Lotus at Joo Chiat Singapore

... great form. Its wonderful to see their personalities develop, even at this stage. Particularly Isabelle's ability to have one eye on Alex, no matter what she's doing, so that whatever toy or item comes into Alex's possession, it can be immediately confiscated by the larger twin. For the record, and to anyone who doubts my potential child-minding abilities (got to keep all employment pathways open :) ) I managed to feed both girls at the same time without them getting too annoyed at ...

SO we headed off on our big adventure! only to of course run into some serious obsticles.

we left Melb slightly delayed but never the less into the air. according to the pilot we were takin a rather unusal route around the west side of australia as there was some rather storng winds about. So some slight turbulance wich shook me a little but I realise now its really not that frightening as it passes sooner or later and the pilots have done it a ...

... but gleaming high rise buildings and shopping malls.

On leaving the airport the efficient, spacious, air conditioned subway took us effortlessly and efficiently to our hostel from which we were able to navigate the city very easily using the plethora of maps on offer. And what did Singapore have to offer? Well, cleanliness (obviously) and then lots and lots of shopping. But the prices we had grown ...

... off for my massage, blissful pummelling ensues, when i return
cait is still soaking and erin's torture pedicure and manicure has
begun, we chat to judy our technician, when erin is finished cait is
next but first we are given a delicious honey and lemon tea, erin's
nails are to be painted by Chin Chin my masseur, cait's treatment
ensues, i am by now soaking again, cait's is eventually finished, i
notice some pulling away by cait sometimes but think nothing of ...

... cranes dotting the skyline and ships everywhere. The port is the busiest (by tonnage) port in the world and over 140,000 vessels dock each year - that's an average of one every three and a half minutes!!!!!!!!!!!
At any one time there can be over 800 anchored in the harbour and it makes for an awesome sight. Ships of every size and shape are coming or going or are at anchor!!!
We stopped for three quarters of an hour at Kusu ...

... that only appears when someone requests its presence through prayer or magic spell. We traipsed for about half an hour up lifts, down stairs, through corridors and random back passages (we even walked past the school of dentistry's museum area that showed a horrific, ancient dentist's chair that looked like a torture device), and we were at this point 20 minutes late and losing hope. We eventually found a nice man to provide us direction and told ...

I've stopped blogging for a few weeks, mainly because lab work got wayyy too hectic. But I've now "finished" making my peptides (105 in total!) and have moved into the biology side of things. My day now mainly consists of splitting cells and transfecting them and watching them grow- all much more laid back than the hustle and bustle that is the chemistry lab.
Transfection takes about 2 days- so in the last couple days I've been to Parliament, Supreme ...

... apparently.

So eventually we need to eat.....well there is a Hard Rock cafe around the corner.....off we go. The streets here are busy and definitely metropolitan. Tonnes of restaurants and pubs. So we fond the Hard Rock no problem...did I mention it was hot out? Got in bought some cool shirts..and off to our table for what I though would be a great meal. Now it started off okay....we got seats and then it fell apart...worst service ever....took ...

... men here at Dubai Customs don't stop us, as we both are sporting very nice painted henna arms!!! So......... it is farewell from me in Dubai and Goodbye from ...... Just joking Liz XXXXXXXXX We have had a wonderful time today, off by taxi to the Dubai Mall where we saw not only fantastic shops and stalls selling everything that you could imagine, but found a waterfall that was the height of several of the floors, a section ...

... utan and died at 42 last year. However we did see five month old Ah Meng junior...

The elephants trumpeted, the giraffes ate carrots, the pygmy hippos swam past each other through a very small gap and the lions looked longingly across at the giraffes. Wonderful.

And then it was two huge flights back, a whirl of greetings, of paperwork, of gardening, of tidying, of getting rid of things, of buying things, of seeing people for not long enough, and now it is time ...