2016 Lunar New Year Decorations at Chinatown

Saturday night, the night before Lunar New Year's Eve.  Chinatown was packed with visitors looking at the decorations and doing last minute shopping.  The photo below was taken along South Bridge Road.

The key decoration was along Eu Tong Sen Street.  This year, the monkeys were rather small to make a visual impact.

For 2015 Lunar New Year decoration, see 2015 Lightup




Happy Year of the Monkey!

Countdown 2016 at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

I was back at the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery for the countdown after 2 years.  This year a new gong was installed and located outside the main hall.

  

Venerable Sik Kwang Sheng gave words of encouragement and stroke the gong 108 times when 2016 arrives....

Hope 2016 would be a great year for everyone!

Mid Autumn Festival lightup at Chinatown

This year's Mid Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) lights are up at Eu Tong Sen Street.  The Mid Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.

There are not many specific places celebrating the Festival in Singapore.  Besides the light up along Eu Tong Sen Street, the other place would be the Chinese Garden in Jurong.

The decorations are generally beautiful to look at.  It would be great if the buildings along the street could be lighted up so as to create the right festive mood. These photos were taken around 10 pm and you can see that the area looked rather deserted.

Moon Cake and lantern time.....

Singapore Garden Festival at the Garden By the Bay

This was my first Singapore Garden Festival, which used to be at Suntec and now moved to Garden By the Bay this year. I also took the opportunity to visit the Flower Dome, where the orchid display was held.  On a weekday, there were many local and foreign visitors, including school groups.

There was a queue to enter the orchid exhibition area but fortunately we did not have to wait long. One suggestion to the organiser would be to spread out the displays as it was rather cramped inside. The orchids were of different varieties and beautiful to look at.

Hari Raya 2014 Light Up at Geylang Serai

The lights were up at Geylang Serai, the place where the food and goods stalls were concentrated.  This photo was taken along Sims Avenue.

There were more stalls this year, mostly selling food items, carpets or clothings.

Chinese New Year Market at Chinatown

While the Snake design at Eu Tong Sen Street wasn't my cup of tea this year (see previous post), the street decoration along South Bridge Road did score points.

Chinese New Year Decoration at Chinatown

Year of the Snake is coming, and it seems that we are having a square snake for the coming lunar year.

It look rather flat to me in terms of design.  Personally, I prefer last year's Dragon design: Year of the Dragon Design

Countdown 2013 at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

I again spent the last day of 2012 at the Bright Hill Temple at Bishan. It was quieter at the venue due to the heavy rain earlier.

While the lighted candles were used to put on the steps of the temple, they had been moved indoors.

Venerable Sik Kwang Sheng gave words of advice before the striking of the gong.

Getting ready...

Happy 2013!

For Countdown 2012:
http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2011/12/countdown-to-2012-at-kong-meng-san-phor.html

Basi (Blessing) Ceremony for new born baby, Laos

While travelling in Laos, I was fortunate enough to be invited to a Basi (also spelt Baci or Barsi) ceremony.  Basi is a Laotian ceremony celebrating a special event such as a marriage, a homecoming or a birth.  The ceremony that I attended was the celebration of a new birth, a boy now 4 months old. The ceremony lasts throughout the day. 

Night Market along Mekong River, Vientiane (Laos)

A good option after dinner in Vientiane is to visit the night market, located along the Mekong River.  This has been a new attraction to the city for more than a year.  When I first visited Vientiane in 2010, the whole area was still under construction.

Sentosa Flower Show 2012

Strictly speaking, I was late for the Sentosa Flower Show...

..when the event was already over....

But we still managed to catch a few remaining decorations. 

As expected, the design was heavy on Dragon theme, even the sand sculpture.

Still an enjoyable outing to the flower show.



For Sentosa Flower Show 2011: http://clumsycompass.blogspot.sg/2011/02/lunar-new-year-2011-sentosa-flower-show.html

Chinese New Year Decoration at Chinatown

Year of the Dragon is coming, and Chinatown is getting ready for it.

The design was pretty good this year.  It also looked pretty in the evening.

Countdown to 2012 at Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery

The Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery (Bright Hill Temple) organised a quiet affair of ushering the Year 2012.  We arrived at the Temple around 11:30pm and there was a sizeable crowd














People lit up the candles in the shape of lotus and the candles were laid on the steps.

Qing Ming Shang He Tu 清明上河图 Animation: Singapore Expo

Song Dynasty painting Qing Ming Shang He Tu 清明上河图 (Along the River During Qing Ming Festival) by Song Zhang Ze Duan 张择端 was given some animation treatment in an exhibition held at Singapore Expo from 7 Dec 2011 - 6 Feb 2012.

The original was slightly over half a metre long but the presenter have enlarged it to fill up a large exhibition hall:

Deepavali in Singapore 2011

These photos were taken on the eve of Deepavali at Serangoon Road on 25 Oct.  The road was generally quiet..



The Market however was packed with people.

Hungry Ghost Festival

The 7th Month of the Lunar calendar signals the arrival of the Hungry Ghost Festival, where ghosts were released from the Gates of the other world to this earth.  It was a month where offerings were made and where entertainment was staged to entertain the "good brothers", as we call them in this region.

Companies or social groups organised dinner functions during this month.  It is usually held outdoors where 8 or 10-course would be served.

Hari Raya light-up at Geylang Serai, 2011

It is nice to see bright lights along Changi Road.  The photos were taken outside Malay Village, which incidentally would be celebrating its final Ramadan. :

Johore Bahru Chinese Temple Festival

On the 21st day of the first Lunar Month, a festival procession of the 5 deities of the Chinese temples in Johor Bahru was held.  There is a common saying that the Lunar New Year will only end for the residents in Johor after this festival.  The proceedings started a few days earlier but the main procession is on the 21st itself.

The photos were taken at City Square, near the Malaysian Immigration Checkpoint.  The procession reached City Square after 9 pm.

Sentosa Flower Show and Chinatown: Lunar New Year 2011

This Chinese New Year belongs to the Rabit.  And the Sentosa Flower Show obliged with a big one.

A pleasant walk around the area, starting from the Resorts World.  It was my first trip to this compound.