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Marina Bay


This is a bay that sits at the mouth of the Singapore River. It has the Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay for people of great talent in the performing arts from all over the world to hold performances. It has a very queer structure. It resembles that of a durian due to the "spikes" that cover the whole building. They are actually aluminium sun shades that don the the roofs of the two blocks of this building. There are many theatres where performances take place and visual-arts galleries that are there for artists to present their art installations for everyone to see. There is also an area just behind it where performances by bands take place free of charge (the ones indoors come with tickets). There is also a very beautiful view of the city skyline and the structure of a Merlion especially at night. It also overlooks the mouth of the Singapore River where Raffles entered Singapore. There is also another great feature about Esplanade and that is a library. Yup, a library in a place dedicated to the arts. However, there is another surprise installed for you: you can borrow DVDs home to watch. How nice is that!

There are also many spectacular things on the bay such as the floating stadium. It was actually meant as a temporary stage to host Singapore's annual National Day where we mark the day we gained independence. This is due to the reconstruction of the National Stadium into a sports hub where more kinds of sport can be played at. It is actually a floating platform with water underneath and so to ensure that it does not get flooded when there is high tide, it is built to rise and fall with the tides. Thus, it is always rising and falling. I was a spectator of the preview of the parade's first National Day preview. It was a spectacular performance. There were many surprises in the performance. One of them was how the performers got on to stage without entering through the main entrances on to the stadium. That was when I finally caught a glimpse of it in day that I found a few entrances on the stage itself, offering an almost seamless transition from one performance to another.

There is also another attraction at the bay and that is the Marina Barrage. This means that there is a dam at the very end of tip of the Singapore River. The reason for building it was because the houses and roads sometimes get flooded due to monsoon rain that comes when the year draws to a close. This is because too much water is flowing into the river through monsoon drains. Thus, this dam allows water to rush into the sea before flooding takes place. There is also a gallery there that teaches us why this dam was built and even a scaled down replica of the dam that can simulate what the dam would do when there is too much water behind the dam. It can even simulate rain!

What I loved most was the part where we could create postcards with our pictures on it and send it using email to ourselves as a souvenir or to other friends and family. There is also a place where you can take a picture of yourself or with your family and the picture will travel down a hall of screens to show that you have taken a pledge to save water!

Another attraction will be the biggest Ferris wheel in the world: the Singapore Flyer. It is a very big wheel with capsules that can sit up to 28 people. It promises views of the very beautiful city skyline especially when the city lights up!



Picture: Panaramio

Singapore And Its Ethnic Neighbourhoods


Although in Singapore, there is racial and religious harmony between all races, Singapore still preserves the four ethnic neighbourhoods that were created by Raffles in a plan called the Jackson Plan. This was because he was displeased with the layout of houses at that time. This led to the creation of Chinatown, Chulia Kampong currently known as Little India, Kampong Glam and the European Town which together with Raffles Place is now known as the Downtown Core. I will only be describing one of the neighbourhoods; Chinatown.

Chinatown. To me, it is synonymous with a crowd. This is due to the fact that it is a tradition for Chinese to go there with their families to shop for new year goodies. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Chinese New Year is celebrated here in Singapore. It is festival with two days of holidays and the start of the new year on the lunar calender. In China, it marks the end of winter and the start of spring too. At Chinatown, we are able find all sorts of things there such as qi pao which are traditional Chinese skirts and all kinds of traditional clothing. There are also many nice sweets and love letters and even octagon containers that are split into eight where eight different kinds of sweets are put in them. Then, there will be the dried persimmons which are very sweet. When we are there, we will make it a point to buy it and we open them when we reach home to enjoy. We will also buy a pussy willow is very beautiful when we put it in our vases as decor. There is also a shop selling aloe vera as food. Yup, it is that sharp plant that has spiky leaves. These leaves are very special and have a kind of jelly in it that can be eaten with honey. Tasty.

However, there are cons to going there as well, especially during the festive season. This is because there will always be a crowd there and for people who drive there, finding a parking lot is like finding a needle in a haystack when you are late. Then, walking through the crowd of never ending people well sure get hot and sweaty. Then, you have to struggle not to get separated from your parents. Then, finding what you need is very difficult because it is usually quite hard to find the goods that you need as you will have to scour the whole labyrinth of shops before finally getting all the things you need. That is why I never found it a great joy to be able to go there.

Still, I hear someone asking what Chinatown looks after the festive season. Well, it becomes very bare. This is because there will not be anyone who will go there after Chinese new year so there will not be anybody setting up stalls there to sell their goods.



Picture: Wikipedia
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Life On A Tiny Red Dot - The Heart Of This Island (Countries of the World)    -    Author : JY - Singapore


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