I hope you like losing to your wife

Mark and I are currently (and for the next two years) living in the Watermark condo along the river, one of the many things we liked about it was its proximity to the central business district, specifically, Mark’s office.  But, we also liked that it was close to Fort Canning Park.  While Fort Canning was a selling point for us when we were initially looking for places to live, I had not yet taken the time to visit this locally-loved park...Until this week.  And I must say that I was definitely missing out.  Aside from the beautiful views and nice walking paths, complete with TONS of stairs for working out – if you can brave it, Fort Canning is also rich in history.

View of Fort Canning Park

Fort Canning Map

Just some of the MANY stairs

Prior to the early 1800’s, Fort Canning is documented as Bukit Larangan which means “Forbidden Hill” as it was believed to be the burial place for ancient kings.  Since those early days, Fort Canning has served as everything from a key trading post, the Governor’s residence, a Military post, and the site of Singapore’s first botanical gardens.  Now, Fort Canning Serves primarily as a State Park used by locals for exercising and as a historical hot spot for tourists as the long history is excellently recapped on signs throughout the park.

More stairs.  I like this picture because of the ivy growing over things.

Pretty Flower/plant

Another tropical flower

Flowering tree at Fort Canning.  The branches of this tree touch the ground and are held up by steel so they do not break.

View 2 of flowering tree

My attempt at being a photographer

Just one of numerous informative sign located throughout the park

I walked/jogged Fort Canning for about an hour and was able to see several of the highlights; the 9 pound cannon, time ball, Iskander Shah's memorial, and the pretty scenery. I will definitely go back to see the remainder of what Fort Canning has to offer and also visit just to workout outdoors with beautiful views.

The 9 pound cannon

The time ball

Iskander Shah honorary tomb/memorial

Locals place fresh jasmine and other flowers at the memorial daily

Partial view of the city from Fort Canning

After leaving Fort Canning I walked immediately back to the condo to get Colt for his afternoon play date. Colt and I had met several women earlier in the day out walking with dogs at the same time as us.  We all stopped to pet each others dogs and had decided to meet up later in the day at the grassy area nearby for an official play date.  It started as just me, three other women, and all of our dogs but people walking by with dogs decided to join us too so it ended up being about an 8-10 dog play date. All the dogs seemed to get along pretty well and it was also nice to meet other dog owners in my area!  Colt played for about 45 minutes before becoming bored and overly hot so we headed inside and Colt was ZONKED the entire rest of the night!

Colt and friends in the middle of a "doggie greeting"

Colt and Calvin

Playtime!!!

Colt immediately after all the excitement of playtime

Like I said, "ZONKED"

The weekend brought several fun outings.  The first of which was our “date night” on Friday.  Since I hadn’t yet tried Hawker style chicken rice, a local favorite and a dish that Mark eats quite a bit for lunch during the week, he took me to try it at a place he visits often for lunch with his coworkers.  We’re still not sure of the name of the place but we refer to it as “purple house” because it’s a purple colored shop-house style building that has been converted into a restaurant on the first floor.  I let Mark do the ordering since he had eaten there before. We shared noodle soup and char siew chicken rice which is a rice dish served with chicken, pork, and duck.  It was all really good, I especially liked the duck. But, the best part was that we got dinner and a beer for…wait for it…$12!  Hawker food might not come with the best atmosphere but it sure does come at a great price.

Hawker menu

Noodle soup.  I didn't get a picture of the char siew.

Saturday mid-morning we headed out to the Farmer’s Market.  There are a few farmers’ markets throughout the city that usually take place about once a month.  Quayside is the location of the farmer’s market we went to and about a 2 minute walk from our condo. This location was just added to the farmer’s market schedule so this was the first month for it there.  It wasn’t quite what we were expecting in that I thought of farmer’s markets as more fresh fruits and vegetables with a few homemade local items whereas this was more of a wine, cheese, and recipe tasting with just a few fresh fruits and vegetables. But, I’m definitely not complaining!  Mark purchased some seasoned olives and avocados while I “took one for the team” and did most of the wine tasting ; )  During the sampling, we snacked on beef skewers and fluffy buns, and Mark tried cured lamb leg that they shaved off right in front of you!  We also got a to-go Mediterranean seafood and rice dish to save for later which was really good.

Farmer's market sign along the river which is how we heard about it.

Mark getting ready to taste the cured lamb leg

The preparation of the beef skewers

The finished product, YUM!

Deep fried buns, chili crab sauce, and fluffy buns

The table of fresh fruit

The Mediterranean seafood rice dish that we ordered to-go

Sunday we met up with some friends for a “beer brunch” to celebrate a friends’ birthday.  We met at a German place called Brotzeit where we had lunch; pork medallions for me and veal schnitzel for Mark.  After lunch, we headed to a place called Emerald Hill to continue the celebration.  Emerald Hill is comprised of a few streets of restored buildings that mainly feature Chinese architecture.  So, basically they are all painted different colors, have really intricate wood work, and are very beautiful.  It was previously a place where the wealthy lived but now is mostly home to bars and restaurants.  After spending a little more time with friends, Mark and I headed home to do the last of the preparations for our Fantasy Football draft was set to take place at 12:30 AM Monday morning.  Mark started the league last year and continued it this year with all 12 players (including myself and Mark) returning so he set it up with a late time for us since everyone else is on Houston/Mt. Vernon time.  The drafting for the league wrapped around 2:00 AM with both Mark and I feeling confident in our teams.  We face off the first week so I told Mark that I hope he likes losing to his wife!!

Shop-house featuring Chinese architecture

Close-up of shutters and lanterns above the bars and restaurants

Mark and Colt relaxing before the Fantasy Football draft