Swedish Ship Gotheborg (replica) came to town

She is looking straight at my lens..

The frontal viewNote the anchor's hull 'protector'

The interesting rear view..


frontal mast
crow's-nest above

Pulleys and the laminated pine-wood masksCareful on your way down....
I saw one chap slipped all the way down when he apparently missed his footing on the narrow near vertical steps.
ropes and pulleys


rope winder of somesort
Polygon 'Skylight'
- one of the segments can be lifted out ( note the handles on right segement)

rows of cannons ..

Another view of a cannon

Hey, who will believe that the tree
is wired with high voltage... do you?
Just leave the bears alone.
The lady on the right is getting
her yellow bear to greet those on the tree, how cute!

Seeing double?
This is the composite image
with kind permission of Veron's Xmas
Tree of the Day #1 on the left and mine on the right. You job is to figure out how many bear-bear gone missing since Dec 13!

Meanwhile at the Singapore River... those wishes you have penned on the white plastic balls all ended up here.. They will be lit up by colored lights and act as backdrop for the tonight - Count Down 2007. Crowds are building up in the afternoon. HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007

Man and his wares

Shot from MRT station looking down - interesting display of objects layout.

Kurt Wenner's painting at National Museum

I wanted to make sure I did something interesting instead of letting the time slipped through and done nothing ( like last year). I heard of Kurt Wenner's anamorphic floor painting a few weeks ago and was thrilled to find out the master-piece is still available for viewing till end of the month. I brought along my Peleng 8mm - expecting my 17-40mm wont be able to frame the painting entirely. It was still drizzling when I arrived at the National Museum 1:30pm. Only a handful of paying visitors and the Iskandar's painting was there - a bit smaller than I have imaged... A special lens (see above) was set up to allow viewers to have a proper perspective (3D?) viewing of the anamorphic painting. I took a few shots, moved around and stayed behind a little while to watch how others react to the painting.

Click the images for a closer look.

I was looking at the pond's reflection and found two figures there. ( rotated and flipped)

Just trying out

Singapore Garden Festival 2006

Hibernating garden in Philadelphia.. brave the cold

Chritmas In A Philipines Village - nativity hut, stone path walk, trees w lanterns

More pitcher plants than those i found in Mt Kinabalu..

" Invasion of the Green kind" - This is what happen if you ignore your PC for too long
and turned to gardening instead

Peeled off a chinese cabbage, keep the outer greens and starting pasting around the
perimeter..

from AVA..

The light green - puffy balls are
Asclepias phyllocarpa
a helpful guy at info counter promised to help me with the ID
in the evening I received his sms!

Neat rows of cactusYou will find a good selection of the pretty chryanthemum there!Inside the Dream Dome - a surreal world depicting destroyed /deformed forest ..
Strange folliage from Down Under with kangaroo's Paw as foreground
Thousand Eyes staring back
The 'plum flower labyrinth' ? think chinese swordfighting ..
Flow of a chinese brush3D wall-plug
Take you time.. enjoy these large and exquisite chrysnthemum

Roses, roses.. and baby breathe
Too pretty to sit on..

Ho Chi Minh Nov 10-12 '06 - D2c

As our SQ taxied towards the runway I noticed the 'lotus' flower painted on the tail fin of a Vietnam Jet. It was the National flower of Vietnam - a very common sight indeed in the countryside with its lush green padi fields( even with ancestor tombstones etc) and lotus ponds. I vividly rememberd a guy standing waist-deep in a pond harvesting lotus flowers while our 15-seater tour bus whizzed by.

Sunday morning - after an early breakfast
we decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood and did some last minute shopping in a nearby bazaar.

Ho Chi Minh statue.

What's in the cooking?


A little crowd gathered around the lady on the left
she was selling sliced fruits - guavas, jambu to go.

Pomelos

Pineapples seller - the pineapple rivals the sweetness of Sarawak pineapple.
I have looked hard on roadside stall but fail to see any 'rojack' store
in this part of the world.
Mouthwatering nanas..

Basket seller's wares

Traffic cop leading the way for marathon runners

The street was filled with young marathon runners

The painted white tree trunks add another dimension
to the park
Sunday mass at Notre Dame and the lady in white standing near the entrance
we decided to check it out..

... some sort of donation drive

Believe it or not - this is a Tanjong Tree in
such a creative form