Accidental Tourist of Singapore - Sep 2015: Singapore National Museum: 50 made in Singapore Products Exhibition

What does Mercedes-Benz, Bridgestone Tyres and Rollei Cameras have in common? Maybe brands like Star Brand (sugar), Woh Hup (Oyster Sauce) and Khong Guan (biscuits) are easier for those familiar with cooking / food items? Brands like Kwanpen and Bata pop up on the fashion front. On medicinal side, there's the Axe Brand (Universal Oil), Three Legs Cooling Water and all famous Tiger Balm.

All these brands have links back to our little red dot. For example,

 

• Cycle and Carriage, renamed in 1899 by the Chua brothers, had its 1^st Singapore branch in Orchard Road in 1916 and its Singapore HQ in 1926. 1951 was when it acquired the franchise of Mercedes-Benz.
   
• The Singapore shores was the 1^st overseas factory for Bridgestone Tyres back in the 60s.
   

 

• One of Singapore’s largest sugar suppliers, Star Brand (Sugar) was started back in 1940s.

• Woh Hup now known to be a sauce brand was back in the day also a noodle manufacturer.

• Khong Guan Singapore was established in the 1940s.

• Kwanpen was started in 1930s by Kwan Pen Seng who used to repair bags owned by the British in Singapore.

• Bata opened its Singapore store in 1930s when the Czech brand was Europe’s largest shoe manufacturer.

• Three Legs Cooling Water was developed using traditional Chinese herbs in 1930s to treat ‘heatiness’ related ailments.
   
• Tiger Balm (known to me as Hor Yiu) is by far the most famous medicinal brands which started as a traditional ointment paste for aches and pains by the famous Aw Brothers who started its Singapore operations in 1920s. The same Aw Brothers started the Haw Par Villas (other blog entry).

 

I hope you will spare some time to pop in to the '50 made in Singapore products' Exhibition before it ends its run at the Singapore National Museum on 13 September 2015.

 

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!

Accidental Tourist of Singapore - 2015 - Visit to the Peranakan 峇峇娘惹 Museum- Great Peranakans: Fifty Remarkable Lives Exhibition

Peranakan 峇峇娘惹 Museum- Great Peranakans: Fifty Remarkable Lives Exhibition 

I was in for some local culture immersion so I took a ride down to Peranakan Museum to join its 1 hour tour with their volunteer guide who walked through the highlights of the exhibition that showcases the achievements of 50 men (and women) for past 200 years. Those ladies and gentlemen were instrumental in  Singapore's life and culture by contributing to the arts, culture, education, business, governance, and public service. 

The Peranakans were very successful as traders as they often acted as middlemen between the British and the local Chinese and Malays because being mostly English educated, they were able to bridge the communication gap by speaking two or more languages.

It turns out that being linguistic during those early years was advantageous with a fair number of Peranakans gaining wealth through opium, land, gambier, setting up of shipping and banking conglomerates. I will strongly recommend that if you want to head down to the exhibition, you will be able to get the most from the exhibition if you pair the visit with the walking tours.

During the tour, I was given very interesting titbits about these greats and their relations for example, I realized that our current President Tony Tan's lineage is way back to his maternal grandmother is the daughter of the notable Peranakan Tan Jiak Kim (http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1846_2011-10-13.html?s=tony tan).

Quick info about who were President Tony Tan's ancestry who were featured in this same exhibition: 

• Tan Jiak Kim (1859-1917) is known as the Colonial Peranakan as he is a strong ally of the British who attended the coronation of George V on 1911. He is the grandson of Tan Kim Seng and son of Tan Beng Swee. More info available at http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1136_2009-06-29.html?s=tan jiak kim
• Tan Jiak Kim's grandfather Tan Kim Seng was also featured as one of the 50 Great Peranakans. He was a prominent merchant and philanthropist in 19th century. There is a Tan Kim Seng Fountain at the Esplanade Park to commemorate Tan Kim Seng's contributions to the first public waterworks in Singapore. He had donated generously towards the construction of MacRitchie Reservoir in the 1860s, one of the 4 main reservoirs of Singapore.

Here's a snap of what this all means graphically:

Another interesting tidbit was the fact that President Tony Tan's grandmother was buried in Bukit Brown cemetery. Here's a copy of the letter that was sent to the President by the people that were trying to protect Bukit Brown: http://blog.bukitbrown.org/post/44373443203/a-plea-to-the-president-discover-your-roots-I. You can see some of my thoughts about Bukit Brown in this earlier posting: http://accidentalsingaporetourist.blogspot.sg/search/label/Bukit%20Brown

Another interesting fact was that 4 out of the 10 cabinet officers in 1965 were Peranakans i.e. Lee Kuan Yee, Toh Chin Chye, Goh Keng Swee and Yong Nuyk Lin. 

Here's some photos to showcase the exhibits: 

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!

Accidental Tourist - 2015 - Singapore Art Museum - 'After Utopia' exhibition

Singapore Art Museum - 'After Utopia' exhibition till 18 Oct 2015

I am not an art person least of all, avant garde art. Not cultured enough I think but I saw some interesting exhibits at the Singapore Art Museum when I wandered onto the 'After Utopia' exhibition by chance. 

What caught my eye for the 'After Utopia' exhibition was the exhibit by Svay Sareth for which he videoed himself walking from his home in Siem Reap to Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh, dragging a 8kg sphere. When I first saw the video, the first thing that came to my mind was "Boh liao (Singlish for no sense) video of man dragging a silver ball." But as I stood there watching the video, which has no accompanying music or narration, I was somehow drawn to it. Only after reading the explanation did I realize that the artist was doing this to come to terms with a painful past. I like the exhibit for making me want to find out more about the art piece. 

The next exhibit is done by Thai artist, Kamin Lertchaiprasert called Sitting. This installation consists of 366 papier mâché figures seated in meditative style, their number representing the days in a leap year. Kamin Lertchaiprasert’s works are interesting as each artwork is unique. 

Here are a collection of my photos taken at the 'After Utopia' Exhibition: 

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!

Accidental Tourist - Bricks, bricks & more bricks! "The Art of the Brick" Exhibition at Singapore ArtScience Museum

What can a humble brick do?

Well, from the looks of what was displayed at the "The Art of the Brick" Exhibition at Singapore ArtScience Museum, a humble brick can certainly do wonders. I went there frankly because my son is crazy about Lego bricks and he basically pestered non-stop the minute he knew about the exhibition coming to Singapore. So armed with my trusty Nikon P7000, the entire family set off to see the exhibition on its 1st day of opening on 17 November 2012.

'Marvelous' is certainly a word that comes to mind when viewing the exhibition of sculptures made from the humble brick. Another word will be "WTW?" (aka "What in the World?" more a phase I know but with abbreviations, I can cheat ;)) - human torsos, gigantic skulls etc all conjured out with thought provoking ideas of what we are, who we are and what do we want to become.

Finish off the exhibition with a ginormous 6m long Dinosaur (T Rex no less) and you know you have entered a world that you can only exclaim "Wow!" at the end. My best take-away was from my son, who basically summed in all by saying "I want to be able to do this with my Lego bricks!"

Till the next time, onto the world & beyond! 

The artist Nathan Sawaya 

Thought provoking pieces

The Think-er & the Kneel-er