manual speed

deery-lou.
a return to singapore
thursday, october 5
checked back into the royal peacock. this place is being to feel like my second home. caught a bit of ellen degeneress on the tube. she's funny. then spent a little time just chillin. it was nice to do that in the ac room. i forgot what it was like to endure nonstop heat. after our rest we went into chinatown to a hawker. on the menu tonight was satay and wonton soup. there's nothing like a good bowl of wonton soup. yum-yum. after dinner we headed over to boat quay. bq is a stretch of restaurants along the river. a haven for toursits. there you can eat, get a boat ride, etc. we spent a few hours walking along the river. it was quite pretty at night with all the lights from the restaurants and the boats. saw some cool buildings, bridges, etc.

parliment house, boat quay

back in chinatown we got some coconut juice from a street vendor. i also wanted to try this thing that was made in bamboo. not really sure what it was called. it was some kind of bean in dough topped off with coconut and some orange sauce. i'm totally not doing it justice. it was actually quite tastey. i ate it for breakfast the next morning. hehe. don needed to go back to get his car. our plan was to meet up tomorrow in front of the peacock. i spent a quiet night in my pitch black room. i don't even remember falling asleep.

wonton soup

friday, october 6
rendevoused with don around 10. or maybe it was 11. don't really remember anymore. went to yet another hawker for pork and rice. i'm loving these hawker centers. the food is so good and cheap there. i managed to also eat two spring rolls. i feel like thats all i'm doing here: eating and drinking. i can't get enough of the teas or lime juice. don took me to few other little markets then off to see the goddess of mercy temple. got some incense. lit it. made a wish/prayer. place burning incense in holder. went inside to see goddess. said another prayer. then exited. the temple was packed. we then went to a few more markets. didn't buy anything. although did see lots of interesting stuff. we then headed to the swissotel to check in. this was our one "fancy" hotel for the trip. how come every time i step into a really nice hotel room i'm in awe. its such a different world than my budget lifestyle. i forget all the things the fancy hotels have to offer. like a real shower, more than one towel and channels on the tv. sweet!! the view from the room was amazing even with all the haze. singapore had been covered in a massive haze ever since the fires in indonnesia. it was a bit of a bummer but such is life. you can't control the will of mother nature. although those who started the fires should be dealt with.

swissotel view

don needed to do some work at his office for awhile so i headed off to city hall to check out the biennale. before reaching city hall i stopped at st. andrew's cathedral. as cathedrals go it was pretty cool. there's something about them in different countries that make them more interesting. perhaps it had something to do with the all the lanterns and the fish pond. anyway took a shit load of pictures.

st. andrew's cathedral

city hall was right next to st. andrew's cathedral so i went there next. this was one of the two major exhibition spots for the biennale. the theme of the singapore biennale 2006 is "belief". all around the city i have seen posters, cabs, buses, etc. advertising the event. i was quite excited to have the chance to see it. the first exhibit i encountered happened outside of city hall. artist takafumi hara's project "signs of memory" consisted of a series of painted panals and interviews place within the windows of city hall. he interviewed 18 local people from various religious backgrounds and cultures to discuss their own experiences of mulit-culturalism in singapore.

takafumi hara, signs of memory

the city hall exhibits were simply amazing. so many talented artists. the space itself was quite rad. i mean how often does one get a chance to go into a courtroom or judges chambers to view art. marvelous. i think this was the first time that they used it for exhibition purposes. it was definitely a good space to do it in. according to what i read i think they have plans of making city hall a huge gallery space in the future. the exhibition occupied the entire fourth floor and one room of the third. artist tzu nyen ho's the bohemian rhapsody project, a digital video, was a recreation of a courtroom drama to queen's bohemian rhapsody. pure brilliance. another artist who's work stood out in my mind was yason banal. dancing sons [tropic of virgo] was a mixed media installation focusing on the religious festivities in manila. i would love to be able to describe everything i saw but i don't feel that i'm that i'm well versed when discussing art. i did manage to take a few photos of some of the ones i really liked. that was until i got busted. oops.

jason weel, 1987

donna ong, secret, interiors: chrysalis (19)

sheba chhachhil, winged pilgrims: a chronicle from asia

jane alexander, verity, faith and justice

i got lost within the walls and halls of city hall for 2 hours before finally leaving. on my way out i bought a book and got some badges. badges are pins for those of you who aren't in the know. the lady even gave me a bottle of water. sweet. with my admission i'm able to visit each major exhibit one time. score.

meet back up with don at the hotel. feeling all ary, i wanted to check out the exhibits at tanglin camp. this was the second biggest space. they were having free admission from 6-9 so i figured that would be perfect. before heading to tanglin camp we stopped at mount faber. its a popular destination for tourist due to its great views of singapore. at mount faber you can take a cable car over to sentosa. there's also a lookout point where you can see a panoramic view of singapore. according to don this is the best scenic spot. of course it was still hazy so that limited the viewing. i got the gist of it though. would love to go back when the haze isn't so bad. i'm sure its amazing on a clear night.

mount faber

we got to tanglin camp a little after 6. tanglin camp was once part of the army; however, this section is not in use anymore. like city hall it was a great space to have a show. you can tell the organizers of the biennale really gave some thought to what they were doing. as it got darker around the camp i couldn't help but think that this would be an ideal setting for a horror movie. don kept telling me it was haunted. if only that was true. most of exhibits here seemed to have been films. honestly i have a hard time watching films at an exhibit. i don't have the attention span plus i feel like i don't have enough time. there were definitely some that stood out for me. the fog is rising, a mixed media installation, was created by george chua, alwyn lim, and chee wai yuen. the entire section [inside and outside] was painted black. when you entered the room a sole picture hung in the center. it felt kind of morbid and erie. why am i often drawn to such things? in silver thin paint on the outside where these words "the fog is rising". i did sneak a picture of my other favorite.

brian gothong tan, we live in a dangerous world

before leaving i managed to score even more badges. the lady asked me if i was collecting them and i said yes. she then told me to take what i needed. so i did. by now i was art-exhausted. two hours at city hall and another 2 hours at tanglin camp. that's a whole lot of art in one day. plus there was the time walking around mount faber. don drove us to the east coast to eat at a hawker near the beach. it was a nice evening to eat outside. the humidity had dropped a bit or had i just gotten used to it. who knows. i had some dry wonton soup which again was so freakin good. they served it with jalapeno slices. we walked around a bit. they have a wake boarding park, no boat needed. we watched for a spell. i was hoping to catch someone busting ass going over a ramp but noone did. next was a stroll along the beach. there were a lot of families out. people were still celebrating the mooncake festival. there were mini bon fires, lanterns, and incense, oh my! it was nice. i saw a giant sand castle, too.

fire & lanterns, east coast beach

we went back to the hotel to chill and figure out what to do next. it was only 10pm. needless to say i ended up passing out and didn't wake until morning. so much for going out.

to be continued…
next: a visit to the zoo

photos albums
biennale
singapore

be well…