgeous – a private island just off the east coast of Phuket in Thailand – check it out if you are out in that direction!

See, it’s so pretty!

For more pictures, see http://www.thevillage-coconutisland.com.

Must go – after that shamless bit of plugging – I need to get back to work now!

xxx

 

 

 

 

A Bit Of A Setback and Some Very Sad News

So, we have had a bit of a setback, and some extremely sad news. Alex was due to fly out to Singapore from Heathrow at 10.00pm yestreday (Thursday night), but on Thursday morning he got a call – his paternal Grandfather has, hugely sadly, passed away.

As a result, his flight has been cancelled and we are currently in Hampshire with Alex’s family. His flight will, I imagine, be re-booked for next week, but it has been a very horrible setback for him and he is understandably, very upset.

Alex’s Grandfather was a wonderful man, and he will be hugely missed by his family and everyone who had the privilage of knowing him.

A Bit Of A Wobble…..

So, this evening is Alex’s last night in London – ever – and I am having a bit of a wobble! We have spent a lovely evening together and my friends Kat and Sam dropped in to say hi, and now he’s just off at the pub over the road from our apartment saying goodbye to Donovan, a good friend.

It has all suddenly hit me a bit that this is the last night we will be spending together in London – and it’s really scary! It’s all seeming very real now. It’s almost like the last few weeks have been a bit of a game, playing moving countries, but now i’ve just woken up and realised it’s actually real. Tonight was the first time I actually cried, and am feeling like a bit of an idiot. We are very lucky to have this opportunity and here I am, blubbing my eyes out!

I think a good night’s sleep and a trashy book in bed ought to sort me out…now, where did I put that Dairy Milk?!

xx