Friends leaving Singapore

At the beginning of December, we sadly had to say goodbye to our friends Jaclyn and Doug, and their daughter Caelyn.  We have known Jaclyn, Doug and Caelyn since they moved to Singapore four years ago and over the years, I (Sam) have become close friends with Jaclyn.  Due to circumstances beyond their control, they could no long remain in Singapore to work, so they had to move back to South Africa.  We are going to miss them and I am definitely going to miss my regular lunches dates with Jaclyn and our wonderful conversations.  Fortunately we will keep in touch with them and we look forward to the beginning of March, which is when Jaclyn is due to give birth to her and Doug's second child.

Friends visiting Singapore

Our friend Glynda and her son Michael, were in Singapore for a few days on route back to Melbourne from South Africa.  The last time we saw Glynda was in February 2010, when we visited her and her husband Bernard in Auckland, New Zealand where they were living at the time.  Shortly after we saw them in Auckland, their son Michael was born and so it was great to meet him.  Unfortunately David was away on business, so he did not get a chance to see them.

Legoland, Malaysia

We took a day trip with some of our friends to Legoland in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.  The trip was organised by the Association of Certified Public Accountants of Singapore, who made all the ticket and travel arrangements for us.  We travelled by bus to Legoland and it took us about two hours to get there (including crossing the Singapore/Malaysia border).

Legoland Malaysia opened in September this year and it is Malaysia's first international theme park.  The park itself is divided into different zones (similar to Disneyland) and there is something for everyone with lots of rides and interactive activities.  Despite a heavy downpour in the early afternoon (good thing we had plastic ponchos), it was a fun and enjoyable day.  

Miniland

Located right in the centre of Legoland, Miniland was the highlight for us with an array of miniature landmarks from all over Asia.  These landmarks, all made from Lego bricks are built on a scale of 1:20 and include the Taj Mahal (India), Patuxai (Laos), Angkor Wat (Cambodia), the Great Wall of China, the Singapore River and Merlion, the Petronas Twin Towers (Malaysia), Karaweik Hall (Myanmar), Purah Tanah Lot (Indonesia), Kuala Lumper International Airport and Port Tanjung Pelepas (Malaysia).  

All the fine details made the models very impressive.  While not all the structural information was given for every model, Miniland's 19-foot Container ship called the "LCM", was highlighted as being the largest Legoland ship ever built, weighing 351 kilograms and taking about seven months to complete using 123,000 Lego bricks.  Not far behind is Miniland's 17-foot Cruise Ship called the "Le-Star Go".  This cruise ship took a year to build and it is the 2nd largest Legoland ship, with 131,000 Lego bricks and weighing 376 kilograms.