Accidental Tourist in Singapore: tourist

One of the most entertaining (and inexpensive) ways for me to spend my Saturday weekend is to wander along the streets of Singapore with my camera in hand.

I have overdone my enthusiasm on last Saturday and went ahead to sign up for 2 walks with my recently ‘fresh from exams’ daughter. Both walks are organised by Preservation of Monuments Board (www.pmb.sg).

I have done some of their walks in the past like “Accidental Tourist - March 2012 Walking Tour "Stained Glass Stories", February Accidental Tourist - February 2012 Walking Tour "A Debt to History" Each ordinary walk costs S$5 for adults and S$3 for children. For the bus tour, it costs S$5 per person. In urban Singapore, this is sure an inexpensive way to spend 1.5-2 hours of your time :) You may get a bit of a tan after the walk but it’s definitely better than just spending the day at the mall for the kids as they get a chance to experience and hear about the history of Singapore through trained guides.

The 1^st walk was a new one which features special commissioned tracks by local musicians which composed music to reflect their appreciation of the monuments - Musicity Singapore: “Music at the Monuments” covered 3 of the 7 locations namely, Hong San See Temple, Asian Civilisations Museum former Empress Place Building and Singapore Art Museum former St. Joseph’s Institution.

Unlike other walks, we had the privilege of taking a shuttle bus between locations (which was a welcome relief when faced with the blazing tropical sun of Singapore). Using QR scan code that can be downloaded from the panels, you can listen to the specially composed music while getting a running commentary from the volunteer guides at each location.

Musicity Singapore: “Music at the Monuments”

After some lunch & down time, we went to our 2^nd walk in the afternoon called the ‘Mixed Blessings’ walk that covered Thian Hock Keng Temple, Al-Abrar Mosque and Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church all nicely spaced out along Telok Ayer Street.

What pleased me most about taking my daughter along for the walks was that she actually remembered nuggets of information like which door to go into and out of a Chinese temple and why. To me, exposing my child to the multi-faceted side of Singapore is my way of connecting them to the country and hopefully they will be able to appreciate the rich diversity and mix of cultures that we have as well as cultivate a sense of sensitivity to different religions and cultures.

Till the next time, onto the world and beyond!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Accidental Tourist – Vesak Day 2011 (May) Shoot

This is a back post of the visits that I took over Vesak Day holidays.

I decided to trod by the Bright Hill Temple and the Tooth Relic Temple in year 2011. This is a continuation of last year’s Vesak Day photoshoot. I am in fact hoping that this will be a staple in my photography shoots & I will be able to take different types of shots at the same locations.

Here are 3 pictures taken at the Bright Hill Temple – I was early enough to witness the arduous “3 steps 1 bow” ceremony that is only held at this temple on the eve of Vesak Day:

full prostration is carried out by all devotees in this ceremony

Monks saying their prayers before the ceremony

closeup of the Head monk having a moment

My sentiments after witnessing this momentous grueling ceremony where the devotees essentially had to prostrate over the floor or bow once every 3 steps? I have nothing but respect for these devotees who do it as a mark of their faith.

On Vesak Day, I went to the Tooth Relic Temple bright & early. I had hoped to catch the early morning prayers but only to realize that it will only be open to the public at 9a.m. Nevertheless, I had a nice walk around as it was quite peaceful even on this very important day for the Buddhists:

Tooth Relic Temple in all its glory

not a Chinese devotee but just as welcome into this temple

closeup of the guardians placed outside the temple

Compared to last year’s visit, I took in the temple at a much slower pace as the temple is definitely less crowded (likely due to the timing). But nevertheless, the feeling of peace and tranquility the minute I step into this place never fails to amaze me.

Till the next time, off to the world and beyond!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Accidental tourist - Singapore from the sky: The Singapore Flyer

I have been on the Singapore Flyer several times....yes, I know it is a tourist thing but hey! Where else can one view the Singapore city skyline?

It is definitely not a cheap expedition because it costs approximately S$1 for every minute you are on the ride….but the other 2 occasions was subsidized fares (due to company sponsored trips) so this is my 1^st real full-fare ride…

Having gone on for both the day and night rides, I will definitely take the night ride anytime! Here are the reasons why…

There are basically 2 sections when you are in your little capsule going round the giant wheel– the sea section and the land section. Small trivia: originally, the spinning of the wheel starts from the land view and ends with the sea view. In 2008, for feng shui reasons, the turning changed to start from the sea view section and ending with the land view section. For more information about this trivia, hop over to http://www.singaporeflyer.com/en/media-releases/singapore-flyer-flying-high-with-feng-shui.html
Personally, I think you can get a nicer city skyline at night. This is especially if there is construction going on (which in Singapore’s case, it is almost an everyday affair). In the day, it is just boring construction sites but in the night, even the lights surrounding the construction site make the area more "fairy like".
If you are up there anytime during the day (worst time is high noon), it can get quite hot inside the capsule even though it is air-conditioned. Personally, being a pampered soul, I prefer a cool environment than a heated up capsule.
From the sea-view section, twinkling lights on the ships look great to me…

There a many places that you can see whilst riding on the Flyer – the official website has a great summary: http://www.singaporeflyer.com/en/visitor-guide/views-from-the-top.html

My expedition is to try to capture Singapore skyline @ night whilst on the Flyer – unfortunately for me, there will be some challenges:

night scene – I am at best a struggling amateur on DLSR so this is going to be tricky
no tripod – I did my preparations but frankly, it turned out not enough as I forgot the catch that is needed to place the camera on the tripod
since I will be in the capsule that moves ever so slowly, I will basically be in-motion AND trying to take night shots. *sigh*

Here’s my 3 best efforts of the Singapore skyline from the Singapore Flyer:

Skyline @ Night

Skyline @ Night.2

Skyline & Singapore Flyer Capsule - *sigh* the irritating blue/ white lights of capsule

Onto the world and beyond!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Accidental tourist - Vesak Day celebrations in Singapore

For Vesak Day, I took a leap of faith and went to places I never ventured before….together with my friends, we stepped into Chinese temples and I saw a world that's totally alien to me even though it's in my backyard (literally at times). To a certain extent,I was a "fish out of water" as I didn’t know whether the temple devotees will object to my presence holding a camera and taking photos of the religious activities during this special day for them...

In the night before the Vesak holidays, I hopped down to Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (better known to me as “Bright Hill Temple”), one of the largest temples in Singapore and best known for it’s “3 steps 1 bow” ceremony held only during Vesak Day. I am challenged in using my DSLR for the 1^st time at night but I do need to “practice, practice, practice”.

The temple’s website showed many many places I didn’t manage to go in my short 2-hours there but here are some photos.

Photo of one of the temple towers in bright lights

Photo of 3-steps-1-bow ceremony

(out of focus) Photo of a man praying before Buddha

On Vesak Day itself, I went down to the other side of Little India at a temple called “Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple” or “Temple of 1000 lights”. This is an earmarked historic site by Singapore National Heritage Board. It’s a Thai-Buddhist temple with a 15m Buddha. Again, I have never been anywhere near here all my life (this is becoming a “story of my life” statement) so we decided to drop by there….3 photos showing what we saw:

Photo of 15m Buddha surrounded by hundreds of lights

Photo of worshippers putting down incense sticks outside temple

Photo of devotees placing gold-leaf on statute of Buddha

Of course, I did the thing that most people will do in such places, I did my gold leaf placement and wish for good luck and health as well!!

Opposite this Temple of 1000 lights was another temple called “Leong San Buddhist Temple” or “Dragon Mountain Temple”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t capture any nice photos of this place. I totally blame this on my limits as a photographer as it was definitely a shame since as the temple has some lovely sculptures on its roof….

But there was a dragon dance troupe that came by while I was at the location so I will be showing some shots of the dragon & lion dances instead:

Photo of dragon head coming out of temple – it is a bit orange

Photos of the dragon dance troupe hard at work

Photo of the pink lion that followed after the dragon dance

Next was a MRT train ride down to Chinatown for a trip to the “Buddha Tooth Relic Temple”. Its website is quite impressive so do hop over if you have some time: http://www.btrts.org.sg/. Again 1^st time venture in there even though I heard much about the huge complex of some 4-5 floors with a roof top garden coupled with the largest cloisonné Buddha Prayer Wheel in the world. It houses a museum together with a shopping gallery cum library within its premises. During Vesak Day, the priceless tooth relic is displayed for veneration. Here goes the photos:

Photo of the front entrance

Photo of the countless candle tea-lights (again only during Vesak Day)

Photo of girl tying on prayer knot by monk

Personally, I feel that I do not do much justice to this gorgeous place with my 3 photos cos it’s quite beautiful in that place and pretty impressive.

Anyway, till the next time...Onto the unknown and beyond.....

Accidental tourist - Little India

1^st expedition was to go to Singapore's very own Little India. Guess it is one of the “weird things” that we have in

Singapore

, enclaves of our many and diverse ethnic groups. Little

India

is where all people of Indian descent gather together especially during festive Deepavali celebrations. Similarly, the Malay communities descend on Arab Street and Geylang areas during the fasting month of Ramadan (well, that’s another blog entry for another day…). People of Chinese descent go down Chinatown during Chinese New Year time….

Anyway, coming back to my Little India assignment…even though I am a local Chinese Singaporean, I love going there...largely because I can’t find great Indian cuisine anywhere else! My mission this time however was to find photos that represents this place….in my mind, temples, temples and more temples….BTW the photos are taken using my autofocus camera (Olympus UTough) not my DSLR.

Photo of the temple dome

Photo of a nice lady in red sitting down at the temple

(out of focus) Photo of a man beating the drum during the evening pooja

Onto the unknown & beyond!

Accidental tourist in Singapore...Intro

This is a write-up of me being an accidental tourist in the place I grew up in: Singapore. This came about as I was fiddling with my newly purchased DSLR (Nikon D90) and hoping to find interesting topics to photograph in the little island that I call home.

Will be restricting my photo assignments to the various spots in Singapore & (hopefully) finding 3 photos that says the following:
1. an establishing shot (overall picture photo)
2. medium shot (preferably one that leads up to a story)
3. a final close-up shot (for a conclusion to the location)

At every location, I will like take tons of photos but will eventually be restricting myself to show 3 photos for each location. I am still an amateur in using photography to express my feelings so please forgive me for out-of-focus shots.

Onto the unknown & beyond!

‘Mixed Blessings’ walk by Preservation of Monuments Board

Accidental Tourist in Singapore

Sunday, January 20, 2013

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

The artist Nathan Sawaya

Thought provoking pieces

The Think-er & the Kneel-er

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Accidental Tourist - Sentosa-Old and New experiences at iFly Singapore & Underwater World

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Accidental Tourist – October 2012 Walking Tours.....as we walk along the Streets of......Singapore