Pottery Jungle

A dear friend of mine has taken me to this hidden jewel in the jungle this week – a place where you can find Asian pottery and porcelain. For me a blue and white paradise! Thow Kwan Pottery Jungle produces a wide range of decorative items but also imports traditional Chinese ceramics and porcelain. The first visit is just overwhelming, that’s why I took some photos so next time I will know what to focus on. And I only got myself a few smaller items but I can’t wait to go back there.

Thank you Yosi!

 

Year of the Rabbit

The Year of The Rabbit begins on February 3rd 2011. Most Rabbit years are quiet, positive and inspiring and 2011 looks to be heading in this direction – a refreshing change after the fast-moving and quite dramatic Year of the Tiger. Family, diplomacy and personal development will all be highlighted in 2011. Once again alternative sources of energy and green living will be under the spotlight. The arts and culture sector of society will very busy producing amazing works of art and staging important exhibitions throughout the year. Love, romance and family life are well-starred, with a renewed appreciation of loved ones and friends. Overall, it should be a fun and relatively peaceful year. Even though aggression, violence and war zones will still be in evidence, the Chinese Rabbit year favours peaceful solutions and diplomacy, so there will be a feeling that all is not lost and that hope is still very much alive.

 

Gong Xi Fa Cai

 

 

Mooncake festival

Mid-Autumn is a popular harvest festival. It is also called as Moon or Lantern or Mooncake Festival and we are celebrating it at the moment here in Singapore. The Lantern Day is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which was yesterday. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, which a round cookie filled with lotus seeds paste and egg yolk. Family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat mooncake’s and pomeloes and sing moon poems together.

Children of all nations love it a lot, especially for the walks in the dark with their colourful lanterns. We have been celebrating all week already and will continue till the weekend. It’s so much fun and beautiful.

Down Under in Singapore

Simone Lourey’s house, photos from Expat Living

Gabrielle Cummins’ house, photos from Expat Living

Both the ladies started the Australasian Arts Project with the idea of bringing the arts to the region – starting with Singapore. They’re hugely excited about their first event, The Utopia Story, an exhibition of works by a community in the central Australian desert about 300km from Alice Springs can be viewed at the beautiful home of Gabrielle’s on Tanglin Road in Singapore. Its white-painted walls and timber floors are a spectacular showcase for the vibrancy and drama of Aboriginal art – and one suspects they would do the same for any other genre.

 

Black & White Houses

The old Black and White Houses are dotted around Singapore. I have always wondered what it’s like inside. I went on a tour conducted by Geraldene Lowe and this was my opportunity to find out. 

Singapore’s colonial Black and White Houses, a category of housing that includes large, double-storey bungalows are still a distinctive element in Singapore’s architectural heritage. They were built from the end of the 19th century until World War II. Originally built by the colonial government, Trading Companies, by the British administration’s Public Works Department (PWD) as quarters for their staff, some of these houses are over 100 years old. 

Here are some of my images of the houses we visited during our tour. Today they are mainly occupied by expatriates.

   

Photos: mine

Colonial Singapore

I have been asked many times about the style of houses in Singapore. Today I had the chance to see for myself inside the colonial pastel houses. On was on a heritage and architectural tour around Singapore. I have been living here for almost a year now and this was my first insight into the past. I must admit I’m very impressed. The British, Portuguese, Malay, Indian and Chinese have contributed a lot to the lovely colonial style of architecture. It’s hard to describe it, I’m still overwhelmed, but see for yourselves. My favourite decorative detail is the Peranakan tiles, that are displayed under the windows or next to the entrance door.

Photos: mine

Just orchids

More rainy days! We had some guests over at the weekend and they cheered me up with a bunch of orchids. I have not yet seen this kind before, but they are very decorative, and the colour so subtle.I felt like digging up some of my photos from the National Orchid Garden in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It is considered by some to be among the finest collections of orchids in cultivation open to the public. The hilly three hectare site has a collection of more than 1,000 species and 2,000 hybrids of orchids.