Jess

Jess (who has just turned 12 ) has adjusted to apartment living very well. Jess has her set routines and does not like to vary them. Jess knows that her morning walk to get the newspaper is a different route to her lunchtime walk which is also different to her night-time walk.Try to go a different way prompts Jess to sit until she gets her way.
Jess is not to keen in sharing the lift with other people as she owns the lift and has little interest in the other dogs in the apartment complex as she is on a mission when walking!
Jess is not keen on storms and the loud thunder we get in Singapore initially caused great discomfort for her. During our trip to Chicago we saw an advertisement for a coat to put on dogs during storms to calm them down.
It was worth a try and our Thundershirt arrived a few weeks latter by post and this product has worked amazingly well and now Jess can happily sleep through a storm or sit and relax as opposed to climbing on your lap.
Jess's minders when we are away also have noticed a huge difference using the coat as they had Jess jump on their bed in the early days terrified of the storms!

http://www.thundershirt.com/

Jess in her Thundershirt

Normally Jess doesn't like the camera 

Ready for my walk

Sentosa Flowers

Sentosa Island lies just half a kilometre away from the main island of Singapore and can be reached by cable car, taxi, monorail or by a boardwalk.
The island has an area of 5 square kilometres and is home to a theme park, casino and 5 star hotels.

This week a flower festival is being held to celebtate the new lunar year and herald the arrival of spring.

Many floral displays interpret the Chinese zodiac dragon. Over 800 types of flowers have being used in the displays.

The year of  Dragon was the main theme

Fairies

Birds

Nemo

New Year wishes could be placed on the birds 

Dinosaur display

Stephen and a musical display

Colourful fish

United Buddy Bears

 During our quick trip to Kuala Lumpur we managed to see The United Buddy Bears exhibition with more than 140 two metre tall fibreglass bears.
Under the motto: We have to get to know each other better, more than 140 countries acknowledged by the United Nations are represented, promoting tolerance, international understanding and the  concept of different nations and cultures living in peace and harmony. The bears stand hand in hand in the street.

Some of the Buddy bears

The French Bear

The Australian Bear

Roger and his new friends

Stephen and friend

The American Bear

A gift shop was available to purchase United Buddy Bear merchandise with funds going to children in need.
Here is the  miniature bear (22 cm high) that travelled home with us.The bear is called Bärenbär and is by the Swiss artist Sabeth Holland

Bärenbär 

Chinese New Year Cake

During the Chinese New Year 15 day festive season it is a tradition to serve a cake called Nian gao (literally “year cake” or as a homonym, “higher year”) made with Chinese brown sugar and glutinous rice flour.

Legend has it that nian gao was offered to the Kitchen God either as a bribe or so that his lips would be busy chewing on the sticky cake that he wouldn’t report unfavourably on your family to the Jade Emperor in heaven.  An unfavourable report meant bad luck for the household for an entire year and you didn’t want that!

We tried the cake last night - having purchased one from the supermarket. The cake can be either steamed till it softens or sliced and coated in a batter and deep fried.

I steamed the cake and then served it with the traditional grated coconut as suggested by the checkout lady in the supermarket as she scanned my purchases.

The cake had a mellow caramel flavor and the texture was like eating a jelly with to much gelatine in it .

Nian gao (Chinese New Year Cake )

Kuala Lumpur for CYN

Roger and I had a quick trip to Kuala Lumpur to catch up with good friends having a stop over from Europe on their way back to Australia as well as some dear friends visiting family in KL.
We had being told that KL would be quiet over the CYN break compared to Singapore from various people living in Singapore.
Shopping centres were very busy and although some shops were closed there were enough open to bring out crowds of people.
As this was a very quick trip and the main purpose was to catch up with friends we did not do a lot of sightseeing and some attractions were closed for the CYN.
CYN decorations were in abundance and we watched a Chinese Drum performance.

Dragon in a shopping centre

CYN decorations

Petronas Twin Towers 

Petronas Twin Towers 

Another Dragon

Chinese Drum performance

Lucky Bamboo

Lucky Bamboo is actually a Dracaena and not related to the bamboo or a native of Asia. It is believed to bring good fortune, fortitude, and resilience.
During Chinese New Year shops are selling bunches as well as arrangements in different formations 
Here are a few I noticed in our local nursery.

How about a ship ?

Variegated with wovern stems

Bucket with gold ingot ornaments

3 tiered arrangement 

Crowds

Last night we ventured into Chinatown to see the market stalls set up for Chinese New Year. Having experienced the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne on Christmas Eve the hustle and bustle here makes the Queen Vic look like a walk in the park !
Shops that normally sell tourist souvenirs have cleared out their stock and have filled the shop with Chinese New Year decorations for customers to buy.
Market stalls were selling sweets , pomelos ,cake,nuts etc for the CYN feast.
The amount of stock and range was just incredible as this is just one spot to buy and nearly all major shopping centres has a CYN food fair set up.

Chinese New Year decorations to buy

Taiwanese Sweets are popular

Pomelos 

Biscuits anyone ?

Chinese sausage ( Lap Cheong )

Decorations for the home

Crowds in Chinatown

Bak kwa for CYN

Bak kwa (Pork jerky ) is a prized Chinese New Year delicacy and is often given as gifts .
The taste is quite sweet as sugar and fish sauce is used in the cooking process.
One of the most popular retailers has people waiting in a queue for up to an hour and a half to purchase up to 10 kg of bak kwa. The price per kilo is $ 48

Bak kwa

Crowds in line for bak kwa in Chinatown

The worlds largest Jade Buddha visits Singapore

The Jade Buddha for Universal Peace is the largest Buddha carved from gemstone quality jade in the world. 
The Jade Buddha is 2.7 metres high and weighs 4 tonne. It sits on an alabaster throne of 1.4 high. It is considered to be priceless.
The Buddha will eventually have a home in Bendigo in Victoria, Australia.
The Jade Buddha is on show at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza in Orchard Rd until 26th of January. 
  

The Jade Buddha

                                 

Guess these won't end up in the shopping trolley

At about $25 AUD these strawberries can stay on the supermarket shelf. They may be flown in from Japan but I am not convinced that they would be any tastier than the normal punnets that get shipped from America that sell for about $4 

33 Singapore $ for 11 strawberries