Exorcisms "R" Us

The block I live in has a row of shops on the first floor instead of the usual void deck, with one of the shops selling joss paper. That, in and of itself, isn't unusual; in fact, this block has always had a retailer selling joss paper, joss sticks, etc., since Milady and I moved here.

What is unusual is that the new retailer has a small sign posted outside their shop, which I took a photograph of today. Both Milady and I had our curiosity aroused at the first service offered: exorcisms. :) All of the other services offered are very commonplace here, especially among the Chinese community, but this is the first time I've ever seen anyone say they're willing to perform an exorcism. One wonders whether they've done this before and, if so, how successful they were in the past? :)

Fishermen at East Coast Park

Taken 2 June 2007.

Yum! Food!

The following photographs were taken by myself over the past two years or so, using two different cameras.



The above photo was taken at a "halal food exposition" at Singapore Expo some time back. Spicy beef lungs aren't exactly my type of food, but they are popular with Malays here.




As you can see, the "Seaweed Shaker" packet here came from McDonald's. These were for orders of french fries. Customers received their fries with one packet of seaweed and a small paper bag to shake the fries and seaweed in. I collected a bunch of these packets for family back home (who've yet to receive them; bad JD). I have eaten seaweed before, primarily up in Korea. It tastes somewhat like paper.




The final photo is the most recent. The previous two photos were taken with a digital Panasonic point-and-shoot; this last photo was taken with a digital Nikon SLR, which Milady and I bought two-three weeks ago. After buying the camera, Milady, her brother and I walked over to a nearby Burger King while we waited for a computer to be built. This is the second photo I took with the camera, where I just pointed it at the wall in front of me, which had this huge photo wallpaper of a Whopper. I looked at the photo on the back of the camera body and said, "Wow!" I showed the picture to my bro-in-law and he said, "Wow!" :) It's a nice camera.

The Singapore Flyer

Over the past few months, a huge ferris wheel has been built near the Marina Bay section of Singapore. This behemoth, when finished, will be the largest ferris wheel in the world at 165 meters tall (the London Eye is 135m, and the Star of Nanchang is 162m), with a diameter of 150 meters. The Flyer had principal construction of the wheel finished a few weeks ago; since these photos were taken, four of the (temporary) internal spokes have been removed.

The Flyer, which is scheduled to begin operations on 1 March 2008, is expected to cost a total of S$240 million; the basic ticket price will be S$29.50 per adult for a 37-minute ride. (More information on the Singapore Flyer can be found here.)

All of the below pictures were taken by me with my hand phone camera while I was riding to work on various speeding taxis. :) Each of the photos were taken about one week apart. Unfortunately, as I was cropping these photos, they lost a lot of detail and so the sky in particular has become rather smudgy. However, they still give a decent idea as to how progress on the Flyer has progressed over time.

Gesundheit!

I've been wanting to take a picture of this sign for several years now, and I finally got the chance while walking by the hotel yesterday. This is one of those little backpackers' hostels located on the corner of North Bridge Road and Liang Seah Street (as the picture indicates), across the street from Parco Bugis Village. I have no idea how good or bad the hotel is, but the sign has always amused me. :)

The Buddha and the Bicyclist

These are two more photos from this weekend that I wanted to add. Above is a picture of the statue of the Buddha that sits atop the former Tai Pei Buddhist Center at the intersection of Lavender Street and Kallang Road. Of course, this is a very prominent landmark here in S'pore, and I enjoy looking at it whenever I go through that intersection. The photo itself is not the best quality, even after all the work I put into getting it up to this level. But considering the numerous factors in trying to take a decent shot of the Buddha that night, I don't think this is that bad a photo.




Lance Armstrong in Singapore? I don't think so. :) While I was up on the pedestrian bridge over Geylang Road, Milady urged me to take this photo of the bicyclist riding west.

I myself love bicycling, and used to do some serious riding to and from university and work when I was younger (we're talking 1500-odd miles per summer when I was working on my Bachelor's degree, and 15-mile rides each way to work when I was getting my Master's). However, I don't really like the idea of riding a bike here in S'pore. The law says you're not supposed to ride on the sidewalks (although many people do), and the streets are too crazy with drivers here for me to trust them. (I didn't trust drivers when I lived in Phoenix, where I was hit twice on the wide streets there; why would I trust them here in the narrow, congested streets?) Neah, I'll take the MRT instead.

Geylang Serai

During this month of Ramadhan, the bazaar at Geylang Serai is up and running (as usual). Milady and I walked through the bazaar yesterday afternoon, and then we drove through last night on our way home. Above and below are a few of my photos. All of the night photos were taken from inside the car (often while the car was moving). The day photos were taken on foot from various places along the street and on some pedestrian bridges over Geylang/Changi Road. Above is the gateway to the Geylang Serai area over Sims Avenue.




Some detail from the top of one of the pillars to the Sims Avenue Gateway.




This is Geylang Road, looking east (toward where Geylang is known as Changi Road), from one of the pedestrian bridges that crosses above the street. This is a rather typical street scene for the Geylang area, as the road is almost always this congested with traffic and with people walking in (or jaywalking across) the street. This is one of the few pictures I've left untouched.




Geylang Road, at night.




Handbag, anyone? This was one of two pictures of merchandise I took yesterday. I would have liked to have taken more photos of the merchandise for sale (especially of items made out of fabric, for the colors), but I wasn't interested in going up to each and every salesperson to ask permission. This photo was taken covertly. ;)

Ornament

I'm not quite sure what this is; I presume that it's a dragon of some kind, although it could be something else. (A devil?) Any suggestions?

This fella is actually quite small, no more than 3" x 7". I found it above the door to a small shop on the first floor of my apartment block last night.

Masjid Sultan

Hee Hee...

This sign, for a small restaurant near where we live, deserves a caption (preferably humorous, considering the name of the restaurant), but I can't think of anything funny at the moment. Any suggestions?

Mmm Mmm Good?

Milady and I were coming back from the hospital to visit a relative when I saw this banner hanging from a local hawker center. (I took the picture from inside our car while we were at a red light.) This is some fairly typical Chinese fare. The top left and top center selections are "XO" in the respect that they add some alcohol to the soups (note the bottles next to the right of the bowls). The bottom center and bottom right selections, I think, are incorrectly labeled. Instead of, say, "Braised Big Pig's Intestine," I think the restaurant owner really meant "Braised Pig Large Intestine" (and the other would be a pig's small intestine). I shan't make any cultural value comments other than to say that, of course, all these ingredients are haram to us Muslims, so I won't be eating here anytime in the future, insha'allah.

Hungry Ghost Offering

Last night, after coming home from work, Milady and I discovered that many of our Chinese neighbors were starting the "Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival" offerings. It's quite a spectacular sight to see with all the various candles being lit, the burnt offerings, and the food placed out for the "hungry ghosts." We immediately got out the digital camera, and then walked around for a few minutes to take photographs. (Most people were wary of having their picture taken, so I tried to concentrate on taking photos without people - which was a temptation difficult to overcome. ;) ) This particular photograph is, without question, the best from last night. It was also a "mistake" in that I had meant to have the flash on. However, the photo came out with this wonderful red hue, and I present the photo almost completely untouched (the only thing I have done is to compress it to 25% of the original byte-size).

Insha'allah, I'll be adding some more photos that I took from last night (and today) soon.