Cocktail stirrers from Disco and Lounges

All these cocktail stirrers are collected from discos and lounges in Singapore and majority of the discos are no longer around. Xanudu in Shangri La Hotel, Black Velvet in Sheraton Hotel and West End Club (i think in Goodwood Hotel) were my favourite discos, the atmosphere and music were good. I guess cybergames were not invented during that time, so we all end up in discos on a Saturday night...lol.

I no longer remember many of the other discos' names....lol

Closer look at the Neptune Theatre's Cocktail Stirrer.

It has the image of the Sea King, Neptune.

Cocktail stirrers from other discos.

The above stirrers are all look alike except the prints on them but they belonged to different discos. I guess they have the same supplier.

Cocktail Stirrers Part 3 (Airlines)

All these cocktail stirrers are more than 20 years old and they are my treasures. I have no heart to throw them away even though some looked old.

I guess most of you know the logo of the above. Yes, they are from Singapore Airlines.

The above are from Japan Airlines (JAL)

All these stirrers are from different airlines and the one from Pan Am looked like a baseball bat. And I think Pan Am is no longer around.

Hope you enjoy these cocktail stirrers from different airlines.

More coming up......

Cocktail Stirrers Part 2

These cocktail stirrers are from overseas hotels. Some of them are easily recognized by their logos, especially the one from Tokyo and HongKong.

The one from Tokyo has an arch logo and the one from Hongkong has a chinese junk logo.

More tomorrow.........

Cocktail Stirrers Part 1

This is one of my unique hobby, collecting cocktail stirrers. It so happened when I was a teenager where disco was the craze back then and the drinks come with all these beautiful stirrers. My friends and I started collecting them and no we dont have to pay for them cause the drinks were paid by the guys...hehehe.

But seems like I am the only one still keeping these fond memories, my friends had discarded them all.

The above cocktail stirrers are my favourite. They were given to me by a friend. On the left has a shape of a kris and on the right is a wayang kulit.

The above are collected during my trip to Bangkok in 1983. Love the beautiful designs on the stirrers.

Closer look at the stirrers. On the left is an image of a traditional dancer and on the right is a four face elephant. (Elephant is the National Symbol of Thailand. Elephants in Thailand have always been a symbol of both power and peace.)

There were be more articles on my collection of cocktail stirrers in my future posts.

Paper Cutting Crafts

This is one of my favourite stall. I loved to watch them cutting those red papers. They are very skillfull and the crafts are lovely.

One of the favourite place for the teenagers to hang out

There is this huge atrium at the underground pass linking from citylink to esplanade theatre. This is the place where most teenagers would gather. The below photos are taken during a weekday night but come saturday night, it would be very crowded with teenagers doing their things.

Some would practise their skateboarding skills.

And there are some who practise their hip hop dance, and some just sit around and chat and looking at the people who looked at them.

Arts Exhibition at the Esplanade - Part 3

And they called this arts. Sorry, I do not know much about art but sometimes art can be funny. You can put a chair in an empty room and that is art too....lol. I guess arts is to make us think and imagine whatever we want about the piece of work.

Singapore wins bid to host 2010 YOG

Yayyyyy, Congratulations to Singapore for winning the bid to host the first Youth Olympics Games in 2010.

I was watching with joy with my family live on TV. The following photos are taken from television. For more information, click here .

Art Exhibition at Esplanade - Part 2

More Arts exhibition at the Esplanade. They are quite interesting. Some with same pictures but different expressions.

Art Exhibition at Esplanade

As I was walking towards the Esplanade MRT station, I was attracted by some of these arts display at the esplanade.

This window displayed the laughing gas. It reminded us to slow down and stop and to remember to laugh.

Did we really forgotten to laugh? Life in Singapore is so fast. In a recent research , Singapore was found to be the world's fastest walkers.

Hahaha, even our broadband and our computers have the fastest speed in downloading other websites. I need to slow down so that my blog visitors have time to catch up....hehehe.

I apologised to my blog visitors who had trouble downloading my website, I now have adjusted my blog so that there are lesser posts on the main page so that you can load faster to view my blog. So sorry.

Please slow me down and stop and remind me to laugh...hahaha

This machine make the laughing sound in the window display. And no there is no laughing gas in there.

Roads closed for Chingay Procession

If you find it strange for the empty streets and the barricade, it was because I took these photos on the eve of Chingay Procession. Sorry I wasn't at the chingay procession so there wont be any photos of the procession. You can see them in this link .

Empty streets, road closing soon.

On a normal day, the city hall will be empty of all these barricades, scaffoldings, tents, etc.

12 Chinese Zodiac

Every year Singapore will usher the Chinese New Year with the Singapore River Hongbao celebrations. This year it will be held at The Esplanade Park.

One of my favourite besides the God Of Fortune will be the 12 Chinese Zodiac Animals. Some of the photos are not clear because there are just too many people waiting to take photo of these animals.

Legends had it that the Jade Emperor (from heaven) invited all the animals to a race, only twelve showed up: the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

The Rat is the winner of the race and the pig is last. Legend had it that the Cat is supposed to join the race and ask the Rat to wake him up in time for the race but the Rat did not wake him up so there he has a better chance to win. Therefore the Cat and Rat are alway enemies.

Another Legend was that the Cow was supposed to be first in the race but the Rat who hitch a ride on the Cow's tail, bit the Cow's tail when nearer the finished point and the Cow in pain swing his tail and that swing landed the Rat in the finished point and so the Rat is first in the race.

There are many versions to the Origins of the Chinese Zodiac but the above was what I heard from my elders.

Rat

Cow

Tiger(sorry for poor photo)

Rabbit

Dragon

Snake

Horse

Goat

Monkey

Rooster

Dog

Pig

God of Fortune

I visited the Singapore River Hong Bao couple of days ago. It is part of Singapore’s way of celebrating the lunar new year.

This year, at the River Hongbao, there is a huge mascot of the God of Fortune and 12 mascots of the Chinese Zodiac Animals and other colourful decorations. There are other cultural exhibitions too and of course food and beverage stalls selling local and foreign delicacies. You can view those food stalls in my food blog.

The God of Fortune holding a couplet reads "Zhao Cai Jing Bao" which means usher in the wealth and riches.

As I was concentrating on which angle to take the photo of the God of Fortune, suddenly there was a guy who hit the gong which startled me. He announced in mandarin that the God of Fortune is here. And there is this chubby "God of Fortune" right in front of me.

He started tossing gold coins and one coin just landed in my hands. Hahaha.....although it is not real gold but the feeling is so good.

Hope this gold coin from God of Fortune will bring everyone Good Health, Good Luck and Good Fortune.

Ninth Day of Chinese New Year

On the 9th day of the Chinese New Year is the Hokkien custom to "Bai Tian Gong" or praying to the Heavenly God.

The Hokkien Chinese offer the Tian Gong with sugar canes, roast pigs and fruit but no cooked ducks or chickens.

Legend had it that when the Hokkiens, who lived along the coast, were attacked by pirates. They ran and hid in the sugarcane plantation. For many days they stayed in the plantation without food, but chewed the sugar canes to sustain their lives. When the pirates left, they came out of the sugarcane plantation and that day was the 9th day of the New Year.

From then on, every year on that day, the Hokkiens offer sugar canes to pray to the Heavenly God.

Happy Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day. Here wishing a Happy Valentine's Day to all.

I make a heart shaped beads pendant but it is not specially for this occasion. It is just my interest. This is for my little niece who is always 'stealing' my completed crafts....hahaha.

Ren Ri

Today is the seventh day of the first chinese lunar month, - the day of man (ren ri). This meant it is everybody's birthday today. In Singapore and Malaysia, it is common to celebrate this day by tossing the colourful salad and wished for wealth and prosperity.

For full story and origins of Yusheng, you can view my food blog.

Chinese Clogs

These are chinese clogs. People used to wear these clogs, as they have thick wooden soles, so that their pants will not get dirtied on muddy water. These clogs are favourite in the bathroom too. My mom in law still has a pair in her bathroom.

Clog making is a dying trade. I used to wear them when I was young. You can view JC post, she has more colourful clogs in her photo.

The Majestic

Majestic Theatre was a Cantonese opera house built by philanthropist Eu Tong Sen for his wife who was a Cantonese opera fan. The theatre had been converted to a shopping mall and now being converted to a hotel called New Majestic Hotel but they would be keeping much of the exterior untouched to keep the heritage building image.

Each time I passed by the theatre (hotel now), I would looked at the beautiful craftsmanship of these opera figures. It has a long history, been built in 1928. During World War II, the Japanese took control of it (1942) and was used to screen Japanese propaganda films. The Japanese Occupation ended in 1945.

So the next time you passed by Majestic, please stop and admire the beautiful craftsmanship.

Lion Dance

I am back blogging after many days of merry making and celebrating Chinese New Year. I hope you all have a good time too.

These Lion Dance Mascots are part of Chinese New Year decorations of some shops.

Do you know that there are two types of Lion Dances? They are the Northern and Southern lion dance which differs in the appearance of the lion and the performance style.

Northern Lion Dance practised in Beijing, is more acrobatic with the lion balancing on balls and on see-saws whilst being enticed by a pugilist dressed as a 'warrior'. The pugilist teasing the lion uses a fan or a ball and the interplay between him and the lion is the focus of the dance. The Northern Lion evolved from a Mongolian animal puppet placed on a post and paraded during festivals. The Northern Lion is furry with an orange and yellow, woollen coat.

Southern Lion Dance is more popularly performed in Singapore, originated in Guangdong. It involves a less hairy Lion which is taunted by a big-headed clown. They traditionally perform outdoors, the cai qing or literally "plucking the green", referring to the acrobatic act of picking up a sprig of lettuce from as high as three storeys, achieved only by using a pole or forming a human pyramid. The Southern lion has a 'skin' of white/yellow and brown/ black patterns. Whilst the Northern Lion is reputedly fierce, with a serious temperament, the Southern Lion is tame and playful. (Source: http://infopedia.nlb.gov.sg/articles/SIP_57_2004-12-27.html)