Chaithra and Naveen

Deepavali stalls , shopping and much more in Little India

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 11:36:00 +0000

I never blogged about Little India although that should have been the first post given the popularity of this place among Indians . I actually wanted to write in detail about this place but I never got the time to do so .

We end up going to Little India atleast once a month either for things which you won't find anywhere else or for the familiar food . Before going to India we went for a quick shopping for folks back home and hence this is going to be a quick and small post before we leave .

The streets of little India at this point is decorated with lights for deepavali . The decorations were in place one month before .
How can we not pay a visit to deepavali stalls specially set up for this occasion . But before going inside quench your thirst with some Thailand coconut .Here's naveen trying to eat every last bit of that delicious coconut.
The Diwali stalls are nothing compared to back home but hey you can't complain , people here atleast know what the festival is about. The stalls, with all thing Indian is colorful and yes crowded !!!!

It contains rows and rows of stalls of clothes and they are really beautiful but no trial :(
There are 3-4 mehendi shops . Some even advertised that the mehendi needs to stay only for 5 min to show up the color , usually it should be kept for atleast one hour .
These stalls have everything - clothes , shoes , mehendi , carpet ..... Except crackers .
Why so many carpets ??

There are no crackers . You know it's illegal to buy or sell them !!!!
The lanes of little India next to mustafa are pretty narrow . It's gets very crowded specially during weekends .
If you are a tourist and want to take back some Singapore souvenirs then this is the place to be . There are cheaper options also like the shop below where you have deals like 3 for 10 .
Whenever we go back to home we always take loads of chocolates and mustafa is the one stop shop for buying not just chocolates but anything .
The night view of the street .

Our fridge stuffed with chocolates !!! They are not for me although given a chance I would have had them all .

Deepavali , the celebration of lights

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:26:00 +0000

Deepavali ,also known as festival of lights is the biggest festival for hindus and is celebrated with equal enthusiasm throughout India. According to Hindu mythology Ramayana , the people of ayodya celebrated the return of their king Ram and Sita from their 14 yr exile after defeating the evil Ravana ,with firecrackers and Diyas (lamps) and thus Deepavali came into existence.The festivals marks the triumph of good over evil and effigies of Ravana are burned around this time in open grounds in many places in India.

Deepavali is one of the most awaited festivals in India and preparations for it starts months before. My memory of this festival include buying nice clothes and lighting lots of lamps around our house.As a kid Deepavali for me was holidays and loads of good food.

The usual norm is people give each other gifts mostly dryfruits ,this practice is very common in North India. When I used to live there I used eagerly count the no of boxes that we got !! I remember going to huge open stalls for buying crackers and dad always used to put limit on how many we can buy.

New movies are released during Deepavali because for many people this time of the year is like a lucky charm.

One of the most prominent thing that anyone can see during Deepavali is the bursting of crackers but sometimes it gets out of control. Because of this the govt of India has set a time limit at around 11 PM.The side effects and play safely ads pop up on every channel a week before the celebrations but even with these you get up the next day and you will find 2-3 hand/eye burning cases in newspapers.

The aftermath of cracker bursting can be seen next day when roads are covered with remains of crackers and the air is totally polluted.I used to burst lot of crackers but recently stopped doing so because it is too much of noise and pollution .

No matter if you burst crackers or not everyone has their own way of enjoying festival. Here's wishing everyone a Happy and Safe Deepavali.

*** Why I am writing this post so early because we are flying to India.Last year for we couldn't go back home for this festival but this year we are off to India for 15 days and this will be our major festivals with our friends and family. I can't wait to join the celebrations !!!

Following Singapore norms - the eating out culture

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:13:00 +0000

We have been eating out a lot lately , it's not just during weekends but also weekdays . Now some people might wonder what's so great about that - isn't it common for a young couple like us to dine out frequently ?

There's is difference , back home eating out happens once in a month or so and it's a family occasion . We usually cook food at home and people are not used to having their dinner outside daily ,haven't anyone observed your Indian colleagues bringing lunch from home ?

one more food court near our block

When I initially came from India I used to religiously prepare breakfast , pack lunch for hubby and myself and cook dinner at home . But I have become lazy now, no more packing lunch boxes we both have it in office food courts .

In Singapore you will find so many Hawker centers and you start to wonder how can these hawker centers make profit in such a tiny island . From what I observed people here don't cook at home a lot . If both couples are working then your breakfast , lunch , dinner everything is outside .

I find this whole eating out culture a bit strange. You see in India there is a general belief that outside food is not good for health and mostly because of hygiene reasons we don't include outside meals into our regular dinner routine .
But here it's different , the food court food seems to be cheaper and clean so its more easier to eat out rather then cooking at home. Moreover the work life is Singapore can get so stressful sometimes than cooking will be the last thing on your mind. But for me sometimes cooking and blogging are great stress-busters.

This norm wouldn't have been so obvious if there weren't this ' prefer less cooking tenant ' ad everywhere . You heard it right when we were searching for house we came across many ads which mentioned openly that they don't want the tenant to be cooking food regularly at home . Was the owner scared that his kitchen would be spoiled by all that daily cooking ??

This Koufu (most of hawker centers are owned by company called Koufu) outlet near our house is our regular destination.
And this is what we end up eating most of the time- the Indian food platter,for $4 per plate it doesn't get any better !!

Singapore Street Food (pau and carrot cake)

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:51:00 +0000

We are in Singapore and if I don't blog about food it's a shame so here it is . I have decided to start a series on our own take of Singapore culinary adventure . As in when we come across something new we will put it here but I am aware that being a vegetarian will reduce my options my half !!

Street food in Singapore is not your typical street food . Firstly you won't find them on streets instead you will find them in food courts or popularly known as hawker centers which can be found throughout the island , secondly they are clean .

The hawker centers are the heart of Singapore , it's a melting point of different cultures . A typical hawker center will have stalls selling different cuisines popular one being Chinese , Japanese , Korean and Indian .I have decided to start of this series with two snacks that I came across while browsing the hawker centers for my evening snack .

This is vegetable pau . It's basically a dough ball stuffed with cooked vegetable and steamed . It's available in different fillings but I prefer sticking to my vegetarian roots .
I kind of like it , it's fluffy and the outside dough has a slightly rubber texture with no specific taste.

You wouldn't believe what this is called ,its carrot cake .I don't know how it got it's name as there is no carrot in carrot cake . It's main ingredient is radish . There are two varieties available in hawker center - the white one and black .
Below is the black one and take my words for this it's tastes like leather!!

It's very very oily upto to the point where it starts dripping oil . Is it me being a vegetarian or is it just me - I hate this !!! I took one bite and straight it went into dustbin.

But I strongly believe that I have tasted the worst one as carrot cake is loved by people here and not just singaporeans but also by other nationality so I am sure I tasted bad one .

And I saw the hawker centers selling the white carrot cake . It's not like rectangular pieces instead it looks more like fried pakodas . So my verdict on carrot cake is still pending. Very soon I am going to taste the more popular white carrot cake .

Skypark @ Marina Bay Sands

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 02:44:00 +0000

If you come to Singapore then you must visit this man made wonder named Marina Bay sands which is right at the heart of Marina Bay. Marina Bay sands is an integrated resort which consists of casinos,shopping malls , restaurants , hotels , infinity pool and a observation deck.

The Sands is 55 storey high. On the top of this 3 slant pillar shaped resort is the cherry on the icing -The Skypark.The Skypark is a boat shaped structure which sits on top of the building and is longer then the Eiffel tower.

On one side of sky park there is a observation deck and on the other side there is infinity pool. The entrance fee for the skypark is $ 20 per person. I was so excited that we finally are going to the skypark. I made naveen carry tripod all the way to realize that you cannot use them on the observation deck. That's pretty disappointing but I think its fair .Imagine if everyone starts bringing there own tripod.The place is already crowded minus the tripods esp on weekends.

The entrance to the ticket counter is pretty confusing. Its hidden in the ground floor so we had to ask for the direction at the information counter . Moreover after getting down from bus we dint know where was the entrance of the resort so we just followed others.

After you buy the tickets you are led to the observation deck. The deck is surrounded by open glass barriers which is amazing as you can get clear panoramic view of singapore unlike the minera tower is KL which is completely enclosed inside glass chamber!!

There is also a restaurant at the deck but we dint get a chance to go. We went there prior to National Day so you can imagine the crowd who were waiting to catch the glimpse of national day parade practise session and the fireworks.

The observation deck is only a tiny part of the skypark ,the remaining part is closed for general public viewing. We were most disappointed with the fact that the skypark looks so huge from outside but when you go to deck it is pretty small. The infinity pool occupies the rest of skypark and entry to the pool is allowed only for the hotel guests.

We would have loved to get a spectacular view of the infinity pool but I guess we have to be content with just a glimpse of it. This wont stop me from giving a bit of info about this pool.The pool although looks dangerous is a very safe one indeed. The water which looks as if they are going all the way down are actually falling into a barrier which is visible only from the side. This gives you an illusion that the swimming pool is located on the edge of the skypark.

Disclaimer - This pictures is not taken by me. I took them from some site.

The Marina Bay Sands resort is strategically located in such a place that you can see all the iconic structures of Singapore from the top.There is the Arts and Science Museum, Esplanade,Fullerton Hotel, Helix Bridge ,Marina Bay Boardwalk .You can have a closer look at them in my other article about Marina Bay.

In case you are wondering what are these in the below two images , well since National Day Parade practice was going on that is the marine ship, looks so small from top but its very huge.

These are some decorative boats which took part in the parade.

The flyer, still in our list of places to go in Singapore but we might give it a miss as sitting idle in the flyer for one hour just to get the view is no fun. I can get a better view from the skypark.

Singapore is constantly adding new iconic structures to its list and the latest one is Gardens by the Bay. We caught a glimpse of it from the top. The opening of a part of this iconic structure is supposed to be this year end.Its a themed garden which will host amazing plants and also is touted to be the next architectural wonder in Singapore.

So finally here it comes , the firework for which we all were waiting from 2 hours. We entered the deck at 6 pm and saw that it was crowded and people were waiting for something. I dint realise immediately that NDP practice was going on. Everyone was glued to that place and it was so hard for us to find a place near the glass barrier. So we stood behind some people and waited patiently for them to finish their admiration of the beauty of singapore. As soon as they left I squeezed my way to that position .

I am very quick in such things - I run towards an empty seat when we enter bus, I try to find a empty table in restaurant and sometimes wont mind standing behind a person to finish his food. I have to say I am pretty shameless in going for the kill in this first come first serve kind of things, hubby on the other hand is shy and thinks very low of such behaviour.

Anyway my behaviour got us a place to view the sight unobstructed from the Skypark. And we stood their for the next one hour in a hope that we will have the best view when the fireworks starts.Time passed and it was 8 still no signs of fireworks !! even the ang-moh(name given to caucasian in Singapore) couple will three kids next to us were not hesitant to declare there boundary.See when it comes to these kind of things every race is same. Why do you think people queue up for free gifts even in Singapore ??

Ok no fireworks till 8 so we left our guarded place and decided to explore the already small observation deck(remember entry to pool was closed that day ) . And then there it was BOOM BOOM BOOM.... fireworks for 10 min.Although I was not at the best possible location but the pictures turned out ok.

Finally it was time to leave . This time it was my turn to hold the tripod which we never used.Next time have to do some research before I make hubby carry it all the way .

We came down the elevator and entered the mall located opposite to the Sands. Good place for window shopping , I say this because this place has only high end brands with ridiculous price tags for everything.

Then there is food .The variety of food in Singapore is amazing and this place was no exception. We ate sandwich,curry puff and some cake.

This is a saucer shaped structure at the exit which has a water swirling down.

How to get there -The opening hours of Skypark is from 10Am to 10 PM daily and stretches till 11 PM on weekends. To get to Skypark get down at Promenade MRT station at yellow line and hop on to bus number 130. It will take 10 min to reach the Sands from there.

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Things I bet you din't know were illegal in Singapore..

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 06:22:00 +0000

Singapore is a democratic country but coming from the largest democratic nations of world - India , I don't find this place being democratic .There is only one party PAP ( people 's action party ) that's been ruling for ages . There are oppositions parties but some of them don't even contest for elections .

Now why did I have to start with politics ?? Because I felt like giving a bit of background before coming to point ... Yes I am beating around bush !!

Anyways every nation has it's weird rules ,Singapore is not behind so below are some rules that are Uniquely Singapore.

So did you know the things which are illegal in Singapore....

1.Say NO to Chewgums

Chewing guns are banned in Singapore. I guess this is the most popular rule that everyone visiting this country is aware of.This ban was enacted in 1992 and its followed till now. By law you cannot bring chewing gum from other countries for personal consumption also. But I guess you will pass the customs if your bag has few packets of chewing gums solely meant for your own consumption.

The main reason for this ban was because people disposed chewing gums in public and the maintenance involved was very high hence govt decided to eliminate the main cause itself rather than educating people.

But this ban was partially lifted in recent years and chewing gums with medicinal values are available in chemist shops but you need to provide your name and ID.

You wont be penalised if you are eating chewing gum in public but if found with large amounts the penalty is upto $2000 and corrective order.

2.Eating and drinking in trains and buses

All buses and trains have this big posters which says if anyone found eating or drinking the penalty will be upto $500. The ban holds good once you enter the MRT stations.

This is a reasonable ban as you can imagine what will happen if people are allowed to eat inside buses but even when I was in India I felt shy eating in buses(although there is no such rule in India) because people would start staring at you.

In extension of this rule ,there is one more thing that is banned in public transport in Singapore - the nasty smelling/tasting Durian.

You might find some signs in my post Sign capital of world interesting .

3.Jaywalking

Jaywalking means reckless pedestrian crossing. If there are no zebra crossing or over bridge then you cannot cross a road.This one is frustrating bc sometimes I have to walk half a mile just to find an over bridge to cross the road but its for our own safety as vehicles here on road are usually driving at high speed.

4.Sleeping in Public

I think this is implemented for aesthetic reason with Singapore being a tourist nation people might fringe when they see migrant workers sleeping near MRT or footpath.I personally saw a man who was sleeping on MRT stairs being escorted away by policemen for interrogation.

5.Fireworks

Yes you heard it right. Buying or selling of firecrackers is banned in singapore.But government carries out an extensive firework shows during special occasions and its ok to burn few sparkles during festivals.

How can you think of celebrating Diwali without fireworks ??

6.Walking naked in your house

Its nobody's business if you want to walk naked in your house but it is Singapore's govt business if you do so with your windows open and you are liable for penalty if a complaint is lodged against you by your neighbour.

So you want to be naked in your house ,its your wish just remember to close the windows!!

7.Flush toilets after use

Although I have never come across this anywhere , the act of not flushing toilet after use will attract penalty.I guess its common sense on our part to have some standards of hygiene but having a penalty on this is amusing.

With all these some weird/some not so weird rules guess what is legal in Singapore ?

Prostitution and public drinking.
I was taken aback when I saw that drinking was so open . you walk in any hawker centers you will find men mostly old people with huge bottles . And some old people are regular. On my way back home I used to pass by a food court and always used to spot a old man with his bottles of beers everyday . I don't know why there are no rules on this one !!

Because of so many rules there is a huge myth about Singapore that every step of yours will be watched and you wont have any freedom to do anything. A direct result of this myth was when a tourist came and asked me if she is allowed to stop the taxi at a particular junction.She was scared that she might be breaking any rule by doing so.

Well as they say a myth is a myth.once you are here you will get used to these rules and it wont be that difficult to adjust with them .

How to design a blog ?

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 12:44:00 +0000

When I first started my blog I spent almost a week designing and redesigning this blog. And its daunting specially when you have so many templates ,colors and fonts to choose from.

Its never ending ,everyday I used to zero in on a different layout and finally I decided to just launch my blog.Its been alomost 8 month and since then I have drastically changed my blog twice. Now I feel its time for the third change.

Sometimes what you think is the best design may not be so good for others so its a never ending journey to reach the ultimate design with which you will finally stick for the rest of your life(dramatic me!!).

So if you are starting your own personal blog then here are few tips

Keep the design simple in the beginning. As in when you progress you will get more ideas to improve the look and feel of your blog.There is no point in constantly shuffling between different color and fonts everyday.Just decide one and launch the blog. Later you can think upon improving it further.

Check on the grammer and spelling of your content. Intially and even now sometimes I am in such a hurry to get my content up and running that I just do a quick glance once I am done finishing the article. And later I feel so stupid about my own grammatical mistakes.

Decide on the template in the initial stages because later when your blog gets bigger it becomes bit difficult to change them . When I was starting out there were so many templates available on net and I was so tempted to use them but Naveen was against it. His belief was that these freely available template might induce some harmful script which will slow down your blog loading in the long run.So either opt for templates provided by blogger (which are quite limited) or create your own or make sure the external templates you use is the trusted ones.

Avoid eye popping colors. My previous blog color was purple and black ,I quite liked it.But it might not always be pleasant on the eyes so unless you are starting a bog for kids keep the color sober.Not that my present blog color is sober but atleast you wont go color blind looking at it.

I referred to some sites initially .Some of them are

http://makincuteblogs.com -- very helpful blog for new innovative designs.

Search the google for words like ' blog designs for blogger ' and have a look at different blog designs which will give you an idea of what kind of blog you want or do not want.

Festival procession at our doorstep

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

This month is going to be all about festivals.This post is unexpected though.
As we were getting ready to have our dinner today Naveen called me downstairs to show some procession being held .

My wild guess would be this an extension of the hungry ghost festival .

This guy was trying to balance the pole in his hand. Its a huge pole and at one point it almost fell .

They stopped to give us a pose

Dragon ,these are pretty common during this festival. There are even dragon dance shows held during this time and Chinese new year.

How I know that its a part of hungry ghost festival ? Well here they are ,I am assuming these are hungry ghosts which must have been fed well.

Dragons again.

What exactly is a mooncake ??

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Mooncake sounds like an exotic name given to a sweet made of dough , lotus seed paste and egg yolk . It's made only during mid-autumn festival and the shops are filled with all shapes , color and sizes of mooncakes.

The way we exchange different dry fruits assorted in funky package during Diwali , people here exchange mooncakes during mid-autumn festival . They are either circular or rectangular in shape and are embossed with intricate designs on top .The shops here are stocked with them and equal importance is given to packaging. The better the packaging ,the expensive the mooncakes.
We went to mooncake fair in vivocity and below are the some of the different packaging on display.

Lanterns are an integral part of the festival so even here we found some of them.The one that looks like circular white egg is the most unique mooncake I have come across,rest all of them look the same.

Did you observe ? Mooncakes always seem to come in group of 4 per pack.

Me..............

View from top of mooncake fair

These look more pleasant

I was surprised that such a sweet exists in Chinese culture . Let me tell you that the chinese idea of desert is cold ice sprinkled with diff fruits and jellys .

And the funny thing is most people won't eat mooncakes . This came from one of my colleague who told me that they just buy to gift others and they themselves won't eat them .( I forgot to ask her what they do with the mooncakes that are given as gift to them !!!) The reason being mooncakes are dense , sweet and most importantly contains around 1200 kcal per piece .

So how exactly are they made ?

Lotus seed paste is the main ingredient which is made in balls with a filling of egg yolk inside . The modern filling differs from chocolates to fruits to nuts . The lotus balls are then covered with thin crust of dough given a shape using moulds .They are then pre-heated in oven . This is the final product -

No I dint buy them this was given in my office . I was bit hesitant to try it but still I tasted . Let me tell you I am not a big fan . They are thick and dense and sticks to your mouth and blocks your face!!!! The sweetness is ok as indian sweets are more sweeter.It's something like besan laddu .

The mooncakes are expensive ,one mooncake can be upto $10.The cheapest one that I have see is the below one , its $1 and looks cute.Is it a mouse or pig ?

Mooncakes are usually cut into wedges and eaten with tea under the full moon.

Mid Autumn festival

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:17:00 +0000

It's a popular harvest festival celebrated by Chinese and Vietnamese .People get together , exchange gifts and celebrate the festival with family .

The most prominent thing that stands out during this festival is lantern and mooncakes .I don't know the importance of lantern , they are everywhere - hanging by the streets , mass processions are held by people holding lanterns and it can also be seen hanging outside houses .

The most famous food around this time is the mooncake , this deserves a new article which I will write soon .o prminent thing that stands our during th festival is lantern and bcvbm I don't know the importance of lant but they a
We went to Chinatown to catch some action. The main place where everything happens is the pagoda street and temple street. You will find them as soon as you get down at Chinatown MRT.
Just walk out of MRT and you will be greeted by lanterns everywhere .d
holding laterns and it an so be seen hanging outside hes .ehee . anging by the streets , mass processions ar

There are many legends associated with this festival ,the famous one being about a man named Hou Yi who shot down 9 suns but that showcase of bravery got into his head and he stole the elixir of life from a goddess.

His wife 'Chang Er' dint wanted her evil husband to succeed hence she drank a potion of the medicine and flew to moon. She is still believed to be living on the moon.H'who shot down 8 suns which led to drought in the area.
I guess that's the lady below which we are talking abouthen createlf.His wife '

For a change the lanterns are not red in color.

Angry birds lantern are hot this season. There are so many angry bird merchandise everywhere . They made there way as lantern also. I wonder if the game was as popular !!

The traditional lantern are made of paper and a candle can be lit inside them . The modern ones are synthetic ones and they have bulb inside them and ya they are more consumer savvy .
Beautiful lanterns hanging on the sides of streets.

Chinatown by night

Lighting around food street.

Guess what ?? Amidst everything chinese there was this - a girl putting mehendi and for bollywood buffs a photo of aishwarya rai in a chinese trinklet shop !!!

In Singapore ,the decorations and celebrations are not just limited to one place.There are decorations of lantern around Clarke quay,Eat coast park,Chinese Garden etc.

I am curious why does everything has to be red in chinatown ???

Lantern making competitions are held everywhere and shows like below are conducted in community centers .

This is a chinese orchestra taking place near our house. We din't stay to watch it. We dint know what was happening moreover it looked bit boring.

It's raining flowers

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 06:32:00 +0000

Literally , when I was walking out of office today I saw so many flowers scattered on the pavement .

It's a rare sight , firstly because Singapore being clean freak this flowers would have been removed off immediately and secondly according to quick google search such shedding happens here only once in 10 years .

If you are curious enough , the flowers are called pink memphat and they blossom only after a long spell of dry weather . Singapore weather is unpredictable - it's combination of rain , sun , dry throughout the year hence the weather is not suitable for this flower blossoming .

This is the tree responsible for such beautiful blossoms.

But sometime if there is prolonged dry season followed by a cooler temperature it will produce such eye pleasing view . The mass flowering is usually associated with japan cherry blossoms and is known as sakura (Japanese for cherry trees)

This is Singapore's very own Sakura sightings .

Are the ghost hungry ?? Sure they are it's hungry ghost festival

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 13:23:00 +0000

Second half of the year is a festive season in almost any part of world . There was hari raya , ganesh chaturthi ,next is mid autumn festival , Diwali and Christmas .

Although this post is late , hungry ghost festival ended in august but still better late then never .It's a Chinese festival and the major ethnic group here are Chinese so this festival celebration is pretty evident .

According to Chinese belief the gates of hell are opened during this time and hungry ghost will be set free and they will wander around earth . So in order to please them offering of food , fake notes , drinks etc are made .

And the offering are always kept outside so that the ghosts spot them and don't enters the houses to trouble the residents!!

The festival was celebrated now and then whole of previous month. Every other week we would see offerings like above near our blocks . And the best place to get a glimpse of such things is at the heart of the community centers and HDB .

I always see old and middle age folks burning the fake notes near this container(which are kept there throughout the year) , it's pretty obvious that the younger generation is not much into these kind of beliefs .

I assume this is also a part of the offerings . We were curious to try it out as we thought that it might be some new fruit but it felt and looked artificial so we backed out .

Then there are getai shows organized to please the ghost .They start building the tent previous night and next night we could see some traditional Chinese dramas . Well the one that happened in our block their were no audience !!!! Most of the people were busy eating which was also arranged as a part of whole show I guess .

We also saw that the front rows were always empty , it's only later that I came to know that those seats are for the ghosts . The getai shows are mainly organized to please the ghosts .

Singapore Zoo at last :)

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 05:16:00 +0000

It's been one year since I came here and till now we have never been to the zoo - the top tourist destination in Singapore although Naveen had gone once .

So we finally decided to go this tuesday, we had a long weekend with Monday being election day and hari raya falling on Tuesday .Since it was a public holiday there was bit of queue and crowd but once you buy your ticket and enter inside the crowd starts disappearing .ristWe had plans of reaching early morning ,the zoo opens at 8:30 but we got up at 8 and left by 9:30 and reached the zoo by 11.Because it was a public holiday we had to wait in queue for 30 min to get the tickets . Not bad given there were so many people.
The below chart will give you an idea about ticket pricing . Combined ticket can be bought for visit to multiple attractions like the bird park and the night safari . We opted for zoo +bird park . It's valid for 30 days which means very soon there will be one more article on bird park .

There are some food joints outside the zoo so we bought few snacks before entering . It's advisable to bring some light snacks and drinks from outside as the prices here are double the normal price . And outside food are allowed , nobody will check your bags unless you bring something so aromatic that it ends up attracting both animals and humans alike .
Singapore zoo is a open concept Zoo . There are no cages neither are any of the animals tied by a chain . It's build on the concept of rain forest so it gives you a feeling that you are walking in a jungle .

Naveen at his previous outing to the Zoo.
There are around 2000 species of animals and the zoo is spread across 28 hectares of land .It will take you atleast 5 hours to cover the entire zoo.

This was the first animal we saw and I went into photo clicking frenzy . It seems like a some breed of monkey very small though and ofcourse was very cute .

Then you come across bridge called treetop trail which will be our entrance to this man made rain forest . Below the bridge there is river in which crocs can be found so the treetop trail actually gives you a feeling that you are crossing the river and entering the jungle .
Now it's time to decide what to be seen first . Make a note that there are 3 to 4 shows which you can see so it's imp to plan all the animals seeing around this shows .

You can get up ,close and personal with animals during their feeding time.

White tigers are one of the main attractions of the zoo .

If you were not aware below are some interesting facts about them.

As you see there are no cages . They are separated by a steep slope which has moats hidden cleverly under vegetation , I guess the animals are aware that they cannot escape but it's not so obvious to humans that they are actually caged .

In 2008 these white tigers attacked a cleaner and mauled him to death . Don't blame the tiger as the cleaner purposefully jumped into their habitat and started provoking them .

Just to refresh your memory on what a
warthong is - he is the famous character
pumba from the lion king .

I dint like them as they dint look as they were in good shape . I love the screen character more.

Me with agh... I think mongoose .

pgmy hippo

If you can't read let me write it down-
The pgmy hippos can't swim and it's body is too dense to float . It tiptoes under river bed gracefully like a underwater ballerina . To breathe it uses it's hind legs to push up above the under water to surface .

We were actually standing in a row near the glass pond bc one active hippo decided to swim back and forth to entertain us .

Be ready to walk a lot as the zoo is pretty big . There are trams also which will give you a mini tour around the zoo in 20 min but we dint go in that as we wouldn't have been able to take pictures .

It was 12:30 and we decided to have food. I was so hungry by all the walking. There is only one foodcourt named ah meng and it has many options. We took veg biryani set.

The first show we saw was 'Rainforest fights back' . The Shaw theater where it was hosted was jam packed, the show is about some evil guy wanting to cut the trees and how the animals trouble him and fight back.
There is a girl who narrates everything and as you watch you see monkeys, birds, ducks emerging out one by one . The monkeys will come through the ropes hanging above the stage so its fun to watch them and you are specifically instructed not to keep any food items outside.

Few interesting facts about 'Ah Meng' . The food court is dedicated to Singapore's famous orangutan named 'Ah Meng' who died in 2008 due to old age. The orangutan was iconic to Singapore and was the first one who helped start a program called 'Breakfast with Orangutans' .
Yes you heard it right ,Singapore is probably the only zoo in the world where you can have your breakfast sitting next to orangutans for probably $20 dollars.

Orangutans

this one looked old and was starting constantly at people who were taking the pictures. It was sitting in that position till we left that place. Looks unhappy to me !!!

Lions ,look at how they just sit there and stare at everyone. I wonder do they get bored ??

A male zebra flashes this smile to threaten young males who try to steal his potential mates.

The smile also sharpens the male's sense to detect certain scents in the mare's unit.

The presence of the scents = mares are ready to mate.

And we thought the zebra was happy to see us !!!!!!!!!!!

Giraffe,they were pretty close and as usual no barrage. It was painful to watch them struggle hard to reach for food on the ground.
Our next show was 'Elephants of Asia' which started at 3:30 pm. we reached there by 3:10 and my god the place was fully occupied. we somehow managed to get a seat.

The interesting info shared was all the elephants in singapore zoo are trained in sinhalese(Local lang of Sri Lanka) why ??

I dint get the exact reason but its something like one of the elephants came from Sri lanka.

The show basically depicts elephants at work having fun. They showed how elephants can move heavy logs.

Gaint turle - this is one animal which amazed us by its sheer size. I had never seen anything like it before.

Just to give you an idea you can compare the kid standing next to it. It can stretch its neck very far and it can also come upto my shoulders

Rhinos- They had scars on their bodies and very pretty dusty

After I came back from zoo I googled around to see some images and strangely this particular snake pic was there in many places and guess what it was lying in the same position.

I think it likes coiling like that !!!

I was surprised to see penguins kept in open. I was expecting them to see in an enclosed ice chamber,turns out they are African penguins

Beautiful lotus leaf spread across a small pond..no lotus though !!!!

Some african theme going on with utensils and huts

Then we understood the theme. Welcome to the largest display of baboons in a zoo.There are a colony of 40 I guess.

Tapir use scent to talk to one another. They mark their territories with urine;males use it as a scent marker when looking foe mates.

Tapirs use high pitched sounds to pacify their young ones or to announce their location.

Kangaroos are kept in a section called Australian
Outback. Its obvious from the no crossing sign that they freely move around a big ground solely meant for them.

Singapore zoo is a fun place for family which some of the shows being interactive and educative as well. As for us this trip was long overdue and we were not dissapointed.It lives up to its name of a open concept zoo.

The ride back home took some time as the bus stands were pretty crowded.

The 2 dollar shop - Daiso

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:31:00 +0000

Yes you heard it right everything in this shop is 2 dollars . And the best part is it's huge and there are many different things that you will never go empty handed once you enter this shop .

I will miss such shops back home . We do have a one dollar store in Bangalore which I visited once but there is nothing worth buying there plus the shop is the size of a room . Very small !!
We should have our own version of such shops like - 50rs storewide.

Anyway back to daiso , it's a Japanese store and has many branches here in Singapore

There you go - rules again....

All the ladies out there ...this one is for you :)

Some fancy stickers for mobiles I guess.

Yep all of them for 2 dollars only.

If you are new here and setting up a home you should definitely pay a visit . They have everything right from kitchen ware to decorative items to flowers and few things like below whose purpose is hard to explain

When we came here in beginning we ended up buying quite a few kitchen stuff . And trust me given Singapore standards you won't get some stuff outside even if you give twice or thrice the amount outside .

Whenever I come across this shop I make it a point to visit bc it's just fun exploring it !!

Blogger Tip 3- Post comment stopped working . Help!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:29:00 +0000

I shouldn't be actually freaking out it's not like I get comments left and right . Then one of my friends too confirmed that she indeed could not post any comments. Well it was working fine few days back .Suddenly this feature stopped to respond,it seems to have a mind of its own .

So I googled to find out that the below options should be set for the comments to be posted properly.

The usual fix

But hey everything is as said above then what's wrong ????

So I found a workaround after breaking my head to fix the comments .
Well this is the workaround

Select the option "Pop-up Window " instead of "Embedded below post".
So now this is how the post comment option looks when either of them are selected

Pop up Window
Will display a hyperlink which will navigate to another page where you can post comments

Embedded below post

Cats cats everywhere !!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 11:54:00 +0000

Surprisingly there are no stray dogs in Singapore but when it comes to cat they are everywhere . They can be sometimes found in group or alone and you get intimidated by them because they are so comfortable in their space and around humans .

I don't know how they end up on streets , maybe since cats are most loved pets here some owners might just decide to give up on them .

People don't seem to mind the presence of so many stary cats not that I am complaining its just something new to me .You won't find so many cats moving freely in your block back home , dogs YES but cats NO !!!!

Taking picture of cat is bit tricky. It looks as if they are staring at you and are ready to pounce you anytime .Still I managed to take some .

Its pretty obvious from below how far I was standing while taking this snap.

This one for sure is staring at me and it looks like Garfield. Its actually quite fluffy!!!!

They are usually fed by some people so every cat will have it's own area . I know this bc every morning I come across them at the same place . They are like my morning visitors .

On the way to my bus stand I am greeted by atelast two of them .
And I know that there are around 8 cats around my block , they cannot go unnoticed .

How to find a home in Singapore

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 08:53:00 +0000

The most important thing to keep in mind before starting your house search is the kind of house you want and of course your budget . Naveen found a house in just three days before departing to India for our marriage so we decided to share our experience on how things work here .

Below are the kind of housing options available in Singapore

1. HDB

80 % of Singapore population lives in HDB (housing development board ) . They are something similar to apartments in India minus the guard . They come in all shapes and sizes . Almost in every street in Singapore you will find blocks of HDBs clustered together .

But you have to be cautious while selecting a HDB . Some of the old ones have lifts between alternate floors or do not have dust bin chutes in the kitchen , the feature which is so common in Singapore . Anyway these are just minor hitches .

The HDB are usually fully furnished but do take a note of condition of all the items in house before deciding to stay . If necessary take a pic of items just in case something was broken before and you forgot to notice it .

These HDB have their own car parks , mini park for kids , a outdoor gym ( doesn't look exactly like a gym to me ) which is for public use .

The HDBs are maintained well , once in a month someone will clean all the floor, they call it floor sprinkling here, I don't know who pays the money though . Recently ours block was repainted so you need not have to worry about living in a old looking apartment . Singapore govt is high on outer beauty !!! .

However the HDB won't have any security guards and you won't find the need to have one Singapore being such a safe city a little precaution from your side will be enough .

The prices of HDB starts from anywhere between 1500 to 2800 SGD per month .

2. Condos

These are bit high end apartments with many facilities like actual gym ( not the one shown above) ,swimming pool,tennis/badminton court etc.

The types of condos varies from normal condos to executive condos.The rent of condos starts from 3000 SGD.The main difference between condos and HDB are mainly the different facilities provided by condos over HDB,and ofcourse
the increased price.

3. JTC

Jurong Town corporations(JTC) is a company which has build HDB style houses and these are available at very low prices.

A three bedroom house can be rented for around $1800 pm which is very cheap for Singapore standards.The only hitch is they are unfurnished.
Even then it works out cheaper for people who plan to stay for long term in Singapore.

However I guess the waiting time to get a jtc owned house is long as there will be high demand for these houses.

4.Sharing

This is a common arrangement followed by both Indians and Singaporeans alike.Because of the increased rental prices people prefer to rent out one bedroom and choose to live in rest.

This option works out best for bachelors. If you are a bachelor and have friends in Singapore then you can choose to rent out apartments on sharing basis.

If you a newcomer here and do not know anyone than the best option is to stay with a family who is willing to rent out a room for you. Usually the rental charges will be around $500 p.m. Some families also provide you with one time food and internet access.

The sharing option works out best if you are comfortable with this arrangement.Although families renting out a room in their living space to another person is very unheard of in India, its very prominent here and many opt for this option to lessen their financial burden.

The points which you should keep in mind before searching for a house is

1.How far is the place from you office?
Singapore is well connected by rail and bus network. And you are sure to find some accomodation near your work place. Its always better to get a house closer to your work place.

2. How far is MRT(rail network) from your house ?

If you cannot find a home near your office atleast try get a home near MRT. usually HDB or condos are built in such a way that there will be bus stand in every alternate block and the MRT will be not more than 15 min away from home.

3.How far is school from your house ?
The government has put in lot a planning before constructing apartments in Singapore. So usually you will all the shops,school ,MRT near your house. So make sure your house is near all these facilities.

The main question now is from where to start the procedure of searching a house.The first and foremost thing is to search online.Everything is computerized in Singapore so for the houses both the owner and the tenant will look online for help.

We particularly started our house search by going to below website-

http://singapore.gumtree.sg/

http://www.ezlinksingapore.com/ - This one has lots of ads by Indians.

This is a famous website which gets loads of traffic every minute.Once you find something on the site you then call the agents(usually its though agents) who will set up an appointment.You then go to view the house and mind you ..you are not alone in rat race :) . On the day of viewing there will be 4-5 groups who will come to view the house.

Then you start bidding ...now its the owner's wish whom he wants to rent out.You will be informed by the agent whether the owner has selected you to rent out the house.
Its like job searching .You go .... view...then wait patiently for the result.

This time around it took us 10-15 days with atleast one viewing on weekday and 2-3 viewings on weekends.

Before finalizing any deal be careful to check all the documents. Even though Singapore is considered to be very safe we faced personal experience of cheating.

The owner had asked to pay rent in advance .Since this happened before marriage and Naveen was in a hurry to find a house he decided to trust the owner and pay the rent in advance. All the documents seemed to be fine.

We later came to know that the owner did the same thing with may others and is currently in jail .Even though we registered a case with Singapore Police ,its been 6 months and still we have not got our money back.
So no matter how safe this place seem to be ,always be careful!!!

But then it does not end there ,the owner will try to squeeze out as much money from you on context of some stupid reasons.well ours said the bathroom metal pipe top was not clean(was does that even mean !!!) ,scratch on the floor,fridge top not clean ..blah..blah.. We wanted to move out peacefully so gave him the money but if its a unreasonable amount fight for your money !!!!

As I write this article we again changed our house because for some personal reason our owner wanted his house back. Now this time even I was involved in the process of house searching. Let me tell you its a nightmare !!!

The prices has sky rocketed in Singapore. You wont find anything decent living below $1500. Luckily for us we found a house within our budget.

The no of people coming to Singapore will not stop hence I dont think the housing prices will drop in the near future.

Good luck with house hunting.

The Rush Hour

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:53:00 +0000

Fancy tittle !!!

No matter how developed a country is , the problem of transportation at peak hour is there everywhere .

Thank goodness I don't travel in MRT anymore or else at certain junctions the crowd is overflowing during peak hours both in morning and evening .

Not that it's any easier on roads . The buses are crowded around 6pm . There is traffic everywhere .

Well I am not complaining bc first of all the buses come on time and they are very frequent too .

But people here sure are complaining . Recently there were talks of increase in ticket prices so everyone started blaming govt . There is one peculiar thing about way people complain here . Well many believe it's because of foreign immigrants --more people more traffic !!!

Well I believe any developed country will have people coming from all over the world esp in Singapore wherein the locals were once immigrants .

So is the govt doing anything ??

Looks like it is . There are new MRT lanes being created and then there are pricing on buying new cars which are 10 times the original price .

Even if you buy one there are license awarded which restricts owners to drive cars all the time . For eg some if them can be driven only during weekends !!

It's good and bad both , depends on how it is perceived .

Bali trip - Day 3(03/06/2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 04:54:00 +0000

Today we dint have much planned and got up late . Vacations are supposed to be relaxing right ?

We decided to do some shopping so we headed out straight to markets which was very near our hotel .On the way to market we went to legion beach . The waves seems big and I suppose it's a very famous spot for surfing .

As you walk down the street you will find many shops on both side of lane . Some of them sell very good accessories .

This is for the girls ....there was one shop which had nothing but belts ,earrings and bangles .It looked like a ancient cave filled with jewellery bc most of the items at the end of the shop were dusty but nevertheless a huge collection . I added below to my belt collection .

Then there were rows of shops selling bintang (beer ) t-shirts .Naveen decided to buy one and flaunt it too !!!

We had our lunch at this award winning Thai restaurant . Sounds strange ... when we went to Phuket we dint bother to taste Thai food and now in some other country we end up eating Thai ,all thanks to my discovery of amazing Thai food .

We boarded the plane at 5 and bid good bye to Amazing Bali in a hope to go back again to this place.

Bali trip - Day 2(02/06/2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 04:23:00 +0000

Today we decided to hire a car for whole day trip . The hotels will usually arrange for transport , if not there are many options available outside . Since the main income comes from tourism, every street here will have a small shop which will offer you diff tour packages .

Just keep in mind to compare prices in atleast two shops before deciding the final pick .We wanted to visited Kintamani mountains but it was all the way up in the north so we settled for south bali trip instead.

The first thing we saw was Barong dance. There is an entrance fee of 70000 rp(SGD 12) .And this dance I guess is arranged specially for tourist everday. The stage is small and we were given a pamphlet which describes the theme of the act .

Basically the act is divided into parts and the story is ... Ahh .., even I couldn't get it . But the theme is good versus evil I guess . Even if you follow the storyline, somewhere in between you are sure to loose the track . I wouldn't rate the show very high , it's just designed to give you a glimpse of Balinese culture .

The next stop is Batik center, it's basically a shop which sells batik souvenirs and outside the shop there will be some people who display us actually how the work is done .

It's comparable to kalamkari that can be found in India .I have to say the craftsmanship of Balinese people is admirable .

You can find many shops selling stone carved statues everywhere in Bali .

Our next stop was Bali bird park . The entrance fee is around SGD 30 . Now you cannot compare it with Singapore bird park which is way too huge and has many variety of birds for the same price . But the bird park in here is pretty decent and clean.

We roamed around for one hour and decided to have out lunch here .

The Nasi padang ( Indonesian fried rice ) was the best that I have tasted in Bali.

After lunch we stopped at Taman Ayun Temple.This is the Royal Temple of Mengwi Empire which literally translates as "beautiful garden.The temple is closed for tourist and we heard that the ceremony takes place here only twice a year which can last for few days.

I could not find any god statue in any of the temples that I have seen in Bali.Basically tourists are not allowed inside temples. The only statue that can be found everywhere in bali is something like below

Almost 90% of people here are Hindus. But the Hinduism is bit different here. Being a hindu myself I could not relate to their rituals. The temple constitutes rows of thatched roofs like below . Again this kind of structure is very common in Bali temples .

We then stopped by Monkey forest . The forest is not big but definitely has lots of monkeys , 150 to be precise .

As soon as we entered the gate there were rows of shops ,a lady accompanied us to show the monkeys . When you enter the main garden you will find monkeys everywhere so it's better to be with a local guide , even if you don't have, one of the shopkeepers will guide you .

But these monkeys were surprisingly well behaved ,they seemed more calm than those outrageous monkeys in uluwatu !!!!

We bought some peanuts and the lady helped us give them to the monkeys . Some of them even climb on naveen's shoulders . Even I gave them peanuts and they were very gentle .

Monkey forest is solely created for tourist , it's not their natural habitat . How do I know this ??? Well the lady told us they take care of monkeys and they feed them too ,daily thrice .There is no food available anywhere so it makes sense that monkeys stay here because they get fed and they get fed because tourist visit them . We even got to see the king ,the king is the biggest and you can easily recognize him .Our guide told us that there are two groups if monkeys and they often keep fighting .

After we finished our monkey tour the lady insisted that we visit her shop . She accompanied us to the so called forest so obviously she will expect something from us .

But she was very sweet and we were more then willing to visit her shop . Almost all the shops here sell crafts and wooden carved statues . We took the below statue of ram and Sita . I love the intricate details.

The last stop was very anticipated Tanah Lot temple
Before the temple there are rows and rows of shops . It almost looked like a mini market and the place is crowded , it seems to be favorite among localities and tourist alike .

This is beautiful and heavenly location . The temple formed completely of stones stands proudly on the rocks beside the sea shore . Like all the other temples we visited, this one was also closed .

But the surroundings view is amazing . And ofcourse the best time to come here is during sunset . I dint realize it but almost all the pic I took here turned out to be amazing .

The way back hotel again took quite a long tine because of traffic .

This time around we had dinner at a different place and were surprised to see that the hotel wad playing a movie ... So we watched the movie and finished the dinner by 11 .

Bali trip - Day 1(01/06/2011)

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:23:00 +0000

Bali is considered to be the romantic getaway for couples so we decided to spend our anniversary in Bali.

We booked the tickets around one month back through Garuda Indonesia. Tickets to bali are always costly,it was around SGD 400/person. This time around we spent some time doing some research about the places that we wanted to visit.

Bali offers a huge variety of places depending on your interest. So there is everything for everyone here.We reached Changi airport at 7 in the morning. I hate getting up early in morning during such traveling schedules. I did rather sleep and miss the flight.Well this feeling lasts only till I reach the destination !!!

Rows of ships waiting near Singapore port .

The flight to Bali took around 2 hrs. Around 15 min from landing we spotted this awesome mountains. As you can see they pierce straight through the clouds.

I am not sure which mountains are these but as seen from the map these are mountains in the north of Bali.

We arrived at Deepansar airport at around 11.On arrival visa can be obtained in Bali for SGD 30 /person.It took us 30 minutes to reach our hotel "Champlug mas hotel" . The hotel is conveniently situated just a walking distance from Legion beach.But we were thoroughly disappointed when we arrived here. The hotel had a construction going on in the new wing so the old wing was completely neglected,the reception lobby was dusty.

Although the hotel looked appeasing as a budget hotel but turned out to be
the worst hotel we have ever stayed.That's the risk you take while booking a budget hotel (I will be soon writing an article on traveling on budget).

Bad hotel experience aside let me directly get straight into our little trip to Bali.

Bali's official language is Malay . Well we were surprised to find that they speak the same language as spoken in Malaysia.Bali is called "city of Gods" . You will realize this once you take a tour of the city. Almost every street and house has a stone structure of god .Offerings like below can be found scattered at various places like shops,even restaurant tables,near god statue ..

Our first destination was Uluwatu Temple. We left hotel at 4 by transport arranged by hotel ,it costs us 180,000 rp(SGD 25 ) for a half day trip.

The streets in Bali are adorned with small temples,huge symbolic structures and ofcourse traffic.

The streets are small and our driver was so frustrated ,he kept on telling us traffic has become bad in Bali now. It was bad indeed- Slow moving traffic plus the heat. It dint bother us much because our surrounding was new.

There is a very small entrance( SGD 50 cents) fee for the temple. As soon as we started walking past the long path which leads to the temple we were greeted by none other than monkeys, that too very aggressive ones. They kept on snatching things from people.So its advised to leave any bright colored stuff like accessories , specs ,hairbands at home.

Monkey eating chocolate.

We moved along with the crowd as we dint wanted to be targeted by the monkeys .The temple is located on a cliff but we dint go till there as it would have been quite a long walk and it's hard to locate the temple that far. We were actually searching the temple .

The huge sea waves hitting the cliff bottom , the naughty monkeys waiting to snatch things from you , the small temple dome at the edge of cliff , huge crowds - these are some of the sights that you will find here .

Some pictures of sunset

Lastly how can the visit be complete without any of your things being snatched by monkeys . My hairband was pulled by one and Naveen's specs was swiftly removed by another and we had almost lost hope of getting back the specs when a man who was standing there feeding the monkeys made the monkey drop the specs by throwing food at it .

That's my hairband in the monkey's hand !!!!!!!!!

He ofcourse expected us to give him some money in return of the specs but I guess was bit hesitant to ask .We offered him 5000( around SGD 1 ) but he said he wanted 10000 . You sometimes start wondering whether these monkeys are being trained because they get food in return of the snatched items .But we might be wrong also . Maybe he was just a gentleman who helped us . We will never know.

The drive back to hotel took two hours because of the now famous traffic in Bali .

We ended day one with a nice heavy meal .

Marina Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 11:41:00 +0000

This place is the top tourist destination for anyone who visits Singapore because of the high rise buildings it boasts off . There is stadium in this place where youth Olympics was held . If there is any major event in Singapore it will take place here . The one that I witnessed was Earth Hour . Then there are famous symbolic structures of Singapore namely Merlin , Flyer and Marina bay Sands Resort .

I wanted to try out some night photography so we decided that marina bay would be the place . When we reached there the first thing I observed was that the place was calm and less crowded . It's like a big pool in the middle of the city . Many people come here to sit near the river and relax .

We went to marina bay to see sky park on top of marina bay sands resort , it's a boat shaped structure built on three uniquely shaped pillars which has various restaurant , malls , theatre etc .But we spent too much time outside that it was pretty late to go there . I think I will dedicate a complete article on sky park as it's supposed to give a birds eye view of Singapore .

Below are some pic of marina bay

A special mention to this building .......... This is a residential tower right in the middle of marina bay . Imagine how much it will cost!!!!!!!!

Outside the resort there is a newly built Arts and Science Museum . It's shape is weird and unique . It looks like a hand coming out from ground. The outside design of the building has been inspired by the lotus flower.That should have been pretty obvious given that the whole structure seems to stand on a pool surrounded by lotus flower.

It features 10 fingers (not literally) wherein each finger opens out in a different gallery space.The museum exhibits different show very frequently. When
we went there there was a feature about Genghis Khan displaying all his journey via silk route.

The entry fees was $30 !!! . We decided to skip it. I rather splurge that money on shopping instead .Moreover museums are not my thing. I find them boring.

The Helix Bridge is a pedestrian bridge linking Marina Centre with Marina South in the Marina Bay area.It's not very long but what is amazing about it is the structure .Its the world's first double helix bridge.

The lights are well lit in the night around the bridge to highlight the double helix shape.The lightings keeps on changing also.

After seeing helix bridge we decided to go back home and look at what we stumbled upon -laser light show !!! This was unexpected .

It was right in front of resorts and lasted about 15 min or so. I don't know if this happens daily but we were lucky enough to catch one.
The steps were all occupied so we ran to the front right next to the railings. So much for taking photos I was actually being sprinkled with the lovely water lasers :) .

The show dint have any theme ,even if it did we dint get it then . I guess two people were singing sound of music song.

And this is where we initially planned to go -The Sky park. See the boat on the top, that is sky park

The two dome shaped structure is actually Esplanade Theatre . It is inspired by famous durian fruit. I have already talked about durian here link

High rise building all at one place.

Sign capital of the world

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:27:00 +0000

You may ignore most of them but there is no escaping these ever so prominent signs in Singapore . This place should be called sign capital of the world, I have already given this privilege to Singapore !!

When I first thought about this article I decided to ignore the traffic signs but what the heck these signs are so unique that I am going to mention all of them here .

Lately I have been busy clicking pictures whereever I go just for this article .

Let's start now .....

This is near my house. It says protected area !!!!

So many signs !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am tired writing this article.I will stop for now.

Blogger Tip 2 -How to add related post widget below every post

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 15:29:00 +0000

I was wanting to add this feature for quite some long time now.There are many ways .I will try to jot down all them I have come across

Method 1

Go to http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget and follow the steps given there.

You can even configure the numbers of related posts you want to show up.
I have used this method in my blog.The best part is it will show random post and does not depend on label.

When you add this there is no separation between the post and related post widget . To add a separation

Step 1
Find the below line in Edit HTML in 'Design' Section -

Step 2
Add below lines after you find the above

Method 2

Go to the link http://www.newbloggingtipz.com/2009/04/add-related-posts-below-every-blogger.html and follow the steps.

This is how the related post below your post will look like.
But then it will not be displayed in the home page and will group similar labels together

Method 3

Go to link
http://www.bloggerplugins.org/2009/08/related-posts-thumbnails-blogger-widget.html

But this one also groups all the posts with same label as the current post.

This is how it will look.
Again same disadvantage as the second method

Blogger Tip 1 -How to enlarge an image in blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Chaithra and Naveen) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 11:51:00 +0000

If you have worked on blogger you will realize that working on blogger is like plucking your hair one by one with hands . Agreed that it's free and has many advantages but its bugs list is endless .

Formatting images is like climbing a hill , the save does not work sometimes , 'post comment' option suddenly refuses to interact , font does not change sometimes , formatting really sucks ..... The list goes on .

Let me tackle the issue one by one . I will posts these blogger tips as in when I discover them .

So without wasting time let me show you how to enlarge images without their resolution being degraded

Step 1:
Go to Edit HTML link of your post .

Step 2:
See the below line . Change s400 to s640.

width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA-CKpifrnqr6HkCnEIG2OXZVL7jw2cW8nJn83diGM1UYFJVnfhNWA7nnPJdJ3u2CttoUEu7FXuhM_9jdqY4rh7RbJ-xaPU0Udu6-Eem7OQ0m1Tcm5t2Pbtnbh11khe37zR8Vx8kBVrdg/s400/DSC_2050.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5613961571829498722" border="0"

Step 3:
Remove width: 400px; height: 267px; highlighted in red in the above link. Its that simple !!!

Image with s400

Image with s640

Image with s700