27-04-2009 mustafa centre, plaza singapoura et istana park

Hello everybody

as it has been quite a while that i havn't put any picture i thought that that it would be welcome by you readers that i show a litt

le bit mor of singapore and what is now common for me ( but i realized that i didn't show you al ot of small things)

so let start by the Mustafa Centre, located in Little India, an area that you know now, this mall is a big messy mall where you can find everyt

hing you want or need ( yes everything ) form the TV to the screws, cameras, food, everything...

it is the only one like this in all Singapore and it has really to be seen once to know hoa an "arab mall" is in Singapore. in front of the mustafa center you can find the usual landscapes from Little india, fruits stalls and other CD or DVD shops 

as a contrast then you can find in Orchard Road (the street in the video from yesterday, just in front of my place) the Mall Plaza Singapoura with its 7 floors

there i Had my dinner in a food court ( note that this one is very clean and new, not as all the food courts in Singapore) : crispy noodles with duck, tofu, pak choi and a marinated boiled egg swimming in a so called gravy sauce for 2,25 euros of course !!! ( Simon if you read this, nothing o be compared to your marvellous gravy sauce, humm i am dreaming about your roasted dinners mate !!!!)

and on my way back home i took just few pictures of Istana Park just to show you that Singapore is not just a pile of buidings

And now it is once again midnight and it is time for me to go to bed to try to recover from my fucking jetlag... !!!!

so write to you soon

ps : tomorrow poker evening so perhaps no no post but you will have the pictures on wednesday with the answers of the watdefekizit quizz

La Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise a Touuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus

26-04-2009 back to S'pore

Hello everybody

a movie is sometime better than sentences...

write to you soon...

25-04-2009 from paris airport

Hello everybody

it's time now to come back home (at least my home for 6 months), after a bloody good week full of my daughter, family, friends and more (alina if you read this...)

The blog will restart to be updated on a daily basis ( at least i will try...)

tomorrow i will put some pictures of my week in france and then we will come back to normal (Singapore and surroundings)

write to you sooooooooooooooooon

bisouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus

17-04-2009 from changi airport back to france

Hello everybody

it is with a big pleasure that i am writing this post now because that means that i am on my way back home for a week holliday. I will join my daughter and my girlfriend and  of course my family and my friends (first party on saturday!!!!!)

that also mean that my posts in the blog will be interrupted for one week !!!! i know i know that is sad but it is to make a better come back in one week with a lot of pictures

i will anyway try to do the wednesday watdefekizit quizz but i can't promise anything

that being said, i wish you a good week end, a good week next week and ...

... write to you sooooooooooooooooooooon

biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiises

15-04-2009 S'pore incoherences

Hello everybody

here is the time to speak about one of the not coherent things at all in S'pore

you must probably know that if you spit in the street, you get a 200 SGD=100 euros fine. if you throw a cigarette end in the street you get a 200 SGD=100 euros fine. if you come in singapore with more than an open paquet of cigarettes you will be taxed and will have to pay for a fine of 1000 SGD=500 euros. if you cross the street if the little man is red, you get a 200 SGD=100 euros fine. if a cab picks you up not at a taxi stand he will be fined 130 SDG=65 euros. and finally ( and be sure that i am not making a complete list of the interdictions of S'pore) if you don't wear your seat belt in a car or a cab you are fined 200 SGD=100 euros buuuuuuuuuut these bengladeshees or indians workers you will see on the pictures below won't be fines at all if they are transported the way they are. you can find this kind of 'vans' everywhere on the motorways here and in the city

you can see the little sticker on the white one at the back onthe right that they are allowed to charge 21 people at the back !!!! imagine 21 people, i will try to take a picture of this kind of overloaded truck one day

But hey, that's the way it is...

ps : sorry for the quality of the pictures but didn't have my camera today i took the pictures with my phone

write to you sooooooooooooooooon

bisouuuuuuuuuuuuus

watdefeckizit quizz 4

Hello everybody

Here we are, the wednesday has come ,so come the amswers of last week :

1rst picture : this shop is in fact a hair dresser and believe me when you see the pictures of the guys and their haircut you just don't want to go and get your hair cut there

good answers :

Zoe (in fact Jerome) was quite close with the barber

funniest answers:

I don't know woh because this person didn't sign but the answer : Kian Heng Auto Spare Parts Company was a quite funny one

2nd picture : here is the complete picture

good answers :

Lolo was almost there

Simon you're a star mate (even if you didn't win the funniest answers last time it doesn't mean that i didn't laugh, it is just that sometimes i have to make choices, believe me it is hard but ... I miss you mate !!!!!)

funniest answers:

once again the "i don't kbnow who" with the Green Giant before shaving

3rd picture : Here is the complete picture of this pouss pouss taken in China town, just a pouss pouss without any engine but with a fuel tank, exhaust pipes, and all the most useless accessories...

good answers :

none

funniest answers

simon with my washing machine plumbing

ps : i suspect that the " idon't know who" is miguel ( let see...)

and now the watdefekizit quizz number 4 :

picture 1: watdefek of national championship is it? 

Picture 2

Picture 3

Write to you sooooooooooon and goooooooood gaaaaaaaaaame

11 to 12-04-2009 Bintan Island indonesia

Hello everybody

2nd week end to indonesia, but this time for 2 days and a more comfortable concept of hollidays week end (a 3 days week end in Singapore: from friday to sunday)

so I took the ferry at 9h10 on saturday morning (yes an early wake up as you have to be at the ferry terminal 1 hour before)

and here we go, direction Bintan, after one hour journey you arrive on this beautiful island with white sand beaches and palm trees... very sunny on this saturday.... ( how lucky !!!)

I was joined by Vincent(a TAP colleague) who didn't really enjoyed the boat trip (almost about to turn to green colour)

but well we safely arrived and that is the essential, the resort is part of the Nirwana gardens and is called Nirwana resort hotel, and i have to say i don't really like resort but for once i quite enjoyed it !

some picture below of the resort

Hey guys i want you to look at the landscape and not at this girl in bikini!!!!! as you can see on the other picture below the swimming pool has got a marvellous sight on the cristal blue sea (yes yes check if you focus a little bit you will see the line between the swimming pool water and the sea :-)

Some other pictures of the beaches, so boring .... :-)

some other ones ...

What would you think about a nap in front of such a landscape ???!!!!

Now a little bit of art (at least for the beginner that i am !!!)

Very nice resort where you can enjoy the peace and the lanscapes and also a nice swim in the pool, except when you fall face to face with this new joiner that is at least one meter long and that is not afraid at all to swim among the people

And you can also find this kind of ones at the corner of the gardens...

sorry i don't want to be crual but i just wanted to be sure that you noticed the difference between the sea and the pool !

The programm of the week end has been, arriving on friday morning and check in at the resort, then go to have a bite at pasar hole hole a little village close from there, and then come back for a little snorkeling tour. 20 minutes far from the resort, by boat, at the barracuda bay, you are left for one hour to snorkel among the coral and the fishes. amazing colours and a lot of different species of fishes. blue yellow green purple are there and in all forms, to summarise a very nice hour spent in the cristal sea.

I met 2 very nice american guys who arrived one week ago in singapore and who just came for the day (as I did 3 weeks ago) and invited them to join for a drink at the bar in the swimming pool (the little roof you can see on the last picture on the right) and there while we were having a nice coktail (seven's heaven for me) we met a group of people (almost all drunk but funny, i even met Edward whoo was living in Portsmouth before !!!!) who were there for a wedding. the alcohol helped them of course to invite us on behalf of the married couple to join the beach party given for the wedding in the evening at the Mana Mana beach club. which we did of course! after a nice buffet at the resort (see food and meat and, and, and,...just enough to ruin my walking efforts in the Mac richie reseervoir !!!) we went with a dedicated buggy to the beah party where we have been given a bracelet to access the open bar ( la classe !!!) and we have started to socialise with the guests hoping that the married couple wouldn't come to ask who we were...

but well not feeling really comfortable anyway and willing to avoid the meeting with the married couple we decided to leave and to go to the pub of the island where there was a very nice live band playing quite nice music, and a couple of drinks later went to bed...

sunday morning was a raining one, but luckily the sun pushed all these clouds away and stayed there for the rest of the day, just enough for me to improve my colours.

and after a entire day between beach, swimming pool, sun baths, and chats here and there with japanese, finish, english, and other nationalities we took the ferry back to Singapore.

result cost wise : 

47 SGD=23 euros for the ferry return ticket

110 SGD=55 euros for the resort (breakfast included)

and a couple of euros for the coktails... (depending on how many you drink !!! :-)

Write to you soooooooooooooooooon

olivier

10-04-2009 Mac Richie reservoir

Hi Folks

once again the rain was against me today, it started once again well but it finished by the biggest shower i have ever had in my life...

But before that i had time enough to do 4/5th of the reservoir tour.

I can tell you that by this weather going for a walk in the jungle makes you sweat a loooooot !!! but i was well prepared and i had taken my little bottle of water...

Anyway, this place is very very very nice, it is good to go out of the malls, buildings, sky scrappers, ... and be in the middle of the jungle is something quite amazing : by the size of the trees, or all other plants.

the size of the ants is more than amazing, see picture with the bottle to see the size of the ant

it is quite nice to go over this suspended bridge, even if the guy is telling you that the lightning strikes are about to fall from the sky and that it is dangerous to be on the bridge (made of metal of course). they even ring a very noisy bell ( you can here it in kilometers around) to warn you that the lighning strikes are coming.

Summary, you can have a very good walk that takes you something like 2.5 to 3 hours

Write to you sooooooooooooon !!!

ps : tomorrow : INDONESIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!