Istana Open Day

The Istana (which means palace in Malay) is the official residence and office of the President of Singapore, currently Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam. Parts of the house and it's grounds are open to the public on 5 days each year; Chinese New Year, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa, Labour Day and National Day. Admission is free for Singaporeans and Singaporean Permanent Residents, everyone else pays $2

 This Friday it was Labour Day, I took the bus to Orchard Road to visit the Istana, I arrived late in the day and was told that the queue was about 90 minutes long but with time on my hands I decided to wait along with lots of other very patient people. Fortunately it was quite cloudy so not too hot.

Guards on either side of the entrance gates stand on duty and just like at Buckingham Palace have to suffer hordes of strangers come and stand beside them to have their photos taken

Security checks on entering, just like at airports

Going through the gates you first see a tree lined avenue up to the Istana and the extensive grounds to the side. Lots of people were having picnics, children were rolling down the lawns and generally enjoying the wide open spaces 

Singapore flag flying from the roof of the Istana

 There's even a golf course with bunkers, I wonder who plays here and how often this gets played on

 Before reaching the Istana you come across the Villa which had been used to accommodate state visitors until end 1984

         The Gun Terrace                                                                                      Steps up to the Istana

                                                           

                          Unfortunately I was too late to see inside the building but could appreciate it's elegance from it's exterior 

 On the lawn in front of the Istana were some of the benches that have been specially made from timber planks from the former National Stadium. Designs for the benches were selected from a public design competition

Nearby is a formal pond beautifully planted with gingers and hibiscus plants and another 'saved timber'  bench to rest on

By now it was nearly closing time and the crowds were being encouraged to start making their way back. I passed by Sri Temasek. This is the Prime Minister's official residence and recently had been the venue for Singapore's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew lying in state. Mr Lee Kuan Yew had died on March 23rd this year and 1.5 million people paid their respects during the 3 day lying in state period 

 In the park I spotted lots of birds including sea eagles, orioles and hornbills, also butterflies and lots of lovely mature trees 

and on past the Swan Pond back to the entrance gates

                                             
                                     being politely but firmly escorted out by a line of police

Leaving the Istana and it's grounds in peace 

only the guards keeping watch as I stepped back on to busy Orchard Road

Visit to Bukit Brown Cemetery

Bukit Brown is one of the oldest Chinese Cemeteries left in Singapore. The area was turned into a cemetery in the 1870's for Chinese members of of the Ong clan surname and then later a municipal cemetery for the Chinese community. The cemetery was closed to burials in 1973 and was largely left alone and forgotten about. It became overgrown and wildlife moved in. 

In 2013 the Singapore Government initiated plans to bisect Bukit Brown with a major 4 lane road and proposes that in 30 years time the area be redeveloped for housing.  

A group; called the Brownies has formed to try and save the cemetery or as much of it as they can. It has been documenting the history and fauna and flora of the area and runs events to increase people's awareness of this special place.  NT, several friends and I joined a guided walk around part of the cemetery at the weekend. Some of our friends who had visited only a few months ago were shocked to see green hoardings marking out where the road construction has begun. 8000 graves (out of approximately 100,000) have already been exhumed. 

Some graves looked quite well tended, some had recently been cleared by volunteers and some were almost completely covered with vegetation and looked very neglected.

Two weeks ago it had been Qingming or Tomb Sweeping Festival, this is when families visit their ancestors 'home' for a spring clean and to replenish their needs by leaving offerings such as food, flowers and insence and to burn paper representations of worldly goods that will transfer to their ancestors in the underworld 

Our volunteer guide was very knowledgable and took us to several tombs, telling the history of the person buried there. Many Singaporean pioneers are here; Chew Joo Chiat, Chew Boon Lay, Gan Eng Seng 

Many of the tombs have guardian statues such as lions, Sikh guards and other soldiers

The biggest and grandest tomb lies on the highest hill in the cemetery, it is the grave of Ong Sam Leong, a prominent and successful businessman, his wife and their two sons who were entrepreneurs and became very wealthy

                                      

It had some very impressive statues

                             

including Spirit World guides; the Golden Boy                                              and the Jade Maiden

and carved stone friezes depicting the 24 tales of filial piety

                      Other tombs around may not have been as large but many were just as impressive

By now we had been walking for nearly three hours and the mosquitos and ants were out in force. As we made our way back to the cemetery gates dusk was falling and the occasional monkey could be seen running across the paths. Our guide told us that pangolins, monitor lizards, pythons and other snakes, owls and lots of other birds and even a pack of feral dogs live here, I wonder where they will all go if the whole cemetery becomes yet another built up area? 

Driving licence conversion and another temple

To drive a vehicle in Singapore, you must possess a valid Singapore driving licence, this applies to all citizens and permanent residents of Singapore and also foreigners who are residing in Singapore for more than twelve (12) months. 

We don't have a car here as owning and running a car is prohibitively expensive and to be honest the public transport is so efficient and inexpensive it is largely unnecessary and doesn't make financial sense for us to buy a car. However we would like to have the option to do so if we ever change our minds and also we would like to be able to rent a car now and again.

In order to convert our UK licence to a Singapore licence we needed to pass the Basic Theory Test or BTT. To book the test you have to go in person to one of the test centres, fill in some forms, wait to enrol, book your test date and finally pay. This first visit took about 2 hours to complete!

 Whilst waiting we could see learner drivers having their lessons on the special simulated road area at the back of the building, complete with a small hill to practice hill starts and parking bays.

 All learner drivers have to pass their BTT before taking driving lessons and all learning has to be 

with a qualified instructor.

 Whilst watching the learner drivers I noticed the top of a huge golden statue just behind the test centre so on our way out from booking our test date we went to find it.

We found it in the courtyard of the Zu Lin Temple complex

The stone carvings on the entrance pillars where of dragons and mythical beasts, scary looking creatures to keep evil spirits out

The golden statue was not of Buddha as I first thought but the Goddess of Mercy or Kuan Yin, a bodhisattva in the Buddhist tradition 

 Inside was a beautiful and very large copper Tibetan bell

a laughing Buddha statue

and in the basement room another goddess; Guanyin, the one with many arms whom I had also come across in Chinatown, see previous post-'Chinese New Year Preparations'.

I love visiting these temples and each time learn a little bit more about the beliefs and symbols involved.
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 We had been told by many people that some of the questions in the driving test (which is a computer test with 50 multiple choice questions and to pass you must get at least 45 correct answers) were rather strange so it was worth buying the training book and app and learning and practicing the answers. 

  These are some of the questions that surprised us and sometimes made us laugh! See what you think are the correct answers..

    We both studied the booklet and practiced on the app, at first we kept failing the practice tests and could not believe the extend of the knowledge that was required for the BTT, we begun to suspect that we had actually downloaded the wrong app, the one for the Advanced Theory Test!

A few weeks later it was time to go back to the driving centre for our test. This again took a large part of the day, checking in, hearing the briefing of how to operate the computer and then doing the test. 50 minutes is allowed to answer the 50 questions, after 12 minutes I had completed the questions pressed "submit" and the lovely words "Pass" came on the screen, I had got all 50 correct.  A minute later NT satisfactorily completed his and we left the hall with a sense of success and relief.

   After queuing again to complete the forms to apply for the licence now we had passed and before being given our certificates we had to watch a safety video. This is an extremely graphic video about the dangers of speeding, drink driving and reckless driving. It showed CC TV footage of actual crashes, photographs of injured and dead people and interviews with accident victims and their families. It was very thought provoking and rather sobering.

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So we now have our converted licences, we hope to find a good enough reason to hire a car and brave the busy roads to explore the furthest reaches of Singapore soon.

  

N.B the correct answers to the questions above according to Singapore are;

-Road accidents are caused by; "Neither of these options"!

-The reason you have a driving licence is; 'Because driving is a privilege, not a right'

-The Traffic Police Officer is signalling; 'Vehicles from his front and back to stop'

-Obviously the correct answer is that "drugs will have a similar adverse affect to alcohol on your driving", but it made me laugh that someone might choose the answer that too much junk food might!

-Flashing your beam lights may be helpful; on driving uphill

 Hope you got them all right, if not now you know. Safe driving everyone.

Free exercise classes

Earlier this week whilst walking through my local shopping mall I heard loud music playing and someone shouting out in a very enthusiastic manner. As I got closer and peered over the balcony to the large plaza area on the basement level I saw a large crowd enjoying a group exercise class.

 The shopping mall is very close to the hearts of many Singaporean residents, being a place you can shop, have a meal, engage in leisure activities and catch up with family and friends, in many of them you can also join in with a free exercise class.

 Run by the government run Health Promotion Board these evening classes are completely free, there's no need to register, you just put on your lycra, turn up, take your place and join in.

I've looked up what is available in my mall and discovered that on Monday's it's Kickboxing, Tuesday it's Zumba night and on Wednesday I could do Hip Hop. 

What a brilliant idea! I haven't yet been brave enough to don my gear and join in but will do just as soon as I've run out of excuses for not going- which I think is going to be pretty soon.