Back in Singapore

I’m sitting in the sweltering heat on a balcony in eastern Singapore: the air is thick and heavy with humidity. Clouds? Yes, lots of clouds and all around the white and light blue and some yellow and green, striped with pink, skyscrapers reach up into this cloudy grey white sky. There is heavy drilling going on somewhere below, where the swimming pool is being reconstructed, retiled and supplied with a new decking around it. However the sound is very intermittent and a sudden silence with only an odd car and distant rumbling of traffic will descend, emphasising the heat. Somehow a little sun manages to peep through the cotton wool layers and reaches the corner of the balcony and even this wooden table at the back.

After a superb week in Bali, enjoying the thrashing of the ocean on a nearly deserted beach, especially early in the morning, I am back here for another week before returning to England, which, my husband tells me, also basks in a somewhat  belated summery dry spell with higher than normal temperatures.

Whilst walking along the beach in Bali early in the morning or in the afternoon I’d ponder about my writing and the fact that somehow or other I could not work myself up into the writing and reviewing routine I had promised myself before leaving England. It just hasn’t worked out that way and perhaps I simply needed to give myself a rest and should not fret about it. I don’t. How can you fret when you enjoy sceneries like these?

Imagine the sound of the water crashing on the beach – it’s far too dangerous to swim here but it is surfers’ paradise.

Back in Singapore I took my camera out this morning and walked around the Arab quarter, where last night we enjoyed a meal at the Blue Jazz Cafe, good company and a glass of wine and beer.

Arab Street with its rows of outlets that sell materials, cushion covers, trinkets, table cloths, and all of the owners will try to convince you that you will get a real bargain if only you buy the stuff at he suggested price. I wandered on and around and thought it would only be a skip and a jump to the city centre but by the time I got to Marina Bay I was dripping wet, exhausted with the heat and so I decided to call it a day. I suddenly felt like getting my laptop out and sit at a table and tap away somewhat.

The top two photos are the Sultan Gate and the Sultan Mosque in the Arab quarter, above a side street and a view of Marina Bay – very iconic.

There’s so much to see and photograph here, but I’ll contain myself.

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