Black and white

THE black and white house is just as much a Singapore icon as Orchard Road, salt-and-pepper crab, Raffles, Sentosa Island, Changi Airport, Merlion and afternoon thunderstorms.

"The black and white houses of Singapore occupy a fascinating position in the architectural record of South East Asia," Julian Davison wrote in his book Black & White: The Singapore House 1898 to 1941.

"Not only do they represent a very singular architectural tradition, not found elsewhere in the region, but they also constitute an important legacy of the island’s colonial past.

"With their stuccoed columns and half-timbered elevations, they encapsulate the quintessence of that bygone era, recalling charmed lived of easy and elegancy.

"They are, however, much more than simply relics of Singapore’s colonial period, these houses are also justly celebrated in purely architectural terms as representing a sensible and ecologically-sound response to the demands of designing for a tropical monsoon climate."

The black and white dwelling, built to house those civilian and military expats sent to Singapore to make the Equatorial island a little more British, are currently undergoing a renaissance with many homeowners and restaurateurs breathing life into the old buildings by restoring them to their former glory.

I had a chance to take my first up-close look at a black and white this evening when I went for a pre-dinner drink in a restaurant that now occupies one of the celebrated dwellings.

One Rochester, set inside a bungalow built in the 1930s that was "inherited from the era of the British regime", is described as a gastrobar with the historic building accommodating a relaxed watering hole and patisserie as well as the popular restaurant.

The suburb Rochester Park is one of the famous black-and-white precincts, with a gaggle of these unique houses built on the roads that snake around the sides of this derelict settlement, and while most of them are currently unoccupied some have been restored with a collection of other eateries also in the neighbourhood.

Glamorous Kampong Glam

TAKING a deep breath of the cool Shangri-La Singapore air, I headed out into the Equatorial heat to explore two more of this island nation’s colourful neighbourhoods this morning.

Today I ventured into Little India and Kampong Glam, the two districts that are home to a couple more of the ethnic groups that came to Singapore during the earliest days of mass immigration in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries.

Little India is the spiritual home of the city’s Indian community, while neighbouring Kampong Glam is known as the Muslim Quarter and the place where those who settled from Malaysia concentrate to do business, pray, shop and eat.

Arab Street is Kampong Glam’s main thoroughfare and while the original stores accommodated spice traders today it is awash with textile stores and tailor shops as well as basket seller, carpet retailers, restaurant, and emporium selling goodies from Indonesia and the Middle East.

This collection of photos was taken as I wandered along the covered footpaths of Arab Street.

What GFC?

WHEN it comes to the financial side of life, things are pretty good in Singapore.

While the rest of the world is feeling like it's just gone 10 rounds with Ali, and only now thinking about stepping back from a state of being alarmed to alert, Singapore in basking in the golden glow that comes with being a good place to do business and store cash.

When the bottom fell out of the global economy a few years ago the big boys parked their millions and billions in Singapore because they felt confident their bucks would still be around when they came looking.

I was talking to one restaurant owner, who also runs a couple of clubs around the city, and he told me that on a typical night there will be a couple of dozen millionaires in his place, each dropping a five-figure sum on the drinks alone.

Another way to tell that life is good on this pint-sized island is by casting an eye across the skyline.

Dozens of cranes reach towards the heavens in every direction, showing that developers can still get finance in this part of the world and people are eager to purchase the high-rise office and apartment towers they are throwing up on every vacant plot of land.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Anderson Rd,Singapore,Singapore

Now that's luxury

HOW do you tell the difference between a good luxury hotel and a great luxury hotel?

Seems the difference is in the details.

I checked into the Valley Wing at Shangri-La Singapore today, the most opulent accommodations in the luxury hotel and the place heads of state choose to stay when they’re visiting the island national to engage in a little diplomacy.

In fact, just as we were arriving the last member of the Indian Prime Minister’s team was leaving after spending a couple of days at the Shang Singapore on the way home from that conference in Bali that Obama attended after stopping in Australia.

And those details I was talking about – you have the pillow you specifically requested waiting for you on the bed, there is a cable to plug your iPod into the room’s speakers, and a television in the bathroom stops you getting bored while you’re soaking in the tub.

There was also a little box with a teapot and a couple of cups waiting on the table in the living room, and my butler served a hot drink while another staffer completed the check-in process in the comfort of my own suite.

And the most thoughtful item, personalised stationery in the desk drawer.

Heavy lifting

ANOTHER interesting show to watch as I was having my morning shower.

Today I observed a ship manoeuvring a heavy drilling platform into the port, grabbing my camera just in time to catch a snap before the boat disappeared into the harbour.

It was a big job for the tough little boat, and I was able to wash my hair and clean my teeth in the time it took just to get from one side of my hotel room window to the other.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Siloso Rd, Singapore

Singapore sunset

I THOUGHT I would post a picture of something you don’t see very often in this part of the world, and that’s a fiery red sunset.

Singapore’s position on the Equator means tropical afternoon thunderstorms blow in most days, covering the horizon is a fluffy layer of menacing clouds at the end of the day, so more often than not the sunset will happen behind a black sky and the constant flashing of lightning.

But today the storms didn’t arrive, and we had an actual sunset.

Chinatown snapshots

 Here are a few more photos taken during my afternoon in Chinatown.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Siloso Rd, Singapore

Singapore fling

IT'S Singapore in December, which means today was 35 degrees with 100 per cent humidity.

The best thing I could have done was find a spot by the pool, park myself on a lounge under the sun, order lots of cold drinks, and submerge myself in the pond every time my core temperature started creeping up.

But not me, oh no.

I did my best mad dogs and Englishmen, tucked my trusty notebook and camera under my arm, bought myself a MRT ticket, and headed out to have adventures.

My roaming took me to Chinatown which is one of the enclaves Sir Stamford Raffles laid out in 1822 to accommodate a particular group of immigrants that's managed to maintain it's link to those illustrious beginnings.

Chinatown has been home to Singapore's Chinese community since the early part of the 19th century and when you look past the tourist tat that's for sale in the market stalls lining Pagoda and Trengganu streets you can catch a glimpse of old Singapore.

The Chinatown Heritage Centre walks visitors through the enclaves history, using a blend of traditional exhibits as well as recreating original living spaces in the old shophouses that feature the wide five-foot ways which are essentially just covered verandas.

Lining the surrounding streets those who look under the surface can find some oldest city's oldest businesses, a tea shop and restaurant that have been operating since the 1920s and a Lolly shop that's been doing business since the 1930s.

But the best thing about Chinatown is that it's still home to the descendants of those original settlers and on a Sunday afternoon they come out to work, rest and play.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Anderson Rd, Singapore, Singapore

Bathroom with a view

I HAVE a bathroom with a view.

I'm staying at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort, which sits on the south-western tip of the little island that snuggles against Singapore southern coast, and my room has a glorious view across the beaches and man-made lagoons to the busy shipping lanes that run between Indonesia and Malaysia.

My bathroom is at the back of my suite, but there's a window which means I can look across the bed to the ships swinging on their anchors in the water beyond the hotel as I stand under the water.

While I was taking my morning shower today I watched a swarm of tugs hurrying about, saw a couple of cargo ships leave the port and crawl towards the open water, and counted a fleet of ferries and landing craft dashing off towards the outer islands.

Just in the 90-degrees of view I can see from my balcony I counted 50 ships and the vast majority are just resting, with everything from shiny rig tenders and dirty old oilers to long cargo ships and wide tankers.

I was told it's cheaper and safer for the vessels to drop anchor just off the Sentosa coast when they're waiting for their slot to pull into port or some other appointment.

If you like a ship, this is the hotel for you - now all I need if for the American fleet to sail past with a couple of aircraft carriers and a whole lot of battle ships in tow.

- Posted from my iPad
Location:Siloso Rd, Singapore

Bliss by bamboo

IF you told me to go to a dark room in a basement, and be hit with a couple of bamboo sticks for 10 minutes, I would check the size of your pupils and assume you were smoking something on the un side of legal.

But that's just what I did tonight.

It wasn't a lesson on interrogation techniques, for the next time I have to get information from a stubborn Al-Qaeda operative, it was a unique spa treatment at my Singapore hotel.

The Bamboo Massage is one of the signature experiences in the day spa at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort, a 90-minute treatment that leaves you feeling very relaxed, and I was using a bit of poetic licence when I said that I was hit by a couple of pieces of stick.

It is all very subtle and my therapist Sally started my treatment by shuffling around the table tapping the bamboo rhythmically on my legs, back, neck and arms with only the slightest amount of pressure.

She then used the rounded wood as a rolling pin, gently kneading my skin in the same direction as the muscles, before placing the bamboo on my joints and rocking it to apply the same sort of pressure she would have using her palms.

Then she put the sticks to one side, and I received a relaxation massage on muscles and joints that had been freed using the bamboo.

The spa manager Jenny told me the bamboo is used to relax the muscles, with the sticks doing that faster than the therapist could using only her hands, so when she starts doing the traditional massage it's more effective and the body gets more out of the time on the spa's treatment table.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Siloso Rd, Singapore

Trip #14

HERE are the stats for my 14th trip of the year, 12 days in Vanuatu which had me visiting three islands including Malekula which was a new place for me...

Flights – seven in 12 days

Kilometres flown –  7004km...Melbourne to Port Vila, Port Vila to Luganville, Luganville to Norsup, Norsup to Luganville, Luganville to Port Vila, Port Vila to Sydney and Sydney to Melbourne

Total Kilometres flown in 2011 – 169,138km

Hotels – Holiday Inn Port Vila, Bokissa Private Island Resort, Ratua Private Island, Tam Tam Bungalows, The Havannah

Total number of hotels in 2011 – 44

New stamps in my passport – Two, and they were two big ones filling almost a whole page

New countries – None, still on 49

Jumping ahead

I HAVE fallen behind with my blogging, so I'm going to jump ahead now and place a couple of posts from my current trip.

I'm in Singapore for a few of days, and braving the awesome heat to have adventures that I want to tell you about.

So I will go from here, and fill in the blanks when I get home later in the week.

- Posted from my iPad

Location:Siloso Rd,,Singapore

Trip #13

HERE are the stats for the US trip with Qantas and Boeing...

Flights – Seven in seven days

Kilometres flown – 27,561km... from Melbourne to Sydney, Sydney to LA, LA to Seattle, Seattle to Honolulu, Honolulu t Fiji, Fiji to Sydney, and Sydney to Melbourne 

Total Kilometres flown in 2011 – 162,134km

Hotels – Holiday Inn Sydney Airport (Sydney), Residence Inn Seattle Downtown (Seattle), Hilton Waikiki Prince Kuhio (Honolulu), Park Royal Melbourne Airport (Melbourne)

Total number of hotels in 2011 – 39

New stamps in my passport – Just the one, getting into the US

New countries – I'm still on 49...and still set to stay there for a while I'm home for a few weeks now, with a quick trip to Ballarat set to happen before my next overseas jaunt to Vanuatu.

Finishing the ferry

My super Qantas and Boeing adventure is now done, and I am back in Melbourne after finishing a second day hopping across the Pacific.

Here are a few photos I snapped today as Tamworth the 737-800 cruised home to Australia, starting in Hawaii and finishing in Fiji where we stopped to refuel before the last six-hour leg to Sydney.

Not a bad way to travel, and I now know what it feels like to have a private jet to travel around the globe.

It was especially lovely this morning.

The crew left the hotel at 7am, we departed at 7.30am, and as soon as we walked on the plane the flight attendents closed the door, the pilots started the engines, and a tug pushed us away from the gate to start the seven-hour leg to Fiji.