Singapore Youth Festival 2011 - A great performance by students

I happened to be in the library at the right time on Saturday in the later part of the morning. I discovered that at 5.30pm there was going to be a performance by students in celebration of Youth Festival and returned at that time to watch it. See the slideshow here>>>

The tide was low, so low that we could even see the remnants of two sunken boats near the shore. What made the walk particularly enjoyable was the spectacular cloud formation. It was just awesome.

Another part of the sky in another part of Singapore - the Esplanade.

Saturday with myself - Part 5 (Teochew Opera)

My Saturday ended at the Singapore Flyer to watch a free Teochew Opera Performance. I knew that I would not be able to understand what was spoken and sung by the artistes. Nevertheless I was interested to just go and feast my eyes on the beautiful opera costumes and headgears and to enjoy the graceful gestures and movements of Chinese Opera and I was not disappointed at all.

There were two acts - a short one and a longer one. 

This one is about a couple in the nuptial chambers expressing their happiness about their marital status - I guess.

The second performance as explained by a lady next to me who was one of the Opera performers on her day off. She told me that the average age of the artistes is 60 and that she was already a sixty-five-year old grandmother of three. She explained the story to me as it unfolded. Thanks to her I was able to enjoy the performance a lot more. 

The story was about a young couple bethrothed to each other from young and had never met each other until one day when the boy went to the girl's house to pay his respects to his prospective mother-in-law.

Later, as he was leaving, he bumped into the girl in the garden by chance. The girl fell in love with him and as a token of her interest in him, she 'accidentally' dropped her handkerchief and made a graceful exit.

Tjhe young man picked up the handkerchief with the intention of keeping it but was advised to return it to the girl by his faithful servant. He went looking for the girl and found her and her maid in attendance in the bedroom. While they were getting acquainted over the business of the handkerchief, the girl's mother came to fetch her to her Aunty's Birthday dinner. 

At the approach of the girl's mother, the boy had to find a place to hide and in desperation climbed into a large trunk in the room. The trunk is at the bottom right hand side of the picture below behind the girl.

The mother came into the room unaware of what had been happening and quickly shooed her daughter along to the birthday dinner. While toasting her Aunt and making the usual pleasantries over dinner, the girl appeared to be listless as her mind was on the boy locked in her room.

There was a funny scene in which the girl pretended to eat but was actually dropping food into a handkerchief held by her maid with the intention of bringing it back to feed the starving lad in her room when she got back. 

At this point, I had to leave and never saw the end of the opera. I really enjoyed the beautiful silk costumes and backdrops that were sewn in China. Unlike the costumes of Cantonese Opera, these costumes were in the style of Beijing Operas. Though I have a preference for Cantonese Operas, I was still able to enjoy this particular opera in the Teochew dialect because the nice lady next to me took the trouble to explain the story and the actions to me - in English because she thought that I could not speak Chinese well.

Saturday Outing with myself - Part 1 (Parkview Building)

 Saturday outing with myself contains 5 parts arranged in chronological order. I am now only at Part 4b. Part 4c will feature the Sarong Kebaya Exhibition and Part 5 will focus on the Teochew Opera at the Flyer food centre.

I have not been posting because I have been busy. As one gets older, time seems so limited. I do not know why people my age always get this kind of feeling. My way of breaking out of this mentality is to go out and take photos to keep engaged and focused on things around me. This is the first post of a few that document my day one Saturday when I decided to take myself out and the day started at 10am at North Bridge Road and ended at 10pm when I arrived home after an eventful day by myself. Click on the photo for the slideshow.

Saturday Outing with myself - Part 2 (Bugis Junction)

After Parkview, I headed for Bugis Junction. My objective was not to go shopping at the mall there. I went into the building to enjoy the air-conditioning and then came out to take a photo of these old buildings across the road that house numerous eating joints including quite a few houses serving yummy Chinese desserts.

Comparatively inexpensive coffee shops where you can have a good lunch at half the price of those at the restaurants further down the road they flank.

What I saw at the Bugis Junction Mall and why does Blogger not provide a tool for us to rotate our photos???

Lovely air-conditioning.

These are not part of wagon trains in cowboy shows. At about eleven o'clock they transform into pushcarts selling costume jewellery, trinkets and specialty goods that appeal to the young and monied.

Saturday with myself - Part 3, Chijmes

From Bugis Junction I headed in the direction of Chijmes (pronounced as Chimes) that used to be the premises of the CHIJ (Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus) Town Convent. It is now a tourist attraction because it is no more a school but a place where you can find fine-dining restaurants and where the chapel is now commercialised for events such as weddings and receptions. The buildings have been preserved very well and it was a joy to walk through them. Click on the photo for the slideshow.