Where we are most weekends

We go cycling almost every weekend. The Girl has her bike & earlier this year, I bought myself a foldable bike too (already looking to upgrade but that's another post). Both our bikes fit easily into the boot of a car, so only X has to rent his bike.

I discovered Lifestyle Bike & Skates that has pitstops along the PCN (Park Connector Networks that goes around the island). The parks are connected & you can rent a bike from one of their 6 stops & then return it at any of the other stops (no need to backtrack). Depending on the bike, they charge $6-$8 for two hours.

Bistro @ Changi Beach Park

For that much needed beer after our ride

If you start from Changi Beach Park & do the route the other way

Then there is always East Coast Lagoon Food Centre

Singapore Biennale 2011

Going to the Singapore Biennale was a no brainer for many reasons, amongst them to check out the old Kallang Airport (I love the building), family day sundays (free entry & activities for the kids) & of course to check out the artists....

Gosia Wlodarczark - frost drawings on glass

One of my favorites

Elmgreen & Dragset Full size German barn

complete with Singaporean farm boys

installed in one of the old hangers

Michael Lin's "what a difference a day makes"

whereby he purchased the entire contents from a shop in Shanghai, shipped to Singapore & redisplaying all the items & the cartons used in the shipment

Thai artist Arin Rungjang "Unequal Exchange"

Creates a living space using Ikea furniture & then inviting Thai migrant workers to exchange one of their existing pieces of furniture with one of his

Another of our favorites

Rafael Lozano-Hammer "Frequency & Volume"

Based on the size of our shadows on the wall, a frequency is detected

A beautiful Sunday.

We finished the day by flying the kite she made

I found a Kacang Puteh man

Don't know about you guys but I grew up with this.

So imagine my delight when I found the kacang puteh man. It is obviously no longer 10 cents (yup those were the days !) but $1 now. He has all the old favorites plus newer varieties like rice craker types (he is keeping up with the trend).

Do say hi if you do run into him.

Barcelona - Football & Flamenco

If you're a football fan (for my American friends, I'm talking about soccer), a must do in Barcelona would be to catch FC Barcelona in action. We were lucky that they had a home game when we were there.

I figured the best incentive to get X to go watch a flamenco performance (more about that later) with me would be to accompany him for a soccer match. Truth be told, I do enjoy going to watch a game live. I'm not at all a football fan but there's something about the stadium lights, hearing the fans roar, beer (they serve non-alcoholic version, yuks) & hot dogs - the whole atmosphere that is electrifying.

As you exit the train station, you just have to follow the crowd especially the groups wearing the home team jersey. You know you are near Camp Nou Stadium, when you start seeing these stands.


No I didn't purchase my tickets from there. I don't even know if these are operational. I bought them online like everybody else & collected the tickets from FNAC.

Camp Nou (New Field in Catalan) is very impressive. It can sit close to 100,000 making it the largest stadium in Europe.

The camera action

He who scored the one & only goal of the game

For the football fans who would know who these players are

Not bad for an evening entertainment
Wish they'd served real beer tho

3 nights later, we went for a very different kind of show. Based on tripadvisor reviews, I made a booking at Tablao de Carmen. It sounded a little touristy & most definitely not the cheapest option for a flamenco show (I found much cheaper alternative on the internet) but most of the reviewers gave it a thumbs up & since I didn't have a clue, why not.


Tablao de Carmen is within the grounds of Poble Espanyol, a Spanish village created for tourists (see what I mean). The buildings & architecture represent all the different periods in Spanish history now occupied by restaurants, galleries & artisanal workshops.

If you have tickets for the show, entry to the village is free. Arrive well ahead of the show to give yourselves ample time to walk around the premises.


This was the closet we got to El Bulli - this is where Ferran Adria sources his plates. The restaurant by the way will close next year.

Tablao de Carmen has 2 seatings every night & you have a choice of just watching the show with drinks, having the tapas menu or the full dinner menu. That determines which tables you are assigned to. All diners have tables closest to the stage.


We had the tapas menu @ 45euro which is more than enough - ham, cheeses, potatoes, bread & either a bottle of wine or a jug of sangria.



The dancers & musicians put up a good show. Both X & I really enjoyed it. The highlight was this male dancer which was even better than the male dancers we saw at a flamenco show at the Esplanade recently.

ilike ilight

You have till Nov 7th to catch ilight, a sustainable light art festival. It's free, it's beautiful & what better way to enjoy the lights of the marina bay area. We had dinner at One Fullerton & then made our way around.

Check out the website to see where the 24 installations are located. If you have an iphone, download the app. We didn't even get to see all of them. Here's a look at what we did manage.

The beautiful city that I call home
It takes my breath away

CBD has never looked more beautiful

The beautiful Helix bridge that links Marina Bay Sands

The *surf board* - Skypark, Ku De Tah & the infinity pool