Before that all eventuated, I managed to fall victim to some overly virulent bug of magnificent power! From 3 a.m. Wednesday morning for about 48 hours I was barely able to move and to put it indelicately, I was bursting bodily fluids from different orifices! Probably enough said about that, but it did mean that my celebrations to welcome back the Craw were reasonably muted on Friday night and I managed to be the first to leave, even though I did make it past midnight! Prior to meeting with the BC boys, I also attended a team get together at Patio 84, so it was a very social start to the weekend.
As Cass had missed her previous weekend completely due to her trip to KL, I had been planning a few surprises for her for Saturday night. It was all a secret, so I led her a merry dance a few times in the afternoon and night! First we caught the MRT about halfway downtown and we went to a brand new upmarket Mexican inspired restaurant near the Ambassador Hotel called "Mayan Grill". It was super slick and the vibe was very intense, partly due to a private party for the "beautiful people" upstairs. They came sashaying in with loud voices and air kisses much to the entertainment of ourselves and the locals dining downstairs! We later discovered it was actually a kids party: Cass reckoned the little kiddies Hermes dresses each cost more than everything we both had on combined.
Our fine dining done, onwards to our next destination: this time we caught a taxi across town to the Westin Hotel on Nanjing East Road in the heart of the commercial district in the southeast of the city. Down to B2 to the Ta Chien private cinema to watch Jane Eyre, which Cass had been lamenting that she had missed at the usual cinema, as it had come and gone so quickly. We ordered our coffees and Haagen Dazs to be delivered just before the movie started then settled in. Our seats were a two-seater lounge with side tables each side, two cushions each, a luxurious foot stool each and a blanket to share! What a set-up: this is the ultimate in cinema viewing I can assure you. There are only 15 lounges in the whole cinema and we shared it with just three other couples on this evening. It has certainly set a new benchmark in cinema luxury! Suffice to say, Cass seemed very happy with our date night, so hopefully it made up for her lost weekend a little.
We continued a great weekend by watching the Bells final webcast this morning before deciding to get out to the beach ourselves. The weather was good enough to eat, a delicious blend of heat and sunshine, breeze and clear skies. The drive over the mountain was just majestic: when we can see these hills, they are jaw-droppingly beautiful. The beach was calm, offshore sprayed and deserted....perfect! We both had a good long dip, jumping the tiny waves and reveling in the crisp kiss of the cool water...very refreshing "once you're in!". Cass sat herself on a piece of driftwood as I unwisely decided to trek the beach: I was very sleepy by the time I got back! We had lots of fun today and it was weird to think how blissfully alone we were for the majority of the time. Ironically, even in this tiny country with its huge press of humanity, we had a golden hour or so by ourselves that we'd rarely experience back home on a beach. After a snacking lunch at the 7/11, we drove back over the mountains, stopping to look at the tender new rice plants just starting to green up for harvest in the next two months...they're so pretty.
Photos: Cass in my room at school, The Craw at the Rocker, Easter singers and free eggs at the train station, Mayan Grill, shots of the luxury cinema, a great light fitting at the Westin! The deserted beach, beautiful rice planting and a stack of calla lilies we bought on the mountain.