Beaulotus is very busy

I will always remember Pulau Ubin fondly. It is almost empty nowadays with most of its inhabitants resettled on the Singapore mainland, but we can still go there for a cycling tour, a trek through its largely undeveloped forests, visit the abandoned granite quarries, attend a Malay cooking class, fish, dive and visit the beautiful marine life in Chek Jawa…

I still see myself more than 10 years ago carrying my mountain bike up a slope (I’m useless), buying drinks from grocery shops in kampung huts, eating seafood near the wooden jetty. Ubin is Singapore before we got all urban and developed, I hope we’ll keep it as it is to remember those long-lost days by.

Dad used to bring us swimming at Changi beach when we were kids and sometimes we would hop on a motor boat and visit Ubin…Thinking of that still brings tears to my eyes.

It’s a pretty zoo and we enjoyed the fact that it had a little of everything : plants and flowers, animals, birds, insects, reptiles etc. It’s in a nice park and is pretty spaced out, though at times the landscaping of certain exhibits leaves much to be desired. The monkeys and Orang Utans are caged up, but in modern glass and steel cages with metal poles and rubber swings, I wonder how that feels on the animals’ hands and feet. I guess the weather here is unlike in S’pore where we could afford to let them swing on trees out in the warmth.

I wonder too if it helps to get companies or individuals to sponsor the different animals as their environment seems to be better ’’arranged’’ when they have one.

We saw a cow being milked, touched sheep and goats, saw butterflies close-up and there was a park for kids to play in which looked great. We were also a little disturbed that the cages for the birds were kind of low (gives ’’cooped-up’’ meaning) and the enclosure for the Hippo was so small it hurts.

All-in-all it is a nice zoo with enough things to see and we’ve enjoyed ourselves.

One of my 1st penpals was from Sweden, her name was Katarina. She was beautiful and her brother so handsome I was quite in love with him. And they were so kind because though there were already 3 children in the family, her parents chose to adopt a little girl from India.

Yesterday I read an article by Jessica Neuwirth (from Equality Now) that Sweden was one of the few countries in the world who developed legislation, subjecting johns (men who buy women for sex) to prosecution for commercial sexual exploitation – not those who are exploited. Thus acknowledging the link between prostitution and sex trafficking and addressing the commercial sex industry for what it is : the systematic subordination of women and girls through sexual exploitation.

I hope that more countries will follow its lead.

They always say Singapore is the Switzerland of the East.

I must say that just for that I am much endeared to this European country :-)

I’ve been there on a quick tour more than 10 years ago (Lucerne where I ate fondue for the 1st time, Mount T where I saw snow for the 1st time, Zurich where I spent hundreds of Swiss Francs on watches I never wore,...) and later on brought my Ma to visit Geneva where of course she bought a Tissot watch and tonnes of Lindt chocolates. A month ago we went skiing in France and drove through Switzerland. Visited the Rheinfalls (nice) on our way there and got caught in a traffic jam for 17 hours on our way back.

Listened to Swiss radio in French for hours on end and really enjoyed it. They were really interesting and funny. This is a country where German, French and Italian-speaking communities live in harmony. Where they have a sense of organisation (except for ther traffic jam), love for a job well-done and respect for the environment.

Hope to visit the country a little better maybe this summer.

Whenever I think of Pompeii, I recall the TV series ’’The Last Days of Pompeii’’. Images of children, adults, hopes, loves and dreams buried alive under the ash of the Volcano haunted me for many years. It was an anti-climax to reach Pompeii and see ruines like elsewhere, but I closed my eyes and forced the images back and with the help of our guide was able to re-live them again.

I love curries and Indian food in general. I love saris and Punjabi suits, Indian rubies and sapphires and the way Indians write and speak English. I want to visit the India I’ve been reading in books (not travel ones, but Literature), see the palaces, markets etc for myself. The only thing that worries me is seeing the poverty, women forced into prostituting in ghettos, children malnourished and with no chance to be schooled. It is one thing to know about poverty and another to actually confront it.

I saw a picture of their King (before he married the 4 sisters) and I must have fallen in love with him. I dreamt of living in the country and bumping into him and making him fall in love with me. But now he must not be that young any more and in any case I’m happily married.

I met this really cute Kirghiz named Mirlambek when I was touring Turkey a few years ago. He couldn’t speak much English but when he saw me somehow he managed a full sentence : ’’Where do you come from?’’ Sigh…

I want to see Petra where Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was filmed.

This book made me want to visit Alice Springs. have been thinking about this since I was 17.