River Hong Bao festivities Jan 2012

Every year, there is a River Hong Bao festivity at Marina Bay and every year, except this one, I have chosen not to go because of my intense dislike for crowded places. However, this year I decided to venture into territory that I normally dislike and to my delight, the experience was a rather enjoyable one. Firstly, there were these gigantic lanterns that glowed so beautifully in the forms of dragons, dieties, the twelve animals in the Chinese Horoscope, fishes, flowers and I was just overwhelmed. Secondly, the crowd was there but because of the vast area allocated for the activities and lantern display, the crowd was more dispersed and on top of that, if you are tired, you could take a rest high up in the seating area facing Marina Bay. Light belongs to the night undoubtedly for they make things shimmer and shine and glow and transform the ordinary to something out of this world. You will know what I mean when you see the photos I took of the same place in the day time and in the bright sunlight.Click on the photo to see the slideshow.

Sentosa Flower Show 2012

This year the Sentosa Flower scale appeared to be filled with less grandeur than expected. Nevertheless, it is always wonderful to to visit this annual flower show. Kudos to the foreign workers who kept the flowers looking lovely everyday with their meticulous attention to the necessary maintenance work as well as the decorative talents of those who put the show together a colourful display according to interesting themes. Also, I like the arrangement where young part-time staff were stationed at the special floral arrangements to take photos for visitors. Click on each of the three photos below to see my photos taken on three separate occasions - 18, 20 and 26 Jan.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Chinese New Year festive lighting in Chinatown

The year 2012 is the year of the Water Dragon and Chinatown in Singapore lights up to welcome its arrival. I overheard a tourist saying, "This is unbelievable." What he was referring to was either the magnificent dragon decoration along the road divider of South Bridge Road or more likely the throngs of people out to soak in the festive atmosphere. 

 My photos, with the exception of a few, do not highlight the sea of humanity under the bright lights and amidst the overwhelming red and gold theme throughout Chinatown as manifested in the store goods and decorations. I am known for my aversion to crowds and and was only there to see the festive lights along South Bridge Road where Chinatown lies on either side. I avoided the crowds by sticking by the main road and not venturing into the Pagoda street area where people were packed like sardines out of a can.

Our approach by car was from Tanjong Pagar and miraculously we were able to find a carpark lot without much difficulty at the People's Park. The dragon smiles on me!

 Health and Good wishes couplets were prominently displayed for one to admire and to have photos taken with like the couplet on the right.














The mighty dragon along South Bridge Road was beautifully adorned with tiny lights defining its majestic form. There were other dragons too, smaller ones on the pedestrian bridge across the road for people like me who just wanted to take in the lights without jostling with other people to buy new year goodies or just to enjoy being a part of a moving body mass.When you are done with this post, click here for more photos.

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 This is the God of Fortune inside the People's Park shopping centre where we had parked our car.

 Five dragons converging on a red lantern high above the escalator.

Stories behind Singapore Street Names - Exhibition

Every Singaporean should visit this informative exhibition on the origins of our street names. There is an activity book for children and an excellent booklet that is free of charge and that will be a valuable addition to any home library. My visit to the National Museum was unplanned and this exhibition was a discovery that made my day.It is on levels 7 and 8 and is on daily (except public hholidays) from 10am to 9pm. You have until 29 june 2012 to catch this exhibition.

St Joseph's Church from the fifth floor of the National Library Building.

Maxwell Road was the area I always associate with driving tests and food.

You can watch a short video about how these unusual street names came about.

I took this photo because of the painting of the old houses in Chinatown.

Labrador Boardwalk

A walk that takes you to the doorsteps of the wealthy to see their homes and yachts. Click on the photo to see my post on my nature blog.

Sentosa walk

There are three ways to enter Sentosa. You can go in by car paying $2 per person in the car and two dollars for the car. You can take the Skytrain from the top floor of Vivocity and pay $3 per person. Lastly, you can walk along the year-old boardwalk linking Vivocity Promenade and Sentosa island and pay $1 per person and the best part is that you can take the skytrain back for free. The last option is the best when the weather is cool and the sun's rays are mild as was the case this morning. We had to pass through the Integrated Resort where the tourists were concentrated in order to reach the jungle trail for our walk. We spent only a dollar each on Sentosa and nothing could compare to the the lush greenery, the fresh air and the absence of crowds along the jungle trail for a mental and physical recharge. Click on the photo to see the slideshow.

Merry Christmas to all!

For the first time in many years I set up a pretty Christmas tree in my house because my son said that when he was small he had always looked forward to seeing our Christmas tree when he came home from school in the evening. I never knew that the tree meant so much to him. So, it was not very difficult to have the tree back again and not very costly either because everything was from Giant.