A very weird day

I woke up with the news that the woman I am meant to be training has resigned. After 3 days!!!!! I knew this would open me up to ridicule and I was right, receiving several banter texts from my lovely UK colleague -thanks D, love you too!!!

It is a shame as I really liked her and the circumstances that she left in aren't good, but secretly I am relieved because it means I can get on with other aspects of the job and hold off on the bit I am most worried about - the training bit!

I went to McDonalds for lunch today (hear me out) as everything in the food court seems to be pretty unhealthy - as much as I love Asian food, a lot of it is very greasy and carby and I can't face eating it every day for lunch. McDonalds is the only place that does a salad (albeit a very poor one - the girl apologised as they had no tomatoes in stock so it was literally lettuce, sweetcorn and greasy chicken) so I opted for that instead.  There is a canteen on site, but it's primarily aimed at the construction workers, and again consists of lots of Asian food.  I have yet to find a supermarket that sells prepacked sarnies, but I might have a look on the weekend.  To drink, I had a big cup of bright pink juice called Bandung, which is milk flavoured with rose cordial. Sounds gross but it wasn't (well, unless you hate rose flavour)

When I got back from lunch, I walked into the office and 6 people on the middle bank of desks were asleep. ASLEEP!  What's more, everyone else who was awake didn't bat an eyelid. I really wanted to take a photo but filming is banned on site (you get a $50 fine if you're caught and your phone confiscated - one of the only things I understood in the induction the other day) plus it's probably a bit rude to take photos of sleeping people.  They all managed to wake up within minutes of each other, and then all just got back to work. Odd!  Can't imagine that ever happening at my London office, though I often need a nap after lunch, so maybe it's a custom I will try and implement back home :-)

My colleague was going back to my hotel so we shared a taxi together. I managed to get home before the sun set, so I changed and headed out to Fort Cannon Park, my intended destination yesterday.  To be honest it really wasn't worth the visit, however I didn't get a chance to look round all of it because another odd thing happened.

A little man came up to me and started giving me a guided tour of the park.  I was happy enough to listen (well, I guess I was being polite really as he looked very old and wise and like he wanted some company).   It was quite interesting, and he was showing me interesting plants in the park - then he notices my palm and starts to read it.  Now usually I am very dismissive of this sort of thing, but when an old wise Buddhist man offers to read your palm, how can you refuse?  He guessed correctly that early this year I had my heart broken and that I had had 2 serious relationships in my life - pretty impressive.  He kept touching me on the forehead and then praying, which I thought was weird/sweet/scary in equal measure.  I yawned and he said 'are you tired' to which I replied I was.  I should have said no, because he then proceeded to give me the weirdest massage ever, in the middle of a park. It involved all sorts of weird things such as poking my spine, pinching my skin and he even did one of those back roll things where he grabbed my arms, interlocked them with his and pulled me over his back to crack my spine. I was very bemused by the whole thing and then started to get a bit freaked out and wondering if his intentions weren't so good after all.  I made my excuses, and he told me to come by again so he could read my palm more - some how I don't think I will be returning! Sometimes I do wonder how on earth I manage to end up in these situations?!!!  However, on the plus side, my back feels straighter and longer!

Anyway, I then took a stroll down Clarke Quay (I usually end up here as it's so close) but I hadn't been to this particular bit at night.  I had dinner by the river (Kimchi prawn salad - delicious) and drank in the vibe of the place - a bar nearby was playing great remix's of popular tracks and I wished I was there with some girlfriends so we could dance.  I wandered about a bit and there's a nice section in the middle with coloured jets of water shooting up from the floor, surrounded by little market stalls - it reminded me a bit of Camden but without all the punks.

When I eventually went home, I found this on my doormat - how lovely! A nice end to a surreal day!

yes please!


a really tall spiky tree....great caption I know

I think this is a Bodhi tree

View from Fort Cannon park overlooking Clarke Quay








trying to think of a rude caption but i can't.





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