Cleanest City EVER!!!

Hello Singapore!!!, your sooo clean! What else was eye catching....the many different language schools: Japanese, Dutch, Swiss, Indian,German and obviously English. But the main language they speak is English or rather "Shinglish" it is English with slang. It was really hot and sticky(32C).
We arrived in Singapore airport with our jeans and kreeftonthemove t-shirt and could not wait to take a dive or shower. It was a big airport and it look familiar since it had the same design as Schiphol airport, the biggest airport in Holland. It had indoor-palm trees and many plants in the airport, you had to walk through a jungle to get your bags! When we had our stuff, also my hockey stick arrived-yeeheee, that I got from my club in Buenos Aires, we went outside and it was really tropical hot.

Not only because we were wearing warm clothes, but it was incredible tropical!! We are staying with friends of  of my parents Jannie and Gerard. They were very kind and are teachers at the Dutch (day) school. The school has 400 children and looked beautiful with bright colors, nice classrooms with a lot of laptops and electronic school boards, wow!!!. On Monday we visited the school which started with the assembly and all the kids and many parents were sitting in the big hall. Jannie invited some classes to come on stage to perform and when the birthday kids had to come forward, I expected 3 kids only like at our school, but almost 10 kids came forward and Gerard played the accordion for them and we all were singing Happy Birthday and Lang zal die leven in Dutch. After that Steven and I had a sort of presentation and all the kids could ask us questions. Of course we also asked them too, what things we had to see in Singapore.

They gave us at least 20 suggestions! One of the kids advised us to see ToySrus, because that was his favorite excursion. So funny!. In the 5 days we were in Singapore we visited a lot of the suggested sights, but not Toysrus, sorry for that! We went to the Merlion, the statue of Singapore; its half fish and half lion. Half fish because it is protecting the Singapore river and the half lion, because it is protecting Singapore at the entrance of the harbor. When we walked through the CBD (central business district) we saw many sky scrapers and beautiful buildings, interesting statues and modern art sculptures and of course the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. This is one of the most expensive hotels of the world and has on the top of the 2  tall towers with approx 60 floors a cruise-ship on the roof!!!!. It looks like it has got stuck on there after a tsunami wave. Can you imagine this with big pool and stunning views. Of course we had school in the mornings and read about this small Island/country down under in Malasia and because of that it was great we could visit the Museum of Singapore with all the history. I also did not know that they were occupied by the Japanese between 1940-45 during the 2nd World War. The Museum of Singapore was very interesting to see and hear with the earphones how Singapore came to what it is today! Because of a tropical rain (heavy rain showers late afternoon with thunder and lightning) we jumped in the first bus we could find and we arrived at Orchard Road, the most expensive shopping street. Coming from expensive Argentina, this was even more expensive, but wow what a shops and everything was clean and well organised here. What a difference with Argentina. We had a transport pass and used the bus, boat and underground and everything was clean, no lines anywhere, except on the floor of the underground platforms. This was for the people going out and for the people going in so they did not block each other, wow how organised.

We saw school kids leaving their bags outside shops when they went in for shopping and a man leaving his laptop on the table when he went to order another drink. Everything is very safe here. Maybe it is because there are fines to pay for everything which you do wrong. A fine for littering, a fine for eating in the underground, a fine for this, a fine for that....! There are t-shirts sold with on the front written: "Singapore, a Fine city".

We also went to the Indian area and the Sim Lim building to buy a screen and a battery for the laptop. There were at least 8 floors and 1000 computer and electronic shops in the building and we ran from one shop to the other to find the best deal. A lot of shop did not have the battery, but than they ran quickly to other shop downstairs and Steven was trying to follow them to see where they went to find the best deal. Later we bought nice fish and veggies at the wet market in China Town.

In the afternoons when came home at the apartment of Jannie en Gerard we could swim in their big pool and they had even a tennis and squash court. On Thursday we skipped school and went to the Island Pulau Ubin. We took the taxi and the bumboat from Changi point. Is was approx. 20 min. and saw the skyline of Singapore behind us with the airplanes going up and down one after the other, because it was near the Airport. When we arrived on the Island is was a really tropical Island with monkeys, coconuts and - unfortunately- many mosquitoes. We hired 4 bikes and drove around the Island. After 2 hours of cycling we were getting thirsty and we saw a sign fresh drinks! We arrived on a private beach with and old boat and an old garage with empty fridges and nobody there. When we went into the jungle we found the owner who was repairing the path and he picked some coconuts for us. We could drink the milk inside and scooped the milky flesh out with a spoon, jammy. Back to the only village and the place were the ferry boat was leaving, we had time to see the temple and had a quick noodle lunch on the beach.

Late afternoon Gerard surprised us and we went to Sentosa Island. Jannie had to finish her yearly report for the Dutch School and could not join us. First we went to a huge shopping mall and we all made a picture at Gap. We posted this on Face book and then went to Sentosa Island by  ..... Cable Car. Wow what a view and when we arrived there we went down with the Luges - a sort of skelter downhill.
We had dinner on the beach and in the background we saw the fireworks of one of the shows on Sentosa Island. A very very very nice evening (specially for the kids!)

And then it was already Friday and our last day in Singapore. We did homeschooling and packing and of course a quick swim. Before we left for the airport we had dinner at the dutch club were we ate kroketten, poffertjes en zuurkool(traditional delicious food  in the Netherlands!!).Just before we left we had a problem,the checking assistance(grond hostess) was new,she was very very slow and she made us wait too long at the check in desk! I wanted to do some shopping at the nice shops at the airport, but there was no more time.

Now we are leaving for Australia where we will visit Loeke, my  friend who moved to Melbourne last year from Holland. She will have Easter holiday and we will go on a vacation trip with the Anemas for about ten days!!

Sorry I published this article very late,I did not know we were driving so long and there  was no internet!!

Good day, Mate!

Please keep commenting







Loes

FAREWELL ARGENTINA, HELLO SINGAPORE

Good bye - Argentina


On the way back to Buenos Aires, coming from Salta, it was the  last time to see the beautiful mountains of the Andes with snow on the top but in the car 40 degrees C.The surroundings change from dessert to green fields that looked like Kruger National Park but without animals.Later it looks flat like Holland with the cows and mielie fields. Then we saw the skyline of Buenos Aires with the smog hanging over the capital city.
It was also nice to be back in a familiar surrounding, with bus number 17, Plaza de Mayo and the icecream shops.
AND of course......I finally went to buy my TANGO SHIRT!!!

In the last few days I started saying goodbye to Argentina and looking forward to our new destination/Singapore/Australia. I was wondering what I would miss most from Buenos Aires & Argentina :

What we will miss most:

• to see the excitement of Strikes and Protests nearly every 2nd day
• football on every TV in bars and restaurants
• ALL bars and restaurants have FREE WIFI
• the kind flower-stall-girls and the building attendants 
• dog walkers
• beautiful old elevators
• Mate (the tea that every one drinks here)
• Carton-eras (homeless people who collect the paper rubbish)
• Beautiful Andes
• Ice creaaaaaaaaaaaaaam !!!!
• Great lomo (beef filets)
• Nice and friendly people in the Province
• our own Sube cards and the bus number 17
• Trying to cross walking the 9th Julio with all green lights from the traffic lights(never succeeded)
• the stores which has "Liquidation /Sale" 
• the salesmen selling pens, torches.etc on the buses and trains 
• Kissing everyone on the cheeks, waiter,taxi driver etc

         What we won't miss:

• The rubbish in the streets of  Buenos Aires
• Not always petrol in the petrol-stations and cash in Banks 
• Unfriendly hotel owners and receptionists in the City 
• queues for banks, post offices  
• Big arrogant companies who want money for personal services (FEDEX) while they are not even doing their job properly and make your parcel disappears.
• dirty toilets
• itching mosquito bites
• the noise of the city
• having dinner at 23.00 hours and staying up too late
• graffiti on the walls 
• Super inflation!!

What I will really really really miss is the over-delicious 

ICE-CREAM

Sales man in the train selling pens

mate

SUBE card and long queue

     

Thank you ARGENTINA , thank you READERS for all your nice comments so far
Are you following me to Asia?

MUCHAS GRACIAS
kreeftonthemove
Louisa

Salta

Salta
 We arrived very late in Salta with heavy rain and lightning, looking for a hotel. After being lost we finally found a beautiful hotel/apartement in our budget. It had a beautiful bar for our homeschooling. The apartement didn't have a cofee machine so dad was making one himself the whole night. Salta is a not an organised city, except in the Plaza 9 Julio where all the students come for break-time, around the plaza are many terraces, restaurants, schools and souvenir shops with souvenirs from the Incas, like little colorful puppets and many items made from soft Llama wool. It all looks very attractive, but unfortunately I can't buy anything for my suitcase will be full and too heavy during the world trip. Salta is also an old missionary settlement and has also many beautiful churches and a cathedral. There are many students and schools in Salta and because it is hot here they break up at midday and even go back to school at 5:00 in the afternoon.

It seems that school has started after a long long long long summer brake.First 3 months holiday and then the unions organised a teachers' strike for 2 weeks!!!!.








Museum of High Altitude Archaeology Salta

 We went to the 'Inca museum' in Salta. It was a very interesting museum. In 1999 there were special mountaineers who went up Mount Llullailaco and found at 6700m height remains of the Inca's. They kept on digging and digging and found three Inca children buried under ground. The theory is that 500 years ago the Incas choose the prettiest child to offer to their gods and ancestors. They would celebrate, eat and dance and take the children to the mountains. Then the child would drink something that would make them fall asleep before they were buried close to God. It was a honor to be chosen. Now everyone wants to live, but 500 years ago they would want to be close to God. In the museum they showed one of the three children kept in a very special glass display with its own temperature to preserve it. It was amazing to see the Girl of Lightning (she was hit by lightning) with her knees crossed and lots of blankets and ceremonial treasures around her.

On the 19/03 we are leaving from the Andes back to the Capital Buenos Aires for a few days. Then on the 23 of March we are leaving for SINGAPORE!!!!

Thank you for reading
Gracias

Loes

Loes in the Andes

This month we did not want to stay in the busy city (Buenos Aires), so we went to discover the country side of Argentina. We rented a car and drove to Cordoba, Talampaya National Park, Villa Union, Chilecito, Tinogasta, Salta and Tucuman. The Andes are fantastic beautiful mountains with different colours and shadings and many layers of rock.
The climate is very very hot during the day and in the evening clouds and often thunder and lightning is hanging over the mountain tops. Loes in Spanish means LIGHT so I really felt at home with the lightning in the mountains.

Our first stop was Cordoba 700km away from Buenos Aires. It is a town with very helpful happy people and a lot cheaper than Buenos Aires. Cordoba is very religious, because it was one of the first settlements of the Spanish Catholic priests in the 16 century.

We stayed 3 days in Cordoba. Dad and Steven went to the soccer stadium with the owner of the apartment we stayed in and saw a very exciting soccer match.. They only came home at 4 am because they had their dinner after the match. Mom and I 'shopped' a lot in the little street without cars. We tried to do and see as many things as we could. We went to Mercado de Pulgas (Shopping street) and the beautiful Evita Peron Ferreira House with an interesting exposition about the military government and the terrible things they did to the women. We also went into big churches and cathedrals.

We drove on into the Andes and passed the Talampaya National Park. Dry and red sand everywhere with beautiful rocks and mountains and some of the tops had snow on it while the temperature around the car was 38degrees. We slept in ChileCito and when I woke up I thought I was in Rio De Janeiro. I ones saw a picture with the Corcovado- the huge statue of Jesus Christ- and here in ChileCito there was the same big statue. This little town was 507km from Cordoba and sleeps twice a day. People are around in the morning till 13.00 o'clock and disappear for a long siesta until 18.00 hours. Then everyone comes to the village and ride their motor bikes (without helmet) and pickup cars in circles around the Plaza (central square of the town). They meet and chat and eat ice-creams (Hmmmmm).
When we wanted to leave there was no petrol in the stations and no money in the banks to pay cash for everything, so we had to wait a few days to for the petrol and until the banks had cash delivered again.
Steven en I did not mind! The B&B had a very big swimming pool and a table soccer game. The little house was very coulourful and clean and we had breakfast in a basket in front of our door.

Our next stop was in Tinogasta (= Meeting Place), a small town 1,310 km from Buenos Aires.It has approx. 20,000 people and is surrounded by beautiful mountains and by a dessert. It is at the foot of the Andes close to Chile. The area is "famous" as the last place where the Incas were hiding for the Spanish colonists. They all died 500 years ago. But for us the main reason to visit Tinogasto was to find a friend of my mom and dad from the time they studied together. We asked around in town and found Monique and her family. What a great SURPRISE! It was like we knew them already for years and played with their three daughters; Ambar, Nadia and Jessy. They had Olivos, a camping with a large pool and even cabanas (little house) were we stayed. They have horses, dogs, cats and even two lamas walking around Olivas.
They were the best guides and showed us all the nice places. We went horse riding in the Campo (bush just before the Andes mountains starts). Nadia taught me how to gallop (joehoe). They showed us secret places were we found many parts of pottery and pipes from the Incas. On the rocks were also paintings from the Incas. After we collected parts of pottery, we went to a private 'museum' of a man who - sine he was a small boy - collected pottery parts, stones, spear points and even an skeleton of an Inca that he found. The next day we went into the mountains towards Chile and saw a huge creepy Tarantula spider crossing the road. We also went to Fiambala Term pools and bathed in many rock pools, each with their own small little waterfall and its own temperature. It started with 25∘ degrees up to-50degrees. In the evening we had an Asado (braai) with all the family and friends of the father of Carlos. It was very cozy and a real Fiesta Argentina. It was the best stay!

We were late in Tucuman, we couldn't see a lot but there were many shops and cathedrals.It is the fifth biggest city after Buenos Aires,Cordoba, Rosario and Mendoza.It's 1,311 km from Buenos Aires.The social life starts at night when the people meet at the market or at the Plaza in the middle of the town.

 FINALLY HAVE INTERNET
(please leave a comment!!!)f
Thank you  from kreeft on the move

Farewell new friends

fHockey+ Soccer
Last week we played hockey and soccer for the last time in  Argentina, because we are going for 3 weeks to see the northwest part of this big country. First to Cordoba, the 2nd largest city, then to Villa Union (a place in the middle of nowhere), Tinogasta (to find a school friend of my parents) and mostly Salta near the Andes mountains. It was a fun 2 months in Buenos Aires and hockey-wise I learned many skills and Steven learned to control the ball even better. My new hockey friends were very kind. They gave me many hugs and kisses and they made me walk through their own 'goodbye-arch' made of hockey sticks. They also gave me a small mascot and a batch to remember the Hockey Club San Telmo. It was a little statue of a girl with a hockey stick wearing the colors of San Telmo Club. I am glad I received their Facebook names so we can chat in Spanish.We had a surprise for Steven, because he did so well in soccer he got a ticket to go to a local soccer game with my dad.


Tango lessons
In beginning of February I (finally) started  real Tango lessons.
The Tango is a difficult and serious dance to learnb. I took 2 weeks to learn the basic steps and now I can do even turning and spinning.... See the movie clip from a week ago with my 'partner'. A lot of people tell me that I need to have life experience to do the tango, because I can then also  have the right (serious and sad) look in my face. There are a group of people with partners and they are taught by a maestra (female teacher) and a maestro (male teacher). They stand in the middle of the class and do the steps and then you will follow individually and then with your partner. There are different kinds of tango-music; there is slow and sad, but there is also quick and happy. The slow and sad one I started in the beginning of February, but now since a few days, I can do the fast and happy tango steps.YAAAY !!

           Buses - Collectivo 
In Buenos Aires, the public transport is very good. There are many buses going around and you never have to wait longer then five minutes. There is a bus stop at every street. There are many people going with the bus to work and children going to school. You have to pay coins in a machine for a bus trip that will cost 1.20 pesos (R2.40). But the government made debit cards so there is no time lost at the bus stops for people having to pay cash. This card is named "Sube-card" and you fill them up in shops and then you hold it against a machine in the bus that will automatically take 1.20 pesos off. We mostly took Collectivo #17 between Recoleta and San Telmo. Ones when Steven went to soccer he was the only one in the the bus with a lady that was about to give birth. When I went home from hockey the bus was always full with Portenos and we one night had all of a sudden a small accident. The streets are narrow and the buses big and when the bus stopped at the side of the road to pick up more people, the bus driver hit a car which he didn't see. The car had a lot of damage.So we had to wait for at least a half hour to drive on again.

Thank you those who have left comments last week!!
Gracias Esteban, Germaine, Gaap y Louisa