Happy Chinese New Year! Let us all soar into greater heights with this Year of the Dragon.

It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve today! Just in time to extend my warmest greeting of a Happy Chinese New Year to you all, particularly to my family, relatives and friends before I’m flying off to Sri Lanka later this afternoon for a 7-days guided trip to the island nation with my parents.

I believe most of us would have already returned to their hometown by now before the much anticipated and a-must family reunion dinner this evening. (For me, I have returned to KL from Singapore on early Wednesday’s morning…that’s pretty early!). Anyway, have a warm and wonderful time ahead with your loved ones on this joyous festival/celebration.

I wonder how much of the following CNY customary activities that I will be doing for this year since I will be away during most of the duration of the festival; paying visit to relatives’ homes, feasting on CNY snacks, playing fireworks/firecrackers, giving/receiving angpows, watching CNY movies, playing mahjong/rummy/poker at home, catching up with one another, etc. In the meantime, I will just be enjoying my vacation at Sri Lanka first which is commencing in a few hours. Will share the highlights of the trip in my next blog post.

Goodbye to Year of the Rabbit! May this Year of the Dragon (yes…dragon displays everywhere!…haha) brings you excellent health, luck and success. Happy Chinese New Year / Happy Spring Festival once again! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Sneak peek of River Hongbao 2024 CNY displays at Gardens by the Bay.

It’s already the last weekend of January. Why do I felt like I have just celebrated new year a couple of days ago only? 2024 is going fast! I will be working for a few more days and then I will head back to KL for a long holiday in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year celebration and. During the period, I will be flying to Sri Lanka with my parents for a guided trip. Can’t wait…

Today I went out to quite a number of places since it is such a good weather today. I went to Funan Mall and had a brief stop at National Gallery. I also made my way to Bugis to check out another happening pedestrian street (besides than the one in Chinatown that I visited yesterday) where all CNY stalls were set up. Since I was at Bugis already, I might as well pay a visit to the famous Kwan Im Temple over there. Prayed that things will be smooth for me and most importantly stay healthy for this coming lunar new year.

The place where I spent the most time today is actually at Gardens by the Bay. I went there to have a sneak peek of the CNY displays for the upcoming River Hongbao 2024. It is an annual event that features illuminated displays/lanterns, stage performances and carnival games in conjunction with Chinese New Year festival. I did went for the event once in the past.

This year, the event will take place from 8th Feb to 17th Feb. Unfortunately, I will be back in KL for that entire duration and hence couldn’t go. They should extend the event for another week (at least till the 15th day of CNY which is the last day of the festival) so that many more can have the opportunity to visit. The displays/decorations are still being set up at Gardens by the Bay now (but nearing completion already) and I had a sneak peek of them today.

They would really look beautiful during the event when they are illuminated in the evening. The main highlight/display would be of course the floating dragon around the Supertrees and a huge replica of God of Wealth (still under construction today). Yup… dragon display everywhere as it would be year of the dragon in Chinese calendar for this approaching lunar new year.

Checked out the light projections and few art installations after work at Light to Night Festival 2024.

Light to Night Festival returns this year from 19th January to 8th February 2024. Themed ‘Reimagine’ for 2024 edition, this district-wide visual arts festival looks to inspire audiences to forge deeper connections with art in new and engaging ways. The festival features art installations, light projections on building facade, exhibitions, live performances and various other programmes.

(Image source: “Light to Night Singapore’ Facebook page)

The parts I’m looking forward to see every year are only the art installations and light projections. After finishing my work for the day just now, I met up with a friend of mine and had dinner before going to explore the displays/installations. First, we went to check out the light projections (titled ‘Temple of Love’ and ‘Teo Eng Seng: Living the Life’) on the front facade of National Gallery Building. There is also an installation (named ‘Wings of Change’) over there right opposite the building at the Padang. It is said to resemble seeds but they look like ‘siham’ (cockles) to me…hehe…

After that, we walked over to The Arts House (besides National Gallery) for another light projection (titled ‘Winter Sonata, Summer Mookata’). Here, there is a small art installation titled ‘8-bit Word Cloud’. Next, we moved on to the adjacent Asian Civilizations Museum (just visited this museum two weeks ago) to see a light projection on its sideway (titled ‘Passage’) and saw another light installation named ‘Party Pavilion’.

Following that, we proceed to the Victoria Theatre building to see the last light projection (titled ‘Embroidered Landscapes’). This light projection is the most mesmerizing out of all that we have seen this evening. There is also another art installation over there called the ‘Wayang Spaceship’. That’s it. A quick walkaround the area to check out all these in less than an hour.

As it is weekday today, there isn’t too many people during our visit to the festival area (Singapore Civic District) just now. There was a time of rain before I finished work but luckily it stopped right after.

Monday’s evening at Gardens by the Bay to check out the Mid-Autumn Festival light-up.

It’s Monday, start of another typical five-day work week again. I’m curing my Monday blues today by finding things to do for the evening after work. Besides having dinner with a friend, we decided to go check out the annual light-up event at Gardens by the Bay in conjunction with the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival (with the theme being ‘Garden of Blooms’). This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 29th September 2023.

Besides than featuring many bright and colourful lantern displays scattered across the picturesque Gardens by the Bay (most displays are at the Supertree Groove), this year’s event also includes food street, carnival rides, cultural performances, cultural programmes and workshops. The daily Garden Rhapsody light and music show at the Supertree Groove also had moon-themed soundtracks only for this particular month in conjunction with the festival. I watched the show as well which lasted a little over 10 minutes.

Here are some of the photos I took of the lantern displays. They are gorgeous, isn’t it?

Although it’s Monday evening, but there were still a lot of people here tonight to visit Gardens by the Bay and check out the light displays like us surprisingly. It must be super crowded here during weekends then. We also noticed a lot more ang-moh (white people) tonight (and lately too). I felt like I was in US or Europe just now. I believe they are most likely here for the past F1 weekend and decided to stay longer to explore Singapore.

We spent about two hours walking around the area before calling it a day. It was very warm and humid this evening though (and there’s no wind at all) and it’s working day tomorrow hence we don’t plan to stay longer there. At least today it was an interesting end to another typical busy day at the office after checking out these wonderful lantern displays. No matter what, with or without event, Gardens by the Bay remains one of my favourite places in Singapore for a leisurely walk or a bicycle ride. A place full of memories on top of great views.

Lights’ installations and projection mappings @ SG Night Festival 2023.

Yes! We have gotten ourselves to another weekend! Awesome!…It has been quite a short week for me though as I was on medical leave on last Monday (due to serious neck and shoulder pain since the week before). The whole week appeared to flown by so quickly as I was rushing everyday to get my works done for a submission yesterday.

My neck is getting better fortunately (after over a week!) but I think it still needs few more days to recover fully. It is getting there…This weekend started slightly earlier as I only worked for half day yesterday. I got a friend who was transiting in Singapore yesterday and I offered myself to be his tour guide for the day since it was his first time here after his previous visit to this country around two decades ago.

I brought him to Chinatown, Plaza Singapura mall, Suntec City mall and definitely the Marina Bay area which is a must to see all the iconic sights like the Merlion, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore Flyer, Gardens by the Bay and the CBD skyline. I passed as a tour guide…haha. It shall be his turn to be my tour guide when I visit Hong Kong next time (which is likely going to be next year).

As for today, I head out in the evening to check out the on-going Singapore Night Festival 2023. The festival which runs on every evening from 18th to 26th August 2023 took place around the cultural districts from City Hall, Bras Basah and then all the way to Bugis. It features experiential programmes, food and retail experiences, night lights installations and dynamic projection mappings. I am only keen on the latter two. Here are some of the shots I took:

Hence, it was my mission this evening to walk around the area and check out most of the night lights installations and all of the projection mappings (only happens at CHIJMES and National Museum of Singapore). I remembered I checked out this annual festival once or twice before previously and I felt this year’s presentations were a bit lackluster or underwhelming. The festival still manage to attract huge crowds though.

Went to Marina Bay this weekend to check out the ‘I Light SG 2023’ festival and National Day rehearsal fireworks.

The annual ‘I Light Singapore’ festival is back this month (until 25th June evening) with many interesting light art installations (with the theme of ‘A New Wave’ this year) scattered around Marina Bay (and two at South Beach Avenue and one at Millenia Walk mall). The festival give me more reason to visit Marina Bay this weekend.

But before that, I also did went to Marina Bay on yesterday’s night and saw some of the installations already. That’s because I cycled from National Stadium all the way to Marina Bay Sands last night. It was my first time cycling through the Marina Barrage, Gardens by the Bay and Bayfront area (these areas are much busier with more cyclists and pedestrians even in the midnight).

So for today’s evening, I went to Marina Bay again to check out the remaining light art installations (saw all of them this evening except for one because that one requires admission fee and so I skipped it!). It was much more livelier today as expected since it is a Saturday’s evening. I didn’t bother to read the descriptions of the installations though. I’m more interested on taking pictures of them from interesting angles just like the masses. Some are interactive installations too where visitors can engage/interact with to produce some sort of effects.

What I didn’t expect was that there will be Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) rehearsals happening on every Saturdays this month at the nearby Padang. This means there will be some fireworks display to watch this evening. I knew right away that it’s going to happen tonight as I saw many people setting up their cameras and tripods along the Marina Bay around 8pm just now (usual timing for fireworks display at annual NDP event).

I walked from Marina Bay Sands to the Promontory, and then to the famous Merlion statue before heading to the Esplanade. The lively atmosphere and the beautiful scenery made this a lovely evening walk. Singapore cityscape is no doubt gorgeous. The walk especially across the Jubilee Bridge also reminds me of the great time I had while celebrating new year on that pedestrian bridge few years ago (time flies but memories stay).

My walk didn’t stop there. I went all the way to Millenia Walk and South Beach Avenue to check out the remaining three installations. I realized not many people pay attention to those three installations though as compared to the ones around Marina Bay (understandable as Marina Bay is more popular with visitors). I actually took MRT and travelled back to Bayfront to quickly check out the Gastrobeats (carnival of food, music and fun and it’s part of the ‘I Light SG 2023’ festival as well) that I missed earlier before calling it a day.

Time to head back home after a long but satisfying walk.

Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the year of tiger.

Happy Chinese New Year / Spring Festival! May this year of the tiger brings you happiness and prosperity! Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Finally I am able to be reunited with my family for the lunar new year festival this year after skipping it last year due to the travel restriction. It’s time to do back all the customary CNY practices; having reunion dinner, visiting relatives and friends, gets angpow, eating CNY cookies, play rummy, go on a vacation, etc.

No oversea vacation this year again due to the current pandemic and that Malaysia has only opened tourist lane with Singapore so far (I think). Second year in a row with no oversea travel with family. Hence, we opted for a domestic vacation at Langkawi near end of this week for 3 days 2 nights. Besides my parents, all my other close family members are also able to join this time. That’s awesome! It’s very hard nowadays to get everyone on board.

Do continue to stay safe while enjoying the CNY celebration! Covid cases are on the rise now due to the present Omicron variant that is more transmissible. Once again, I would like to extend my Lunar New Year greeting to all my family, relatives, friends, my blog readers here who are also Chinese and to everyone else who are also celebrating it! Looking forward to home cooked meals for our family reunion dinner tomorrow!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

Yet another Mid-Autumn Festival away from home.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all who are celebrating it! The festival falls on the coming Tuesday this year. Similarly to last year, this will be yet another Mid-Autumn Festival for me away from home as we are still currently in the pandemic and I could not return to enjoy the celebration together with my family back at home in Malaysia. No family reunion again…

Mid-Autumn Festival is considered as one of the most important Chinese festivals (probably the second most important after the Lunar New Year). It is celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month in Chinese calendar with a full moon at night. On this day, the Chinese believe that the moon is at its brightest and fullest size, coinciding with harvest time in the middle of Autumn season. Feasting on mooncakes and playing lanterns are closely associated to this festival.

I have always been wondering that since it is the second most important Chinese festivals, it should be granted a public holiday at least over here in Singapore where majority of the population is Chinese. But no! Why? Because Singapore is too hardworking. That is why the country is always ranked among the top 3 most stressful or overworked city/country every year.

What’s my favourite thing to do in this festival? Eating mooncakes of course. I love mooncakes, especially the traditional lotus seed with egg yolk ones. What’s your favourite mooncake flavours? (there are a lot of varieties available now from various brands). I also love durian mooncakes (actually anything as long as it is associated with durian). I even bought not one, but three boxes of Mao Shan Wang snowskin mooncakes to treat myself this year. I can slowly enjoy it for at least two months without the feeling of anxiety of finishing them too soon. Yes…buying mooncakes are super expensive nowadays but it’s just once a year, so that’s fine.

I also joined a special religious event in a church with Mid-Autumn Festival theme yesterday at the invitation of my friend who will be performing in the event itself. I’m not a Christian but I don’t mind attending to join in the fun and to watch my friend performed. The event features some games, a sketch, a talk by pastor, and some singing (all done with safe Covid-19 measures in place). It was quite a fresh and nice experience.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival once again!

(Images in this post are from various online sources)

As January is coming to an end, CNY mood starts to fill the air.

Today is already the last day of January and it’s now less than 2 weeks away from Chinese New Year festival. This will be my first time celebrating this festival away from family and home. And due to the pandemic, my annual CNY oversea vacation will not materialize this year too. It’s going to be a very different and more muted celebration this year.

But that didn’t stop my CNY mood either especially after seeing many places selling CNY goodies and biscuits, hearing festive CNY songs in malls, seeing beautiful CNY decorations at public spaces, and realizing that my coming CNY break is just around the corner. Here are some shots I took at Chinatown last week with all the CNY decorations including a lighted up display of a giant ox with wheel (it will be the year of ox in 2021).

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On last Saturday, there is a sudden urge in me to visit somewhere in Singapore that is overwhelmed with nature. Macritchie Reservoir came to my mind. I had always wanted to visit this place (never visited it before) as it is known for its vast reservoir and forest area. I need to have a quick escape from the concrete jungle environment that I see everyday and the reservoir seems to be a perfect place for that. Although the famous treetop walk over there is closed for maintenance during my visit a week ago, I still had a good time (spent about three hours) covering a small section of the many walking trails available there despite a sudden heavy downpour in the middle.

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I also saw a lot of people canoeing on that reservoir including small kids. I have not played it before and would like to try it someday. I’m going to visit the reservoir again once the treetop walk is opened back and when I started to miss the sight of overwhelming trees and smell of the forest again.

That’s my activity last Saturday. For this weekend, I went to see the animated light projections on National Gallery, Asian Civilization Museum and Victoria Theatre yesterday’s evening. These projections are part of the Light to Night Festival which lasts for a week and is ending today. I find that Singapore love to organize light shows. These events do attract crowds but with proper discipline of each group keeping a distance from one another, the huge empty space of the ‘Padang’ that helps in scattering the people and the presence of many safe distancing ambassadors around, everything appears to be fine for people to enjoy the light shows.

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By the way, I do not get at all the meanings of those light projections and I’m lazy to read all the lengthy descriptions. Beautiful sight and that is enough. Haha…There is also free admission for all visitors to the exhibition galleries inside the National Gallery. I did went inside the majestic looking building but left after a short while as I’m not that interested into the themes of the exhibitions. Do go to City Hall area to check them out if you haven’t. It’s free and today is the last day.

Strolling around Jewel on this Deepavali, and a brief review for TVB drama ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’.

First of all, I would like to take this opportunity to wish Happy Deepavali to my Indian friends and to everyone else who are celebrating this occasion too. Let the colours of this holy night decorate your life with peace, prosperity and success! By the way, it’s a bit sad that we don’t see much of Deepavali decorations set up on public places, streets or in malls. Instead, most places already have their Christmas decorations ready although it is still more than a month away.

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This year’s Deepavali falls on a Saturday and I spent most of the day resting at home, binge watching my Hong Kong drama (quick review below) and strolling around Jewel, Changi Airport in the evening. The indoor waterfall accompanied with great lighting and ambience never fails to impress me each time I visit the place. While the terminal areas of the airport appear to be very quiet (very less flights nowadays due to the current global pandemic), it is totally the opposite atmosphere at the Jewel (it is so crowded!).

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This year’s Deepavali falls on a Saturday and I spent most of the day resting at home, binge watching my Hong Kong drama (quick review below) and strolling around Jewel, Changi Airport in the evening. The indoor waterfall accompanied with great lighting and ambience never fails to impress me each time I visit the place. While the terminal areas of the airport appear to be very quiet (very less flights nowadays due to the current global pandemic), it is totally the opposite atmosphere at the Jewel (it is so crowded!).

Let’s move on to my quick review of yet another TVB drama that I have finished watching. The series is called ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’ and it is a direct sequel to the 2017’s ‘Legal Mavericks’. The plot continues with the blind barrister who strives for justice for the disadvantaged, using his other heightened senses and legally controversial methods to seek truths behind his court cases. Standing alongside him is his very close buddies; a female legal executive, a private investigator, and a newly made female barrister friend. The 28-episode series starred Vincent Wong, Sisley Choi, Kelly Cheung, Owen Cheung, Paul Chun, etc.

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I enjoyed the series just as much as its predecessor. Each court cases are unique in its own (never feels repetitive) and are interesting to watch. However, I was slightly disappointed by the very last court case in this drama that felt a little too simple and poorly written. The final case should usually be the most intense or complex one but it didn’t really turn out that way. I also wasn’t too happy with its ending; Sisley not waking up, and Vincent still not revealing his true feeling to her. They deserve a happy ending there but we ended up getting another cliffhanger (typical of TVB series nowadays).

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Vincent Wong continues to deliver stellar performance as the blind barrister (he won Best Actor from the first series three years ago) and so does Sisley Choi (who won Most Popular TV Female Character from the same role too). Kelly Cheung came in to replace Ali Lee in this second series. I can see huge improvement from Kelly but the way the script wrote her character that resembles a lot like Ali in the first series causes her performance to lose originality. It’s also good to see Paul Chun, an award-winning veteran actor starring in this series too. It’s weird but it’s fun to watch his character. Out of 10 points, I rate ‘Legal Mavericks 2020’ a total of 7.8. A solid drama that lives up to its expectation and is almost as good as its predecessor.

(Images in this post are from various online sources except for the shots of the Jewel)