My World Tuesday-Istana Park Part 1

This is a very small park but of great importance. It is Istana Park. You can read more about it in the below photo. The world Istana is actually a malay word meaning palace. But the Istana in Singapore is infact the official residence of our President where he receives and entertain guests. So this little park is just opposite the Istana.

The centrepiece of the park must be this Festival Arch which is 26 metres tall. You can read more about the Istana Park in here.

At the Istana Park, there's a coffee house here and when night comes there will be more customers.

Visit tomorrow to see the beautiful flowers I saw in the park.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Candle in the Dark

It was earth hour yesterday. We were supposed to switch off all lights between 8.30 pm to 9.30 pm. to support earth hour.

Ok, I was excited and lighted a candle and listening to my portable radio. Able to do this cause both sons went out otherwise they would be using the computer, etc.

5 minutes passed then 10 minutes and 25 minutes, Ok I am getting bored by now. Cant do anything in the dark and too early to go to bed. So 30 minutes passed and the clock said it is nine pm, my favourite TV programme is on.

So I blow off the candle and watch my TV without switching the lights. So does it count? I guess I am only 50% into the earth hour...lol. I have to be honest. :)

Yikes, I now know I cant be left alone in the dark without a good plan...lol. Bravo to those who are 100% supportive of earth hour.

Just a short video to show the burning candle. I am surprised that the candle looked good in the recycled cover. It was an old cover of a broken container. The light reflected by the candleflame through the cover looked like a beautiful pattern.

CREATE! DON'T STEAL! A campaign for protecting our rights

Laras Welt initiates a campaign today! CREATE! DON'T STEAL!

If you support the campaign to protect your works and not let anyone use them without permission, please visit Lara of uproad blogspot to get the original banner.

You can see her other post on Protest against theft.

Skywatch Friday - Kelong

Today my skywatch photos are about kelongs. Kelong actually is a Malay word to describe a structure with wood in waters. These kelongs are used for fishing and also serve as dwellings for the fishermen and their families. You can read more about them from Wikipedia.

The above is not really a real kelong. It is just part of the boardwalk found in Changi for leisure. It is not used for fishing but just as a decoration piece. Today there are only a handful of real fishing kelongs left in Singapore. You can read my previous posting on the boardwalk in here.

These structures are found in Sentosa. They are built to resemble Kelongs. At night there were be performance in here. There will be laser lights and fire coming out of these "kelongs". I did not watch the performance now that there are limited tickets (they used to have a venue near the Sentosa Merlion Park). The old venue was demolised to make way for the Integrated Resort and I think the above kelong will be temporary. You can see how the kelong looked at night from photos found in the internet.

Closer look at the "kelongs".

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

Window Display

I always love to look at the window display. The window display at Robinson in Centrepoint Shopping Centre always make me take a double look. The mannequins are not dressed in any fancy clothes this time, they are promoting the lots of super discounts in their windows display this time round. I love shopping at Robinson.

Another window display at Wisma Atria Shopping Mall - I love the clothes in here. They are beautiful and they are not very expensive. I would love to buy the centrepiece but I dont have a sexy figure to wear it...lol.

Best time to shop at Guess must be during their promotion period.

I cant remember which shopping mall this window display was at.

Yet to be completed shopping malls coming soon

Today I will featured yet to be completed shopping malls that will be opened this year. More shopping choices for us but with the recession and bad economy, I wondered if business will be good. Competition must be very tough for the many shopping malls in Orchard Road. There are just too many. But it will be good for me....lol...I like to shop or window shop in different malls and looking out for good dining places and good deals.

This is ION Orchard which is opposite CK Tang. It is a high-rise residential condominium cum shopping mall. It is expected to be completed end of this year. You can read more about it in here.

This mall is so big and the escalator is facing the main road. Glad they kept the trees otherwise it looked like a concrete jungle. It is an offence to cut down trees in here, you need permit to cut down trees. You can read more about the mall in here.

Another yet to be completed shopping mall called Lluma Shopping Centre opposite Bugis Junction.

The star and hexagon shaped structures will be lighted when completed. This shopping centre will looked very lovely at night.

With so many shopping malls, we are spoilt with choices...lol. But I hope they dont sell the same stuff in the malls. We can always see the same brand of shops in almost every shopping mall. I am not a shopalcoholic. During good times, I shop less cause things are too expensive and not worth to buy but during the bad times, the many discounts and good deals allowed me to buy the things that I have been eyeing for a long time.....yayyyyy....lol.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Lemonade Award

Today I received an award from a very friendly blogger who never fails to visit me and her nice comments everytime make me smile. She is so sweet to translate her blog into english for the english visitors to her blog. Her name is Anya and this is her blog.

Here is the text of the award:
The Lemonade Award is given to sites which the giver show either great attitude and or gratitude.The rules for these awards are:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs.

I am just happy to have bloggers visit my blog and appreciated very much their nice comments. I cant make up my mind who to give. So anyone who loves this award, please grab it from here. :)

Skywatch Friday-Housing in Tiong Bahru

My skywatch will be these housing in Tiong Bahru. Built in the 1930s, Tiong Bahru Estate is one of the oldest housing estates in Singapore. Almost everyone in Singapore knew that Tiong Bahru is famous for their buildings and of course their food (especially chwee kuay) at Tiong Bahru Hawker Centre. I will go there another time to take photo of the hawker centre.

These flats featured rounded balconies, flat rooftops and the famous spiral staircases.

These flats are protected under Tiong Bahru Heritage Buildings. They cannot be demolished without the government's permission. You can read more on these flats from
source.

These newer taller buildings are private condominiums.

It is directly opposite the MRT Station of Tiong Bahru. The place where I am standing is Tiong Bahru Shopping Mall.


This condominium is so tall that I have to squat down and bend my head real low to try to take the whole building...lol. I still did not capture the lower few floors. I think this condominium is at least more than forty stories high.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

My World Tuesday-Sri Marriamman Temple

Slippers, sandals, shoes, socks over here and over there......... No...... these footwears are not dump here nor are they on sale...lol.

Visitors to the temple need to remove their footwear before entering the temple.

You can view another post on this temple in my previous post.

This is the Sri Marriamman Temple in Chinatown. This temple is very old dated back 1827. Photographers always love to take photo of these figurines on top of the entrance of the temple. I like to be a bit different so I took some photos of the side of the building of the temple. It is very interesting.

From the side gate, you could see the large compound in the temple.

Beside the side gate, is this beautiful balcony. I never knew it existed here...lol. Glad that I took a walk at the side of the temple.

The balcony is so beautiful with all these lovely designs.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

P.S. I hope the rain will stop....... been raining since last week. I am going to run out of photos to post...lol. I need to get out and get more fresh photos. :)

Trip to Sentosa Part 5 - Dragon Trail and Integrated Resort

A bird eye view of mainland Singapore from the top of Sentosa. Not a very pretty sight because of so many constructions going on. This is the future integrated resort where Universal Studio will be located. There will be a casino too. To see how the resort look like when completed, you can view their offical website.

Locals had to pay an entrance fee of $100 to play in the casino while it is free for tourists. I am glad that the entrance fee will stop locals from gambling too much.

For me, I am looking forward to the theme park rather than the casino cause I dont have luck with the one arm bandit (jackpot) or any of the cards game...lol. Even when I go overseas, I dont gamble at their casino, I rather be spending my time dinning instead and taking photos in the surrounding area.

A short video of the dragon trail that was lcoated behind the merlion statue. You can see the monorail train whizzing past in the background.

This brings the end of my sentosa journey. There's a lot of other attractions but you have to wait for my next trip to Sentosa (not sure when...lol).

Meanwhile you can visited the website of Sentosa.

Pink Saturday-Trip to Sentosa (Part4)

My Pink contribution for today is still at Sentosa.

These slippers are comfortable for the beach. I love the pink slippers. The rectangle bags on the right are mats.

This figurine is cute. The pink scoop of ice cream is for pink saturday.

More pink ice cream. Yummy. What better way to cool myself during a hot day.

For more pinky participants, please visit Beverly of How Sweet The Sound.

Skywatch-Friday - Trip to Sentosa (Part 3) - Sentosa's Attractions

This is the skyride to go up to Imbiah where you can sit the Luge and comes down the slope.

The luge is a mini car which riders control the speed by pushing the handlebars back and forth. The luge ride goes down the slope. After the ride, riders can use the Skyride back to the starting point.

I dont have photos of the luge cause I dont have the courage to take the Luge...lol. You can see how a luge look like in here.

This is another favourite attraction in Sentosa. It is the Sky Tower. When up in the revolving tower you can see beautiful scenery around Sentosa Island and Singapore. I did not take this ride up but had tried a similar one in Hongkong.

Look at the long queue and you know why I decided not to take the ride...lol. It was during the chinese new year period which explains queue everywhere.

There's a lot of other attractions on Sentosa Island, I like best will be the Fort Siloso where there are tunnels there and we could play hide and seek there...lol. The last time I was there with sons and my siblings and their families, we were frightened by a bat flying in and out of the tunnels. I will take a photo of Fort Siloso the next time I visited it.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

Trip to Sentosa Part 2 - Palawan Beach

There are few beaches on Sentosa but only a few are clean enough to have a picnic or to swim. This is a map to show you Palawan Beach (where I went) and Siloso Beach (another favourite beach).

The black circle on the bottom of the map is the monorail station that i mentioned yesterday. You can see it is quite near the beach and you can actually walk from the station to the beaches. Wear comfortable shoes or slippers.

On the extreme right of the map is Sentosa Cove, a private housing estate where there are condominiums and bungalows which comes with their own private berths for their boats. Sorry I dont have photos of the bungalows because i cant afford to buy one there and have no rich friends that stay there...lol.

This is the play pool for little kids who are too young to swim in the open sea. It looked so fun and safe for the kids.

Away from the beach in the open sea, you can see the rows of cargo ships. They looked very near but are actually very far away. It used to have more ships but the recession had cut down many ships that pass through us. Cargo ships stop over here to refuel and replenish their food or repair their ships. They travelled from east to west and vice versa to deliver goods to the world.

You can see my other post which tells you more about the shipping route in here.

A favourite camping site at Palawan Beach.

Source of map taken from Sentosa website. (You can view the website to see the other attractions of Sentosa.)