It seems like we've already been to (almost) all of the "advertised" places to visit in Singapore, at least all of those that interest us. It's fine to go back to places we've been to before (maybe my preference more than Ingrid's). But we are still finding gems that are not featured in any guide books. We are more likely to discover these by wandering through the city with only a vague sense of intent. That describes our Saturday outing.
Our aim was to visit the Peranakan Museum. (Ingrid has been there, I haven't.) We set out on the familiar 33 bus to the city center, getting off near Chinatown with the intent to meander the remaining 1-2 km distance. We found delicious snacks in a hawker center in the non-touristy side of Chinatown.
The first three photos are street scenes from the early part of the walk.
As we neared the museum, we had a sudden change of mind: Let's go walk along the Kallang River waterfront. It's a bit east of the city center, an area we had not visited. The inspiration was influenced by our fantastic experience walking along the upper stretch of the Singapore River a few weeks earlier.
The Kallang River Promenade and walkways were pleasant enough, although not nearly so well developed as along the Singapore River.
On a whim, almost as an afterthought, we headed over to the nearby and newly built sports complex, which on the grounds of the old airport. We had to persist through some areas under construction and we almost gave up. I also expected that visiting a sports complex with no sporting events taking place would be seriously dull. I was wrong!
The grounds are spectacular. In multipurposing Singapore fashion, they've combined a shopping mall with the sporting complex. There is an MRT station right in the middle of the complex, so leaving was easy.
The highlight was that their major new indoor track facility was open to the public for the weekend. (It had only officially opened in June.) And, if you had on proper running shoes, you were allowed down onto the track. I did! And so I got to run a lap.
I started this blog during the first half of 2009, when, along with my wife, Ingrid, and youngest daughter, Daniela, I spent considerable time in Costa Rica and Spain. Here I recorded a summary of my impressions on most days during our travels. The observations are primarily made through the lens of my camera, augmented by a few paragraphs.
After returning to California in June 2009, I decided to continue the blog. Entries when I'm in California will be sporadic; I'll post more frequently when I travel. The goal will be to continue learning and sharing with the subject inspired by what I happened to find visually interesting.
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Thanks for visiting!
Acknowledgment: Here is a big THANK YOU to my friend and colleague, Charlie, for his feedback and encouragement of my photography, especially in connection to my 2006 work in Denmark (not posted here) and my 2009 photos from Costa Rica.
2 comments:
Bill, I didn't realize you were in the last picture until I saw it full size.
Alison
How many laps did you jog?
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