Singapore, 4th October 2006

I am going to cheat a little and cut and paste sections of my emails to family; I am lazy and tired and don't have time to do a separate post...LOL
We are off to Jakarta tomorrow, Georgias birthday, 5th October.
We have all loved Singapore, I could definitely live here!
It is going to be so interesting to see the difference between Singapore and Jakarta.
We went to the Night Safari on Monday night. It was amazing, you can see why it keeps winning awards. We had a great dinner there and then saw 2 shows before getting on the tram tour. The tour was in the dark and toured through all the exhibits with no visible fences. There were 2 stops where you could get off and walk around. We stood 1 meter from a family of tigers with a little piece of glass between us. There was a few place where you could pay to have a snake draped over you and take photos...WHY? I have all the snakes I need in my garage!
We only saw about a half of what was on offer; but at 10.45pm, Ben had had enough. There was no flash photography allowed at the night zoo.
Last night we were invited to join GJ's work dinner. We went to Mezza9 at the Grand Hyatt.
It was great, it was like a buffet. There was 9 different sections serving their countries specialties. I had Turkish, Thai, Indian and Japanese. The Kids were in Heaven-Indian Butter Chicken- this is their absolute favouite!
GJ is on conference with all the mover and shakers from the AustralAsia region. There were people from Thailand, Japan, India, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Timor and a few other counties.
Everyone was so nice and welcoming and made a huge fuss of the kids.
I was in two minds last night; The girls looked so cute and were loving their new shoes and bracelets and were enjoying the attention. BUT they are still little girls, where did they learn to act so "old" and are they sending out the wrong message? I think that this concern will continue for us, as parents for many years to come.



Dear
The girls have spent their Singapore money. On our very first day, in the very first shop we entered they found these charms, and fell in love. The shop wouldn't let me take photos. The stand was covered in glittery charms of every imaginable shape and design. If you chose 5 or more you got a free bracelet. They haven't seen anything else all week, so we went back today and they chose their bracelets. Georgia chose a blue rhinestone theme and Chelsea chose things that she thought were cute. They cost $29.90 each. They are so excited with them.
Now don't get too shocked, I bought a handbag.....Dark brown leather look, and a cute red purse for traveling. I have bought my good purse, but it is too big for traveling. I haven't seen any fakes yet, I am looking for a Louis Viton mini brief case for Tan. The front desk ladies told me that Jakarta is the place for fakes.…
We took some photos of the handbag section for Tan Tan, these photos only show such a small section of the handbags, I have never seen so many beautiful bags.
Ben got some books (a cute little Richard scary Book, which he had to carry and read all through our shopping trip!) and a plastic Bob the Builder cup.
The girls are trying to scam the rest of Ben's money on a joint gift.......
I have been updating the blog daily.
They are all asleep at the moment. We are going on a night safari tonight after GJ finishes conference.
Speak soon
Love Jen Jen

Dear
Here we are just before dinner at the Hyatt with GJ's work. The kids lapped up the attention. They were stroked and petted and admired all night. You should of seen them tittering across the hotel foyer, their hips were swaying, they were flicking their hair and posing like cat walk models!!!!
They loved their high heels and new bracelets......
We were so pleased they were all on the best behaviorr all night. It was another late night and up early today. We went on the hotels city shuttle circuit, but didn't get off this morning. Big rest after lunch today and tonight we are going to China town for the markets and dinner. GJ finishes his conference at about 5 pm
We are being collected tomorrow at 7.30 am for the flight to Jakarta.
Georgia doesn't believe that she will have no presents tomorrow...not even a card. I have explained that everything is at home and her birthday will be on Sunday 15th with Ben.
Speak soon
Love Jen Jen