February 5th  Tuesday

This is the day we would be leaving originally, but we still have 9 full days before we go. Got caught up a little today, but still not very spunky.  Did more wash and read.  Maybe tomorrow we will venture out.

Went to lunch with Ashley's boss Gaj and had a lovely meal at the nicest restaurant away from the bustle of the square around Ashley's apartment.  The place was called

 "True Blue".

 Beautiful flowers out front

Gaj and Claude 

 One of the dining rooms in the restaurant,  Very elegant and quiet.  Never got a good picture of all three of us dining with all our food choices.

  Gaj told us it is original Singaporian food.  We had Red Plum tea, that was delicious, a sweeter taste, with shrimp crackers for starter.  Our meal was Fish Curry, NgoHiong, meat rolls, ChapChye, mixed vegetables, Udang Goreng, Asian Shrimp, Kerabu Jantong Sang, banana heart. Enjoyed another variety of foods.  We chatted about our fun trip for Deb's wedding and talked about the future plans Gaj has.  I didn't know that he could fly a plane.  Would like to start a charter business and fly tourists back and forth from Sydney to the different islands.  Wants to be closer to family and friends, I can certainly understand that.  Being away from people you love is difficult.  He said it had be 10 years working away from home. He also told us about his childhood and what his family went through.  Being around shooting and starvation was not a childhood we are used to.  No wonder life seems so precious to him.  We left the restaurant and we went back to apartment and Gaj went to work.  Love retirement.  
Stayed in, did more laundry.  It started to rain and it came down in buckets.  Good choice to stay in.   Ashley had to work so we had to fix dinner ourselves, oh no.  Had the left over Chicken Parm and it was delicious.   Then went to bed. Another great day.  Miss my Mom and worry about her.  

February 4th Monday Back in Singapore

Well as you probably guessed, we vegged out after our trip to Malaysia.  Took showers, read and just relaxed.  Ashley came home for lunch and we went to Sophie's .  Really nice French sandwich shop.  After lunch, Ashley went back to work and we walked to the Cold Storage (grocery store).  Decided to cook dinner, ready to stay home for dinner.  Walked home with our groceries and started organizing supper.  Made Chicken Parm with Spag.  I almost forgot how to cook, it has been a long time with me out of my kitchen.  Came out pretty good.

The gang eating, something we do a lot

Accident after eating, spaghetti sauce everywhere

 Billy Girl getting her exercise while Ashley cleaned her habitat

  Ashley has limited cooking equipment, but I managed to cook and create quite a mess any. After dinner we just watched TV with Ashley and PX.  Very low key night but very much needed for the old folks. Then off to bed.  Great relaxing day.

February 3rd Sunday Malaysia


Awoke at 9 a.m. couldn't believe it.  I guess we were really tired.  Slept well.  Took a shower, woke the girls and headed down to the breakfast buffet.  I couldn't believe all the stuff that they had, something for every nationality.  Naturally they had rice too, but many different types.  The only thing that is hard to find in restaurants is coffee.  It is more like espresso  too strong for us.  Everything else was very good.  We had eggs, pancakes, fruit, bacon the usual American fare, the girls had the Chinese breakfast, which seems a lot like lunch or dinner. 

Our dining room at the resort decorated for Chinese New Year

Grampy enjoying his breakfast

Finished our breakfast we head out and see the fish in the waterway to the exit of resort.  Thousands.  They almost come out of the 
water if you through some bread at them.  They go crazy.

We then went back to the Heritage City Area to continue our tour.

Our first stop was the boat ride down the inland waterway.

 There is a walkway on each side of the river with various shops, restaurants and housing.

 Structures are painted many different colors and designs

This was one of the prettiest

 Bridges are very distinctive and different

 Ashley tried to get a picture of the lizard that was in the water, moving kind of fast.  We were on the boat when she took this.

There is also an amusement park along the waterway

Very creative with colors

We then moved onward to the 

Maritime Museum

This riverside museum's highlight is a replica of Flor De La Mar, a treasure-laden Portuguese galleon which sank off the coast of Melaka. One of the most popular museums in Melaka.

                                       
Before you enter any of the museums you take your shoes off, when you leave you pick the ones you like. Only kidding.

St. Paul's Hill

There has been a church on this historical site for nearly 500 years. Portuguese, Dutch and British colonists left their mark here. A statue of St. Francis Xavier is located here.

Why are there so many museums in Melaka? I think there are two reasons really. First of all the city (and state) of Melaka, or Malacca, is brimming with history, heritage and culture so they have a lot of great buildings, antiquities and exhibits to show off and display. Secondly Melaka, together with Georgetown Penang, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. In order to stay on UNESCO's list, Melaka has a duty to preserve and maintain its unique historical and cultural heritage. It is not permitted to demolish or significantly modify the appearance of its many historic buildings so the city has to find a use for these valuable buildings. Converting them into museums is a good way of ensuring the heritage buildings are occupied and looked after.

This is something we had not seen before, Ashley and PX stopped for coffee and they serve them in a bag with a straw

They also stopped before we left town for snacks, snacks and more snacks.  I don;t know how these girls stay so slim.  They eat constantly.  Oh How jealous I am. We now head for home.  The road we travel was crazy.  People drive way to fast and it was raining.  Saw many accidents and we were glad to be back home.  
Had a good weekend.  Glad we saw part of Malaysia, but Singapore is much prettier, cleaner and easier to get around.  We then went to bed, we were exhausted.  

February 2nd Saturday Getting ready for Malaysia

Lazy morning and we were not moving to fast.  Had to get things organized for our trip to Malaysia.  We went across the street for a breakfast/lunch of pancakes and eggs Benedict.  Yummy.  Tried looking for coffee in the local shops around Ashley's apartment but no go.  PX picked us up around 3 and we headed for Malaysia.  A stop for money exchange and off we go.  Going through customs and entering another country was different for us.  They are so close you think you should just be able to go back and forth.  On the super highway headed north.  The trip was about 2 1/2 hours and the terrain is very similar to driving up 131 in Michigan, trees, trees, trees.  

We arrived at our destination hotel and it was beautiful.  Nestled in a grove and very secluded.  

Philea Resort & Spa Malaysia

 Our room bottom right, Ashley and PX bottom left.  Unit is 4 separate rooms and very nice.

 Beautiful pool and waterfall

 My Honey at the resort

After unpacking and walking around the resort we headed for the Heritage Part of the City.

Christ Church, completed in 1753, is one of the oldest Protestant churches outside of Europe. No nails were used in its construction by the Dutch. It became an Anglican Church when the British took over. Unusually for a church it is topped with a weathercock which was considered inauspicious by some and blamed for the decline of the nearby Baba community.

                         

We ate at one of Ashley and PX's favorite restaurants on the main street of Chinatown and had Chicken & Rice, rice balls and sauteed Bok Choy.    Claude also had WonTon Soup.  Very moist chicken and delicious. One of these chicken's was ours, the dark one, the white one is different it boiled.

 Ashley and PX eating their chicken, they never serve knives you only use fork and spoon, but mostly chop sticks.

 The main street where the celebrations are going on, selling all types of stuff and food.

 Claude, Ashley and PX with all the lighting they put up for the Chinese New Year Celebration

These pedal bikes will take you around the area and they are all decorated differently

                                      
It was late for the old timers so we headed back to the hotel and a good night sleep.

February 1st Friday  What a life Someone has to do it????? Why not us.........

Read this quote on Facebook today and thought "How True"

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps 

today of its joy. ~ 

Easier said then done, would love not to worry about everything

Got up early, as usual, worked on my blog, emailed family and 

friends, played words with friends, and enjoyed my coffee.  Such a 

peaceful time of my day and so enjoy the early morning.  We had

 another surprise today, another one on one day with Ashley.  She

 was sick again???  We decided that we would do the Riverboat

 Cruise, but all had a few things to do before we left.  Wash, Ashley 

some work at home and Claude watching TV.  What a life. Not 

hard work by any means, just necessary.

We then left around 11 a.m. for the boat ride which left from 

Marina area by the statue of the Merlion, such a beautiful spot.  

Rode down the river, in a bumboat, and saw the beauty that had 

been created with shops, beautiful eating establishments on both 

sides of the river, even a Hooters, Roger, flowers and parks. 

                                       

An amusement area with a G-Max Reverse Bungy

Eating establishments along the entire route of River.

Riding in the Bumbat on the Singapore River, Gruesome twosome

Merlion from the bumboat. 

Ashley on the bumboat

Doesn't she look sick

We think these were some of the original cargo bumboats

The view you cannot capture by camera.  The architecture in this area is so magnificent.  No building is the same and you can see all the area no matter where you are looking. 

Buildings painted different colors

 So many bridges and they are all different in design

Sculptures along the river, children jumping into water

                                   Most of the buildings have gardens built into on the top of them.

 I believe this to be the Fullerton Hotel

 The skyline is so pretty 

 They keep it very clean, boats along the river scooping out trash

 Just another design building , with a restaurant along the water

Such a drastic change from what it used to be, a trash receptacle for 

everything until this renovation of Singapore was started. 



                                          

After our ride we walked over to the center where Ashley works 

and in one of the buildings is an awesome restaurant on the 33^rd 

floor, called by the way, Level 33.  It overlooks the entire Marina 

Bay area and the shipyard, which is the ocean.  Magnificent 

location. 

Finally a half decent photo of us.

Ashley and Grampy 

                                      

                                        
 Enjoyed a very nice buffet lunch, appetizers, salads, main course 

of hamburger for Claude & I, sliced beef for Ashley, and the 

dessert and fruit bar.

The hamburger was huge, must have been close to 3/4 pound. 

Leaving the beautiful view was hard, but we headed for home.  

The ocean view from the restaurant and all the cargo ships

Decided to go into the pool in Ashley’s complex to cool down some 

from our day excursion.  Yep you right, relaxed and then took a 

nap.  But I wasn’t the only one.  What a life, someone has to do it.

                               

Upstairs to apartment to finish our laundry.  Ashley worked on the 

computer and then went for a bike ride.  Her name definitely should 

be the "Energizer Bunny."

Later in the evening we just ate light, Ash cooked egg sandwich for 

them, I had a bowl of cereal. 

Also realized our american coffee can was gone.  We need to go searching for another.

Watched TV, ironed and Ashley was hunting down travel areas for her next adventure during Chinese New Year. 

The best part of the day was sharing another one with Ashley. 

 Goodnight until tom.