As promised, choice shots taken during this short trip to Temasek can now be viewed on my flickr page.
The third day saw a short trip to Plaza Singapura and the Esplanade as we needed to get back to l’hôtel to get ready for the second SCANDAL gig which was earlier in the afternoon. It had been a lovely couple of days – hot and sunny. And then it poured. Big time. Traversing 10 feet in the open meant being totally drenched as if you were walking under a fully opened giant faucet. My thoughts with were the, umm, hardcore SCANDAL fans queuing since last night after Saturday’s gig. Heh.
In the evening, post-gig, we walked to the Cathay building near the aptly named Zubir Said Drive where I borong-ed some music, including She Loves You, a CD of YUI covers, one of which is by SCANDAL[1]. And as Life Of Pi is already out here, I got the limited edition 3D bluray at only SGD49. I then rushed off to Esplanade again on my own as I needed to reach the souvenir tee-shirt shop before it shuts. The Esplanade at this moment was abuzzed with activity as it was the tail-end of the ten-day Mosaic Music Festival. Whilst waiting for my brother, I caught a few songs performed by Zsa Zsa Scorpion at the concourse. That woman’s got voice and she did a cool cover of DMB’s Satellite. Count me in as the 6th person who knows that tune, yo. Oh, and I saw Az Samad[2]!
From the Esplanade, we headed down towards Merlion Park. Crossing Esplanade Bridge, I soaked in the fantastic view that was of the Marina Bay Sands. One of my notes to self is to visit the place at closer proximity and in daylight to get more shots. In the background was a band[3] playing at the Esplanade Outdoor Theatre, probably the last band of the Mosaic Fest, looking at the time of the evening. It was nice to see that most of the people at the Merlion were locals who brought along their families. And there’s this little photo pose one does here – if you pretend to push/hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa when you’re in Italy, you do this in Singapore:
Or mucking about with The River Merchant sculptures[4]:
Okay, probably I was the only tourist that did so.
The trek continued on towards the tourist trap that is Boat Quay. And as it was St. Patrick’s Day, the place was somewhat rambunctious with revellers in green leprechaun hats and fake red beards, regardless of sex. There was glorious seafood abound (I could imagine the cut throat price!) and stumbled upon a masat parlour, which immediately reminded me of a friend. Hahaha. However, we were happy to only pit stop at the local convenient store for boxed air kelapa. We saw the Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall which reminded us of the old hawker centre nearby on Empress Place where we used to have our rojak with the family all those years ago.
We then turned in a northeasternly direction along North Bridge Road to get back to the hotel, walking by Peninsula Plaza and the City Hall MRT station. This stretch was a tad manky and wasn’t the Singapore I used to remember which was absolutely spotless. Don’t get me wrong, the city is pretty clean still but to see unkempt spots like this was somewhat unusual. I hadn’t brought my Lonely Planet book with on this little trek and if I had, we should’ve walked on St. Andrew’s Road along The Padang which should provide more photo opportunities. Total calories? A measly 200 kcal, aka 2-ish odd km.
Dang. I have to come back soon-ish[5].
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[1]My friend calls it the SCANDAL withdrawal syndrome which comes in many guises.
[2]Guitarist son of National Laureate A.Samad Said. Az performed a few days before this.
[3]The band was Razorback from the Philippines.
[4]Description by nusantara.com: “… shows Scotsman, Alexander Laurie Johnston, prominent merchange of early Singapore mediating between a Chinese trader and a Malay Chief, whilst Indian and Chinese coolies load sacks onto a bullock cart – a common sight around the river as trade expanded. Alexander Laurie Johnston & Co was set up at this spot in 1830 which more popularly known as Tanjong Tankap because it was the godown nearest the river’s mouth and Johnston could “catch” the merchant captains as their boats entered the river for trade. Johnston was a highly respected businessman and compassionate arbitrator for public matters. He was the first Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and introduced the five-foot way – the covered walkway, which came to characterise traditional shophouse architecture. Tanjong Tangkap stood until 1848, when the Flint Building replaced it. This burnt down and in 1910, the offices of Whiteway Laidlaw and Co. occupied the site. In 1942, Maybank took over the building and named it Malayan Banking Chambers, renaming it Maybank Chambers in 1965. This building was demolished in 1998 to make way for the 32-storey Maybank Tower that we see today.”
[5]Nik H wants to bring me to Clarke Quay.
