Year of Rabbit 2023

2023 is year of Rabbit, according to lunar calendar.

This year, our family celebrated Lunar New Year in Shepperton (New Year Eve) and Melbourne (First Day of Lunar New Year) with Cheng Kai and Cheng Yee respectively.  Cheng Jie was back in Singapore, celebrating the festive occasion with his friend.

As usual, Chinatown light decors in celebration of Lunar New Year were up and about a few weeks before Chinese New Year. It will be lights down on 19-2-2023.

Was caught up with work and other staff after returning from Melbourne - finally made time to take customary light decors in Chinatown, before they are dismantled.

Perhaps I went there more than 2 weeks after Chinese New Year. The light decors appeared rather muted. This is the main attraction...

Walking along the streets of Chinatown. The restaurants are selling mainly 麻辣火锅 (hotpot dishes) or 老东北dishes. It feels like I am walking along touristy streets in China! Where are the local dishes??

I was there after 10pm. The souvenir shops were all closed for business. Only scattered tourists were there exploring the places. The restaurants were quite busy though!

Night photography

Finally picked up my tripod, walked along Geylang River just outside our condominium, and tried to take some photos at night.

A few trial and errors, and after some post-processing, here are the outcome of my first attempt.

Lights up @ Chinatown 牛车水灯饰

The light decors during various Chinese festivals (eg MidAutum Festival, Chinese New Year) have been plagued by complaints for the past few years. The moon fairy statue was to "manly", the lanterns resemble that of decors put up during funeral... etc, etc.

The light decors for Lunar New Year this year have also being critisized as being too abstract and cartoon like.

Look at the lantern decor above... what Zodiac animals are they? ... Rabbit on the left, but what about the yellow creature on the right?....... the answer is "SNAKE".

The 12 Zodiac animals dotting the skyline

Can you confidently name all the Zodiac animals?
Rooster, Goat, Pig, Mouse, Ox (top panel)
Dragon, Snake, Pig, Rabbit (lower panel)

Which Zodiac animal is the one below?

Stretch your imagination, let your childhood imagination run wild.... it is the "TIGER"!

At one glance, it is indeed quite difficult to tell which Zodiac animals the various lanterns represent. But once you appreciate the difficulty of depicting the various animals within the confine of oval-shaped lanterns, you start to empathize with the artists predicament.

I must admit they kind of look cute, and will definitely attract the attention of young children. For once, I thought they were creatures from Pokemon!

The light decors along the New Bridge Rd @ Chinatown are more conventional and tradition. They are quite impressive as well.

Ushering in the year of the OX!

The year of RAT has been quite a disaster for many people, because of COVID pandemic.

Hopefully, the year of OX will usher in good health and prosperity for all!

Light to Night Festival 2021

Went for the Light to Night Festival at Civic District last night. 

Left home at 7.45pm, and drove to the carpark next to the Parliament House. But alas, the car park was closed for some unknown reason. Wanted to park in the alleys along Singapore River. But the places were rather crowded with people enjoying drinks/food at the various bars / boutique restaurants lining up both sides of the alleys. Eventually, I had to park at the basement carpark of Adelphi shopping complex. Fortunately, the parking wasn't too expensive - costs~ $3 per entry (after 5pm).

The colourful display of lights at the National Gallery was grand, but haphazard - the colour display occurred randomly,  without any specific theme. Somehow, it lacks the OOMH factor. Fortunately, the display appeared rather impressive on photos!

The skyline of Marine Bay Sands and buildings around Padang were more impressive.

The iconic Marina Bay Sands Hotel

The light display at The Art House...

Finally, the last stop and probably the best light display - Victoria Theatre. There seemed to be some storyline - something about despair and help...

And the Fullerton Hotel nearby...

And the building along Singapore River...

My wife and I spent about 1.5 hour exploring the light show. Our next destination... Lights @ Chinatown 牛车水。

 

Glitter of Deepavali

Drove pass Little India few weeks ago, and was rather fascinated by the light decors in conjunction with the coming Deepavali celebration. 

Had to make a trip at night to see new patients admitted to Gleneagles Hospital last week. Decided to make a trip to take some photos of the light decors in Little India.

Parked my car at the basement car park of Tekka Market @ "KK Market".  A lot of empty parking lots available (it's already over 10pm).

Got ready my camera, and walked to take some snap shots of the light decors.

And some of the shops still opened for business at night.

Colourful light decors, in striking pink, purple, yellow and orange. Quite eye catching!

The crowd had already dwindled by that time.

But alas, my camera malfunctioned after that ...the camera button stopped working, nothing could be turned on... Sigh! 

 

Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 2020

Mid-autumn Festival falls right in the midst of COVID pandemic.

The festivity is kind of muted during this period. Nevertheless, the light decorations still go on as per normal.

The light decorations in the previous years had been dogged with controversies - with derogatroy comments of "moon fairy being musculine", box shaped laterns resembling that of paper decors for the dead in funeral wakes etc.

This year, the moon fairy was felt to be too "rounded" (as if she was pregnant). And the Chinese captions extolling the festivity was kind of "strange". 

Went there at around 9.30pm (on Sunday). The crowd had dwindled somewhat. The many stalls that lined the street in previous years were no more / shuttled closed, no thanks to the COVID pandemic.

 Strolled around the streets of Chinatown, taking some snapshots. 

Family gathering during Mid-autumn festival

The "rounded" moon-fairy

Personally, I am not particularly disturbed - I feel it is just the way how the cartoon characters were designed.

The light decors in the main street. Nothing to shout about... just the usual decors.

Some of the words used in depicting the festivity were felt to be out of place... The more controversial phrases have been removed. Some of the remaining captions still sounded strange though.

The vibrant colours of the lantern figurine caught my attention as I strolled the streets of Chinatown.

Replica of facade of shop houses in the old days

Mid-Autumn Festival Light Up 2019

Mid-autumn festival is coming. Chinatown light decors were lit up, ready for the celebration.

Wanted to try out some night photography. Hence, drove out to Chinatown last night to explore the area last night.

Parked my car in Hong Lim Hawker Centre multi-storey car park. Ate late dinner at a Michellin graded curry chicken noodle store. By the time I finished my dinner and walked to nearby Chinatown, it was almost 8.50pm.

The place was not as crowded as I thought. Perhaps it was a weekday; or perhaps Singaporeans are generally not too excited about Mid-autumn festival (when compared to Chinese New Year celebration).

Highlight of the light up - Moon fairy 嫦娥。The initial figurine was mired with controversy, as it was deemed to be too musculine and had to be changed.

The light decoration along the streets.

Stores selling lanterns!

The stage for performance.

Random photos in the Chinatown.

Somehow, the whole atmosphere lacked the hustle/bustles of festive celebration.