Dotty Dogs

A lazy Saturday morning...my dogs sure know how to enjoy it!

The Little Nun Who Could

Meet Sr Rosalind, the nun at one of Bintan's girl's hostels and schools. She runs a spick and span operation, licking a bunch of 20+ girls into shape and maintaining the hostel without running water, a little infirmary and helping teaching with the help of two other nuns plus four lay staff.

Here she stands in front of the new well which has yet to be paid for. Apparently on Bintan, she's been able to persuade many suppliers to extend them credit so now she has been raising funds to pay off the tradespeople who've given them the well, plus for other things such as new cupboards for the girls.

A little missionary group from the parish church Immaculate Heart of Mary went to pay a visit to assess their needs and are now in the process of seeing how they can assist with financing some of the girls' education. Not all of them can afford the fees.

chicken tikka masala

I could not resist taking this photo as I was walking through Changi Village last Saturday. It looked so much like char siew but I realised when I walked closer it was chicken tikka which I also love eating. This Indian stall served it along with other roasted meats and breads. Unfortunately by the time I saw it I'd already filled up for tea on kaya toast and I think my friend would have been horrified if I'd suggested we eat a full blown meal on top of that at 4pm in the afternoon. So alas, this yummy chicken will just have to wait for the next time I'm there.

Changi Village Gentrified

Changi Village is slowly undergoing gentrification. I went there with an old friend today and we sat and caught up in a flourescent bright cafe eating kaya toast and drinking homemade barley. After the rain stopped and we wandered around outside, I was was enchanted to find little bohemian touches such as this shopfront shutter. It had been merrily painted with a sitcom like mural. It sat along the main road in the village and along side it was a fully stocked happy liquor store, also shut, but one that had an array of liquor to rival an American store. But brighter and happier looking rather than seedy. That store even had Skyy vodka which I'd been looking for as the very interesting inventor of this liquor had it made to be hangover free.

Then we walked along the boardwalk which reminded me a great deal of the East Coast Parkway area. A lot more paving, and lo and behold, ferries which even departed for Pengarang, Johor. Maybe the word is more bumboats than ferries with the fare a mere $7. One wonders at that rate how long the journey would take.

I certainly wouldn't mind going back. My friend was making plans to stay at the funkily coloured Changi Village Hotel, fka, Changi Meridien, in December for a short break.