May 2015

May15

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on the magazine, or on any subject under the sun.

For her honesty on the challenges of relocating to

Singapore,

Mathilda Cosgrove

wins a bottle of

champagne.

Settling In

I have to admit

that settling into

Singapore has

not been as easy

as I thought when

we arrived here

seven months ago from the UK on our first posting. The cost

of living, for one thing. We didn’t realise quite how much of

a drain our two children’s kindergarten and primary school

fees would be.

It has also been quite an adjustment for the family to have a

live-in maid, especially as the first one didn’t work out at all and

we had no experience in dealing with this sort of thing. Things

are going better now with our new helper, fingers crossed.

I wish I could say that I was making use of my new free

time to improve my tennis game, or train for a marathon, but

I still haven’t got my head around exercising outdoors in this

hot and humid climate. How do people do it? It’s 26 degrees

in the middle of the night!

Another challenge was how to look good in this constant

heat and humidity, and I want to thank your new

LIV

fashion

and beauty magazine supplement for giving stylish (and

mainly affordable) pointers on how it’s done. As I’m still

building my “eternal summer” wardrobe, I have plenty of

excuses to shop, and I can’t wait for each new issue of

Expat

Living

to arrive on my doorstep.

In fact, subscribing to your amazingmagazine was probably

the best move I’ve made so far in Singapore. Just keep them

coming!

Mathilda Cosgrove

Ed: You do tend to get more used to

the climate after a while, but your

hair never does, sadly.

Victorious Heritage

Family

Getaway

Loved

Carolyn

Beasley’s article

on t rave l l i ng

with her family

to Sulawesi –

“Bunking Down

in Bunaken”, in

the April issue.

I ’ m a l w a y s

l o o k i n g f o r

personal recommendations on places to go

with our six-year-old and nine-year-old that

won’t break the bank. Bunaken Cha Cha is

now officially top of our list. Thank you for that!

Christina Moore-Huntley

TRAVEL

233

April15

f you’re anything likeme, you’ll be

on the lookout for some genuinely

amazing and pristine snorkelling

within a short flight fromSingapore.

Kid-friendly,easyandadventurousat the

same time.Guesswhat? I’ve found it.

Bunaken Island isoff thenortheastern

tipof the Indonesian islandofSulawesi.

With the help of TripAdvisor, I chose a

resort that looked suitable forour family

of five,withkidsaged ten,sevenand four.

After thatchoice,everythingwaseasy.

The flight from Singapore took us

direct to Manado where our resort

drivermet us.While it’s a small city of

only 500,000 people, Manado is the

real deal. Traditional horse-drawn carts

are still used for transporting people

and attempt to hold their own against

thousands of motorcycles and rusty,

exhaust-belching trucks. Inasuresignof

acitywithoutadequatedisposaloptions,

wewere facedwith thedepressingsight

ofgarbagecascading into theoil-slicked

port.Snaking itsway throughboats large

andsmall, itominously floatedout tosea

to begin its evil turtle-choking work. At

thatpoint, Iwonderedaboutmychoice.

Arriving atBunaken

Happily,assoonaswepulledaway from

the port, the garbage diminished and

thearchipelagoof theBunakenMarine

Park presented a fascinating picture.

The islandofManadoTua towersabove

theocean,completewith itsownwispof

cloudmasqueradingasanexhalationof

volcanosmoke,anechoof its fierypast.

Bunaken Island, the little sister of

Manado Tua, is crescent-shaped and

relatively flat. It consists of vertical

A relativelyunvisited Indonesian

islandproves aperfectgetaway

destination for CAROLYN

BEASLEYand family.

Bunking Down

in Bunaken

greenery, with a smattering of small

villages and dive lodges clinging to

its edges. Our resort, Bunaken Cha

Cha Nature Resort, came into view

with its white façade and roofline built

in the local Minahasan style. As our

boat slowed and we puttered closer,

the vibrant, living reef became visible

through the crystal clearwaters.

First, we tiptoed over the reef flat

in our resort-issued booties to our

accommodation. Set in a lush garden,

our two roomswere linkedby aprivate

verandah, completewith loungers and

anamazingoceanview.The roomswere

charmingly rustic, with everything we

needed including air-conditioning and

anopen-air shower.

Full board is included in the price at

Bunaken Cha Cha, and Raf, the Irish-

Italianowner,hadmostmealswithusat

the largecommunal table.Hewashappy

tochatandanswerallourquestions too.

The food was fresh and delicious – a

mix of local Sulawesi dishes and the

occasionalWestern item.

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LETTERS

Readers’ thoughts and

comments about

We finally got around to attending a show

(Wild Rice’s excellent

Public Enemy

) at the

Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, which

reopened in July last year after three years

of refurbishment. What a wonderful job

the architects have done in maintaining its

historic grandeur, complete with acres of

marble, mouldings and white walls, while

incorporating contemporary facilities and

outstanding acoustics. One more place we

can feel proud to take our visitors to!

Margot Edelman