Polusi...... Haze.......

Mulai hari ini sampai 10 September, kalau jalan2 di seputar kota Singapore, pasti akan merasakan apa itu yang namanya polusi asap.. bener2 kayak HAZE!!! Buat nafas sesak, baju dan rambut bau asap... belum kertas2 bekas bakaran yang terbang melayang-layang....
Polusi ini dikarenakan banyaknya orang2 yang membakar kertas sembahyangan beserta dupanya... karena hari ini berdasarkan penanggalan Cina adalah tanggal 1 bulan 7. "Bulan 7" menurut kepercayaan mereka adalah bulan Hantu (Ghost month).

Sekedar article yang aku comot dari sini tentang Ghost_Festival:
In Chinese tradition, the seventh month in the Chinese calendar is called the Ghost Month (鬼月), in which ghosts and spirits, including those of the deceased ancestors, come out from the lower world to visit earth. The Ghost Festival is the climax of a series of the Ghost Month celebrations. Traditionally, ancestor worshiping was an important part of the festivals, with activities including preparing ritualistic offering food, and burning hell money and bags containing cloth to please the visiting ghosts and spirits of the ancestors, as well as other deities. Other activities include, burying and releasing miniature paper boats and lanterns on water, which signifies "giving directions to the lost ghosts and spirits of the ancestors and other deities." A very solemn festival of ancestor worshiping, the festival nevertheless represents a connection between the ancestors and the descendants, the living and the dead, earth and heaven, as well as body and soul.
In Singapore (I don't know in other countries), during Ghost month, you will find stage with loud and colourful Getais in the residential estates. A Getai (歌台), is a life stage performance by a group of singers, dancers and entertainers held during the Ghost Festival to entertain the spirits. The performers usually wear glittery and sexy costumes.The latest Loud and colourful 'getai' or 'song-stage' performers are taking the centrestage in MediaCorp Raintree Pictures' latest movie, "881 - pronounce it as ba ba yao". Director Roystan Tan and the actors made a special entrance to the news conference on Wednesday using a lorry that was also featured in the movie.

Want to see a clip of 881? Click 881 Sisters

Singapore City Tour

Saturday, 11 August 2007 (14.00-16.30):
With some freshmen from NTU and NUS, we went for 3 hours city tours with campus' saints.

VICTORIA THEATRE
The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (Chinese: 维多利亚剧院及音乐会堂) is a complex of two buildings and a clock tower joined together by a common corridor and located in the civic district of Singapore.
Victoria Theatre (the section of the building on the left of the clock) was built as a town hall in 1856 to 1862 and provided space for offices, a stage and meeting hall. When the community decided to build a new theatre to commemorate the Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria, Architects Swan and Maclaren integrated a new hall with the refaced existing building and joined the two with a 60 metre clock tower. Ground was broken in 1902. Upon completion in 1906, the building - a hybrid of classical and renaissance elements adapted to suit the tropical climate - became a civic landmark and so it has remained. The clock was installed in 1906.

The Victoria Theatre has a seating capacity of 904, with a stage 167.28 square metres in size. The Victoria Concert Hall has 883 seats, and a stage which may be expanded up to 139.76 square metres in area. The concert hall was considered the venue with the best acoustics in the city, and has been the main performance venue for the SSO until the completion of the Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay in 2002 whereby the orchestra moved its home base to take advantage of superior acoustics and facilities brought about by technological and architectural advances over the years

Click here to know more about Victoria_Concert_Hall

Stamford Raffles Raffles Statue in Black is located near by Victoria Theatre.

Close up of the inscription on the statue of Raffles:

(this photo is taken from http://www.asiaexplorers.com/singapore/victoriatheatre.htm)

The Arts House at The Old Parliament House
The former Parliament House building, the oldest surviving government building in Singapore, stands on the banks of the Singapore River. This site is where Sir Stamford Raffles first arrived in 1819.

The two-storey Neo-Palladian building was completed in 1827, and reopened on 26th March 2004 as The Arts House at The Old Parliament.

The Old Parliament House once served as a Neo-Palladian mansion, a parliament house and as govenment offices. A bronze elephant statue glows on the grounds as a gift from the King of Siam in 1871.
More details about the Art House...??
Click here...!







"Former" Supreme Court:
The Old Supreme Court Building (Chinese: 最高法院大厦) is the former courthouse of the Supreme Court of Singapore, before it moved out of the building and commenced operations in the new building on 20 June2005. The building was the last Classical architecture building to be built on the former British colony. Built in front of the historical Padang grounds between 1937 and 1939, it was designed by Frank Dorrington Ward of the Public Works Department, and was his last and most significant work. The building is planned to become an arts and cultural centre in the future, with plans to refurbish the building. More information, click here... Old_Supreme_Court_Building

Padang: With some activities on that day.

CHINATOWN

This is a photo of Sago Lane in the 60's. On one side, you will see the parlour which they have a nick name .... "convalescence centre”. On the other side are hawker stalls.

Taken from http://goodmorningyesterday.blogspot.com

If you wanna know more, click here the (hi)story about Sago_Lane

Kevin, our tour guide for the day!
The bus:
Some participants:

Fun Photo...... Just for fun

Sekedar iseng...

Fun pictures/ photos of my family...

Template dan frame didapat dari FREE DOWNLOAD.. Trial.

Want to Stay Young..?

JUST TO SHARE WITH YOU ALL.....
1. Throw out non-essential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down (keep this in mind IF you are one of those grouches)

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. "AN IDLE MIND IS THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP". And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with Him/Her.

6. The tears happen: endure, grieve and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is OURSELVES. LIVE while you are ALIVE.

7. Surround yourself with what you love: whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:

If it is good, preserve it.

If it is unstable, improve it.

If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.


9. Don't take guilt trips: take a trip to the mall, even to the next country, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guild is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

And ....

do share this with someone else...

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Singapore National Day, 9 August 2007

Happy 42nd Birthday Singapore.....

Today, 9 August 2007, Singaporean celebrate their National Day, the 42nd Birthday of the Independence day of Singapore. If you go out, you will see many people wear RED to show their love to this country. We went to Pasir Ris Park just to take a walk, since we never been to this place.
A good place for picnic, especially for those with young children. The playground very big and quite nice. Barbeque pits also available. You can rent a bicycle, or just take a walk or sit relax.

Click here for more information.

Dari Pasir Ris Park, kami ke Orchard untuk menjumpai temen yang datang dari Bandung, Lila. Dapat oleh2 Batagor dan Otak2.... hhmmmm.. yummy......... sorry.. cuman bisa ngasih liat fotonya doang (itupun baru inget setelah hampir habis...).

Underwater World, Sentosa

Sunday, after church meeting, we went to Sentosa just to visit Underwater World since I got 2 vouchers from Credit Card company. Without the voucher, the entrance fee to Underwater World is very expensive, S$19.90 for adult and S$13.70 for children age 3-12 years old.


Here are some photo that we took that day, but unfortunately the photo not so good. Need more practice to take in dark room with moving objects.
Its Nemo.........?? I heard many young children asked the parents that day, which one is Nemo?

The fishes look bigger since our last visit few years ago.
Is this fish also???? Unless this fish is moving, if not doesn't look like a fish. The 'transparant' thing behind also another fish.

Also now we can see different types of Crab, both land and water crabs, small or big, and many others..
This is one type of Jelly fish on display that day.

At certain timing, you can see the attraction of 'fish feeding'. You can touch the fishes at 'Touch pool' or touch sting ray at 'Ray of fun'. Many interesting fishes, such as Piranha, various Shark, Rays, Dugong, Grouper. Also beautiful reef. And do not forget to take a look at the tiny living thing from cold artic water (2 degree Celcius), the sea snails that call 'SEA ANGEL'.

More information can be obtained from here
I found some nice and clear pictures from the net.. can been seen at Wong's gallery

Botanic Garden, 4 Aug 07

Last Saturday, we went to Botanic Garden for a walk. If you going there in this one or two weeks, you will be able to take a look at the blooming Flame tree as shown in the picture above.

The Evolution Garden also quite interesting to know what happened to this earth since beginning...

Worth to visit, as the entrance fee is Free (except if you go to National Orchid Garden). The carpark is chargeable at $0.02 per minute (but if you go between 11.00-17.00, the first hour car park fee is FREE).