The Bub in the Belly

I mentioned previously that my mother stayed over in the last week of July. A week after she left, we had my cousin sister stay over for about 2.5 weeks (she just left a couple of days ago). She was on an informal internship with me at my firm so she went with me to work everyday.

To be honest, before this visit, my cousin and I had hardly spent any time getting to know each other. We are almost 20 years apart in age and we see each other only once a year, during Chinese New Year. So it was wonderful to be able to spend some time with her, to get to know her and to share a bit of our life with her.

With a house guest, we did have to make some adjustments - we didn't do many activities with Ryan (whether at home or outside) and we didn't go for children-centric activities/venues. Actually, this is always what happens when we have guests - we try not to do activities which would make our guests feel like outsiders. On balance, we probably give our guests a very different impression of what we normally do, but that can’t really be helped.

I wasn't a very good host for the first week, because I was feeling extreme fatigue from the pregnancy. Every night after work and after dinner I would just crawl into bed and leave everyone to their own devices. Blogging was definitely not on the cards. After I had the evacuation done, our evenings were spent sitting around in the living room. Ryan would play with his train set and his Lego, which are kept in the living room. Ryan also got a lot of DVD time (and I really mean A LOT) so he certainly had no complaints. He still wanted to have his reading-time every night though.

On the weekends, we spent a lot of time out and about, going around some of the tourist attractions with my cousin and watching performances (Voca People at Max Pavilion at the Expo, The Lion King at Marina Bay Sands Theatre).

Don't worry, this isn't going to be yet another post with no photos - here they come!

We brought my cousin for a go on the Singapore Flyer. This is the view from one of the capsules.

We took her up to the Skypark at Marina Bay Sands. Almost the same view.



We showed her how to fly a kite at Marina Barrage.








[All iPhone photos were taken by Richard, plus some of the pictures at Marina Barrage. The rest were shot by me.]

Richard’s eldest sister, Margaret, and her daughter, Jerica, are staying with us for a few days. It’s wonderful to be able to spend some time with family and we always cherish the opportunity for Ryan to bond with his relatives. They arrived on Sunday evening and, after dinner, we all went to see The Lion King (the musical) at Marina Bay Sands.

Richard and I watched The Lion King in Sydney many years ago and we enjoyed it tremendously. Actually, we hadn't planned to watch it - my mum bought the tickets for us as a gift. I was a little sceptical at first, wondering whether it would be a tacky children’s show but watching it, I was very impressed. The show was sophisticated and respectful of adult sensibilities, and sufficiently charming and accessible to the imagination of children. Richard and I sat up in the circle seats and, from that distance, the silhouette of giraffes strutting across the Serengeti plains against the backdrop of a glowing sunset was simply jaw-dropping. The stunning imagery was spectacularly evocative and the pulsing African rhythms made it burst into life. It was easy to forget that the prowling leopards, leaping antelopes and swooping birds were actually people in costume and makeup. The music, crafted by Elton John and Tim Rice, certainly didn’t disappoint. The songs were enchanting and soul-stirring and masterfully delivered by both actor and orchestra. We left the theatre skipping along and humming "Hakuna Matata".

When the musical came to Singapore, again, we did not make plans to watch it so it was a happy excuse to indulge ourselves when Margaret and Jerica came to visit. We bought the tickets just a few hours before the show, and in complete contrast to last time, we ended up two rows from the stage, in the side block (house left/stage right). This turned out to be the better side, as whenever an actor stood at the side of the stage to deliver his/her lines, more often than not, this was the side he/she stood. The sets were as majestic as I remembered, although we were too close to the stage to fully appreciate the beauty of the whole. Happily, this was balanced by the privilege of getting up close and personal with the actors. In Sydney, up in the circle, we couldn’t see their facial expressions. There was plenty else to rely on, of course - the expressive body language, dialogue, music and, of course, the scene setting. Now, in addition to all that, we could see every twitch, every blink, every raised eyebrow, every smile, every smirk and every bead of sweat. In Act II, when Simba sings “Endless Night” while looking up at the night sky and expressing his bitterness about Mufasa's promise to always be there for him, I could even see that his eyes were glistening with tears.

If you’re thinking of bringing your little one, children under 3 don’t need a ticket (but that also means that they don’t get a seat and have to sit on your lap). It’s not terribly scary, you can trust Disney on that account, even the villain is quite comical. Nevertheless, there are a couple of dark scenes, like the elephant graveyard and the death of Mufasa, plus the hyenas can be disturbing. It was great to see that Ryan understood the emotional content of these dark scenes – he was a little afraid – and it was also great to see that he handled it well.

The show, including a short interval, took about 2.5 hours. Ryan was mesmerised throughout. Richard pointed out all the different animals to him and he embraced the performance completely. In Act II, he was making comments and he even clapped his hands after a particularly lively song. He was in full concentration and didn’t fuss at all throughout the entire show, although he did ask for a very short nursing break in Act II.

Some trivia for you: The story is based on the beloved 1994 Disney animated film “The Lion King”, which tells a moving story of love and redemption. The musical has won over 70 major international theatre awards, including the 1998 Tony Award for Best Musical. It is one of only five productions in theatre history to play for ten years or more, both on Broadway and in the West End. In the West End, it grossed over 34 million pounds in 2010, which is the highest annual box office of any show in West End history, breaking its own record set in 2009.

The Lion King started an extended run in Singapore in March 2011 and, last Thursday, Base Entertainment and Marina Bay Sands in association with Disney Theatrical Productions announced that the musical broke yet another record by becoming the best selling show in Singapore history.

Catch it if you can, it's everything a musical should be, and perhaps a little more.

Well not quite, but it's nice to think that we did!

After swimming on Sunday morning, we tried to have brunch at one of our old haunts - Casa Verde. Unfortunately, the place was packed and there were already so many people waiting for seats that we decided to go elsewhere. It was also packed the last time we tried to have brunch there, which was just before Chinese New Year. We used to go there for the relaxed and peaceful atmosphere, when it was never a problem finding a table and there was no pressure to finish your food and leave quickly. The last two times we dropped by, the place was so chaotic and crowded with people, I was stressed just from standing outside. I guess people have discovered our secret hideaway (good things are meant to be shared after all) so we'll have to find a new one now.

Anyway for that day, we ended up at Papparich, near our old house. The staff greeted us enthusiastically and asked us where we've been, as we hadn't been there for some time. The place was quite empty and we had quick service and a slow and easy meal.

To fill in the time before Ryan's Shichida class, we decided to check out the new ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. The museum just opened for the first time the day before. We parked at Marina Square and walked over via the Youth Olympic Park and the Helix Bridge.

That's my mum!

That's me carrying Ryan and walking up to the museum.

Richard and Ryan just outside the museum.

The King and my mum!

Our sampan man couldn't stand up because there was not enough weight  in the small sampan to counterbalance his weight. He and I had to sit on opposite sides of the sampan.

What's that you say? Venice doesn't look like this...?

Believe it or not there was a queue for the ride. By the time we got on, the Rain Oculus had been switched off.

Richard was running along "on shore" snapping photos.

I was dressed for the occasion (as a fisherwoman?), although I did not plan to. Someone please remind me never to wear this outfit again, no matter in or out of the house.

Ryan in the hotel room at Swissotel The Stamford

Ryan in the hotel room at Swissotel The Stamford, showing off his eyelashes

Ryan at the playground during outdoor play at Playclub

Once in a while, I have to work on a weekend or I have to attend a corporate function after work on a weekday. On these occasions, Richard has to take care of Ryan by himself, which he does very well.

Last Thursday after work, I attended the SSA 25th anniversary gala dinner at the Marina Bay Sands. Despite there being nearly 200 tables and nearly 2000 guests, the food and the service were good and I had a good time. The dinner ended at nearly 11 pm and I wondered how Richard was getting along at home with Ryan.

When I got home, I found this on our living room wall.

Richard's father flew down to Singapore on Monday, 30 August for his medical check-up (a follow-up from his spine surgery). Richard's sister, Mary, accompanied him and they stayed one night with us.

All went well, Richard's dad was pronounced fit and well and told to come back in October for another follow-up. After the check-up, we took them sight-seeing.  They had two targets - the two integrated resorts! So on Monday, we took them to Marina Bay Sands and on Tuesday, we took them to Resorts World Sentosa.

We went up to the SkyPark at Marina Bay Sands (57th floor) to check out the view and we were not disappointed - the view is simply stunning. I'm not sure how business at the nearby Singapore Flyer is going to survive! The restaurants were not open yet but there was still lots of people hanging about. There was another highlight apart from the view - the 150 metre infinity pool. It's just ... wow.

Unfortunately, I don't have many photos, just some random shots on my phone (by the way, no professional photography equipment and no tripods are allowed). But there are lots of beautiful shots on the internet, so go have a look!

After we left the SkyPark, Richard's father and sister went to the casino for about an hour, while we walked around the shops (or, as the resort calls them, "the shoppes"). The only shop that Ryan was interested in was Dunhill - good taste, my boy!

The next day, we dropped them off at the casino at Resorts World Sentosa while we went to the Wavehouse for some fries and cold drinks. We joined up again after an hour, walked around Resorts World and had some lunch.

Ryan saw the water sprays and promptly made a beeline for them.


Ryan got thoroughly drenched and he was so happy! He was not satisfied though - we had to drag him away from the sprays. He fell asleep in the car on the way to Change Alley where we bought mooncakes and then it was off to the airport for them to catch their flight home.

The specialist said Richard's father can go travelling now (to nearby places), so the family decided to go ahead with the proposed family trip to Chiangmai, Thailand. That's in the next post!