Five go to Sentosa Island

I’ve been attending a conference in Singapore (the annual Australasian maths educators’ conference) and today it finished. After a week of attending sessions and trying to keep up with and catch up with various ongoing work tasks (and too much food and not enough exercise apart from the 15 minute walk between my accommodation and the conference venue), it was time to take a breather and escape. Four of my colleagues/friends (they’re both) and I headed off on Singapore’s bus and rail system, and made our way to HarbourFront where we made the spectacular cable car trip across to Sentosa Island, and had a bit of a wander without indulging in overpriced tourist gimmicks.

Clearly we had been cooped up attending the conference for too long because we were all in a fairly silly mood. It didn’t help that we kept encountering the odd one or two ridiculousnesses, such as the fact that about half the cable cars had an Angry Birds theme, or that Kim got away with asking for an extra cherry on top of our decadent desserts after we’d returned from the island, or that we got drenched by an unexpected 15cm high wave at the beach, or that the famous Singapore merlion was turning up in bizarre places on the kitch souvenirs, or that there were just far too many scintillatingly-witty-but-you-really-had-to-be-there moments.

Anyway, it was a fun afternoon with good company. Descriptions of the photos follow.

1. (top right) The four Tasmanians in the group can’t help wishing that Tasmanian waters were this warm at any time of year.
2. (below) View as we leave the half-way building heading towards Sentosa Island.
3. The gang inside the cable car. I look as if I’ve photobombed my own photograph, but there was not a lot of room to manoeuvre and the camera was precariously balanced. That’s Noleine (of embroidered possum fame) at the left, and then the back row comprises Rosemary, Sandra and Kim.
4. Stormy clouds and new highrises from the cable car. You have to imagine that the Angry Birds theme music is running in the background, and there is a large stuffed Angry Birds toy in the car with us because someone decided that Angry Birds would be a really good idea to feature on a cable car because … I have no idea (well, apart from marketing and money!).
5. There is some sound advice here. My inappropriate sense of humour does, however, have me wondering about quiet children.