A Quiet Little Getaway

I was looking down at a single gerbera, floating in water, whilst my legs and back were being actively pummelled and pulled by an exponent of Thai massage. Grimacing slightly in pain, I reminded myself to relax.

I have spent the last 4 days in Fusion Maia resort on China Beach in Danang.

The resort was pretty much idyllic – a lovely beach with waves breaking on white, soft sand, mountains in the distance and an infinity pool aimed straight at the horizon. Graceful palm/coconut trees provide much-needed shade for the deck chairs and day beds scattered around. And the spa (opening comment notwithstanding) had a lovely spa pool surrounded by abundant greenery (see photo). We camped out in one of the two pavilions on either end of the pool, and in this shady nook, read and napped the mornings away. We enjoyed our two treatments per day (and worked our way through the spa menu) and chatted to the receptionist, a university student practicing her English. Our accommodation – I have really nothing to complain about. We had our private pool villa room (with its own little swimming pool and outdoor patio) but spent more time out by the spa pool (with its waterfall) or out by the beach, watching the other resort dwellers go by. Not that there were that many – we were visiting mid-week and it was obviously the lull period.

Our resort, it turned out, was fairly new, having opened the previous year. Next door, a new, large scale resort is still under construction; two doors down a glitzy casino (or should I say, integrated resort) has opened its doors, even whilst one wing of the hotel has still men working on it. I guess I know where some of the resort guests went at night (there were certainly far fewer people appearing at lunch and at dinner, than there were at breakfast). So in a way, perhaps we had paid our visit at a good time – when the resort was still the first mover on the strip, when its far larger neighbours are still putting their buildings up and getting their act together. A year or two more, and maybe the beach will not be as pristine, and the waters beyond busy with jet skiers and the like.

Indeed, a restful and welcome break from the office (although I received quite a few SMSes the first day I was there and spent every evening clearing email).  (For more idyllic photos, check here.

A Momentous General Election

Today, 7 May 2011 marks the end of a momentous General Election for Singapore.  It has been 10 days of intensive campaigning, when political parties fought the battle for the hearts and minds of Singaporeans.  One can only hope that the outcome is known, it will indeed be in the best interest of Singapore and Singaporeans.

On a less serious note, here is Mr Brown's podcast which  summarises some of the highlights of this election:

The High Life

I finally made it down (a few weeks ago) to the Marina Bay Sands, one of Singapore's two integrated resorts (or IRs for short).  Not, of course, to visit the casino.  I certainly am not going to waste money like that.  But, I did stand outside and peer in.  Not much of a view, and not very pleasant with the odour of stale cigarette smoke in the surrounding air, but nonetheless quite interesting.  Didn't see many people entering but I suppose it was a little early in the day (around lunch time).

I was actually at MBS for lunch at Pizzeria Mozza, one of the celebrity chef restaurants in the IR.  Pizzeria Mozza and its next door neighbour Osteria Mozza are by Nancy Silverton, in partnership with Mario Batalli and both restaurants are famous for their mozzarella, in particular the burrata mozzarella (this rather mouthwatering article tells all about burrata).  We had the burrata for our starter - the absolutely delicious mozza caprese - burrata mozzarella topped with a little pesto sauce and grilled cherry tomatoes (on the vine). The milky cheese, the tart sweetness of the tomatoes, the flavourful pesto - mmmmm...  The pizza too was tasty, and the famous crust was indeed light and elastic.  But the star of the show is indeed the burrata and I'm seriously thinking of visiting the mozzarella bar in Osteria. 

After lunch, we decided to take a trip up 55 floors and visit the MBS Skypark.  This was not without some debate.  Did we really want to pay $20 for a view?  In the end, we decided to do so and max out the time there.  Oh dear.  Did I just sound very Singaporean?  So we went up, and after walking around a bit we sat at the bar there and had a drink or two.  The view?  Well, it was certainly quite interesting to look down at the surrounding areas and to see all the way to the ends of Singapore, but I'm certainly not going to pay $20 again for the experience. 

So that was my visit to MBS. 

Tragedy

It has been 8 days since the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, a week in which Japanese lived under the spectre of a nuclear fallout.  A week of great tragedy, in which so many were left dead or injured, homeless and hungry. 

In the light of this terrible tragedy, our own problems should seem almost trivial.  But they are not.  A death of a pet dog, the illness of a beloved family member, are personal to us.   And it is not wrong, or selfish to focus on these personal concerns. For our losses, our fears and our worries, bind us to those who are suffering so greatly, so far away. 

Visiting Hong Kong

Yung Kee Chinese Sausages a photo by Taking5 on Flickr.

I visited Hong Kong last month; it was a short work trip but pretty fruitful. The business part was fine and I also managed a short trip to Lam Kwai Fong, where we had dinner at Yung Kee.

Yung Kee is a well known Chinese restaurant, famous for their roast goose and chinese sausages. My colleague found out I was going and asked me to buy some; so since I needed to have dinner we went over to Central (my hotel was in Kowloon) to the restaurant.

Foodwise, I was expecting a lot as the restaurant is in Asia's top 20 on the Miele Guide.  Maybe I expected too much as whilst the dishes were ok they were not spectacular, except of course for their specialties - the roast meats and the goose. The goose was delicious. Moist, flavourful, tender. The skin oh-so-crispy. It was really a dish I couldn't have enough of. The roast meats were also excellent. Maybe I didn't know what the other house specialties were, but the rest of the food was just average to me.

We went to buy the Chinese sausages thereafter. I was surprised to learn that they were still being sold by the "catty", a measurement of weight I thought had gone out with the dodo. Anyway, I think you get approx 20 sausages for the catty.  I bought four boxes worth, of lap cheong and the liver sausage (I forget the cantonese translation for the moment).

We walked around after dinner, around Lam Kwai Fong.  It was pleasantly cool that evening and light from the pubs spilled out into the streets; people were walking around so there was a nice buzz about the place without being overly crowded.  Unfortunately we had to go back as the next day was a busy one.  And, as our hotel was not in one of the more exciting parts of Hong Kong, there were not many subsequent opportunities to sneak out to Central again.  Guess that has to wait till my next visit to Hong Kong :-)  

Happy days are here again

Another favourite Glee moment.  I didn't get the reference to the Judy Garland/Barbara Streisand duet, but found the mash-up on this Youtube video.  It's a great tribute, down to Kurt doing a kick at the end of the song.

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

For my Christmas present, my very clever sister gave me "Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling", by Ross King - a fascinating account of how Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.  Along the way, he paints a picture of the politics of Italy and the Church at the time, and the dynamics between the Pope, Julius II. and the artistic community.

But what I really enjoyed was the description of how Michelangelo learnt the art of fresco as he painted the ceiling, how he grew in confidence over the course of time, and especially the author's insights into Michelangelo's creative thought process as he worked on the different panels of the painting.  I like how he also integrated the story of Raphael, who was working on the frescos for the Pope's study and rooms around the same time.

I had of course visited the Sistine chapel just about one and a half years ago (as recorded in a previous post) and craned my neck looking up at the ceiling the whole time.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos :-( But I recall looking at the ceiling and thinking that there was such a contrast between one half of the ceiling, where the panels appeared to be more crowded with smaller figures, as opposed to the majesty of the other half, where the masterpieces of God creating dark and light, and the creation of Adam (with the famous finger) were.  The book explains that the more crowded panels were painted first.  Thereafter, the scaffolding for that half of the chapel were removed and Michelangelo got his first look at the frescos from the floor of the chapel.  He realised that they were not impactful due to the size and composition, and thereafter increased the size of the figures and simplified the composition for the second half of the ceiling. 

These, and more insights, can be found in the book.   I do recommend it for any art lover planning to visit Rome/the Sistine Chapel.  The only downside is that there were not enough colour plates in the book.  I would have loved more.  Instead, I had to look at the paintings online on the Vatican Museum's website - the virtual tour of the chapel - whilst reading the relevant section in  the book.