Singapore : Hello & Goodbye

Singapore

I went back home to Singapore for 3 months. For the uninitiated, Singapore is a republic in Southeast Asia, neighbour to Malaysia and Indonesia, and is not part of China.

Map of Singapore (in red)
Source: wikipedia.org

Location of Singapore
Source: Google map

With the rtw trip, I found myself learning more about Singapore in order to explain to others about the country, like how Singapore is located 1 degree north of the equator, so tiny that the distance between the eastern and western end is only 42km apart, its highest "mountain" is less than 180m in altitude and has almost no agriculture - all of which baffles people. I made a boo-boo, explaining to others the concept of Certificate of Entitlement which, at $40,000 apiece, is a piece of paper that allows one to go on to buy a car and in turn resulting in the the price of a car to be more than $100,000. Little did I realise that in my absence, the cost of a Certificate of Entitlement has risen to $90,000. (When will I ever own a car? Whine!!!!!!!!!)

Hello

I was having big meals pretty much non-stop in Singapore. First it was a round of "Welcome home" meals as I caught up with friends. Next, the Chinese New Year festive season meant a lot of celebratory lunches. 

I visited some new properties that have opened/would be opening.



In conjunction with the Chinese New Year festivities, the Esplanade has been hosting the annual Huayi Festival 华艺节, a series of paid and free theatre, dance and music performances in Chinese since 2003. I went to catch 2 plays (Awakening and Eighteen Springs) and a dance performance (Thunderstorm) with Keng. All 3 were based on famous Chinese novels (红楼梦、半生缘and雷雨respectively) which I have never read before (说来惭愧，我这方面的造诣还真的太浅).  The pleasant surprise was that there were many students and non-Chinese (both plays had English subtitles) among the audiences. Thunderstorm was the clear winner - I did not think I would like modern dance but it was short and easy to understand. The plays, on the other hand, were too long and I did not like the singing segments in both plays. The singing were good but I was not sure if it was really necessary and it just came across as very Glee.

Thunderstorm
Source: www.huayifestival.com

Over at the ArtScience Museum, Jenny recommended that I visit The Art of the Brick by New York-based artist Nathan Sawaya. Initially trained to be a lawyer, Sawaya became one of 13 LEGO Certified Professionals ("LCP") and the only person in the world who is both a LCP and a LEGO Master Model Builder (wow! I did not even know there are such professionals) [Source: www.lego.com]. He pursued his dream and now builds sculptures using LEGO bricks. The Art of the Brick is named one of the 12 must-see exhibitions by CNN in 2011 and can be appreciated by young and old alike.

Yellow

Doorway

Sing

Mask

Dinosaur Skeleton

Goodbye

What's goodbye without more food? I had another round of farewell lunches/dinners which added 2kg to my pouch. 

Before I knew it, it was time for me to pack and go.