Rugby, tulips, sailboats and fighter jets!

Goodness where does time go? It's been over 2 months since I last posted anything and in that time a lot has happened! First there was a wonderful family & friend's trip to Hong Kong for the famous Rugby 7's, three fun days full of rugby, beer and good humoured craziness

The infamous "South Stand'. A bit like "Where's Wally?", can you spot HT & his friends? Look for the a bare chested young man with a huge red hat on!!

 Somehow the red hat was exchanged for wings!

The following weekend it was Singapore's turn to host the 7's, their first time for a few years. It was a calmer and slightly quieter affair but still some great rugby was played, lots of beer consumed (not by me though as I hate beer) & it was good fun. It was good to see several people dressed up in costume and I even had the pleasure of meeting Batman!

Later that month I visited the Gardens by the Bay for their latest special display-Tulipmania. It was lovely to see the thousands of tulips laid out and reminded me that it was spring time in Europe and the tulips would be flowering there too

 Many tulips originate from Turkey and this years display reflected that

Recently Papa T and I have been doing a bit of sailing again. A local friend has a rather complicated yacht that needs a crew of about 6-8 people so for the past few months we have been spending many Sunday's on board Wild Card as she takes part in the Changi Sailing Club Sunday races. Wild Card is quite an old yacht but has an impressive racing pedigree, she had been neglected for many years until bought by our friends who are gradually bringing her back into good nick. 

The Sunday races were initially rather tense as we and the other crew members on Wild Card were learning how this complicated yacht worked. We experienced several problems as elderly ropes and sails broke mid-sail, equipment failed and we even ran aground briefly as the sand bank has extended beyond it's charted area.  However our friend and skipper KW, has always remained cool and calm and has been working hard at repairing and updating everything on board.

 We were lucky enough to be invited to join KW & JW on the sailing club 'away weekend' to Nongsa Point Marina on the Indonesian island of Batam 

Our destination was only a 4 hour sail away, although due to lack of wind we had to motor instead. Batam is so completely different, and the marina was delightfully quiet with pretty countryside behind

We enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at a simple restaurant built over the water

and the next day we visited Batam town for a wander around and a very enjoyable massage session

 Two days later we returned to Singapore, this time under sail as the wind had picked up. We left the tranquility of Batam, as we approached Singapore we had to keep a close eye out for the huge vessels that fill these waters. Despite their size the container ships and tankers move surprisingly fast and bear down on you frighteningly quickly...

plus they cannot turn quickly so it was up to us to keep out of their way

 Of course we had to clear immigration before re-entering Singapore, this is done mid channel, the Customs boat approaches you, a big net is held out and the crew's passports and immigration forms dropped in. 

It seemed a delightfully old fashioned and simple system but worked well and once our documents had been inspected the process was reversed and we were clear to sail back home.

A few weekends later it was the Singapore Airforce Open House at Paya Lebar Airbase and for want of anything better to do Papa T and I went along not expecting much.  However it was really interesting and we were impressed with the range of aircraft on display as well as the the static and  flying displays.

 Papa T first spotted a Hawker Hunter, the plane that his father used to fly when in the RAF, although this plane was in an area out of bounds to the public when we told the security guard of the connection he let us go closer to have a good look

Lots of different planes were on display and we were allowed right up to many of them and in some cases you could queue up to see inside or even sit in the pilots seat

 There was a long queue for all of the planes and this armoured vehicle, the service people seemed very patient with all the young children who of course were particularly fascinated in the guns

 The fist flying display showed the versatility and precision of a Chinook helicopter in delivering an armoured vehicle to the ground

 Then with a huge roar 8 fighter jets took off and gave an exciting acrobatic display

All the service personnel were very friendly, this poor chap had quite a queue wanting to have their photo taken of him and his chopper...I wonder why!!

 In fact even some of the planes seemed to be smiling!