This place is surprisingly near the university, within walking distance, in fact.

There are sculptures made of pots at the entrance.  I don’t know if they make these pots here, but they’re cool sculptures anyway.

There are lots of trees and tree-houselike structures to climb around in, with views of more and more greenery and the odd monitor lizard.  And there are pots.  And more pots, and more pots, made here, made in China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, you name it.  Huge warehouses of pots.  And there are potter’s wheels for pottery classes (Saturday mornings).  And finally, there’s this wonderful dragon kiln:

This is a traditional kiln form from China, and is a  long tunnel trailing back up the slope, which you may be able to see in the picture.  There are sixteen doors along the sides, so you can walk in and place pots for firing, or build more fires.  It can hold up to 20,000 pieces at once.  Set up in 1960, it’s been a family business in this area for decades – apparently the clay soil that defied farmers attracted the potters!  They mostly fire art pieces now, at one huge annual firing that attracts the potters from all over Singapore.  The rest of their livelihood is made through classes, hosting birthday parties, selling their many pots, and gawking tourists like us.  Too bad there’s no tea house there, but there is an ice cream stand!

May 5th, 2009 | Category: Entertainment | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL