Singapore Metblogs » sin_wah

Little known bits of Little India

sin_wah — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:15:55 +0000

First of all, a belated Happy Deepavali to all our Indian friends = )

I confess I know very little about the Little India, and so was pleasantly surprised to discover this building on a recent jaunt through Little India:

I didn’t realise we had a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi in our city: it certainly isn’t something that gets mentioned in tourist brochures or guidebooks about Singapore.

Birthday banner

sin_wah — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 22:03:15 +0000

I didn’t realise that yesterday was Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, until I saw the banner on this ship:

Happy Birthday!

Peekaboo Fences

sin_wah — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:38:00 +0000

The Botanic Gardens are expanding, and this latest addition is on the old NIE campus (now the NUS Law Faculty, and previously SMU as well).

The peekaboo cut-outs in the fencing around the construction site are irresistable to the curious. Great idea. Can’t wait to see the completed garden.

Miserable in the rain

sin_wah — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 04:12:51 +0000

The official take seems to be that the heavy rains have passed, but the weather this afternoon could’ve fooled me. Orchard Road was wet, parts of the underpass near Lido were flooded, and people like this poor cyclist (spotted at the Orchard and Scotts junction) were absolutely miserable in the wet.

But which number do I call about violations of grammar? = )

sin_wah — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 00:50:53 +0000

I spotted this truck a few weeks ago on the highway, and was amused by the awkward grammar in the little “courtesy” message. I suppose it’s one of those difficult sentences to phrase properly (the most famous one being “no outside food”, which is grammatically incorrect, but for which no one has found an adequate replacement yet)

Changi Village

sin_wah — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 04:17:26 +0000

Not many places in Singapore can be genuinely called a village any more, but Changi Village still retains a little of that rural feel. I was there yesterday on work, and I took a walk just after sunset. I wasn’t the only one: this old man standing on the edge of the water, watching the boats sail in and out of the jetty. I wonder what was on his mind.

Driving into Sentosa

sin_wah — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 04:12:19 +0000

I had to go into our wonderful little resort island of Sentosa yesterday for a friend’s wedding, but didn’t have the complimentary entry pass with me (left it with the wife, who was coming later). As we approached the gantry, I was getting ready to pay the entrance fee to get on the island, when the taxi driver turned around and told me not to worry: he would save me the $2.

I was just wondering how he was intending to do that when he slowed down for the gantry, wound down the window, pointed at me, and said one word: “Golf!”.

Right. Golf. Me in my new dress shirt, tie, and best suit (which I hadn’t worn since my own wedding 5 years ago).

They waved us through.

This, I have to remember for next time. Maybe in a few years, I’ll just have to shout “gambling!” and they’ll let me through again.

Are there more birds?

sin_wah — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 15:28:59 +0000

On the way to work today, I spotted a Brahminy Kite perched on a railing by a monsoon drain. It’s quite rare to see a bird of prey next to a busy expressway, and it’s always exciting to see one so close up. As a former amateur birdwatcher (a childhood hobby which I didn’t continue into adulthood) I get the impression that the number of birds in our urban areas has increased in recent years.

I certainly don’t remember so many egrets 20 years ago, and just last year, there was a Brahminy Kite that used to patrol the airspace next to my office building (it’s quite spectacular to look down on a raptor from 12 stories up in the air). I’ve also spotted Kingfishers hunting the monsoon drains, and have seen a Sea Eagle in the Clementi area.

I wonder whether this is because our local bird species have increased in number? The pessimist in me suspects that perhaps our increased encroachment on their natural habitats (whatever of it is left) has forced some of them to adapt to urban areas, pushing them into our space, and giving us the impression that there are more of them, when in actuality numbers could be static, or possibly dropping (with the exception of crows, who seem to be doing spectacularly well).

Any birdwatchers/naturalists out there can shed some light on the state of wildlife in Singapore?

A 20 year appointment

sin_wah — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 04:13:01 +0000

20 years ago, 3 of my classmates and I made a deal: to meet 20 years later, 12 noon on the same day, at the statue of Raffles by the Singapore River (yes, you’ve probably guessed which school we were from).

Well, today’s the day, and though only two of us turned up, it’s still a class reunion. We waited for a while, speculated about where the other 2 were, then adjourned for lunch at Indochine nearby.

A few things about this reunion that I never would’ve guessed when I was 13 and made the appointment:
- that only 2 of us would make it: I honestly thought all 4 of us would be there
- that, besides the 2 of us and the usual tourists, the only other people there would be a snake charmer and 2 albino pythons. I’m not joking about the pythons.
- that 20 years later I would still be in school … teaching rather than studying – but I still had to ask permission to leave school early for this = )

We’ve made a follow-up appointment to meet in another 20 years – so I’m putting August 24th, 2026, right into iCal now.

(cross posted to my own blog here)

big bird, little bird

sin_wah — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 06:10:51 +0000

I used to laugh at this Botero sculpture gracing our waterfront at Boat Quay because it looked like a gigantic butt. Officially called “Bird”, I always knew it as “that sculpture of the fat bird”. Here’s a picture of one of the local pigeons posing in front of his (much) larger cousin.