Bollywood Nights on Upper Cross Street

Sanjay just got back from India and brought some fabulous party clothes for Alan and me. As you can see that they inspired all sorts of fabulous Bhangra moves once we got home! HA! HA!

Please bring the proper identification when you paddle

I had such a great weekend at an Outrigging clinic- I am definitely better in and on the water than running around town!

I spent Saturday and Sunday on the beach at Sentosa- our club arranged a fabulous paddler, Terry Ann to come up she is from New Zealand) and teach us all how to be better paddlers!

As a rookie it was great- I love jumping in an out of boats- our club has a 6 person and a few 1 person outriggers (OC). I think I like the 6-person outrigger better- you know how I love team sports!

My favourite part of the clinic was learning water changes. This is when we pull ourselves into the moving OC to replace another paddler in a long distance race.

It is much easier when the boat is moving but I have to say that it is weird to be treading water in the ocean waiting for a boat to go over the top of you before you grab on and throw yourself over.

Actually, I wasn’t really throwing anything- I think my technique is definitely just mad scrambling! HA!HA! Not elegant in the least!

It was so much fun; I cannot wait for training tomorrow!

OH! I almost forgot- in all the fun of paddling around and jumping in an out of boats! I some how managed to enter Singapore illegally (well that might be a slight exaggeration- as it was all sorted once we were on the beach :)).

As we came in from our session out in the channel off Sentosa, a group of us jumped off our support boat and decided to swim back to shore. As we crossed the buoy line into Sentosa (designed to keep swimmers in the lagoon area) the lifeguards made the following announcement, "For those swimmers crossing the line into Sentosa, please be advised that you must have proper identification to enter Singapore."

It was too funny for words! I thought it could not possibly be true but sure enough once, we swam the 50m to shore the life guards came up and asked us who we were etc. Our club sorted it out- as well we were all members of the Singapore Paddle Club and the big OC that we keep on the beach came in behind us must have given it away!

Too funny, I think they must have worried we had swum from Batam!

Milk Run Madness- WATCH OUT FOR POLES!

At the end of my first week in Singapore my buddies- Crispen and Sanjay- convinced me that I could run 8km at 3 in the afternoon. Well they were wrong. As you can see it is true only mad dogs and english men go out in the midday sun- IT WAS SO HOT I THOUGHT I WOULD DIE.

I recovered only to walk into a pole later that evening (long story, I will tell you later) Lucky Alan was there to provide first aid and make sure there was no permanent damage! HA!HA!

Sentosa Baby

This morning, VERY DARK and VERY EARLY I set out for the mighty waters of Sentosa for my first VERY early morning outrigging training. Having made the switch from dragon boats- I realize this sport is definitely the right one for me! I love it. All the sun and surf and an occassional oil slick from the HUGE tankers make it that more memorable ;)!

The 5.20am wake up call will take some getting used to but once you are up and in the boat, it is brilliant. I can't wait to actually get good at this sport and stop dropping the paddle every time they shout "HUT"!

Sentosa is Singapore beach holiday destination-only about 15 minutes in a cab from my house (20 minutes you are in Malaysia...not true it must be at least 30 minutes!) and you can be on some sort of beach. The key is to avoid the weekends when everyone heads there and there is literally no room- but if you stop counting the tankers in the harbour, don't mind the imported sand and the oil refinery on the horizon, you can love it too!

Actually I quite like Sentosa- but you know I would do almost anything for a day at the beach!

I will add some photos after my outrigging clinic on the weekend. Until then you can check out my new club's website www.singaporepaddleclub.com!

See you on the water!

Sophie is the inspiration

Sophie is my inspiration for my blog- I love being able to see what she is doing, where she is going- and checking out all the funny photos of her life in mad Manila! Check out her adventures at http://www.manilaessence.blogspot.com/

This is us scrambling through the bush in Singapore! You can see the Merlion city is a dangerous place!