Singapore and Its Attraction

Got up early. It’s still dark, but the watch says 7.30am. Back home, I would just grab my pillow and turn back in, and probably steal another extra 15minutes of sleep. But that’s not the case today. With those sore legs and aching feet from last night’s marathon, we forced ourselves to climb out of bed and hit the shower. Went down for breakfast (big one) and 1 hour later we were off for the day.

10am (+/-).
Singapore Philatelic Museum. This is one of the sites on our list. There were so many things we discovered about stamps that were never attractive to us before. Well, turned out, philately IS a serious hobby. We even met a group from Jakarta who went all the way to Singapore to attend Stamps Exhibition in Suntec City Mall, later tonight. As for us, well, that’s not why we came though. Just thought to visit some of the interesting museums we never go to back home.

11am (+/-).
Asian Civilization Museum. Being an Asian, this is one of the sites we wanted to go to. And in fact, there were so many interesting things we found out there. Did you know that Singaporean people are mostly Peranakan (the term for cross Chinese – Malay)? Well, in fact, they are. Something that still lingers in my mind, with just S$3 admission fee, they sure manage to have a well maintained museum.

12am (+/-).
Singapore Art Museum. Not too far from Asian Civilization Museum. But since we made a pact to go on foot, everything seemed a bit far. Thank goodness for the clean air. Once we arrived in the museum, art enveloped us almost immediately. They put up mostly paintings. And they had around 10 galleries, all about paintings, sculpture, and 3 dimension computer graphics.
I cannot paint. I cannot even draw a full circle without any tools. I don’t understand paintings. But I truly felt the greatness of these artists’ work. Mr. Wu Tsai Yen did finger paintings and they’re bloody beautiful. Tan Swie Han, another artist, also held an exhibition called “Embracing Infinity”.
“A book of fiction may be translated into a theater performance, a song sung into a sculpture and calligraphy work done with every stroke as a dance step” (From musical recording-performed by Kee Chee Koon on the Ding Xiang Zither).

1pm (+/-).
Next stop, Chimes. An old covenant turned into restaurants and bars, located just near the City Hall. The ceiling of the cathedral is very beautiful. Too bad it was closed for public, otherwise, perhaps we would have spent like rolls of films there. Anyway, not so long after, we were back to the hotel for a shower (we were drenched in sweat from all the walking). Man, I love ‘em MRT things, they just make your life a lot easier…

3pm (+/-).
Chinatown. From the very first day we got here, I’ve been whining to K that we go to here (me and my Chinese obsession…). So, time came for me to visit a true Chinatown.

Chinese Heritage Center. Never in my life had I imagined living in a house with 7 other families, and just in the next room, I find brothel house (or room to be exact). But that’s what happened in the early days when Chinatown was first built. In a 3 level house you could find 8 families, 1 tailor workshop, a brothel house, 1 TV room, 1 restaurant and a market, 1 bookstore, etc.
Tears almost trickled down had I not held them up. Walking out of the house I suddenly felt so lucky to be born in this age where I don’t have to share my room with 3 other families.

5.30pm (+/-).
Another trip through City Link Mall and rest our feet at Starbucks in Raffles City. The coffee is just about the same with any other Starbucks all around the world. But somehow, I felt that this time Iced Cappuccino tastes different. But then again, perhaps it’s just the atmosphere.

The night is still young. Especially since this is Saturday night. But this time, we call it a day. And we got back to the hotel a while later. It hurts when your soul still cries for more but your feet screams for you to stop.

Anyway, today has been great (and tiring). And we still have tomorrow to do our shopping…