Singapore

The view from Kampong glam to the Sultan Mosque — I’ve written a few different blogposts about Singapore being a cultural melting pot, focussing each time on different racial groups of Singapore. Yes, in one tiny country, you can see mid-autumn festivals in Chinatown, Thaipusam festivals in Little India, Javanese Kuda kepang dancing, and even the young expats doing the dance-walking around Orchard or Clarke Quay. But one important cultural icon of Singapore is the Kampong Glam and Bugis area, which is where you want to be if you want to enjoy the best of Arab/Malay food and culture. The Buginese people were one of the ethnic groups of South […]

The Sultan had a large mosque! : Bugis, Singapore

Bridge to the chinese gardens — Having lived in Singapore for 2 years, I have previous blogged about various touristy places here. But one place which I keep forgetting to mention, or which most people generally ignore from the tourism map of Singapore, is the Chinese Gardens. Heard of the other gardens? The Gardens by the bay? Click here to read about them! Also called the Jurong Gardens, the Chinese gardens was built by the Taiwanese architect Yuen-Chen Yu. Conveniently located at the MRT station, which is also named ‘Chinese gardens’, this interesting bit of Singapore is located on the west end of the green metro […]

Chinese Gardens: Singapore

Actually, I hate to go. - Changi airport, Singapore — 4th August 2014 – Singapore Goodbyes are the worst sob stories. Oh, the pain! Especially to friends, who saw you in both the low and prime. But with all this travel, I find that I now smile more often at airports. Because, thankfully, goodbyes don’t last a wretched lifetime. When I started this journey from Singapore, it was heartbreaking. To let go of all the friends here. To start again, on ground zero. I was consumed with depression on the first day of my journey, in Sydney. And rightfully, i decided to make a short pitstop here, on the way from […]

Project 365: Day 34 – Leaving on a Jetplane

When one crazy, clicks another. - Clarke Quay, Singapore — 3rd August 2014 – Singapore Don’t build distances, so vast that you drown in them. And, don’t dream about pastures that you cannot see. Don’t lead to revile. Don’t follow to beguile. Liquor is quicker, so just walk this bridge beside me. Last night, the drinking started at the bridge, only to end at 5 or 6 in the morning. Now, even if you were living in Singapore for the last 10 years, there is a good chance that you don’t know where ‘the bridge’ is. Neither are you at fault if you started searching the club listings for any establishment named, well, the […]

Project 365: Day 33 – The bridge doesn’t divide

The face and the brushstrokes - Chinatown, Singapore — 2nd August 2014 – Singapore The smell of succulent fried wantons filled the air And the red lanterns stood arrogant, and looked down. Among the bigots, the drunks, the pimps and the whores, The artist remains largely unnoticed, in Chinatown. A sleepy saturday for most of the part, I pretty much woke up only around 4 PM. Victoria, my friend whose place I am crashing, ensured that I got enough rest, before we took off to a volleyball game at Sentosa beach. At the beach, we met up with another couch surfer named Alex, and asked her to join us for dinner at […]

Project 365: Day 32 – The Artist

Invisible in a crowd. - Singapore — 1st August 2014 – Singapore Their boots were filthy, and dust danced on their palms They carried stories of pain, and all the agonising lore. Yet they slept in unknown corridors, and roamed unseen roads. Beyond preying eyes. Beyond stomp. Beyond Singapore. I am back to Singapore, although just for a bit. Thought of spending 4 days here catching up with friends, before I proceed to the next phase of my journey. Check out images from the Thaipusam festival in Singapore. Click here! So, this left me in a quandary. I have pretty much photographed anything of touristic value in Singapore, so what do […]

Project 365: Day 31 – The others

No emergencies. And no exits. - Melbourne, Australia — 31st July 2014 – Melbourne, Australia In airports and terminals, I found a new game. Of hide-and-seek, with an edge of chaos and mayhem Time is playing a good referee, and keeps reminding me. The exits are always there. But I have no plans of taking them. They say time flies. Mine must have taken a concorde, because the realisation is a kickback when you are already typing out the 30th day post. The last one month was spent in 5 different countries, and that is a fairly good start. Click here to check out pictures from Vanuautu, one of my favourite countries the […]

Project 365: Day 30 – Going full circle

holland village singapore — This was the 2nd post (Day 2) of an entire year-long series, which I named ‘Project 365′. The idea was simple enough: travel for a full year and document every day of it, in the form of a daily picture and poem. I am still working on a book of this year-long travel, but till then, enjoy all the posts here. You can check out the daily posts in the details below or jump to the final day of the project by clicking here. 3rd July 2014 – Singapore (Day 2) I charged windmills, and leapt on window stills. Mad like […]

A little bit of Holland in Singapore

singapore farewell party — This was the first post (Day 1) of an entire year-long series, which I named ‘Project 365′. The idea was simple enough: travel for a full year and document every day of it, in the form of a daily picture and poem. I am still working on a book of this year-long travel, but till then, enjoy all the posts here. You can check out the daily posts in the details below or jump to the final day of the project by clicking here. 2nd July 2014 – Singapore (Day 1) A journey begins with a beer, they said. A smile […]

A Farewell at Zsofi’s Tapas Bar

singapore eunos metro station — This was the first post of an entire year-long series, which I named ‘Project 365′. The idea was simple enough: travel for a full year and document every day of it, in the form of a daily picture and poem. I am still working on a book of this year-long travel, but till then, enjoy all the posts here. You can check out the daily posts in the details below or jump to the final day of the project by clicking here. 1st July 2014 – Singapore From dust we rose and to dust we shall go And dust is […]

Project 365: Day 0 – The beginning

herIn Java (Indonesia), there is a folk dance so crazy, that you will squeak, scrimp, and look away in horror. While I have not seen it in Indonesia, I have seen it in Singapore – where it is supposed to be conservative – and I almost cried. It’s one of the positive culture-shocks that travellers to this part of the world, must experience. If you are looking for traditional festivals in Singapore, also check out my pictures from the mid autumn festival here! Kuda Lumping is a traditional Javanese Dance form and literally means ‘flat horse‘, denoting a prop that is used throughout the […]

Kuda Kepang in Singapore

Many of the people I meet while travelling, have never heard of dancewalking. And I am proud when I explain to them, especially when I tell them, how it is so common in Singapore. ================================================================= How to order your kopi like a boss, in Singapore! ================================================================= Well, to keep things in perspective, nobody knew of dance walking in Singapore too, until a year ago. Around that time, one hippy local couch-surfer with long hair went on a trip to some European city, and his host there took him along for a dancewalk. When he came back to Singapore, he explained […]