Tag: <span>park</span>

Date: 21st September, 2011

After a depressing yesterday, I got up knowing there was little I could do today. With my right hand slightly injured, enjoying the rides at Universal Studios Sentosa was ruled out. I couldn’t go to Marina Bay Sands either because I needed my 70-200mm lens, which I had to give for repair.

After freshening up, I sat at the dining table to have a cup of coffee. I picked up a newspaper and decided to actually read about what goes on in this tiny city state. I couldn’t help but notice the real estate property ads, not because of how good the properties looked, but mainly because just about every condominium advertised cost over a million dollars! And I thought to myself: “How on earth do the locals even afford to buy property here?”

Surely not everybody lives in the posh condos being advertised. That’s when I decided on what to do today – take the bus and see inner Singapore. Now, I didn’t know where exactly to go, but today I didn’t have anything else planned until I got the call from John 3:16 to come pick up my lens from their store.

I laid open my map of Singapore and just pointed to the centre of the island. My finger landed on some area called Bukit Timah. So Bukit Timah it was. Off to the nearest bus stop I went (the MRT doesn’t cover every nook and cranny of Singapore, thus the decision to ride the bus)

Singapore canal mrt train condo — I hopped on a bus at around 12:30pm after an early lunch

Singapore bus to Bukit Timah — Didn’t seem like many were on their way to Buikt Timah

Singapore condominiums apartments — I know wages in Singapore are obviously higher than say, India, but the cost of living here is extremely high too. Extremely high is also how you can describe most residential buildings. They have to be, developmental land is scarce in Singapore.

Singapore apartments canal — I honestly had no clue if I was even on the right way or where to get down

Luxury condominiums Singapore — These all looked like privately built apartment buildings

Vista condominium construction Singapore — And they’re building more

HDB building road Singapore — The Housing Development Board apartment buildings often look like that red and white building in the photo

Singapore greenery view from bus — That said, I did notice that there is still a lot of open land space still available. It’s just that government ensures there’s enough greenery in every district — which is nice.

Inside sbs bus to Bukit Timah — Looked like we were on an expressway to Bukit Timah

I didn’t really know where to get down, so when I saw a sign pointing to Bukit Timah Shopping Center, I got down at the next stop.

Bukit Timah MRT station road Singapore — The area didn’t look that exciting. To the left was the construction of a new MRT station.

Bukit Timah Plaza shops — I presumed malls in inner Singapore weren’t going to be as flashy as the ones in the CBD, but this was Bukit Timah Plaza

Bukit Timah shopping centre Singapore — Went all the way up to the food court/open area where the hawkers were

Bukit Timah shopping centre maids — I don’t quite remember if this section was another part of the Bukit Timah Shopping Centre, but every floor had nothing but maid service businesses — most maids being from Indonesia and Philippines

Bukit Timah restaurants Singapore — I was honestly quite bored here

Yuk Tong Ave Bukit Timah Singapore — I just walked around the area to soak up what life in these parts must be like. Not quite the residential area I hoped I would see, but it was okay.

Bukit Timah Chinese temple Singapore — Unlike the Geylang area, which has a sizable Malay population, I’m guessing inner Singapore has a lot more of citizens of Chinese descent

Just then my friend Aimee called, saying she might be coming to Orchard Road and that we could meet in the evening. But since I still had a few more hours to kill, I wondered how to spend it.

Inside SBS bus — I hopped on a bus going towards the Orchard Road side

Nanyang Girls High school Singapore — Nanyang Girls High school

Shelford road Singapore — Drove past what looked like a rather posh area. Very few people in Singapore live in villas.

The bus drove around and as it neared Orchard road, it passed by the Singapore Botanical Gardens. In a split second, I decided to get down at the very next bus stop.

Singapore Botanic Gardens entrance gates — Singapore’s Botanic Gardens wasn’t on my list-of-things-to-see actually… but I had to see something!

Singapore Botanic Gardens direction sign — There is no entrance fee, it’s like a public park

Singapore Botanic Gardens restrictions no signs — It’s a public park, but there are quite a few no-no’s

Singapore Botanic Gardens leaf sun — I hadn’t even shot enough photographs today, so I needed to justify carrying my camera around

Swan lake no feeding Singapore botanic gardens — No feeding allowed

Swan lake Botanic Garden Singapore — This is called the Swan Lake

Swan lake statue island Singapore botanic garden — Shot on my Canon 450D

Turtles swan lake Botanic Gardens Singapore — Turtles

Swan lake island Singapore botanic garden — Sadly, because my telephoto lens was undergoing repair, I couldn’t zoom in much

Swan lake water leaf Singapore botanic gardens — Oh look Pacmen… 😛

Tembusu tree leaves Singapore Botanic garden — The Tembusu tree

Ginger farm waterfall Singapore botanic gardens — I saw a way in

Restaurants Singapore Botanic garden — You have a few restaurants here

Entrance to National orchid garden Singapore — Went in here

National orchid garden ticket counter Singapore — There’s a SG$5 (Rs.200/$3.8/€3) entry ticket

National orchid park Singapore botanic garden — Didn’t really know what to expect as I know as much about flowers as I do about neurology

Singapore Orchid garden huge cage — Went inside this huge cage

Way to vip orchid Singapore botanical gardens panorama — Walked up towards that bungalow, named Burkill Hall

Vip orchard garden information Singapore — Orchids here are in honour of special guests

Dendrobium Jean Chretien flower Singapore Botanical garden — This orchid was named in honour of Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister of Canada

Dendrobium concham Margaret Thatcher flower Singapore garden — Ghastly looking flower…

Margaret Thatcher orchid visit Singapore botanical garden — Oh that’s why

Dendrobium orchid Princess Masako Japan Singapore garden — This one is honour of Princess Masako of Japan

Qatar orchid Singapore Botanical gardens — This one is in honour of some royals from Qatar

India orchid Singapore botanical gardens — These flowers were in honour of former Indian president K.R. Narayanan’s visit

Weird looking orchid flower Singapore — The designs by Mother Nature I tell you

Nelson Mandela plant vip orchid garden Singapore — The plant was named in honour of the great Nelson Mandela

Vip orchid house panorama — I left the VIP Orchid house

Vandalized tree Singapore botanical gardens panorama — Sigh, even in Singapore there are idiots who do this

Tan Hoon mist house Singapore botanic garden — Went in here next

Way to coolhouse Singapore botanic garden — Coolhouse? Sounds promising!

Coolhouse Singapore botanic gardens — Oh my god it was SO relaxing in here!

Coolhouse vents Singapore botanic garden — It was so cool in here… Singapore’s humidity was killing me!

Coolhouse mist Singapore botanic garden — But just then I get an SMS from Aimee informing me she’s on her way to Orchard Road. Damn, I had to leave this place.

Singapore botanic garden wooden shed — I quickened my pace

Mithun Divakaran Singapore botanic garden — But I just had to stop to take a snap of myself 🙂

Dog walking Singapore botanic park — This is a park for everybody

Picnic spot Singapore botanic park — There’s even a huge picnic area

Cat Singapore botanic park — Dogs walk, humans jog… cats… sit and do nothing. Typical!

Shaw foundation symphony stage lake Singapore botanic garden — They have concerts here every week

Photographers Singapore botanic garden — I wasn’t the only photographer there

Walking path Singapore botanic park — I was trying to figure out how to get out of the park

Directions board Singapore botanic park — I was trying to get out as quickly as possible, Aimee had already reached Ion Orchard

Singapore botanic garden Nassim gate — I was finally out!

But this exit didn’t have a bus stop anywhere nearby, so I hailed a taxi and made it to ION Orchard mall.

Aimee Marie checking her phone — Aimee, a reader turned dear friend, who was of great help to me in Philippines

Daiso Ion Orchard mall Singapore — Aimee introduced me to Daiso, and I quite liked the offerings. Picked up a mini-vaccum.

After checking out a few stores, we stepped out on to Orchard Road. I promised Aimee I would make her look good this time, as neither of us were happy with the photos I took of her in Manila.

Aimee Marie Orchard road Singapore — So here’s Aimee at Orchard Road

Ticketcube booth Orchard Road Singapore — Went in here to collect my ticket for the Chemical Brothers show after the Sunday race

Mithun Divakaran Ticketcube Singapore — Aimee took this

Ngee Ann city shopping hall Singapore — Went to Ngee Ann City next

Aimee Marie lucky plaza Singapore — Here’s Aimee at Lucky Plaza, where I went to exchange some currency

Aimee Marie Singapore escalator — Here’s Aimee going down an escalator

Suntec city towers at night Singapore — We walked to Suntec City towers where Aimee’s fiance was waiting to meet us

Aimee Marie Suntec Singapore — Here’s Aimee.. oh, the camera focused on the background. Oops.

View from Suntec city building — The view from one of the floors at Suntec

Given how the day began, I quite liked how it eventually ended. I’m glad I visited the Singapore Botanic Gardens, it was actually quite nice! I hadn’t done much macro photography since my visit to the 2010 Lal Bagh Botanical Garden Flower Show and I liked how most of my photographs turned out today. It would have been nice if I had my 70-200mm lens but I wasn’t going to get it until tomorrow.

Prata beef curry Malay food Singapore — Once back in my area, I had dinner at the Malay Indian restaurant in my block. Had a few pratas and beef curry, cost SG$6.20 (Rs. 250/$4.7/€3.7)

I felt better knowing, despite my injury, I wasn’t going to leave Singapore without some great photos. I wasn’t going to give up. Tomorrow, I visit the Marina Bay Sands Casino – my first time gambling!

Next posts in this series:

Singapore 2011: Day 4 – Marina Bay Sands Casino and views from the SkyPark observation deck

Singapore 2011: Day 5 – Chinatown, F1 Friday (Charice, Seungri and GD&TOP concerts)

Singapore 2011: Day 6 – F1 Saturday (Rick Astley, Shakira and Shaggy concerts)

Singapore 2011: Day 7 – Little India, F1 Sunday race, Linkin Park concert and Avalon Club

Leaving Singapore, and discovering certain truths about this famous city state

Previous posts in this series:

Singapore 2011: Day 2 – Jurong Bird Park and… *ouch!*

Singapore 2011: Day 1 – Landing a second time; walking around CBD

Date: 3rd March 2005

The next day, after Vivek’s wedding, we left Jaipur in the after noon by bus and headed for Agra. We took the state bus which was quite cheap (and very basic in every shape and form).

We reached Agra by 5pm and took an auto straight to the Taj Mahal. It was already sunset, so we really didn’t have much time.

We bought our tickets, paid for our camera fee and got in.

I was budding with excitement as I was finally going to see India’s most famous monument.

And though my photos may not paint a rosy picture, trust me, it really was beautiful!

I had no choice but to use the camera flash once inside.

There really wasn’t much else I could take as the flash would have made the photos appear as though it was already night fall (which it wasn’t yet). Plus it was closing time, so we had to make our way out.

As cliched as it may sound, the Taj Mahal really is one sight everyone (especially if you are Indian) must see before they die. It’s a hideously romantic structure to profess one’s love for someone and will probably never be attempted again.

My only regret is that I wish I had gotten there a few hours earlier.

After making our way out and surviving the hordes of vendors pushing replicas of the Taj in your face, we sat down for a coffee break. We pondered about whether we should stay in Agra that night or head straight for New Delhi which was the next stop on our ‘tour’.

But Delhi it was. So we took an auto to the Agra bus stand and boarded the bus. It was around 8pm by the time we left and we would arrive at New Delhi around 3am the next day.

New Delhi

Date: 4th March 2005

We were staying at a (crappy) 3-star hotel in the heart of the city, pretty close to all the major sights we planned on seeing. So in the morning, we headed first for Red Fort (or Lal Qila).

Red fort New Delhi Mithun — Yeah that's me. Laugh all you want.

Red fort panorama New Delhi — (Panorama comprised of 3 shots)

Red fort Indian war museum building — Indian war museum at Red Fort

Here’s a brief video I took:

We had a relaxing meal at a coffee shop/restaurant at the Lal Qila itself, which was nice. After that, we moved to our next stop (across from the Red Fort) — Raj Ghat.

The massive public park houses several memorials in honour of some of the greatest Indians that helped shape our nation. First up, the greatest of them all — the Mahatma Gandhi memorial.

We then walked down the bricked path to check out the rest of the place.

There’s a fairly large pond in the middle of the park which makes this place all the more serene.

If you like geese, here’s a video:

The day wasn’t the brightest Delhi offered, and we even got a brief moment of drizzle — but the somber skies suited the next few sights.

More memorials, these mostly honouring the Nehru clan.

Raj Ghat Nehru memorial New Delhi — Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru memorial

Raj Ghat Indira Gandhi memorial — Indira Gandhi memorial

Raj Ghat Rajiv Gandhi memorial — Rajiv Gandhi memorial

Vijay Ghat Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial — Lal Bahadur Shastri memorial

After walking around for nearly an hour, we took an auto and headed for India Gate.

We followed down the straight road from India Gate which took us to the Rashtrapathi Bhavan.

To our right was the parliament house…

… but we weren’t allowed near the building nor were we permitted to take photographs from up close. Oh well.

Back to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Rashtrapathi Bhavan presidents palace Mithun New Delhi — Me in front of the President's palace building. Not sure why I wasn't smiling.

As an Indian, you can’t help but feel patriotic when you are in this part of Delhi.

Of course, there is much more to the capital city. It is after all famed for its shopping and street food — but we had to catch a flight back to Bangalore the next day and we were a bit knackered with all the walking we did. So we went back to the hotel and rested.

The next day, it was checking out of the crappy hotel, hopping into a taxi and heading off to the airport.

Taken from inside the car:

Barah Murti Mahatma Gandhi statue New Delhi — Barah Murthi

Camera used: Canon Powershot A95; post processing done in Photoshop CS3

P.S: Here’s a video I took while at Rashtrapathi Bhavan and India Gate:

park

Singapore: Day 3 – Bukit Timah and Singapore Botanic Gardens

Taj Mahal and New Delhi sights: Red Fort, Raj Ghat, India Gate & Rashtrapati Bhavan

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