With so many things going on in the past few weeks, I was at a loss for what to write about.

On this last day of 2007, many things have come to pass.

For one, the renovations at our home were completed two days ago. Our garden now has freshly painted grass; the parking platform for the car and motorbike is finished with a row of young bamboo plants currently taking root; the drying area is paved with tiles; the square outdoor stone grill is awaiting its virgin cookout; the windows now open sideways instead of from bottom out; an open-concept has been adopted for the kitchen, and our puppy has a new home made from plywood.

The raining season in Bali started on the afternoon of Friday December 21, and effectively ended on the morning of Thursday December 27. With this, I mean that we experienced non-stop heavy rains during this period of time. Since then, rain has only visited the island for two hours in the morning, or intermittently during the night, or not at all! Yesterday and today have been especially warm and sunny.

During this raining season, Internet in Seminyak was down from Monday December 24 and did not return until Saturday December 28. Here in Jimbaran, we were thankful that at least the connection was present, even though the speed was crawling.

At the same time, availability of electricity around the island was subject to the presence of lightning – if it struck some electricity pole, every house is plunged in to darkness. It usually took between one hour to three for electricity to return; the technicians from the electric company were certainly kept busy and we saw quite a few working at the switch boxes located along the roads.

Over the Christmas weekend, my brother arrived with his girlfriend for a short break. The S.O. and I spent as much time as we could with them. I think the highlight of their trip was the visit to J.Co at Mal Bali Galeria (If you have not tried the donuts from J.Co Donuts & Coffee, you are missing out on the best tasting donuts ever! Better than Krispy Kreme…), followed by a fresh seafood dinner on Jimbaran beach.

Christmas day was spent again with Maggie at her place. My brother and his girlfriend came along. There was roast chicken, roast duck, and a host of other delicious food that completed our Balinese-Western fusion feast! The S.O. brought along the pandoro that I had purchased from Market Place at Raffles City in Singapore, and brought back to Bali; Maggie baked a delicious tasting cake with raisins in it; there was also ice cream and juicy yellow watermelon.

Unfortunately there are no photographs to accompany this post as my camera failed me in late November and we are holding off its replacement as we hope to purchase a digital video camera.

That is basically the roundup that I have! 2008 looks to be a busy time, but as I have a few topics that I want to write about, I will try and update this blog on a weekly basis, where possibly.

Wishing one and all a new year that is filled with endless possibilities and loads of happy moments.

It is very easy for Singaporeans to overlook the beauty and efficiency of the country and places that we have grown up in. I was one of those citizens who never really appreciated or noticed the differences and beauty, as I had no other things or places for comparison.

The travels that I have done over the past few years have opened my eyes somewhat to what we have in Singapore. Of course with the positives, we have the negatives but that is how the world exists – we need polar opposites for a balance and for comparison so that we can appreciate the good.

Which leads me to mention Changi International Airport (CIA). In the past, I could never see what the great deal was about CIA winning the Best International Airport award every year, or when tourists whom I meet in Bali or on my travels exclaim how beautiful the Singapore airport is when they discover that I am Singaporean.

To me, the terminals of the Singapore airport are just buildings that have been beautified mainly for catering to the foreign visitors. I could not see what was so impressive about it as many public areas in Singapore were the same – spotlessly clean, tidy, new.

It was not until about 1.10am, on the morning of Friday November 30 that the beauty of CIA Terminal 1 presented itself to me.

After clearing the immigration point, I made straight for the nearest toilet – pregnant women can hardly hold their bladders by a certain stage.

On stepping in, I was taken aback by how spotless and bright the toilet was.

Where cleanliness is concerned, I found that toilets at airports that I have passed through – London, Barcelona, Brussels, Bali, Hong Kong, Taipei, Sydney, Auckland, Venice, Rome – are clean and dry, with an attendant on hand to ensure that everything is in order. However, this toilet at CIA Terminal 1 seemed to sparkle and give off the impression that it was sanitised to a point where there were little germs left. The attendant would also hand out paper towels for you to dry your hands, when she is not occupied with wiping surfaces or moping the floor dry.

The next thing I noticed was how clean and spotless the carpet on the ground was – it seemed as if they were washed every other week to maintain that brand new look.

Walking on, I stopped – as I usually do on each return to Singapore – at a row of public telephones. I have always made a call to my mother/brother/house mate, for free, from one of the telephones but did not stop long to appreciate the fact that I did not have to pay for the local calls. I started trying to recall whether the other airports I passed through had a similar service (i.e. free local calls on public telephone on-site) but drew a blank.

After a quick telephone call to my brother, I wandered down to the belts that were bringing out the luggage of arriving passengers.

Each belt had a LCD monitor mounted on the pillar the belt was snaking around, displaying the flight name and origin. In between the belts was another LCD monitor, mounted on a metal support coming down from the ceiling, listing which belts would carry out the luggage from which flight, so that passengers knew clearly where they should be to collect their luggage. There were also more than sufficient, workable baggage trolleys lined up in between each belt. To cap it all, the spacious area was brightly lit, just like everywhere else in the terminal.

Truly, for the first time since I started entering and departing through CIA Terminal 1 over the years, did I really take in how grand and pretty everything was. Now I truly understand what visitors mean when they say how clean our city is!