Home Thoughts From Abroad

As our time here in Asia comes to an end we get to thinking of what we would like to do one more time. Near the top of that list was one more visit to our favourite city in this part of the world, Singapore, which is always such a welcome treat. One of the nicest places in that very nice city is the Botanical Gardens, a little easier to get to now that Singapore has completed the extension to the Circle Line. We woke up to a cool and rainy Saturday morning but decided not to let that deter us. So we bought some cheap umbrellas and strolled through the Gardens enjoying those fabulous trees and flowers. After an hour, and still only half way through, we stopped and had coffee in a little garden café and listened to the splash of the water in the fountains nearby.

As it was Steve’s birthday – my they do seem to come thick and fast anymore, don’t they! – we had booked reservations for dinner at the Equinox Restaurant on the 70th floor of the Stamford Hotel. The food was fabulous, much nicer and much more affordable than the pretentious and overpriced fare at the Marina Bay Sands, and the views of the city from this vantage point were spectacular. How pleasant to sit and reminisce about our time together: the walks through the park in the East End, the Christmas we spent at Blossom and McDaniel’s place, the meetings with friends and co-workers in the Lord. After dinner we strolled one more time to the river and walked along Clarke’s Quay just taking in the sights and sounds of the pleasant evening air.

We ended up in the lobby of the historic Fullerton Hotel, once the Asian residence of Joseph Conrad, and presently home to a very funky display of scenes from The Little Prince, a book Steve had the joy of teaching to his beginning English students the first semester he was at Taylor’s. Steve had to return to KL mid afternoon on Sunday but before he left we did manage to get in a visit to Wesley Methodist Church for their Sunday morning service.

This is the home church of our friends Su Min and Sing Yu who have been great co-workers, mentors, encouragers and colleagues not only to us but also to our entire TWR team in Cambodia as well. Along with many others we have come to know and love, we will miss these dear servants of God and their warm fellowship. It was fitting that our last time together should be over lunch at one of their favourite restaurants, as during our time over here our best times together have been sharing one of the fabulous Asian meals that we are going to sorely miss! Su Min gave us a keepsake of a book he and his fellow urban sketchers have just published. It will be a treasured remembrance of happy days in Singapore.