on the Go with Bo!

The new Art Science Museum at Marina Bay Sands is a beautiful lotus flower

The last major installation of Marina Bay Sands has finally opened, and it truly is an architectural masterpiece!

The design of the Art Science Museum, emulating a lotus flower with ten fingers of varying sizes reaching for the sky, while the whole flower is delicately perched on to very thin stems is spectacular.  When you look at it from afar you wonder how the thin stems manage to hold-up the asymmetrical top-heavy flower.  That's engineering I guess!

The Art Science Museum blends perfectly into the whole Marina Bay Sands complex, which is now nearly complete.  As you walk around the mega complex you see first-hand the genius of its architect Moshe Safdie.  As we all watched the pieces of MBS being assembled and part by part being opened to the public, you sometimes felt that some elements felt disconnected.  But that is because you never realized the totality of the project as envisioned by the architect.  Now, that all the spaces are open, you can see where he was heading with the design and the fluidity that it conjures.

I say it takes brilliance to envision all that in your head!

And the interior of the museum is no less of a masterpiece.  The sloped spaces under the 10 fingers create a dramatic interior space, and the circular layout gives it an easily maneuverable feel.  There are two floors of exhibition space in the actual flower head, while the rest of the museum is underground, underneath the lotus pond which is on the promenade level.

The central core of the lotus flower is empty so that the rain water that is collected from the curved interior of the lotus comes crashing through the opening, plummeting 35m down into the basement of the museum, where there is an outdoor cafe.  Don't worry, the water doesn't fall onto your head while having a cappuccino!  Instead, the rain-water collected is used to flush the toilets in the museum.  Love it!

There are currently 3 shows at the ASM:  a wonderful exhibition on Genghis Khan and the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongolian armies, an interactive and colorful show on the ancient Silk road, taking you on an overland trading journey from Xi'an to Baghdad and 'Shipwrecked:  Tang Treasures and Monsoon Winds', showcasing the treasures found from a sunken boat that used to ply the maritime silk route, which although longer than the overland route was much quicker.

Bookings can be made through the ASM website.

Getting wet in the fountains of Clarke Quay

You know how when you have kids with you, you can never have a decent conversation amongst the adults, for the kiddies are always demanding attention.

Well, found the perfect place to have a cocktail or two, along with the kids, where they will leave you alone for hours!

The fountains in the middle of Clarke Quay can distract the children for a very long time, while you have drinks at The Pump Room, Highlander, The Clinic or IndoChine.  You're sitting right on the square, and the kids are running and screaming through the fountains, under your watchful eye, each time getting daringly closer and closer to the shooting spouts of water.

Yes, they will be completely wet by the end, and happy, and you will end up buying souvenir T-Shirts in the adjacent stall for you didn't bring a change of clothes along ... but who cares.

You finished your drink and the kids had a memorable evening :-)

New cable car ride to Sentosa

I'm not even sure why they replaced the old cable cars with new ones, since the old ones seemed fine ... anyhow, the new ones have a plexiglass design so that you can have a great 360 view of the surrounding scenery, and the cables have been elevated by a considerable amount so that the vantage point is better.

Kids (and adults) will love the ride which starts from Mount Faber, especially the part where you go through the Harbour Front high-rise and then you're suddenly out on the other side of the building and on top of a cruise ship and the emerald green water below ... heading to Sentosa.

Marvel at the colourful birds at Jurong Bird Park

Children love animals and thankfully birds are included in that category.  I took my two baby cousins to the Jurong Bird Park, and more than the luscious setting, they loved the many colourful birds on display.

It's layed out really well with a lot of the birds being out in the open ... so of course they asked me how come they don't fly away??  And what was I to say?  That they clip their feathers?

Make sure you come in the morning, for there are a lot of interesting shows to see, such as feeding the flying creatures.  Of course we missed all that, for by the time we got to the park, which is a 'fair' bit out of the city, we were already too late.

And if you get exhausted from walking around because the kids are screaming from tiredness, you can put them onto the monorail ride which takes you around the bird park.  Air-conditioned, elevated tracks with a great view of all the different habitats and simple.  And that last condition means a lot when you have kids in tow :-)

Found my pussy cat at the Singapore Zoo

My two baby cousins are visiting from Slovenia, if 3.5 and 7.5 year olds' still count as baby's, so of course I wanted to take them to the zoo.

It's amazing how kids get excited when they see animals.  So do I.  And there is no fear, not even with snakes.  I was expecting them to cover their eyes or to be grossed out with the mighty python or king cobra, but no, they were staring at it through the thick glass and just ogling the serpentine creatures.

Although we didn't manage to visit all the animals, for we came there late, we still managed to find me a new pussy cat ... the white tiger, who was just stunning.

If you've got friends in town, highly recommend to buy the 3-in-1 package combining tickets to the Singapore Zoo, Night Safari and the Jurong Bird Park.  They're valid for 30 days.

View Singapore from behind

I've always got my eyes open for new lookouts of the city and today I tried going to the top of The Pinnacle @ Duxton.  From the Sky Bridge on the 50th floor you have a great view of Singapore ... from behind.  Reason I say that is because usually you see the skyline from the bay, but from the Pinnacle you don't see the bay, but are looking at the downtown high-rises from behind.

To go to the Sky Bridge you first need to buy your tix at the The Pinnacle car park (level 1) office at the bottom of Block 1G.  You pay with your EZ Link card.  Once you've paid your $5 entrance ticket, you take the elevator to the top, swipe your card and enter the overhanging gardens on the 50th floor, interconnecting 7 buildings of The Pinnacle. 

Spectacular view ... from here you can see Chinatown, the Harbour, Sentosa, Jurong and pretty much the rest of the island.  Unfortunately, no view of Marina Bay Sands for the downtown buildings block it.

They only allow 200 visitors per day so check here prior to going, just in case the quota has been filled.

Enjoy the view from behind!

Bird watching at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve

Well, I can tell you immediately that bird-watching is not my thing.  I do not understand folks that come with cameras with massive telephoto lenses and sit for hours in little shacks by the marshland to get a photo of a bird.  Admittedly, they showed me some photos, and they were stunning.  But I just don't have the patience.

 

Thankfully though, there were a lot of other animals that totally fascinated me.  Monitor lizards for one.  We saw several, a few that just lazily crossed our path, and many more that were on the edge of the waterways or swimming further down the stream.  They're so elegant when they swim, with their legs neatly tucked besides them for maximum hydrodynamics … while their tail propels them forward.

And then there were these crazy fish … that just kept jumping out of the water.  I'm not sure if they were eating bugs buzzing right above the surface or if they were showing off to us.  In any case, we were amazed at how high they could jump.

Crustaceans.  I call them crabs!  Did you know they hang out in mangroves, positioned just ever so slightly above the water line on tree trunks?  As we were walking down a boardwalk over a mangrove park, I looked down towards the water … and there they were.  Hundreds of them.  Never seen them hang out on roots.  Tanning?!  Fascinating!

 

Sungei Bulah Wetland Reserve is as far as we can go from our home and still be in Singapore.  I checked on Google Maps and it's exactly 34 km by road from our home, at the very north-western side of the island, right opposite to Johor Bahru in Malaysia, which you can see across the strait.  The Wetland Reserves are a calm oasis within the city state.  A wonderful place for a walk in a natural surrounding (as natural as it will get in Singapore), surrounded by peace and quiet.  From the top of the lookout tower, looking towards the horizon, we nearly saw no signs of civilization.  Trees, waterways, marshland … and OK, some telecommunications towers in the distance.  But pretty good for urban Singapore  :-)

To get there we drove up Bukit Timah Expressway, past the Kranji Industrial Park and all the abandoned army camps, when suddenly we were in a traffic jam on a wide road heading past the park.  We thought it was a bit odd, so we asked the cab driver how come so much traffic here on a Saturday morning.  He said we were crossing the railroad and that the road was very narrow going over the tracks.  Although where we were, the road seemed to be very wide.

This is what you have to understand.  The one railroad track that runs through Singapore from Tanjong Pagar station in the south and then across the island and into Malaysia, actually belongs to Malaysia.  The land is owned by Malaysia as is the actual rail-track.  So if you're walking on the rail tracks in Singapore, you're technically in Malaysia.  Leftover problems from before 1965, when Singapore was still part of Malaysia.  Anyhow, because the road that crosses the train tracks is actually owned by Malaysia, they have for obvious reasons never bothered to expand it to accommodate the large road that leads to and fro and thus every day it creates a bottle-neck!  Politics!!

The good news is that a few months ago, Malaysia and Singapore came to an agreement, and the rail-road track and the surrounding land will shortly be reclaimed by Singapore and the Tanjong Pagar railway station moved to Woodlands.  Hopefully that will solve the bottleneck problem on this road passing by the Kranji Industrial Park.

When you go back home, make sure you take Lim Chu Kang Road, which will take you past the fascinating Muslim, Chinese and Christian cemeteries … all side-by-side.  We may feud during our lifetime, but we all end up lying next to each other.  Loved the symbolism.

Universal Theme Park rocks!

I've forgotten how much fun it is to go to a theme park.  And when you're there with kids, it's double the fun!

I was waiting for the right group of friends to come along, namely ones with kids, before I went to test out the newly opened Universal Studios Theme Park on Sentosa.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  Would it be daggy?  Boring?  Childish?  Packed with annoying kids?

You know what, we had a brilliant day!  We were a large group with many kids, who definitely help you access the inner child.  Kids make you loose your seriousness and enable you to become all silly with them.

So there I was posing with plush giant-sized dancing lions and penguins, and laughing on the great 4-D Shrek ride (wait till you see what 4D means!) and drinking from dinosaur cups and chasing each other around the massive columns from the Revenge of the Mummy.

But get ready, the lines are looong.  And if you're coming from Thursday - Sunday I highly recommend you pay extra for the Universal Express card.  It may cost you more, but listening to your kids squealing in endless lines will cost you even more.  The Express card gets you to the front of the line for every ride.

Talking about $$$, there's something else to get ready about.  The amount of money you will spend.  From the ticket to the photos, souvenirs, meals, drinks and toys that your kids will have to have, your credit card is bound to be maxed out :-)

And … it was veeeeery hot the day we were there … which makes you spend even more money!

Visiting the Istana Presidential Palace

Singapore is feeling patriotic this weekend!

5 times a year, during the main national holidays, Singapore opens up its presidential grounds to the public. Since tomorrow August 9 is National Day, we thought why not pay a visit to the Istana ... the Presidential Palace. Get ready to queue up ... we came at 9am and the line was already very long. Thank god for the Starbucks nearby ... we grabbed a coffee and snaked our way to the entrance which took up a better part of the hour.

Once inside, the grounds are surprisingly large. Beautifully manicured gardens, 9 hole golf course, several bungalows surrounded by magnificent trees and 1000's of people wandering the grounds.  The main building, the grand Istana, is very much a relic from the British colonial days.  It was built in 1869 and housed the British Governors.  It's not opulent, compared to European government buildings, yet its colonial design seems practical and the sprawling grounds stunning.

I was surprised for I thought when seeing the Istana, one went into the grounds, snooped around and then left.  But actually there were a lot of activities arranged, especially for children.  Many visitors came for the day it seemed.  It was an outing complete with drawing classes, playgrounds, bands, drink stands and more.

And only in Singapore would you find the presidential palace right next to a shopping mall!  It seemed very appropriate, given that the national hobbies are shopping and eating :-)

Oh, don't forget your ID.

Mustafa is trying to become more organized

COSMETICS and toiletries are crowd-pullers at Mustafa Centre.

That is why, to tackle overcrowding, the popular Little India retailer is planning to shift the sale of these high-volume products to new premises in July.

via www.straitstimes.com

If you've been to Mustafa you know exactly what they're referring too ... people shuffling around everywhere ... which is exactly part of the experience ... non?