The long anticipated trip to Singapore Grand Prix finally arrived at the end of September. It seems to be one of the things to tick off whilst living in Brunei, and I can see why. Singapore is always a pleasure and the GP with all of its entertainment did top it off. It was a great chance to sample a bit more of its nightlife too as we had Eleanor with us to look after Sofia in the evenings - a rare treat!
The singapore GP is a three day event with the practices, qualifying and the actual race on Sunday. It's also packed with entertainment, big and small, some more relevant than others. Whilst I loved the cirque du soleil type performance between Saturday's practice and qualifying, most of the boys forgot to have a sip of their beers, so stunned were they over this choice of programme in a motor sports event. Something for everyone, I guess! Sofia enjoyed the racing too with daddy - she asked to go again on Sunday.
Since the Finns haven't really been doing well in the recent years, I've stopped following the Formulas. So as I sat down to follow the first practice, I only had a vague idea that both the cars and the rules had changed from the Finnish heydays, otherwise I didn't really know what to expect. I had really come along for the ride and to enjoy Robbie's gig on Saturday night. But with the help of our Connaghaut stand neighbours I got the hang of it and by the race evening I was able to even speculate on some tactics. The new cars are much more quiet, which suited me well whilst the hardened race- goers complained that didn't feel the race. But Sunday's race turned to be eventful and thus entertaining and the 2 hours seemed to fly by despite of the safety car. I didn't fall asleep unlike some of our fellow audience members.... And the cheers echoed through the race track and we were nearly spiked in the eye with a British flag as Lewis Hamilton was flagged a worthy winner.
Yes, we did get soaked in the end...
The GP is so much more than racing, and we had the chance to listen to some great - and not so great music. Robbie William was headlining on Saturday. I really like him anyway, he's such a show man, and Saturday evening's performance made me fall in love. The second he started, the heavens opened, and for the 2 hours he performed it absolutely hosed it down. Every single person Robbie included was soaked to the bone and yet he was having a great time and cracking jokes about the rain. Or, everyone except for us - my military companions used their survival skills and create us a temporary shelter under a tarpaulin roof. The down side of staying dry was that whilst we were 2 arms' length from a beer queue, we couldn't quite get to order one. If looks could kill from the soaked people, though.... Sunday's performance was a bit of an anti-climax from Jennifer Lopez. JLo(w)'s miming didn't really interest us so Phil and I left half way through, and unlike every other artist she couldn't even interest people to her encore. Maybe we get a better line up next year asa the early bird tickets have got our names on them!
Hanna in Haji Lane
Champagne brunch -
2 happy campers
As it is an evening race, there is a whole day to explore and enjoy Singapore. We concentrated on catching up with friends, and met up with Hanna in my favourite place (so far), Haji Lane. Ironically I'm never too far from a mosque, it seems, but the vibe is slightly different from our regular abode. Before the racing started of course had to have drinks in every Quay, and the locals took good care of our team showing us good time. Look out ladies, there's always free drinks on somewhere in town! On Sunday morning we partook in one of the famous Singapore champagne brunches. Cheap it ain't, but Shangri-La put out such a spread that I didn't know where to start. Phil and I kept going back to the sea food section filling our plates with lobsters, crabs, oysters, prawns.... All that go well with a glass (or several) of bubbly. Followed by sushi, by cold meats, duck salad, roast beef, curry - the list is long! Luckily there's always a separate stomach for dessert as they were worth doing the buffet alone! And funnily, the espresso was probably the best I've had all year (sorry Phil, I know you've worked hard fixing our machine).
A trip to Singapore isn't
complete without a Sling!
The long anticipated trip to Singapore Grand Prix finally arrived at the end of September. It seems to be one of the things to tick off whilst living in Brunei, and I can see why. Singapore is always a pleasure and the GP with all of its entertainment did top it off. It was a great chance to sample a bit more of its nightlife too as we had Eleanor with us to look after Sofia in the evenings - a rare treat!
The singapore GP is a three day event with the practices, qualifying and the actual race on Sunday. It's also packed with entertainment, big and small, some more relevant than others. Whilst I loved the cirque du soleil type performance between Saturday's practice and qualifying, most of the boys forgot to have a sip of their beers, so stunned were they over this choice of programme in a motor sports event. Something for everyone, I guess! Sofia enjoyed the racing too with daddy - she asked to go again on Sunday. 
Since the Finns haven't really been doing well in the recent years, I've stopped following the Formulas. So as I sat down to follow the first practice, I only had a vague idea that both the cars and the rules had changed from the Finnish heydays, otherwise I didn't really know what to expect. I had really come along for the ride and to enjoy Robbie's gig on Saturday night. But with the help of our Connaghaut stand neighbours I got the hang of it and by the race evening I was able to even speculate on some tactics. The new cars are much more quiet, which suited me well whilst the hardened race- goers complained that didn't feel the race. But Sunday's race turned to be eventful and thus entertaining and the 2 hours seemed to fly by despite of the safety car. I didn't fall asleep unlike some of our fellow audience members.... And the cheers echoed through the race track and we were nearly spiked in the eye with a British flag as Lewis Hamilton was flagged a worthy winner.
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