The Beach - A Favourite Place

That's Gracie with my wife at the beach at the East Coast Park. Her favorite place. Actually, any place with sand is her favorite place. This was taken in Feb 2008 when she is one year and two months old. Around the time that she learnt that sand is not for eating.

We were out at the beach on Sentosa Island. When we were not looking, Gracie shove a handful of sand into her mouth. Luckily, there is washing point nearby and we rushed to rinse her mouth. Gracie was quite crossed with being manhandled like that.

When she is playing with sand, she is in a world of her own. She is mesmerised by repeated action of scooping and pouring sand away. The beach is also a great place for Raine and I to unwind. The East Coast Park is around 19 kilometres long. It is easy to find a spot with fewer people. I can just lose myself glazing at the sea and the sky. One can see airliners queuing up to land at the Changi Airport. Two minutes apart. On the seas, in the distance anchorage, scores of ship covered the horizon. Almost obscuring Batam, one of the thousands islands of Indonesia. It is both bustling and serene.

Raine is still settling down after five years in Singapore. I know she misses her friends in China. So far, Gracie has been to China twice. Each time was a great adventure. The last trip in 2008 was not so pleasant as my wife was taken ill and hospitalised for two weeks. I rushed over to keep her company. I could not spend much time with Gracie during the day. That was the first time that Gracie was apart from either of us for more than a few hours. She has adjusted by the time I went over. It was the Olympic Games period and China has tightened security. Normally, with a Singapore passport, I can visit China for up to 14 days without visa. During the Olympic games, it was an anxious three days process. By the time, I reached Wuhan, China, Gracie has stopped crying for her mother. I was so relieved to see her but she cried when she saw me. We met at the hospital. Gracie refused to let me carry her initially. We have been apart for two weeks then. It took her half an hour to loosen up and then when she let me carry her, she held on so tightly that my heart was wrenched.

The hospital was a cultural shock. I have been to China a few times but I really did not expect the hospital to be like this. Well, that is another story for another time. To talk about dungeon and the great industralised city of Wuhan.