The CNY eve

I promise that after this one last post about the CNY holidays, I will move on!

I have a more interesting note to write about underwater robots, but this has to go in first! In my later years, when I look back at 2013 and try to remember what the h*ll I was spending my days on, I want this to be on the chart! Because it was a fun night. :-)

Moreover, this is the most recent holidays we have had and so automatically it is a high!

Note : I will swallow as many words as I can and let the pictures speak.

I love the Chinese New Year season for the yearly supply of mandarin oranges, love letters and other goodies, amazing decorations in Chinatown and not-so-amazing fireworks on the eve. Continuing the yearly tradition, we set out to see the lights.  They were as magnificent as ever! Then I noticed the posters about River Hongbau 2013 - unlike the US budget, Singapore is in surplus and spending cuts are unheard of ;) Well, the River Hongbau was a full fledged celbrations complete with lighting up the whole riverside, enormous floats and decorations at the Marina, food street and what I had wished for - mega scale fireworks !

For the 2013 actual New Year's we had missed most of the fireworks due to "technical errors"(Please note my usage of the most handy term when situations are better left unexplained) . So, this time, we determinedly went early as 8.30, to catch the whole fun !

Prepared we were! An ideal field day, Aye ?
Lights, Camera & with the right spirits

That is the fortune god. He was periodically showering lucky numbers for the year!

Candy time .. Oh we had so much fun! :)

The carnival - I missed Teena here.

She is the only other one in the gang ready for these rides.

The grand finale !

Photo credits : Dragonfly 

A day at the President's

We spent this CNY break in Singapore and finally had a chance to visit the Istana. That is where the Singapore President lives and works. Common folks get to visit the grounds only during the open house. These are the vast lush greens in the midst of the city, which we see from rooftops like Marina Bay Sands or while riding up in the Singapore flyer.

The entry is free for locals and residents, while foreigners(including those who are here on work visas or dependent pass) have to pay a dollar as entrance fee. You can read all about Istana here.

I overlooked the fact that many people were looking forward to the open-house just like me. By the time we leisurely finished our holiday brunch and reached Istana, we were greeted by an enormous queue extending all the way to the adjacent shopping mall (Plaza Singapura).

The first sight. 

Now I know why Manu doesn't feel suffocated  in a crowded place.  He hovers above the crowd! 

But the security screenings were impressively fast and we entered the gates in around 20 minutes. The grounds are enormous and well maintained.Kids will love it there with acres to run around and fountains to play with!

Sunbathing - a major activity at Istana

At the president's fountain!

Spot me ? Am I contemplating? Nope! Just trying to count the trees

There were guided tours of the Istana main building for a small fees. Usually, we always get distracted during guided tours because I always come up with significant stories on my own and then there is the camera.  We always lag behind the group and end up irritating either the guide or the group or at least the guards. So this time, we wisely decided not to be guided. We purchased a 2$ ticket to get into the building and drool at the beautiful and expensive stuff gifted by various nations. 

The Istana with the dramatic clouds which appeared suddenly.

Those clouds appeared exactly when I told Manu "Istana grounds are the perfect picnic spot!"

Upon entering the main building, I was disappointed that only one floor was open to public and photography was not allowed. I did not see any national secrets there. Since dignitaries from many nations have visited these rooms, there wasn't any secret to be kept from the outside world. If there were any secret passages, they are hidden well enough(I peeked hard didn't find any). So, I strongly think photography should be allowed.

My recommendation.

It is interesting for a one time visit, especially for families with little ones to entertain. Keep a look out on the schedules in the Istana website, if you are in town during public holidays. 

Lion dance inside shopping malls – Is it good luck ?

As much as I love the Chinese New Celebrations, holidays, sales, open houses and deals, there are annoying aspects to it as well. As part of the CNY celebrations, I witnessed multiple lion dance performances on the HDB estates and other public areas. In general, residents accept the importance of this particular tradition for the Chinese community. But, this time around I couldn’t help but wonder if the celebrations went a bit overboard. Along with other shoppers, I had to suffer through the lion dance performance inside shopping malls like IMM(managed by CapitaMalls Asia) and Vivocity(managed by Mapletree Commercial Trust).

As the loud drum beats and celebrations continued in the enclosed areas, I looked around to understand the crowd response. There were a few curious kids and smart phone (camera) users whose attention was on the performance. Otherwise, for the majority of the people, irrespective of the race, it was plain inconvenience. The retailers who had not engaged the performers were having a tough time interacting with their customers. Meanwhile, a good number of customers were reaching for the exits.

I couldn’t help wondering if the management of these shopping malls had given considerable thought before approving such performance? Were any alternative solutions considered?

After thinking a bit about it, I could come up with two practical proposals for the next year’s round of blessings. Most convenient option is to organize the lion dance at the entrance of the shopping mall, in a common open space. Or if the retailers strictly believe in having their establishment blessed individually, the performance should be arranged outside the operating hours of the mall, so that it would not disturb the general public. Since such performances are planned ahead in schedule, a notice should be put up about the timings and interested people could come and watch the performance, while others could stay away.

I hope the managements would show more sense next time round !

Lunar New Year Gift

Being so close to Chinese community has its own benefits.
Learning few of their traditions, getting to eat dim-sum, getting public holidays on Chinese New year, enjoying the sales are a few of them.
At the start of this Dragon year, my kind neighbours gave me this gift .

I was so touched by the gesture & so happy :-) During the new year, people exchange oranges and tangerines as they symbolize luck and prosperity.

We have this whole big box of Mandarin oranges . We will be drinking fresh orange juice, sorbets and interesting salads a lot.

If you know any interesting, easy recipes to do with oranges, please do let me know ..