‘Borealis’ light and sound installation at Gardens by the Bay.

There’s something new to check out at Gardens by the Bay recently. It’s the ‘Borealis’; a new immersive light and sound installation at the Supertree Grove which begins this month. It is an outdoor art installation that combines layers of light and cloud particles to recreate scene similar to the Northern Lights (also known as aurora borealis).

Tagging along with an atmospheric soundtrack, variations in wind, humidity and temperature make this installation a fascinating blend of art and technology and an ever-changing experience. The show which is free for all takes place on every Monday (8 to 8.30pm), Saturday (9 to 9.30pm) and Sunday (9 to 9.30pm). Currently, the installation has no end date.

I brought a friend along to check out this cool installation just now in the evening. As expected, the area around Supertree Grove is fully crowded by 8.30pm. People were all getting ready, finding a spot on the ground to sit, some even having picnic while enjoying the artistic show. There is also this daily ‘Garden Rhapsody’ light and music show that occurred right before the ‘Borealis’ show. Main attention of the crowd is not on that one of course as it is a daily show that has been here for years. Have a look at some of the pictures and a video I took just now below;

Since I didn’t have the opportunity to see the real aurora (didn’t have the chance to see it during my working holiday stint at New Zealand two years ago too unfortunately), so I have to settle for this one for now. Haha…it does look cool and pretty impressive though (of course it couldn’t be compared to the real aurora). It definitely succeeded in attracting crowds to Gardens by the Bay in the evening.

I have just finished the last episode of The Amazing Race Season 36 earlier today. Oh boy…this season is among the worst that I have watched of this popular adventure-reality competition TV show. Understood the Covid-19 restriction during the filming of this particular season (way back in 2022) that has hugely put a limit to the regions that the teams can travel to to complete tasks and move ahead closer to the 1 million dollar prize.

(Image source: dryedmangoez.com)

However, most of the tasks & places in this season are easy (not challenging at all) and appear to be slightly staged for the winning pair – Ricky and Cesar (hence their win in the end). I find it unfair and some decisions leading to past teams’ elimination during the competition are also questionable. Hope they can up the game in the next season as I have been following this show for many years already.

Went to NUS Museum earlier today. It’s my 10th museum/gallery visit for the year so far.

That’s cool right. It’s just May and I have already visited a total of 10 museums/galleries in Singapore this year. I have just done the 10th earlier today with a visit to the NUS Museum (NUS stands for National University of Singapore). Soon, I will be running out of cool museums/galleries to visit in this city state (as I have already visited many other museums/galleries in Singapore in the past before 2024 too). Haha…

NUS Museum is the oldest university museum in Singapore and is actually located right besides the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum (that I have just visited two months ago) in the NUS main campus at Kent Ridge. It took me nearly one and a half hour to reach there from my home in Paya Lebar. The museum is established in 1955 and the entrance to the museum is free for everyone.

The museum is surprisingly quite huge, has 3 levels and contains over 8000 artefacts and artworks divided across four collections. The collections include Chinese, Indian and Southeast Asian materials, consisting of traditional sculptures and paintings, bronzes, jades, ceramics, textiles, and modern and contemporary art. Some of the collections date back to several thousand years ago. Here are some of the pictures I took during my visit to the museum earlier today;

Some of the exhibits are quite fascinating and thought provoking (but there are some that look way inferior though and not worth putting up for display…just my personal thought). It would be cool if NUS is actively obtaining more collections so that this museum could be further expanded not only for the tourists but also for students especially those who are pursuing higher studies in art or history. I spent close to 2 hours in the museum; very pleasant visit and it was not crowded.

Took a trip to Singapore Navy Museum this afternoon…and finally a downpour today to cool down the recent heat!

Right after I complained about the recent hot weather just yesterday, the sky immediately gave us a much needed rain to cool off the heat today. Good one but on a not-so-good timing for me. I was on my way back home from MRT station when the heavy downpour (along with strong gusts of wind) occurred. Soaking wet from the sweltering heat yesterday and soaking wet again today but this time it’s from the rain.

Anyway, as planned yesterday, I went to visit the Singapore Navy Museum early today to get a sense of completeness after having visited Singapore Air Force Museum yesterday. It’s like a combo (have to visit the other half for a full package kind of feel). Singapore Navy Museum is located at the Tanah Merah coastline close to the Changi Naval Base. It is situated on a huge reclaimed land of which a large chunk of it will be dedicated to Changi Airport Terminal 5 in near future.

As it is located in a very isolated location and it’s quite inconvenient to reach there by public transport, the navy museum is one of the less popular museums in the country. That is why during my visit today (it’s Sunday), I saw less than 10 visitors (I was there for 2 hours). However, they do offer free shuttle bus to and from Expo MRT station (only on weekends and public holidays). Its website mentioned free entry for Singaporeans and PR but charges SGD8 for foreigners. However, when I was there, admission is complimentary for everyone.

The navy museum has 3 levels of indoor galleries with multiple sections diving deep into Singapore’s maritime history, historical beginning of RSN (Republic of Singapore Navy), evolution of RSN ships over the years, information of Naval Diving Unit (NDU), missiles, partnerships with navies worldwide, maritime security, etc. There are also two theatres (providing 2 brief video presentations) and a small gift shop (at the exit).

There is an outdoor gallery which displays a collection of historic guns and weapon systems sourced from decommissioned ships. However, I find that the outdoor gallery is lackluster. It would again be better if they parked at least a decommissioned warship right besides the museum and allow visitors for a walkthrough for an immersive experience (since the museum is already located besides Changi Navy Base). I saw a huge Singapore’s warship from the museum ground at a distance.

I actually find that the navy museum gave a slightly better experience than the air force museum I visited yesterday. The former is larger, has a more spacious layout and contains more informative displays (a lot of readings required though…haha). I arrived at the museum at 11.15am and I tried my best to tour the whole museum before the next shuttle bus time at 12.30pm. I was late for 3 minutes and the shuttle bus was gone (so on time).

I had to wait for the next one at 1.30pm (took that waiting time to walk around the museum ground, played mobile game and editing & uploading the pictures I took at the museum to my social medias immediately; making good use of the time!). I was the only one on the shuttle bus en-route back to Expo MRT station which shows clearly how unpopular this museum is due to its isolated location. However, I must say that this museum is really worth-visiting (and it’s free!).

Visited Singapore Air Force Museum today.

First thing first; the weather has been unbearably hot in recent weeks. It’s so uncomfortable especially when traveling to work or having lunch outside now having to bear the extreme heat and sweat.

Okay,,,back to the main topic of this post. Earlier today, I went over to the Paya Lebar Air Base (military airbase) region to visit the Singapore Air Force Museum. After a brief search on what are the remaining museums in the country that I have not visited, I picked this one for my today’s adventure. The museum is free to visit for anyone and has two levels of galleries.

Level 1 contains the outdoor gallery where some decommissioned fighter jets, missiles, anti-aircraft systems, etc are on display. Also included in this level is a small theatre for a clip presentation (about 10 minutes) that happens once every hour, a gift shop and a small gallery room with a flight simulator available only for school booking.

Level 2 contains the indoor gallery that traces the history and values of the RSAF (Republic of Singapore Air Force) with presence of multiple artefacts, uniforms, badges, jets’ models, and interactive displays. There is also a role-playing air combat game within the indoor gallery (I scored first place among all three players at the game…couldn’t be proud as the other two are just children…haha).

I spent about one and a half hour there. The museum is pretty small and I wish they could have displayed more decommissioned fighter jets and at least allow visitors to get inside one or two of those jets. Since I have visited Air Force Museum after today, it would feel complete to visit the Navy Museum too. Haha…That is likely to be my plan for tomorrow then.

Spent my Saturday in the two cooled conservatories at Gardens by the Bay; Cloud Forest and Flower Dome.

I think this is my fourth or fifth time of my visit to the the pair of huge glass-covered conservatories at Gardens by the Bay (named Cloud Forest and Flower Dome respectively). This time I’m heading there to check out the sakura blossom theme (2024 edition) happening only in this month (from 22 March to 21 April 2024 to be exact) in Flower Dome.

Don’t have the opportunity or budget to go to Japan to see sakura trees (cherry blossom) and so this is a good alternative (much more economical because it’s only SGD20 to enter both conservatories). Haha…Weather has been intensely warm recently too. Hence, it’s good to spend the hot afternoon inside these air-conditioned glasshouses. And of course there’s so much to see in there.

Me and my friend first went in to the Cloud Forest and spent a little over an hour in there. Scenes of cooling mist, playful elevated walkways, beautiful waterfall and sprouting landscapes in there continue to overwhelm me despite having visited the place multiple times. Even the giant column-less glass structure itself is an impressive sight to see along with spectacular views of the outside (Marina Bay Sands, CBD skyline, etc).

After that, we moved to the adjacent Flower Dome. Crowds are visibly larger in here due to the sakura blossom theme only happening in this conservatory. The air-conditioning here is also noticeably colder compared to Cloud Forest. Mesmerized by all the colourful and fascinating flowers (and sculptures/artistic installations) on display in here. There’s quite a huge variety of flowers in here. There are also various mini-gardens dedicated to different regions of the world.

The highlight of our visit today is of course the cherry blossom trees (and peach blossom too) set at the centre of the conservatory along with some gorgeous Japanese themed decorations such as suspended colourful paper cranes, Torri (traditional Japanese gate), replica of Golden Pavilion of Rokuonji Temple in Japan, paper lanterns, wishing well, etc. We spent about two hours in there and ended our visit after a quick glance through the gift shop at the exit.

Beautiful, isn’t it? As mentioned earlier, I have visited both conservatories a couple of times already and yet I still find the place very captivating and deserve repeated visits. The only thing is that it is weekend today and so there’s just too many people in there. We then made our way to the nearby Satay by the Bay hawker centre to have our dinner (got to eat my favourite satay there) and then walked back to the Marina Bay Sands waterfront promenade to see the daily water and light show called Spectra (I watched it for countless time already) before calling it a day.

Explored Fort Canning Park today. There’s so much to see here.

Ohh…it’s already the last day of the month. The Easter long weekend is ending in a few hours too. I spent my afternoon today at the Fort Canning Park. I have been to this park before few years ago but that particular visit was quite a brief one and didn’t cover many parts of the park.

Today I decided to explore every corner of this huge 18-hectare hill park. It was also not too sunny (cloudy with occasional rain in between) during my visit to the park early today. Once arrived at the park, I climbed a lot of steps to reach to the top of the 48-metres high hill where Raffles Garden, Raffles House and Fort Canning Lighthouse are located. Raffles House was once a place of residence for Sir Stamford Raffles, the British colonial official who was largely credited for the founding of contemporary Singapore.

I then walked the entire loop of the park that surrounds the Fort Canning Reservoir. I first passed through the Sang Nila Utama Garden (a historical garden with a series of Javanese split gates and ornamental pool) and then the Shrine of Sultan Iskandar Shah (or famously known as Parameswara, the last Sultan of this island kingdom). There are actually a lot of historical sites within this park.

I then went to visit the Fort Canning Heritage Gallery located inside the Fort Canning Centre building at the park right in front of the Fort Canning Green. The gallery spans two levels and traces the rich history of the hill and showcases the rare artefacts found there. After that, I checked out the adjacent 9-Pound Cannon, Artisan’s Garden (archeological excavation site with discovered artefacts that show possibility of a palace of a Malay kingdom on Fort Canning Hill), Spice Garden (replica of first experimental botanical garden by Stamford Raffles) and Farquhar Garden (previously owned by William Farquhar, the first ruler of British colony of Singapore).

After passing through the ASEAN Sculpture Garden, I made my way to the famous Tree Tunnel at the park. This is the most popular spot of the entire park due to a spot along the spiral staircase with a circular void above for fantastic pictures. There were so many people queueing for the photo spot eventhough it is already drizzling.

I then went to see the Fort Gate and visited the Battlebox, a historic World War II bunker constructed under the hill as an emergency, bomb-proof command centre during the Malayan Campaign and the Battle of Singapore. It is now a museum depicting the final days of the Battle of Singapore (when British lost the island to Japan invasion). Walking inside the underground labyrinth structure here makes me felt like I was in a movie set for a horror movie. Pretty cool experience visiting this museum though.

After that, I walked past the Jubilee Park and saw the Forbidden Spring (or known as ‘Pancur Larangan’, where the wife and consorts of the Malay kings used to bathe). I then reached the end of the loop after passing through the Five Kings’ Walk (a short walking trail with storyboards about Singapore’s five kings in the 14th century). There’s some good views over the city from this pathway leading back to the Raffles Garden.

I then made my way back home after spending 3 hours at the park. If you are going in a slow and a more relaxed pace (and if you are a history buff), you could easily spend more than half a day over there at this huge park located right in the middle of the city and has a lot to offer to visitors. There’s just so much things to see over there.

Checked out the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar just now as Hari Raya Aidilfitri is around the corner.

I originally plan to head out today (it’s a nice Saturday!) but my head was feeling heavy the whole day (don’t know why). Hence, I ended up spending most of the day at home and casually taking multiple brief naps in between. Getting lazy to the max today.

I only left my house today once to get dinner. Since Hari Raya Aildilfitri is less than 2 weeks away from now, it’s the time of the year again for me to check out the annual Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar which is within walking distance from my home. It is located around Geylang Serai Community Centre which is near to the Paya Lebar MRT station. The bazaar this year has about 500 stalls (lesser than last year’s 700 stalls) but still attracts huge crowd and is a popular destination for night market food and beverages.

I purposely chose to explore the bazaar way earlier than dinner time at around 5.30pm and the place was already bustling with people. I skimmed around the bazaar to decide what to buy for dinner. I bought Thai fried bananas, mango sticky rice, fried rosti with chilli crab sauce and a coconut juice. (I remember I bought similar stuff from this bazaar last year too…haha!) That’s not a lot of food but they already cost me SGD27. That’s so expensive but understandable due to the extremely high rent for a stall space at the bazaar which made into news every year.

The bazaar sells similar stuff every single year. Sorry Singapore. Night markets in Malaysia are much better with more variety of food and of course way cheaper. Anyway, I didn’t stay long at the bazaar just now because it was way too hot and stuffy inside. Perhaps next time I can go and explore other famous Ramadan bazaars in Singapore such as the Kampong Glam Ramadan Bazaar.

Visited the latest attraction on Sentosa Island; the Sentosa Sensoryscape.

Sentosa Sensoryscape is a 350-metre-long connector that’s dotted with six sensory gardens and an immersive night experience. Spanning 30,000 square metres, Sentosa Sensoryscape links the north of Sentosa island (where the Resorts World Sentosa is) to the beaches on the south.

There are six themed areas along the connector along an upper and a lower deck; Lookout Loop, Tactile Trellis, Scented Sphere, Symphony Streams, Palate Playground, and Glow Garden. As the names suggest, these gardens were designed to engage all five senses – including a sixth one, your imagination.

Nature and architecture come together in each of these gardens, which have intricate structures of woven metal complemented by lush plants and the sounds of nature. But the real magic happens at night, when a unique ImagiNite experience comes alive to tell a seamless story across Sentosa Sensoryscape through interactive floor projections, augmented reality, and light shows. The ImagiNite experience (multi-media light shows) happen nightly from 7.50pm to 9.40pm.

I would prefer the projections to end a little later (like at 11pm) especially on weekends. They are ending a bit too early currently. A key part of the light projection is the AR-powered experience featuring interactive video projections in 2 zones, Symphony Streams and Scented Spheres, accessible through a free ImagiNite app.

By the way, this is part of the area where the previous large Merlion statue on the Sentosa Island was demolished to make way for this new development (if you can recall). I actually visited this Sentosa Sensoryscape once on last Thursday’s evening after work and then again on yesterday’s evening. Haha…the place do look beautiful. Here are some of the images I took:

Beautiful, isn’t it? I think only Singapore could have such creative thought on designing and building these kind of attractions.

I felt like I was a kid again when I was wondering around the misting light-up floor on the lower deck at Lookout Loop and when I was walking through several floor projections on the upper deck where my steps could trigger certain beautiful animations (that follow along with my footsteps). Some few more pictures I took around the Sentosa Island away from the Sentosa Sensoryscape area before leaving the place.

You can visit the Sentosa Sensoryscape during the day too but I’m sure it just won’t be as mesmerizing as during the evening when the light projections are on. Also it is super hot if you are going during the day (especially with recent extremely hot weather).

Continuing my museum exploration today with a visit to the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

It’s back-to-back for my museum visit for the weekend. You may have already noticed in my previous post that I went to visit the National Museum of Singapore yesterday. Today, I immediately jumped onto my 5th museum for the year; Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum. It is Singapore’s only natural history museum and it is located in the vicinity of the National University of Singapore.

The museum is named after Lee Kong Chian, a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist active in Malaya and Singapore between the 1930s and the 1960s. The museum opened in April 2015 and has over 2000 natural history specimens on display. Getting to the museum from my home is a bit far though; it took me over an hour by public bus.

The museum has 2 levels. Although it is not very huge, but it does contain a lot of interesting specimens/displays and I surprisingly spent 2 hours in there. When I first entered the museum, I thought it would need me only 1 hour to explore the whole place. The main highlight of the museum is of course the three gigantic dinosaur fossils at the centre. The fossils belong to diplodocid sauropod species (herbivore dinosaur with long neck and tail) and they were found between 2007 and 2010 in the United States.

Didn’t know there are dinosaur fossil exhibits here in Singapore up until today. I think not many people (including Singaporeans) know that too. Jurassic Park vibe coming in….haha. Besides than that, the museum also features specimens of sperm whale, megalodon, crocodile, leatherback turtle, Sunda pangolin, Japanese spider crab, etc (not to mention that there are a lot of specimens of various insects, mammals, fungi, arthropods, reptiles, etc too).

By the way, admission to this museum is not free even for Singaporeans/PR. It costs SGD18 for adult Singapore residents and SGD27 for adult foreigner. That’s quite a high price tag actually.

Went to the National Museum of Singapore today. It was my 4th museum visit for the year.

I was getting quite a severe sunburn after returning from the island hopping trip on last weekend. First time I’m getting sunburn to the point that both of my hands were very red and painful despite applying soothing aloe vera gel every day (now no longer painful but felt itchy and skin starts to peel off). I must be very tanned now as even my colleagues told me that I look ‘burnt’. Haha…

I was free this weekend and that means I’m up to continue on my mission to explore Singapore’s museums (including galleries) this year. I also would not want to go anywhere outdoors for now as it has been blazing hot recently (I also do not want to continue to harm/burn my skin anymore…haha). Museums would be the perfect place as they are indoors and air-conditioned. For today, I went to the mother of all museums in Singapore; the National Museum of Singapore.

It is my 4th museum visit for the year so far. I have actually been to this museum few years ago but could not remember much. It is the oldest museum in the country and is also one of the largest museums in Asia. Admission to the museum is complimentary for Singaporeans and permanent residents as usual except for access to special gallery/exhibition.

One point to note here is that some major sections of the museum are currently closed due to on-going renovation works unfortunately. Anyway, I do spent a good 2 hours plus in the museum in the afternoon just now. I was particularly very engaged to the Singapore History Gallery section on Level 1. This huge section charts the development of the island as it was known throughout the years as Temasek, Singapura, a Crown Colony, Syonan-To and finally Singapore.

My visit today was slightly affected by a guided tour with a huge group of tourists; constantly interrupting my access/views and their docent spoke too loud when she was explaining to her group. I have to switch areas to avoid them. Anyway, I would be certainly coming back to visit this museum again once all of its refurbishment works are done.