January 2008

I took the weekend off from Singapore to go to Pulau Bintan, an Indonesian island about 1.5 hours south. I was not incredibly impressed. Most of the island's property is owned by Singapore resorts...the remaining Indonesians living there have to gouge their prices in order to keep up. It's unfortunate, really...

I stayed on the east end of the island at a place that had huts for about $30SD, which is a LOT for what it is. The guidebook said that they would have been 70,000 Indonesian Rupiahs (about $7). Too many conversions going around in your head? Same here.
I stayed one night and left the next day as my budget was limited.

All the money that I had on me...TOO MANY CONVERSIONS.
Indonesian Rupiah, Chinese RMB, Singapore Dollars, Korean Won, Yankee Dollars, and a full passport.

One of the puppies that was roaming around the grounds.

Palm trees...most of which had been knocked down.

The beach along the East Coast.

One of the staff and his baby.

The hut I slept in.

On the way back...free-range roosters.

Street vendor

Wash hanging out to dry.

Goodbye, Pulau Bintan!

On the way back to Singapore, coming into rain.

Short stay = short blog!

I nearly wrote this Monastery off of my list...I've been to a lot of Asian countries that have a LOT of temples, either Shinto, Taoist, Hindu, or Buddhist, and pretty much everything else in between. I live in a country that has an equal number of Buddhist temples and Christian churches, so to go see yet ANOTHER temple with MORE Buddhist influence...well, I was less than enthused.

Keeping up with the rest of Singapore's spectacular diversity and unique ...everything, Kong Meng San Hor Kark See Monastery (which is MORE than a mouthful to say), close to Bishan park, is rich in its different styles of architecture and overall atmosphere (each temple had its own feel). Pristinely kept, it is a visual delight, with mosaics galore and different colors and styles everywhere.

Colorful detail

Temple flags

One of the deities

Temple flags closeup

Floor detail

Temple roof dragon

I really liked the flags.

Ceiling detail

One of the temples

Lawn full of little stone Buddhas

Crematorium / statue

Roof of one of the temples

9,999 Buddhas

+1 Buddha = Hall of 10,000 Buddhas

Colorful mosaic

Story mosaic detail

Monastery where the monks live their day-to-day lives.

More monastery

Roof detail

There are a lot of pictures. A lot. More coming soon...keep bearing with me!

And yet another thing I absolutely loved about Singapore was the intense diversity (are we all sensing a trend here?) of the architecture.

Ever since being in Spain (in general) and Barcelona (in particular), inspired by the works of Gaudi (genius anyone?!), I have started paying attention to the concrete jungle; the buildings, the angles, the colors, the extraordinary and the mundane.

As the title suggests, Singaporean buildings are NOT just the gray drab monsters you see in most cities. Nope. There are buildings of every size, shape and color.

Stay tuned for the next post!

Singapore wants to protect you. Really, it does. Hence why there are signs EVERYWHERE, gently reminding you to be careful. Don't break the law by eating on the subway! Remain vigilant! Beware of pickpockets! Please remember to be polite, please?

Some were helpful, some were beautiful...some were just odd.

(Buh?!)








(Earnest...not insincere!)

Singapore is polite, even in their signage...

Singapore is one of the most diverse countries I have ever been to. Ever.

Yes, America is also very diverse. But not when you live in suburban Indiana. Korea is nowhere even CLOSE to being considered diverse. If you are not ethnically Korean, you will usually stick out like a sore thumb. I still receive stares on a daily basis, on the subway train that I take every day, to and from work.

So coming to Singapore where I hardly stand out (except maybe in Little India, where I was staying) was certainly a breath of fresh air.

The people are friendly and polite and more than willing to help you if you flail around, looking helpless.
These are just things I noticed.

Also, no one spits on the street. (More so because it is illegal, I think...)

A grandma and grandson in Little India.

Drunk Irish Santas on Christmas Eve at Muddy Murphy's Irish pub on Orchard Road.

Street Musicians on Christmas Eve, Orchard Road.

Kids playing in a fountain on Christmas Day, near Bugis Station.

Making Dim Sum Soup, Chinatown.

Painting a mosque, Chinatown.

Decorating a Mercedes-Benz, Little India.

Chinese calligrapher, Chinatown.

Outdoor barber, Chinatown.

Great!

With the purchase of a brand-new 1GB memory card for my camera (before, I was limited to 2 256MB cards, which limited my space), let's just say I went a little berserk...

So, as the title suggests, I will begin our photographic tour of Singapore with both flora and fauna of the city, something they have an abundance of. The flora was mostly taken in Bishan park or surrounding the countless temples I encountered, and all of the fauna is from the Singapore Zoo.

Let's start...ok-lah? (In Singapore, they add "lah" to the end of everything. EVERYTHING...it's mostly used to emphasize your point.)

Otter, which leaves a nasty smell to mark his territory.

The flamingos were getting a bit testy with each other.

They had several orangutans, which were allowed to roam pretty much where they pleased.

We managed to make it in time for the polar bear feeding, and on his birthday nonetheless!

One of the three white tigers.

Pygmy hippos...the little guy was freakin' adorable.

Kangaroo scrounging around for lunch.

One of the elephants snatching her trainer's hat.

Baboons grooming / being groomed.

White rhino

Zebras. Duh.

Ostrich pecking for food.

Giraffe.

Female African lion lounging in the shade.

Proboscis monkey, the animal kingdom's comedian.

There were countless others from the zoo, but I had to pick and choose to save everyone's sanity.

Now, the flora of Singapore (a small percentage of it). There are parks and botanical gardens all around the small island, full of beautiful flowers and trees. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about flowers (I say "next to", because I know an orchid when I see one, and there were many), so most of these will go unrecognized. It's not for lack of trying by any means, and if anyone happens to know what the heck these are, let me know!

Enjoy! Keep looking!