Our first visitor! - Blake's mum, Julia.

Yay, our first visitor, and our first chance to play host, showing Blake's mum the sights and tastes of Singapore (though she has been here before).

Julia arrived late on Weds night and spent a few days with us, enroute to Dubai, and then the UK. On Thursday during the day we went to our excellent local vegetarian restaurant for lunch, then Julia checked out the pool and I went to a job interview. Interview went well but I don't think I want the job - a strategic and analytical marketing position with American Express - just can't get excited about analysing credit card stats.

On Thurs night we ate alfresco at a great restaurant in Clarke Quay.

Blake and Mum in front of the grand Fullerton Hotel.

On Friday Julia and I spent the day chatting, walking along the river and visting a cafe and photo gallery - it's a hard life. In the evening we met up with Blake and had dinner at another great restaurant in the Chijmes dining area. Blake took at little while to wind down from a stressful day of global teleconference meetings, but after a few Coronas and margaritas there was a smile back on his face.


On Saturday (after Blake's hangover had abated) we went to the East Coast where there is an 11km stretch of parklike gardens and paths along the seafront. It's a beautiful area with restaurants and activities all the way along. After quickly grabbing some turkish food for lunch, we hired bikes and rode along the seafront for a couple of hours.

Blake wanted to try out roller blading first, but after about 10 minutes thrashing about on his skates, he was dripping with sweat and decided to join us on a bike.

In the evening we headed down to Boat Quay for some more culinary delights, and ended up at a Thai restaurant, overlooking the river. The food was average but the beer was cheap and there was a large-screen TV featuring figure skating and motorsport so we didn't need to talk to eachother at all (just kidding).

Here we are setting out for the night

(What's that in your hand Blake?)

After dinner we went for a stroll around the beautiful city, and then took a river cruise on one of the oriental-looking boats. Quite a nice way to see the city lights and sights, but not a quiet experience.

Here we are on the boat, me looking very excited indeed.

We said goodbye to Julia tonight and she set off for Dubai to visit Bec and her family (Blake's sister).

Singapore saw her out in style with the most incredible thunder & lightening storm at around 11pm - the thunder was so unbelievably loud that at one point i really thought a bomb had gone off!