Yes we have landed ... err about a week ago!!! We landed in Singapore Changi Airport on September 25th at about 5:00PM. No it is not autumn in Singapore, it is the HAZE!!! It is terrible especially after having enjoyed 6 months of crisp cool sometimes cold fresh air in Europe and to be welcome by this kind of air quality! Anyway it was a pleasant surprise to see the giant Durian and the imaginary scent did a yummy welcome. Our youngest daughter and her aunt met us at the airport and it was great to see them after such a long long time. Since it was rush hour we decided to have dinner at the airport before heading to Johor Bahru which is Malaysia closest city to Singapore to meet up with our eldest daughter. It was crazy at the border crossing, there were like thousand and thousands of people and I felt like one of those refugees trying to get into Europe! It was already way past rush hour and these people are mostly Malaysian working in Singapore but reside in Johor Bahru. Our daughter came along with us to help with the luggages while her aunt drove us from Changi airport to Woodlands where we crossed the border into Malaysia. Luckily it was very efficient and orderly, we were back in Malaysia in about half hour or so. From the heat and humidity we were sticky all over and worst of all we had to breath the pollutant laden air. Our youngest daughter returned to Singapore (she work there) after our eldest daughter arrived. She drove us to her apartment (she work there) and let us drove her car back to Malacca. It was very late when we arrived at our home sweet home and I noticed the weeds in the garden was unimaginable. This is how it was the next morning. It was tiring just looking at the overgrown garden and only started working on it the next day. Because of the length of the weeds, I started with a sickle and progress was really slow, it was tiring too! Then I decided to use my electric lawn mower ... hurray it works well until the sound started to changed and suddenly a chocking and rattling sound before it became silence. O-o ... is it dead? Only about 10% is done ... what now? Dismantle it and found that it was abused, the pulley at the blade where the power transmission belt was attached to has disintegrated ...oops! Luckily my neighbor offered to loan me his gasoline powered machine to clear the weeds. Before that I was wandering how long will I take to clear the place with a sickle ... 4~5 days? Anyway with the gasoline powered lawnmower it took me just about 4 hours . All the grow beds have to be done manually and it is still work in progress. There are so much to be done after being away for six months and most of the important ones are already done. There are still things to do before we can say we are settled.
Welcome back home KK and Becky! I can just imagine your excitement to get home, minus the haze and weeds of course. Can you describe the moment when you set foot inside your home after being away for so many months? I'm sure there will be a small bit of adjustment time, weather mostly, but you will be able to enjoy the beautiful dishes of Malaysia now
So pleased you made it home safely you two!! Gosh those weeds certainly grew when you were away didn't they? Im glad your neighbour let you have his machine to tackle them as it saved you a lot of effort. I've never seen a durian fruit as big as that before. I tried one once but didn't like either the smell or the taste.
Glad you made it back home safely. I know getting home is always a great pleasure after being gone so long. Hopefully your house and things were all just as you left them.....even if the grass and weeds tried to take over.
Thank you all, it is indeed good to be home! Frank, my first thought was comfort and there is no place like home! I don't think there is any adjustment needed but lots of comparison going on ... like how the people drive here! Weather is here is OK for me but I do missed the nice cool cold weather in Europe. Thanks Eileen, durian is a fruit that either you loved it and can never get enough of it or you just hate it! We always compare it to blue cheese when we explain it to the people in Europe. Thanks Toni, yes was indeed a great pleasure to be home. The thing were all just as we left them but they all have a layer of dust. Still lots of things to do and I hope my lawn mower can be discharged from the hospital today. I have lots of weeds to shred!
I'm glad you are home safe and sound. You'll have memories of your trip forever though, and your yard will be back to normal soon. Don't work too hard.
Bet it's good to be home. Looks like your garden missed you a lot! So now you have a project; "Operation Garden Reclamation!"
