Got it wrong this time

We had a funny experience on Wednesday morning. I lost my condo access card a few weeks ago and have been hopeful that it might turn up, however there has been no sign so I rang an advertised number to have a replacement made. We were not sure if it was legit or not, but the charge was only $15 instead of $40 so we proceeded. The address was Block 9 St Georges Rd and he said to call us from the void deck and he would meet us. Both of us felt uneasy when we didn't get given a floor or unit number of the HDB. We had no trouble finding the block in Boon Keng and a man in his late 60's responded to the call without delay, then went back up in the lift. When he returned he took another look at me and disappeared again. "Just one minute! Forgot something" he said. We felt for sure he was suspicious that we were part of a set-up and he was worried about getting caught not declaring and income. No money had changed hands at this point but he did have Eric's copy of the access card, so we waited. What could he have forgotten? This felt like real cloak and dagger stuff! Turns out he had returned to collect an old photograph of his British father he wanted to show us. His father had travelled from England to Sri Lanka and then settled in Singapore with his Sri Lankan wife. The old man was lucky to escape death by the Japanese during the invasion. What an interesting story his son told, inspired by the fact that I apparently look very much like his sister who lives in Britain. That's why he went back up the second time, he was so taken by the resemblance. And he handed me a receipt!

We had planned to walk home from there along Upper Serangoon Rd however we found ourselves on the Whampoa Park Connector, one we haven't walked before, so instead walked along the canal to Toa Payoh. In the lovely Town Park we found a Yellow Bittern, the smallest of the bitterns, hunting quietly alone. These secretive birds are hard to spot because of their excellent camouflage. And when we got home my new card worked on the security gate, bonus!

In the paper recently we had seen a feature article on public art sculpture in Singapore, so on Friday we took the train into Clarke Quay and began in the grounds of the Ancient Civilizations Museum. The Public Arts Trust has put together a trail that leads across the river and along the waterfront of Marina Bay. In all, there are 13 installations in ENVISION: Sculptures @ the Garden City by renowned Asian artists, 4 of whom are Singaporean. You couldn't miss the first one by Gu Wenda, callled Tian Xiang, it is an installation of 24 ‘ru’ stones in different shapes and sizes, weighing from 500 – 8000KG. Each limestone block is inscribed with a simplified stroke of a Chinese calligraphic character that reinforces Chinese solar terms. 

Others we enjoyed included Baet Yeok Kuan's 24 hours in Singapore which consists of five large, polished steel spheres that work like audio time capsules. These capsules feature recordings from everyday life in Singapore, like the sound of traffic and MRT trains.

Ju Ming‘s bronze and stainless steel sculptures from the Living World Series, captures everyday scenes of people coming together, playing and going about their daily lives. I enjoyed this same artist's works in the Botanic Gardens last year when they displayed his stone Taichi Series.

Saga seeds are commonly called Red Lucky Seeds, the rainforest trees are found across Southeast Asia and I collected them in the NT too. They are vividly red in colour and have a round heart-like shape. Kumari Nahappan has been collecting saga seeds since she was a child, using them as a reference in her work. 

The huge mynah birds in front of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall by Lim Soo Ngee‘s represent the local common variety. The artist was inspired to make this work when he discovered that the dominant species of migrant Javan Myna birds has led to the demise and near extinction of this local species.

In traditional Chinese culture, water is symbolic of the yin factor and stone is symbolic of the yang factor. Shen Lieyi  has made the surfaces of three black granite stones appear to be permanently etched with raindrops. Right nearby was work by Zhang Huan whose work features two stainless steel pandas named “Hehe” and “Xiexie”, which in Chinese means harmony. 

Stainless steel is also the preferred medium of Yuyu Yang who finds the the smooth flawless quality of the mirror-like polished surfaces helps the sculptures sit well within the environment. We interacted with it, trying to catch our reflections from it in the lens of Eric's camera. Right beside it stood a work by Sri Astari Rasjid. A kebaya the traditional blouse for women in Java but this one big enough for me to stand inside. 

The collection will be on public display here until the end of April. In the last section, around Clifford Square, The Fullerton Bay Hotel  and along the Marina Bay Boulevard (near City Gallery) we also saw the 3 monumental sculptures of flowers on permanent display from the Spring in the City works by Ana Tzarev (Croatia). They seem to pop up in unexpected places around town, but are currently clustered here. 

That lead us on to some other interesting installations by the waterfront and we read with interest of the iLight Marina Bay festival that begins on Saturday night. We walked a lap of the bay and have made plans to return. 

The Monday walk was postponed to Tuesday evening this week due to an MAE social event so we went to Venus Dve on the edge of McRitchie Reservoir to look for birds. It is my turn to feel a little unwell and I didn't really enjoy it, suffering abdominal cramps all morning, but it was peaceful to be out in the rainforest. We saw a few uncommon bulbuls but otherwise it was pretty quiet, though more monkeys than usual.  I came home for a sleep and didn't attend the evening social event at Wine Bos. Eric went along though and had a good time, completing the night at a whiskey bar in Chjimes.