Singapore Bienalle 2011

The first day I was in Singapore on 15 May 2011 coincided with the last day of the two-month long Singapore Bienalle 2011 edition. Organised by the Singapore Art Museum, this is the third Bienalle after the first and second ones in 2006 and 2008. The Bienalle is an exhibition of contemporary visual arts from around the world.

The works of arts of 63 artists from 30 countries were showcased at four locations on the island. As it was the last day of the Bienalle, I only managed to visit the exhibitions at the Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and its extension  Singapore Art Museum at 8 Queen Street (SAM @ 8Q).

There were many interesting works of arts by the artists involved. I'd like to post them here but to protect intellectual property rights, I've decided against it. By the way, Singapore Art Museum allows non-flash photography on its premises.

Interestingly too, two Malaysian, Ise (Roslisham Ismail) and Shooshie Sulaiman, were among the artists featured. In total 29 of the artists are from Asia. Someday, I hope someday Malaysia would also organise a similar event. In the meantime, I'm planning to be back for the next Singapore Biennale.

Singapore Biennale 2011 Bunting

Singapore Art Museum (SAM), organisers and one of the venues

Singapore Art Museum at 8 Queen Street (SAM @ 8Q)

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Painting Outside, Paintings Inside

A lone workman carrying out painting work on the outside walls of the Singapore Art Museum, housing many paintings inside. Photo taken on 15 May 2011 at 1.27PM.

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, Singapore

This is a collection of photos of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, Singapore taken on 15 and 16 May 2011.

Built in 1932, the station was designed with Neo-Classical and Art Deco architecture external facades. The station is the southernmost terminus of the KTMB railway line that runs north-south of the Malay Peninsular. On 1 July 2011, however, this will change when the station is handed back to the Singaporean government and ceases to operate as a train station. The southernmost terminus of the KTMB railway line will be Woodlands, on the north part of the island.

Anyway, don't worry they building will be preserved in any development and in fact, the Preservation Monuments Board of Singapore has already declared the building the country's 64th National Monument. I'm sure it will be turned into something useful.

Station's front facade

Another view of the front facade

Platforms and Tracks

 Station waiting area with vault ceiling above

Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR) insignia

Two of the six murals

Another two of the six murals 

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Singapore Trip May 2011

Late last year, I had purchased return tickets  from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur on Firefly Airlines for the middle of May. Right around the time, I read that the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) Tanjong Pagar Railway Station in Singapore would cease operating on 1 July 2011.

The strangest thing about the station is that all immigrations and customs clearance into Malaysia is conducted by Malaysian authorities here at the station and the Singaporean one is done at Woodlands, further north on the island. Well, at least until 1 July. Due to this, I've decided to make a train trip to Singapore to experience the anomaly and also while the building is still functioning as a train station. By the way, the first trip I made to Singapore about 13 years ago was also through here.

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PETRONAS Twin Towers

Photo taken on 14 January 2011.

The twins have to be the most photographed man-made structure in all of Malaysia. Read all about them here. Visiting up the skybridge that connects the twins at levels 41 and 42 used to be free but these days, a Malaysian adult or any child below 12 years old pays RM3 while a foreign adult pays RM10 for the privilege. For RM20 (Malaysian adult or any child below 12 years old) or RM40 (foreign adult), a visitor can go up to the observation deck on level 86 and the skybridge. For the curious, there are 88 levels or floors in the both buildings. Tickets are limited, so be sure to come early in the morning, except on Mondays when visits are not available.

I once worked here and frankly, one of the things that I would try to avoid then was coming here on my off-days. Not even to shop.

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Zero KM, Kota Kinabalu

You Are Here

This site was gazetted on 8 August 1996 but was only inaugurated on 16 March 2011. In case you are wondering, it's located in the compound of the Sabah Tourism Board building, one of the oldest buildings in town. The building's history dates back to 1916. Here's a cool link about the inauguration.

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Missing

Pavement, Beach Street, Kota Kinabalu. Picture taken 1 May 2011.

Labour Day Outing

 Baby baby baby ohh.

A group of my work colleagues, who happened to be photography enthusiasts went on a photography walkabout at the famous Gaya Street fair. It was a fun and enjoyable day. The photo above is my favorite shot of the day. 

After lunch, we headed to the Times Book Fair 2011 at Suria Sabah shopping complex. There were too many books to look through and as I was too tired to look at all of them, I only got three novels (one hardcover and two softcover) and a career related book (for the year 2011 no less), all for RM36. The fair will run until 8 May 2011. (Note: Book purchases year-to-date count: RM504)

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Third Header For My Blog

I've lost the second header of my blog. The second header featured me at Tanjung Simpang Mengayau. It was then temporarily replaced with another header but without me being featured in it. Well, this is my blog after all. So, for the third header, I've chosen a self-portrait taken at Sabah Tea Garden longhouse a few months back. It's me taking a photo of a framed-up traditional article of clothing. Here it is the third one.

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Five Foods that Will Make You Look Younger

A magazine that I will try to buy each month is Details, an American lifestyle, fashion and entertainment magazine. I'd like to share the above from the April 2011 issue with all my readers. The five are:

• Sweet Potatoes
• Wild Salmon
• Tomatoes
• Citrus Fruits
• Leafy Greens

In addition to the above, I'd like to add a sixth item. It's not food, just an advice to have less worries in our lives. We can do this by separating inconveniences from problems and wants from needs.

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What I Do on a Saturday Night

I am too old to go clubbing these days. So, when I don't have anything else to do on a Saturday night, I will spend time in a coffee shop. Yes, one belonging to an international coffee chain. They have air-conditioning, wi-fi connection and usually great friendly staff on duty. What more could you ask for.

Besides having something to drink (my usual choice is hot chocolate) and something to bite (a piece of pastry), I usually read books, magazines or newspapers, or surf the internet. The coffee shop is a good place for people watching too.

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Missing the Sun

Yesterday was a public holiday, so I decided to go my favorite photography spot, Tanjung Aru Beach, Kota Kinabalu. I was there from about 5 PM until 6.30PM. I've captured a lot of sunsets from here. Sad to say, the sun decided to hide behind the clouds and an island. So, here's the best of the lot that I captured. 

Photo taken at 6.09 PM.

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My Photography and I

First and foremost, for the record, I'm not professionally trained or anything like it. I just tweak with my tools, try to get the best angle and then, shoot. I usually use either the camera on my Nokia E-72 (and a few other Nokia models and an O2 model before it), my point and shoot Olympus FE-310 or my DSLR, Olympus E-520. The DSLR comes with twin kit lens (14-42mm and 40-150mm).

Sometimes the photos turn out okay (for me, at least), sometimes they don't. The ones I put up are the ones I like, of course. A photo not shared is a photo not taken. Your constructive criticisms on these photos are most welcome.

Please note that I do not perform any post-processing on my photos, save for reducing the size, say from 1 to 4 MB to an uploading/downloading friendly size. What you see is what I shot. I strongly feel that if I'm to share my photos with anyone, the photos must be how I saw them and not how I imagined them.

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Back from a Short Break

I just got back from a short break and these days, my airline of choice is Firefly Airline, your community airline. FY, that's the code for the airline, (like MH for Malaysia Airlines and SQ for Singapore Airlines), is a subsidiary of MH and started to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu and Kuching earlier this year on their Boeing 737 800 series. I actually flew on the inaugural flight to Kota Kinabalu. Maybe that's another post for another time.

Anyway, this was the third time I flew FY and they made me do a digital customer relationship survey while on-board. The device used (photo above) is an Apple Ipod. And no I didn't get to keep it or get any gifts.

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E-mail for Every Malaysian?

This has to be one of the most preposterous (this means "absurd") idea coming out of corporate Malaysia. Many areas in Sabah have no basic facilities such as electricity and water and someone is going to connect everyone there on the Internet. Puhleeze..... Remember the story about the rural school computerisation project? How to run the computers with limited electricity? Hello! Anybody home?

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Tea at Sabah Tea House

With Mount Kinabalu as the backdrop, a typical afternoon tea is transformed to a beautiful experience at Sabah Tea House. Sabah Tea House is the food and beverage outlet of the Sabah Tea Garden, at the Sabah Tea plantation in Kampung Nalapak, Ranau, Sabah. Read more about Sabah Tea Garden here.

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A Weekend in November

Mount Kinabalu from Celyn Resorts, Kundasang, Sabah.

Taken on 12 November 2010 at 5.50 PM.

Taken on 13 November 2010 at 6.38 AM.

Taken on 14 November 2010 at 7.15 AM.

The Gap

The gap between Sapi and Gaya Islands, Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, off Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Taken on 10 March 2011 at 11.24 AM.

Table for Eight

Old tables and chairs at Yuit Cheong Coffee Shop, Jalan Pantai/Beach Street, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Photo taken on Sunday 27 February 2011 at 11.30 AM.

Lone Angler and the Sea

Photo was taken at Tanjung Aru Beach (3rd Beach), Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on Sunday 27 February 2011 at 5.31 PM.

Blogging Again

Ohh uhh I'm sorry for not blogging for a very long time. I got tied up with work and then, facebook happened. I was late on the bandwagon but as they say, the rest is history. I'm not as busy now as I've been in the past and I've actually recently deactivated my facebook account. So, here I'm (that means “Did you miss me?” in my code words with some friends on meeting people. By the way, “Hello there you are.” means “I miss you”.) Ok, I'm not up to making long posts just yet. Please bear with me. I'll be back sooner than you know with my usual posts. For the time being, my next few posts would be photos I've taken while I was away.

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