Singapore’s new concrete jungle

Like many other Singaporeans, I lament the lack of interesting places to go on my days off work. But with the opening of the Bay South Gardens last month, there is a new place to check out.

As with any new national attraction, the park was flooded with visitors in the first days after its opening. Naturally, I avoided the place the first couple of weeks. But earlier this week, a couple of university friends wanted to meet there for dinner. As I finished work early, I went down two hours ahead of time for a little walk (in spite of the heat and humidity).

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR: A jogger at the Gardens, with the Supertree Grove in the background. Seen in the distant background are the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Flyer.

 

L’Arc-en-Ciel in Singapore

Japanese rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel, or Laruku in short, is probably the only band I’ve followed over the years.

I first got hooked on their music when I heard their theme song for the popular anime series Rurouni Kenshin back in the late 1990s, when it was shown on TV. I was still in secondary school then, and I must have heard it through an online download, because from what I understand, it was used as a theme song only for a short run due to a drugs problem with the former drummer.

At the time, Japanese popular culture (dramas, anime and music) was all the rage in Singapore, and Laruku’s songs were regularly played on the Japanese music segments on the Chinese radio stations. It was also the time when HMV was the multi-storey anchor tenant at the Heeren Shops in Orchard Road, and Japanese artistes had a major section on the third storey devoted to their music, with many listening stations featuring the latest albums. (Today, there is only one shelf of Japanese music in HMV’s single-storey premises at Somerset 313.)

It was also the time when people still burnt CDs to listen on their discmans. For me, L’Arc-en-Ciel became an important part of my memories of my time in junior college, as a CD with 13 of their songs provided my study music for the all-important A-level examinations. (With mp3s having taken over space-constrained CDs now, such a small set of songs probably seems unimaginable)

The atmosphere was electrifying throughout the concert! A great setlist (though like all fans, I wished they played more songs), a smooth, near-perfect delivery by frontman hyde and a very obliging audience made it a night to remember.

Labrador Park

I visit parks less often than I would like to, but some time last month, I decided to brave the heat and humidity for the first time in a while to get away from the usual mall crawling.

This time, I chose to go to Labrador Park, which is now easily accessible via its very own MRT station on the Circle Line. I had gone for a little gathering at a colleague’s place just a stone’s throw away a couple of weeks before, so somehow it was the natural choice for this outing.

The weather was quite hot that evening, but at least there was a slight breeze to moderate the heat. Not many people were at the park even though it was the weekend, thankfully, which made the walk quite a pleasant one.

I’M GONNA GET YOU: An angler casting his line into the sea as the sun sets. (Admittedly, the sunset colours don’t quite come out in black and white photography.)

Photos taken with the Nikon F6 and Kodak T-max 400 film, using the Nikkor AIS 24mm f2 and Carl Zeiss 100mm f2 ZF lenses.

A little bit of Mosaic

Was wondering what to do last Sunday, so I checked out the Esplanade website for some ideas. So it happens, the annual Mosaic Music Festival is on, and there are many free performances at the venue.

Incidentally, I’d found a very decent offer for a second-hand Carl Zeiss Makro-Planar T* 2/100 lens on a local photography forum, and bought it just before heading down to the Esplanade.

Armed with my latest acquisition (I’d added the Nikkor AIS 24mm f2 just the week before too), I took some photos of the performances at the cosy HTC Living Room, a free venue, while enjoying the music at the same time.

I hadn’t been shooting gigs for quite a while (not since the Brown Eyed Girls in 2010 and a mini J-rock concert in 2009), but I think I might get started on doing more of this…

Nicholas Tan of jazz sextet V-v-v-voyager in his element at the HTC Living Room. The group is one of the few groups under the "Bright Young Things” programme to mentor young jazz musicians in Singapore.

The Kyoto shrine I almost missed (again)

My first trip to Japan’s cultural capital was in the autumn of 2007. After a friend encouraged me to do more with my time in Japan, I packed my bags, took a week of absence from university exchange classes and headed off to Kyoto on a cheap night bus for my first major trip of my one-year stay.

My guide book then was a book about viewing cherry blossoms and autumn foliage in Kyoto, and it included several classic walking trails, including one to Kinkakuji (金閣寺) and Ryoanji (龍安寺), another to Kiyomizudera (清水寺), and others to less well-known destinations such as Kurama (鞍馬). I thoroughly enjoyed that trip, and on my second visit there in February 2008, I revisited many of the same places.

Bathe me in luscious red and orange

So when I visited Kyoto again in February 2012 – this time with my family and my girlfriend – I’d planned to stick to my tried and tested itineraries. But my independent-minded sister insisted on going to the Fushimi-Inari Taisha (伏見稲荷大社). Who was she (someone who’d only been to Japan once) to tell me (with many trips within Japan under my belt) where to go?