Sungei Buloh once more

We visited the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve (SBWR) again this afternoon. We made the trip by bus and MRT: 188 to Bukit Timah then the MRT to Kranji and, after a quick lunch at the food court, the 925 to the entrance gate.

StandUpStacey encourages courteous behavior on the MRT.

SBWR is a tidal seawater mangrove wetland.

One zone has an exquisitely constructed boardwalk.

Tree cover is spectacular in places.

Some trees have major networks of exposed roots.

Others look like they are ready to walk away!

It takes a special tree to live with its roots in saltwater.

A close encounter with a monitor lizard is to be expected.

They seem to like to pose for pictures.

We also expect to have good sightings of mud skippers.

And this visit included a few good crabs.

Along the Singapore River

We enjoyed a later afternoon/early evening stroll along the Singapore River.  We started by taking the 33 bus to Tiong Bahru and walking about a mile through city streets.

Kim Seng Bridge is the westernmost of the nine river crossings.

The Zouk nightclub was preparing for Halloween

Restaurants abound and the climate is right for dinner outdoors

One of the bridges is painted in a whimsically colorful style

Skyline views present interesting contrasts …

… including the distinctively iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The colorful shutters echo earlier design of shophouses

Some Singapore bridges are outfitted with colorful LED lighting

Marina Bay has great views of the central business district skyline.

Chinese Cemetery at Bukit Brown

This historic site is the largest Chinese cemetery outside of China. It was closed as a burial grounds in the early 1970s. A section of it is currently undergoing an exhumation process to enable a highway to be put through. By 2030, it is planned that the entire site will be cleared for a new public housing facility. A website is available that reports "all things Bukit Brown."

Van Gogh in the Macpherson Void Deck

We're told that about 80% of people in Singapore live in public housing. The standard is remarkably good. The government agency that manages the system is the Housing and Development Bureau (HDB). Most of the public housing is in high-rise apartment buildings. Standard practice on some buildings is to leave the first floor open, except for the structural elements. This area is called the "void deck."

At the Macpherson HDB complex, a project was undertaken a few years ago to add copied famous artworks to the void deck walls. Mostly these are copies of some of Van Gogh's most famous works. You can see more information here.

These photos are of the wall art.

Peranakan Museum

Singapore has been an important port for hundreds of years. Some of the men who traveled here as merchant sailors from India, Indonesia, or China, settled and married local women of Malay heritage. Their descendants are known as Peranakans. They have an identity as a Singaporean ethnic group. We visited a small museum that presents some of their heritage and culture.

I thought the most impressive part of the museum was a room full of larger-than-life photographic prints of Peranakans. Below are a few examples. The photos were accompanied by brief quotes from each subject about what being Peranakan means to them.

Pulau Ubin