Skywatch Friday - Crane

Today's post for skywatch is this beautiful sky with the crane as a subject. Can you spot the tiny moon there?

It soon turn dark so fast. The lights on the crane came alive too.

I played around with my camera and shake the camera while taking the following shots of the crane. The lights on the crane looked like fireworks....lol

Does this looked like some kind of fireworks? It is actually the lights on the crane.

Dancing lights

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

Back Alley 2 - Shophouses

Continued from yesterday's post.

This is the same alley as yesterday. Some of these shophouses are not restored and renovated yet and some are vacant.

The shophouse must be vacant long ago, even the creepers had climbed up to the upper floor.

Now I wondered if this plant has been grown by a bird...lol. The birds must have carry the seeds and drop into the cracks of the wall.


A very old and vacant shophouses waiting to be restored.

The alley is so narrow that I could not capture the three floors of this shophouse in my camera's screen. The highest addition of a small room reminded me of my late maternal grandparent's home. My grandparents used to stay in such a shophouse but bigger and they had an extra room added to their roof. We used to go up the extra room and climb out to the roof. My uncle is braver and he would walked on top of the roof and climb to the neighbour's shophouse to play with his neighbour...lol.

A contractor doing some renovation and restoration works to another shophouse. It looked so dangerous, I think he should wear a safety belt and a helmet. As these shophouses are protected and preserved, even the windows had to be changed to look like the original architectural designs of the old shophouse.

My World Tuesday - Back and Small Alley 1 - Graffiti

This is a back and small alley near Beach Road. Hubby and me decided to venture into this narrow alley to see what lies inside it.

The double yellow lines on both sides indicated no parking on both sides of the alley.

Most of the buildings are very old in here, long before I was born (could be as old as 100 years old). Most of them are vacant and undergoing conservation and redecoration.

It is interesting to see the colourful and creative graffiti works on the side of the buildings.

More artworks on the shophouses that were occupied right inside the alley.

The scaffoldings around are indication of the building that's still doing some redecoration and renovation.

Tomorrow I will show the original and unpainted and undecorated side of the shophouses before conservation. It is very interesting.

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Skywatch Friday-Parkview Square

Parkview Square is one of the more expensive office buildings in Singapore. Besides commercial office space, Parkview Square also houses the embassies of Austria, Mongolia and the United Arab Emirates. You can read more about this building from source.

The building looked so impressive. On zooming the top of the building, you can see four giant statues holding a ball each. This is the best my camera can zoom....sigh. I think I need to get a better camera that can zoom more than 10 times ....lol.

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

Shops along Arab Street

This is Arab Street which was named after a rich Arab Merchant who used to own a big land in here or it was a site of an Arab village/kampong during the earlier times.

This street is very colourful and interesting. There are many shops that not only sell clothes but also beads, costume jewelleries, baskets, etc. I sometimes come here to purchase beads for my beads jewellery crafts.

You can read more about Arab Street from Wikipedia.

This passage between the shop front and the road is known as a five foot way. Five foot? It means that the passage is about five foot wide but sometimes they are less than five feet.

You can read more about the five foot way from wikipedia.

Shopkeepers would always display their goods along the five foot way to attract customers.

I spotted some belly dancing costumes. Belly dancing is now very popular in Singapore among all the races. It is a great way to slim down too. But no, I dont do any belly dancing...lol

These are Ali Baba's Pants. Wondered why they are called Ali Baba's pants? Perhaps it was named after Ali Baba.

Shophouses along Muscat Street

Continued from yesterday's post. After visiting the Sultan Mosque, what about visiting some of the souvenir shops to get some souvenirs.

I like the windows above the shops. These are shophouses. The owner lived upstair the shop.

My World Tuesday - Sultan Mosque

,Masjid Sultan (Malay for Sultan Mosque, is located at Muscat Street and North Bridge Road). The mosque is considered one of the most important mosques in Singapore. The prayer hall and domes highlight the mosque's star features.

Sultan Mosque has stayed essentially unchanged since it was built, with only repairs carried out to the main hall in the 1960s and an annex added in 1993. It was gazetted as a national monument on 14 March 1975. You can read more about the mosque from source.

Another view of the mosque from another angle.

I like patronizing the snack store near the mosque, they serve very good curry puff...yummy.

The street in front of the mosque is decorated with malay decorations because Hari Raya Puasa is approaching soon. It is on 21st September 2009.

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Award

This morning, when I opened my mail, I received a beautiful award from CC LacenRibbonRoses.

It's a gorgeous award, passed on to those that you feel are sweet, kind hearted and that visit other blogs often, always leaving comments.

Now,I must choose 6 bloggers that I feel has the sweet standards of visiting,leaving sweet comments..encouragement...and friendship among sister bloggers. I have more than 6 to choose so I would dedicate this award to all my fellow bloggers out there who are always giving me nice and sweet comments.

Pink Saturday - Bazaar

It is pink Saturday again. I am posting photos of some stalls selling some beautiful baju (clothes) for the malay festival.

I only featured few stalls that are nearer to the main road cause the weather is a killer, it is so hot, I dare not go right into the bazaar. I think I will visit again next week during the night and take more photos...lol.

These are baju which are the malay's culture style of dressing. During their festival, i.e. Hari Raya Puasa which will falls on 21st September 2009 for this year. The whole family would wear the same colour clothes. They looked so cute especially for the small kids.

These are for the little kids, they are so cute.

Did you see any carpets that you fancy in this stall?

We are a multi racial country and most have friends from different races. So same for me and my family too.

We do get invited by our malay friends to join them for a meal during their festival but this year I wont be able to join my friends cause I have to attend my cousin's wedding on 21st September in a very nice hotel. I have so many cousins, so after this cousin getting married we are down to one very last female cousin that is still unmarried.

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

Skywatch Friday - Hari Raya Puasa

Here is Geylang Serai, where you can find almost everything that is related to the malay culture. From food to clothes.

It is fantastic that Singapore celebrates the different festivals of its multi racial people. We have Geylang Serai (for the muslims), Chinatown (for the Chinese), Little India (for the Indians) and Orchard Road (christmas for others, tourists, etc).

We have lights up at the streets at the four important roads during the different festivals. This month is the celebration of the muslim for their Hari Raya Puasa. So the streets of Geylang Serai is decorated with fairy lights and there are bazaar selling things associated with Hari Raya Puasa.


I will post the photos of the bazaar tomorrow for Pink Saturday.
Note the sign (circled) which do not allow people to jaywalk but yet people still cross the roads without using the designated crossings. It is not only dangerous to themselves but also to the traffic. You will face a fine if you are caught jaywalking. But not all roads have this sign, only busy roads.

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

At the Park

Still taking a stroll along the beach and the little park beside it.

Admiring flowers and plants as I stroll but dont ask me the names of the trees ...lol, I am not familar with their names.

I guess these fruits/seeds are waiting for birds to help them disperse and grow into tiny plants.

Now who might be living in this hole.

My World Tuesday - Taking a stroll along the Beach

This week, lets go to the beach for a stroll. I guess you are all tired of the malls...lol. Time to get some nice fresh air instead of being inside an aircondtioned mall.

We dont have the nicest looking beach but the sea is so very important to us.

Ships have to pass our shore and take refuge here to refuel and re stock food. If you are living on the western of the earth, the products (i.e. television, microwave, computer, etc) you bought from Japan, South Korea or China, they have to be ship to the west via our sea. So our port is very busy (one of the busiest port in the world) and it helps us with our economy too.

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