iLight Marina Bay

We had a lovely walk through Chinatown and the Duxton Hill area on Tuesday evening with the regular walkers' group. This is an area with something for everyone including Indian Hindu Temples, Herbal Tea for sale in huge urns and the famous 'Smith Street' food mall. The front of the temple was dressed up in banana plants that had been cut off at ground level, each bearing huge hands of fruit. When i asked the two young chaps that were here on Thursday morning what that would signify they explained that the banana is a symbol of fertility so they would put them there in celebration of an engagement, wedding or birth. 

Eric found a few streets we hadn't ventured down before including this lovely Duxton Hill Lane. Lo and behold, there sat a member of the Elephant Parade. 

We finished up at Smith Street in the heart of the commercial area for a meal together. From there we headed to Marina Bay on the Blue line to see the light festival. A number of the others joined us. 

This is the 4th year of the iLight Marina Bay Festival, Asia’s leading sustainable light art festival. This year's theme is ‘In Praise of Shadows’and features 25 innovative and environmentally sustainable light art installations by creative talents from around the world. The bay always looks stunning at night, but with all these extra lighting effects it was magical.

Many of them were interactive and one of the first we came across was a bicycle which lit up a tent-like structure the faster you pedaled. It was fun but the seat was in a very uncomfortable position, so I don't recommend it. The tertiary institutes of Singapore are also featuring this time. One of those was called Groove Light, which was designed and produced by 11 architecture students from NUS. The installation uses 3D printing to create large lanterns that produce geometric shadows when light is shone through. By moving the lanterns, visitors can modify the lightscape created by the installation. I've always struggled to understand the concept of 3D printing but now I have seen this, I understand. The 3D printed lanterns are made of a biodegradable material, which can be melted down and reused for future 3D printing.

Once again the week flew by and we are finished with term 1. we have a taxi booked for the airport due in 20 mins so time to finish. But just need to include one more enjoyable night across at our local hawker stalls. I had arrived after work on Wednesday night and I could hear music behind me, like someone listening to blues through cheap earphones that leak the sound out. When I turned around it was a local playing a silent guitar. I was intrigued and started up a conversation. Before long he was demonstrating how it works only through the pick up. By the time Eric arrived he was shouting us beer and discussing open mike nights that he frequents. Eric's knowledge of the blues so inspired him that the next thing we noticed, as we ate, was that he had left, only to return a few mins later with a regular acoustic guitar and from then on we sat and sang the blues to the amusement of many others who frequent the place. Who would think a regular Wednesday night at the food stall would end up like that?