Here are pictures I tried to take of the apartment. I have learned I am much better at outdoor and people photography than interior design pictures. Between the white wall, the marble floors - both of which reflect every bit of light possible - and my flash....... well, you'll see. How many brown objects can you find? Notice the walls are white, not one red wall in the whole place.
*****************************************************************************************************************
Below is a picture of our apartment building. We are over to the far right as you look at the picture, about four windows down from the top. There are 5 buildings in our complex, along with a separate building for a weight and workout room, a separate building for the squash court, 2 children's playgrounds, swimming pool, children's pool and tennis courts. The main building is behind us with the swimming pool in between. That building has the little sidewalk cafe for eating at or taking away, a convenience store, a place to get facials and massages done, a dry cleaners and a doctor's office that is open 7 days a week from 8:30 am to 8:30 pm with 3 doctors and you don't need an appointment. Here almost every doctor's office has the pharmacy as part of their office, so when they give you a prescription, you just go back to the waiting room and they will call your name to tell you your meds are ready. I've not counted for myself, but there is supposed to be 1,094 apartments in our whole complex.
************************************************************************************************
Here's our door. We live on the end and there are only 3 other apartments on our floor. This is our "iron gate" as they call them here. It beautiful and it's strong and it's designed so you can have a locked door, but the air can come through when you don't have the air conditioner on and you want to leave your wooden door open. Kind of like an open pattern storm door. Basil picked out this design.
*************************************************************************************************
This is what you see when you walk through the front door. It is an open floor plan. Dining area is to the left , the living room on your right down steps and in between is sort of like our transition point, the entry area. Sorry about the white splotches around the dining table - shadows I can't seem to avoid!
************************************************************************************************
This is our dining area. I took a floral arranging class - note my homework on the table. The doorway towards the right just off center leads to a closet with louvered doors which hold suitcases, etc. Off both direction from there is where bedrooms and baths are. Again, sorry about the white halo affect - my flash just bounces off these white walls in the weirdest way!
*************************************************************************************************
If you have your back to the bookcase next to the dining area, this is what you see looking back towards the front door. It's kind of weird, but most of the apartments we looked at or that I have had the opportunity to visit is set up this way. It's so funny to have your "entryway" set up between your living and dining area, but it seems to work out ok. On the left side you can see two doorways. The one to the far left goes into the kitchen. The other goes into the "maid's area" or laundry area.
**********************************************************************************************
This is the area just opposite what you were looking at in the previous picture. This is with your back to the front door again. I "inherited " this chair from the owner, which means I cannot get rid of it. He won't move it, so I just fit it in. Making lemon chiffon cake out of lemons! The lamp next to it is stone, extremely heavy and in the brown area there has water running down it. It does it on all four sides. In the background on the right side of the picture is looking down into the living room. It is about 2 feet lower than the rest of the apartment.
**********************************************************************************************
This is the area just opposite what you were looking at in the previous picture. This is with your back to the front door again. I "inherited " this chair from the owner, which means I cannot get rid of it. He won't move it, so I just fit it in. Making lemon chiffon cake out of lemons! The lamp next to it is stone, extremely heavy and in the brown area there has water running down it. It does it on all four sides. In the background on the right side of the picture is looking down into the living room. It is about 2 feet lower than the rest of the apartment.
*************************************************************************************************
Standing on the steps that lead down into the living room, you can see straight out the sliding door to the balcony. The sliding door is one that slides back in three pieces or opens from both ends at the same time. As you can see the front balcony is small, but large enough to hold 2 chairs and our little table. We spend a lot of time out here. I watch the ships and the air planes. I can see the planes, but don't get any noise - too far away.
*************************************************************************************************
This is what I see out my front living room windows. Also we have this view from the kitchen, the study and the guest room. I happen to snap it on a bright blue morning, but many days it is grey. The water is grey, the skies are grey. There is so much humidity in the air, many times it appears real hazy, but when the sun goes down and it cools just about 2 or 3 degrees, it's enough of a temp change that it clears and everything gets crystal clear. The water stays churned up from all the ships coming and going, so we don't always get to see it this pretty. I think on the previous blog entry I posted a picture of the grey! Those are just a few of the ships sitting out there. I can't get a picture to come out that even comes close to conveying how many ships there are. Actually there are about 300 every day and night. You see them, you go to bed, next morning there is just as many only they are different ones! Big ones, small ones, from all over the world. Just a little while back, we had one here that is one of the world's largest container ships. The clouds are sitting right on top of Indonesia, about 9 miles away. The trees in the bottom part of the picture - there is a park down there that runs for about 15 miles. Walking paths. Biking and rollerblading paths. Benches to sit on. Bar-b-que and picnic areas. Sidewalk cafes to get something to eat or drink. Nice.
*************************************************************************************************
Standing with the balcony on my right, this is that half of the living room. That window looks partly out on the water. The big carved pieces on the wall are hand carved teak. They have a look of lace. They are delicate-looking, but heavy as can be.
************************************************************************************************
With your back to the couch now and the balcony to the left, this is the other half to the living room. The tall speaker-looking piece on the far right is a fan. It moves and turns and does a good job. I've got a bunch of them to use. The lamp on the right side of the tv table matches the one with water, only this one doesn't have the water. Stone and very heavy though. In the case on the left is where I am keeping all my goodies Basil brings me from all his travels. This is the one I bought after I got rid of the one that swayed! The lacquer pieces on top were made in VietNam, but I purchased them here in Singapore from a shop on Arab St. At the very top of the picture is one of our air conditioning units. The living room has one, as does the dining area and each bedroom and the study. You must turn on each one individually, there is no main thermostat. Each is controlled by a remote and you set the temp, blower speed by this. Almost like a window unit in each room, but not in a window! They do not have central air units here! Oh, but for central air and an ice machine - which you will not find one of anywhere!
*************************************************************************************************
Here is a picture of my new carpet. It is 35 years old, city-made, silk and wool, handmade, double knotted, Tabriz, fish-eye pattern. This one is from Iran and was made prior to the revolution, which is how Iranians mark time. Pre-revolution means before the Shah was overthrown. This I did not know. The older they are, the more valuable they are considered to be. I couldn't afford older than this!!!! I have learned so much about these carpets. It looks a different color if you are looking at it from one end and a darker color looking at it the other way. In the background you can see the steps leading up to the entry area and dining area. Isn't this carpet just beautiful! Towards the lower middle, it looks like a dark spot on the rug - it is not. It's just the nap is ruffled right there and it shows the color differently. No spots anywhere. You'd never know it was 35 years old.
*************************************************************************************************
This is the carpet I bought for the dining area. It looks different also depending on which direction you are looking from. It is about 10 years old, city-made, wool, single knotted, handmade. This one is from Afghanistan. The design looks like that of a tribal rug, but it's not. I do love the tribal rugs and want one next for Basil's study. Notice there were no red walls, so I am going to buy him a red tribal rug. We'll all be happy then!
**************************************************************************************************
This is the master bedroom. Behind all the chocolate brown curtains are windows. Behind the burgundy is just wall. The door out to the terrace is off to the right side out of sight in this picture. Our wardrobe closets are across the room from the end of the bed and along the wall to the left of the bed. 8 drawer dressers are along each side of the room to the left and right out of the picture. Can you say "Lots of brown"?
*************************************************************************************************
This is on the terrace looking out over the city. We put teak patio furniture out there. I was worried about being 24 floors up and these blowing off. This is until I moved one. I had no idea teak is such a hard and heavy wood. That black thing in the middle of the picture is my 29th wedding anniversary present, all covered up. I asked for and received a bar-b-que. We love it and have already used it a great deal. Again, I snapped the picture on one of our clear blue days, although if you look closely you can see the humidity haze just starting to build along the horizon just above the buildings.
************************************************************************************************
This is the other half to the terrace. The building you see is the next building over. Not too close. The people that live in one of the other buildings down from us - the next apartment building is real close. Thank goodness we do not have that. All the leaves are all over because we had a storm last night and I haven't swept yet today. It's the maid's day off - just part time,not full time maid. When she comes, she not only sweeps the terrace, but she waters all the plants, then mops it. Out of the 5 buildings that comprise out complex, there are only 4 apartments total with a terrace. Most of the others have balconies, some don't. We were just plain old lucky to get this one. When the agent showed us the property, she didn't even realize it. We spend almost as much time out here as we do on the front balcony.
*************************************************************************************************
This is the guest room. No pictures up yet. They are bought and being framed. I bought 4 antique Chinese water colors that are painted on silk. They are beautiful and came from an antique store down on the outskirts of Chinatown. In the lower left corner, you'll see the edge of another 8-drawer dresser. To the right is the wardrobe. The windows are open and through them you can see the trees to the park and beyond that the water, but what you are also seeing is the reflection in the window tint of the building behind and to the side of us. It happens when the windows are open because of the angle. Looks kind of weird though when I walk into a rooom sometimes. When I get the pictures hung, I am pretty sure I will get a bedcover of blue or green to match the water colors in them. I did try to liven up the brown with a green pillow!
************************************************************************************************
This is one of the wardrobes. We have them in each bedroom, with the master having two sets. Since this was a British colony for 150 years, they do a lot of things British. Back then, in all the British colonies, as well as Great Britain and most of Eurpoe, part of their property tax was based on how many rooms you had. A closet was considered a room, so they used wardrobes or armoires. So even though that age has passed, but you will only find wardrobes here instead of closets, even in the really expensive, modern apartments and homes. It's what they even show in the decor magazines and on their equivilent of HGTV. They are freestanding, bolted to the wall, made of anything from plastic to wood to smoked glass. They have whole entire stores where all you can do is look at wardrobes! They go floor to ceiling, with the first two doors opening to where you hang clothes. The other door opens to shelves and three drawers. It doesn't leave much room for shoes! The upper cabinets you need a ladder to get to! Good thing about these wardrobes is that they seal up pretty tight when you close them, so not as much humidity in them. Closets are a mostly American thing. Can't wait for a walk-in closet again. Ok - let me rephrase that - I can't wait until Basil gets a walk-in closet again. He takes over any little space he can get to!
*************************************************************************************************
Here is the kitchen. It's windows open out to look at the water also. It is a U-shaped area and not huge. Kitchens are not air conditioned at all. They are their own separate room with a door that closes when - sorry, if you cook. I don't much. There is a stove top that is gas. Electricity is very expensive here, so gas is used for a lot of things. There are no ovens. Sometimes in the decor magazines, you'll see an article about a remodel and they have put in a wall oven. Extremely hard to buy one here - mostly they buy them in Eurpoe and ship them over. I have not even seen at the stores any stoves with ovens in them. Of course, as those of you who know me well, knows this lack of an oven thing just breaks my heart! NOT! Notice also there is no dishwasher. Sometimes you can find one in an apartment or house that has been remodeled, but not very often. Again, they have to ship them in special. I asked a lady of Indian descent one time why they don't have them. She looked very surprised and told me that's what she has a maid for. In fact, she had two maids. In the middle of the picture over to the right is my microwave/convection oven. It came with one, but I made Basil go out and buy a new one. Why? All the buttons on the microwave were labeled in a language I could not read. Chinese. So was the book that came with it. So we got a new one!
Shari and Doug- miss you, love you! What do you want for your birthdays?
Abby - how's your swimming?
Lynn - can you stand any more rain there? Are you floating away? Your water bill by this time is out of sight trying to keep the yard green. Usually this time of year everything is brown! Not this year, huh?
This is one of the wardrobes. We have them in each bedroom, with the master having two sets. Since this was a British colony for 150 years, they do a lot of things British. Back then, in all the British colonies, as well as Great Britain and most of Eurpoe, part of their property tax was based on how many rooms you had. A closet was considered a room, so they used wardrobes or armoires. So even though that age has passed, but you will only find wardrobes here instead of closets, even in the really expensive, modern apartments and homes. It's what they even show in the decor magazines and on their equivilent of HGTV. They are freestanding, bolted to the wall, made of anything from plastic to wood to smoked glass. They have whole entire stores where all you can do is look at wardrobes! They go floor to ceiling, with the first two doors opening to where you hang clothes. The other door opens to shelves and three drawers. It doesn't leave much room for shoes! The upper cabinets you need a ladder to get to! Good thing about these wardrobes is that they seal up pretty tight when you close them, so not as much humidity in them. Closets are a mostly American thing. Can't wait for a walk-in closet again. Ok - let me rephrase that - I can't wait until Basil gets a walk-in closet again. He takes over any little space he can get to!
*************************************************************************************************
Here is the kitchen. It's windows open out to look at the water also. It is a U-shaped area and not huge. Kitchens are not air conditioned at all. They are their own separate room with a door that closes when - sorry, if you cook. I don't much. There is a stove top that is gas. Electricity is very expensive here, so gas is used for a lot of things. There are no ovens. Sometimes in the decor magazines, you'll see an article about a remodel and they have put in a wall oven. Extremely hard to buy one here - mostly they buy them in Eurpoe and ship them over. I have not even seen at the stores any stoves with ovens in them. Of course, as those of you who know me well, knows this lack of an oven thing just breaks my heart! NOT! Notice also there is no dishwasher. Sometimes you can find one in an apartment or house that has been remodeled, but not very often. Again, they have to ship them in special. I asked a lady of Indian descent one time why they don't have them. She looked very surprised and told me that's what she has a maid for. In fact, she had two maids. In the middle of the picture over to the right is my microwave/convection oven. It came with one, but I made Basil go out and buy a new one. Why? All the buttons on the microwave were labeled in a language I could not read. Chinese. So was the book that came with it. So we got a new one!
Shari and Doug- miss you, love you! What do you want for your birthdays?
Abby - how's your swimming?
Lynn - can you stand any more rain there? Are you floating away? Your water bill by this time is out of sight trying to keep the yard green. Usually this time of year everything is brown! Not this year, huh?
MIllie - your email bounced back. I'll try again.
Stephanie - where are you?
Carol - nice to meet you. Hope all goes as planned at the party in Texas! Let me know.
Becky - how was the cruise and the birthday party?
Patsy - I need a margarita!
Dinosaur - where are you?
Heather - still the future, still there.
Becky - how was the cruise and the birthday party?
Patsy - I need a margarita!
Dinosaur - where are you?
Heather - still the future, still there.
Sunrise picture taken from my front balcony on the 24 th floor. Those are just some of the ships that are out there every day and night! Sunrise is between 6:45 and 7am every day of the year. It never varies more than 10 to 15 min all year long. No daylight savings time here! Unless it's raining, this is what it looks like every morning. 
Sunset taken from my back terrace looking out over part of downtown Singapore. It is dark every evening every day of the year between 7:20 and 7:30pm. It never varies more than 10 to 15 minutes over the course of the year. Unless it's raining, this is what the sunset looks like every evening. 
This is looking out from our back terrace during the day. We get a lot of gray skies many days, sometimes all day long. It looks almost hazy, but it's the humidity in the air - there's that much. It gets crystal clear usually at night - unless it's raining, of course - as soon as the sun goes down when the temps change a couple of degrees. Then we can look out the front balcony and see the lights of Indonesia that are about 9 miles away. 
Looking out from my balcony as a storm is moving in. The storms come through from all directions and pop up quite frequently. Most are very intense, but don't usally last too long. It will be bright one minute and 5 minutes later be pouring down. They move through pretty quick most of the time, except during the monsoon season, when it rains pretty much non-stop for 3 months. Usually Nov, Dec and Jan.
This is the same storm as the picture above. It rains so hard, everything just begins to disappear and for a while we can't even see the ships. In the lower part of the picture to the left, you can see a water way that collects rain and leads it out to sea so we don't flood. Notice how full it is so quickly. If you go back to the previous picture, you don't see it. That's how much rain we get so fast. Also, Singapore is known as "The Lightening Capital of the World".
Here's one of our crystal clear days looking out on the ships in the bay. The clouds are a line of thunderstorms that are sitting right across the top of the Indonesian islands which are about 9 miles away. There are so many ships coming and going that they keep the waters churned up and cloudy. Very rarely do we get a day that the water is this blue.
