Singapore: Maritime Gallery and Raffles Lighthouse

The Singapore Maritime Gallery chronicles the maritime history of Singapore. The exhibits are interesting and informative, and the Gallery is designed for a self-guided tour. It opened in 2012 and is located at the Marina South Pier, perfect for you to pop by just before jetting off (in a speedboat) to Kusu, St John's or the other Southern Islands (speaking of which, I have such fond memories of Clifford Pier!).

By some good fortune, I had a teaser guided tour of the Gallery and the Raffles Lighthouse on Pulau Satumu, The latter is not open to public, unfortunately, so here're some snippets to quell (or pique?) your interest, taken with my mobile (a rarity).

On the ferry. THE View. It takes about 1 hour to get from the Marina South Pier to the island, and you do get really close to the container ships.

The Raffles Lighthouse

Up the Lighthouse

The State Marine Ensign

The State Marine Ensign was created in 1960 and is used on all non-military vessels owned by the government, such as the Coast Guard. According to a construction sheet issued by the Ministry of Defence entitled State Marine Ensign and numbered Misc. 6 of 1960: "The State Marine Ensign shall be a blue ensign with the top left hand quarter of red charged with a crescent sided by five stars in a circle all in white and an eight pointed red and white star in the lower right hand quarter. The ratio of the width to the length of ensign shall be one to two. The colour blue is symbolic of the sea, the crescent and stars are from the State Flag and the eight pointed star represents the mariner's compass." - Wikipedia

Interestingly, apart from the State/Civil Flag of Singapore, there are 4 others - the State Marine Ensign pictured above, the President's Flag, the Red Ensign of Singapore (used for Singapore-registered civilian ships), and the Singapore Naval Force Ensign (used on all vessels owned by the Navy).

The ride back, main island, you've been missed.

More pictures are available on my Flickr (simply click any photo).

Singapore: Chinatown (The Weekend Before Chinese New Year)

The 2014 zodiac is the Horse, so expect lots of horses amidst the prosperous hues of red, orange and gold.

Here's a poem I weaved around the photos, because I was in the mood for it.

Here's a chance to countdown again to the (Chinese) New Year.

In the run up to the next (Lunar) Year,

Set your sights far

And your goals high

Stop going in rounds

Be the stallion that you are.

The God of Fortune, will shine upon you

As will the Fortune Cats here, here

And here.

And you'd realise that money doesn't come easy but it will fall, in the day

And at night.

Meanwhile, find time to soak up the festive atmosphere

Weather the crowd

Brave the squeeze

Emerge victorious

In the process, grab a few pouches,

decorations,

balloons,

chimes,

cats,

horses,

or even the entire zodiac (you'd be covered for life).

The crowd will make you invisible,

so why not indulge in a little people-watching,

observing,

or tailing?

In the end of it all, you might find yourself in need of a rest,

or something to fill up that rumbling tummy of yours

(if food samples didn't suffice).

Once it's over, you can't wait

for it to come again soon!

Happy (Belated and Advance) CNY!

Don't we all love holidays? Well the Chinese New Year (31 January this year), as the name suggests, marks the new year according to the Lunar calendar which is a little behind the Gregorian calendar. If you don't have agoraphobia, visiting any Chinatown around the world during the weekends leading up to the actual day will be an experience like no other. Expect slashed prices and an even bigger crowd on Chinese New Year's eve!

Also, the evergreen sights around Chinatown (in regular Lea Pof-style)

At the Chinatown museum

How eclectic is Chinatown?

Chinatown

Cost: free

Access: Outram MRT / Chinatown MRT