Singapore and Beyond

[Clark White]

While I know I haven't been the most active on the portal for a while now (all work and no play makes Clark a dull boy), but I figured this would be a good place (and trip) to get back to things. I'm currently in Singapore for two weeks with my girlfriend Ustadza and her family (all but her sister live here). After the two weeks when Ustadza goes home, I am off for an as yet undetermined adventure through some combination of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. I will happily update y'all on that when I have actually made anything resembling a plan!

In the mean time, here is a start from Singapore...

Ustadza waiting for Indian breakfast after 24hrs on a plane (we arrived in Singapore at 0140 Christmas morning...)


The famous Merlion of Singapore


Apparently a Science Museum? I may have misunderstood, but I'm pretty sure that's what we are looking at...


Light show from atop a hotel/casino/ship thing...


Ustadza and her sister Sharifah contemplating the prices at the Long Bar, Raffles Hotel Singapore (Everything in this country is outrageously priced!)




Can't visit Singapore and the Raffles without having the Original Singapore Sling


After the Raffles we desperately needed some cheap food, so we hit up a food court where I opted for some Turkish, made by a fella from Istanbul


We are now off to a wedding, should be an interesting experience and hopefully full of amazing photo opportunities!

 

[Clark White]

Got caught up with a few pictures from the wedding. Mamu (Uncle) Merza, whose house we are staying at.



The table decorations


Top of the cake...which we never ate?


The brides sister


And the beautiful bride herself!


We spent yesterday walking around Arab street looking at and buying fabrics and lusting after the intricate hand crafts. My camera battery died (I love my new Fuji for street photography, but some things are having a rather sharp learning curve...), but I managed to work out a made in Japan (not China) spare and was back in business in time for the second half of our sitting at a Turkish street cafe. I will try to get those photos up soon, though we are now off to the Singapore Botanical Gardens.

Clark

 

[Clark White]

Apparently we are going to the Gardens later, which gives me enough time to get some shots from Arab street up as well. First though, we stopped for some chicken rice on our way...FOOD!






And Arab St., full of imported textiles and some hand crafts. The camera battery died before we got to any of the Persian stores full of rugs, lamps, table settings, etc. I have been too spoiled by Canon and their incredible battery life, so I thought nothing of the Fuji battery being kinda low...I'm only going for one day right? Lesson learned :smilies27










We stopped at a Cafe for some Turkish Coffee (hands down my favorite version of coffee!), then happened into a camera store where I picked up a spare battery before returning for some mint tea.




We then met up with an awesome couple, Sean and Vanessa, from Canada for dinner. Sean works for Audi and gets to live in various places around the work for work, so we had a great time talking about various trips and places the others needs to go visit.


Clark

 

[Ray Hyland]

Clark if you are in Little India try the Fish Head Curry in either Muthu's or Apollo Restaurant. Both are amazingly good.

Cathay Photo in Peninsula Plaza is an awesome place to get Camera Gear. A lot cheaper than in the USA and an honest shop.

And Funan Mall is a whole mall of electronics. Pretty cool place to wander through.

 

[Clark White]

Thanks for the advice! I believe we are going to Little India at some point, so we will have to try this Fish Head Curry (Ustadza love fish heads, so I doubt that will be a hard sell...)

Clark

 

[photo_i]

Apparently a Science Museum? I may have misunderstood, but I'm pretty sure that's what we are looking at...

Yes, it is (Art & Science to be exact) and right now they have pretty cool exhibition about Da Vinchi work - http://www.marinabaysands.com/museum/davinci.html

 

[photo_i]

Cathay Photo in Peninsula Plaza is an awesome place to get Camera Gear. A lot cheaper than in the USA and an honest shop.

I have to disagree with that - United States THE cheapest place for electronics. I lived in Singapore for 6 years (and now we are here on job assignment for 3 month again, as we did last year) and I used to shop here for my camera gear when I had no other choice, so I can compare with B&H Photo in US. B&H beats any camera shop here hands down. Unless you go to Sim Lim Center and buy "grey" stuff that has no warranty. Big mistake in my opinion, but Europeans do it anyway, because for them it is a huge bargain.

 

[photo_i]

Clark, but if you still decide to check out the camera scene then I suggest this place - http://www.john316photo.com/John_3_16_Photo_Supplies/Home.html - in Funan Center. It is a family business, great knowledgeable and very friendly staff and good professional selection. If you go, say Hi to Sam from Oksana, he still should remember me, I've spent gazillion of $$ in his shop.

 

[photo_i]

Great photos, btw!!!

(sorry about so many posts - Singapore censorship doesn't let me open ExPo down to thread level, so the only way I can read and post while I'm here is to do "Reply", but then I can't edit it… )

 

[David.gamble]

Love the portraits. The B/W one is stunning. Food is making me drool

 

[Clark White]

Thanks for the complements! I don't need any camera gear, but I may take your and Ray's advice on where to go anyway and just wander in. Actual honest to God camera shops are hard to come by and I loved going in them as a kid, so I take the opportunity when I see one.

Big change in plans as of last night, I am headed to Australia for some diving and beach lounging rather than north to Vietnam. LOTS of photos for me to sort and post in a the next few days!

Photo_i, are you using the free public internet? I ask because I haven't encountered any censorship here yet (not that I'v been trying to push the bounds though).

Clark

 

[Clark White]

Thanks for the complements! I don't need any camera gear, but I may take your and Ray's advice on where to go anyway and just wander in. Actual honest to God camera shops are hard to come by and I loved going in them as a kid, so I take the opportunity when I see one.

Big change in plans as of last night, I am headed to Australia for some diving and beach lounging rather than north to Vietnam. LOTS of photos for me to sort and post in a the next few days!

Photo_i, are you using the free public internet? I ask because I haven't encountered any censorship here yet (not that I'v been trying to push the bounds though).

Clark

 

[Clark White]

I don't know why it keeps posting that last one in duplicate. I delete it and it deletes them both, I post again and it duplicates...ah the wonders of modern technology...

 

[photo_i]

We live in serviced apartments for the last 2 months - 2 different location and I have exactly same problem, page just won't open. It would just freeze at this stage and that's it.




Too bad that you are not going to Vietnam - one of my most favorite country as a photographer. http://www.pbase.com/oksana_p/vietnam

 

[photo_i]

About censorship - try to rent "9 1/2 weeks" movie, it's a very quick watch after the censorship scissors were done with it.