This is on the River Walk, a prominent tourist area downtown. It’s enormous and bulbous. I think it’s ugly, but apparently this scuptor has some pull – there’s another ugly bulbous piece near the Hilton on Orchard Road. Below is the rear view: I don’t think anybody really likes this statue. You can see that […]
The Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is also the Lantern Festival. The lanterns are traditionally made of silk over a wire frame, and little towns have parades and contests to see who produces the best one. Here’s Singapore’s version of that tradition, based in the main tourist district along the river downtown, with sponsorship from many companies. […]
Here are some pictures of Chinese Gardens on a rainy afternoon, with the lanterns in place but not lit. They’re still terrific – a spot of red really brightens the place up. Singapore’s version of the terracotta soldiers, with cheerful decorations. The bridge from the main entrance. The building in the background is an apartment […]
There are many lanterns down at the Esplanade, but last night we saw these 4 characters there as well: From left to right: The woodcutter in the moon, who must cut down a cassia tree there, although it keeps regenerating branches; the irrascible archer, Hou Yi, who shot down the nine extra suns; his wife, […]
Yup, it’s that time of year again. The end of Ramadan, the middle of Yom Kippur, and the delightful Chinese frenzy of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. It’s also the big lantern festival, so here are some sights from our very own Chinese Gardens in Jurong East. This is the Stone Boat on the left, on […]
I saw this on campus once I had access to the areas that were previously off-limits because of the Youth Olympic Games. Looks great, no? Quiet, zero emissions, and out of commission now that the Games are over and there’s no international spotlight to shine on the thing. The branding exercise is over, and the […]
Nothing like a few rolls of barbed wire to make your day. Thus endeth the evil fence. The Youth Olympic Games were finished on Saturday, their dorms were dismantled on Sunday so the NTU students could move in, and on Monday classes started and the fences started to come down. Soon all we’ll have left […]
I returned to Singapore yesterday, just in time for the Hungry Ghosts season, otherwise known as the Seventh Month festival. (If you don’t mention the word “ghost” you won’t scare away customers.) I went to Jurong Point mall to stock up on food, and found myself in the midst of seasonal festivities. Well, it’s not […]
The Singapore Unitarians, that small but doughty band, met for a tour of the Chinese and Japanese gardens this morning. I have lots of pictures of statues that I’ll post separately, but here were some highlights: This is the big Confucius statue towards the southern end of the garden, complete with a couple of dragon-y […]
I took this picture out our living room window this morning, about half an hour after dawn. A mother-daughter team out for a walk, with sun hats.