Singapore - Central District

Above are a few photos from the Singapore Central Business District . It overlooks the Marina Bay and is near Boat Quay.

Singapore - Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall

Here are a few pictures of Victoria Theatre a in Singapore. I took these over two days with my trusty Canon G10. If I ever go back to Sing I need to bring the full mother load of SLR gear!

The Statue is of Stamford Raffles.

A walk on the shore around Marine Parade

Here are a few more shots of Singapore that I took. All photos are along the shoreline around Marine Parade.

City Hall & Old Courthouse on the Padang

On St. Andrews Road lies the old courthouse building and city hall. The area is called the Padang. The following are a few pictures I took while visiting. The above photo is taken across on Esplanade Park on the Cricket Grounds. To the left is the Cricket Club. Centre Left is the Old Courthouse, and to the right of the photo is City Hall.

Below is a closeup of the Cricket Club... looks like it has a lawn bowling field as well. The Singapore Cricket Club is really old and was established in the mid 1800s.

The following are a few photos of the old Supreme Court Building. The courthouse was replaced with a new Justice building in 2005, and the building is in the process of being converted into an arts/cultural building.

St Andrews Road is used part of the Formula 1 circuit, and cars go down this street to Anderson Bridge.

Next to the Courthouse is the City Hall. There was a design festival going on so I went inside to take a look...

Here is a pic of the door handles...

Inside there were various displays, including Amazonia in Singapore (Brazil Embassy), an Anime Character Festival, Fight with Flowers, a organization exhibit... here is a picture of one of the displays... yes matchsticks... :

Of interest to me was a demonstration by Charlie Lim, a photographer that uses a light wand to paint pictures. Check out his website here... a real talent: Charlie Lim Painter of Light

Inside the City hall are some courtyards, here is a picture from inside:

Behind the building, the new Justice Building is visible:

Merlion Park

Here are some photos of Merlion Park during the day. I have some night photos in a November Blog post.

Orchard Road

Orchard Road is one of the main shopping and entertainment districts in Singapore. For Christmas they decorate the trees of the main street with Christmas Ornaments and they light the area at night. I went out during the daytime (I didn't go around there at night unfortunately) and here are a few pictures. Unfortunately the quality isn't the greatest as my little compact had fogging issues while walking about.

Christmas in Singapore

It's Christmas over there now. Here are a few night photos I took...

The first two are outside the hotel in a local shopping plaza... anime animals and Christmas trees

These pictures are from a walk around Suntec city... the place is lit up at night and looks amazing.

Boat Quay and Downtown district

Here a few more pictures of the Boat Quay area in Singapore. The first few are of the Civic district on the East side of the river. The Statue is of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of the modern day city state of Singapore.

The rest of the photos are along Boat Quay in the restaurants/stores:

Boat Quay Dragon Boat races

Boat Quay was one of the busiest Docks in Singapore in the 1860s and handled most of the trade for the Port of Singapore. Today it really isn't a port, but the House shops still line the sides of the river opening around this historic district. It's really a nice area to just sit on a patio restaurant on the river. When I walked along here during the daytime there were Dragon Boat races going on. Here are a few photos.

Singapore Pano Shot

Here is a Pano shot I stitched together from the pier off of Merlion Park. To the left is Esplande Mall, Centre Left you can see the multicoloured Grand Prix Stand and Singapore Flyer. The Centre of the photo you can see three towers which are under construction.

This is the Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resort. The towers are linked by a two acre sky garden. Its supposed to open in 2010.

To the right is the edge of the pier and the Financial district.

Singapore F1 track

On one of my days off I decided to walk the F1 track. The area around the Singapore Flyer (Marina Promenade Park) is a section of permanent, purpose built track. The rest of the track is on public streets going through some of the most scenic areas of the town.

Here is a track map:

The following photos are from T23, T24 and the main grandstand.

Turn 23:

And Turn 24 onto the main straight:

And the main straight:

The grandstands are to the right of the picture and have been taken down...

A few pictures of a grid position:

A few pictures of the garages...

The race was from Sept 25-27... Tyre marks are still visible. Note the front axle position where they lift the cars:

The start finish line:

And out towards turn one and two:

The garages are typical Singapore Spotless!

Singapore Flyer Pano shots

These aren't the best... they were taken with my G10, which doesn't lend itself for pano shots. But for what it is worth, here are a few panos while taking the ride.

Singapore Flyer

While in Sing I took a ride aboard the Singapore Flyer. It is a gigantic wheel about 165m in diameter. Cost was 29.5 Sing Dollars, and the total ride duration is about 30 minutes. It is a good way to see the city and I will post some pano shots from the flyer soon.

The pods are fairly large and air conditioned. The wheel never stops, so to get aboard you have to hop on while it is moving. It looks sketchy but it goes slow enough that it isn't an issue.

Going upwards and looking around you get a good view of the F1 track.

There are also great views of the financial district, River opening, Marina, Dockyards, Boat Quay, and on and on! I'll post some Pano shots later. But here are a few from solitary shots from the flyer.

Suntec City

Suntec City was the largest shopping mall complex in Singapore until VivoCity openned in 2005. One of the main attractions is the Fountain of Wealth. It is located in the centre of a roundabout and the malls and towers surround it. At night they put on a laser light show, which is the subject of the following pictures.... the fountain is in the Guinness book of world records for the largest fountain in the world.

This first picture is of the walls the fountain is in... above the walls is the roundabout.

Here are a few above ground pictures at the height of the road...

And down in the concourse of the mall:

More Sing night pictures...

Here are a few more pictures from Singapore.

The first one is looking across the bridge on Connaught drive. In the distance you can see the Esplanade Mall, and to the right is the ferris wheel called the 'Singapore Flyer'.

The next photo is of the backside of the Fullerton Hotel.

Here is a foot passenger bridge going back to the Fullerton and to Maybank tower.

And finally another bridge across Boat Quay... I'll show some daytime photos of Boat Quay later.

Back from Singapore

I had to go to Singapore for a few weeks for work related reasons, but in my spare time managed to explore the city as best as I could. I only brought my Canon G10 rather than the full Camera load, but here are a few pictures of Merlion Park in the downtown Financial section.

The first photos are of the Merlion. A mythical Half Lion half fish creature. The Lion comes from the original name of Singapore, Singapura which means 'lion city'. The fish body comes from the original ancient name of Singapore, 'Temasek' which means sea town... There are several Merlion statues and figures about the city, but this one in Marina Bay is probably the best known and most photographed. It's quite a sight.

Across the street is the Fullerton Hotel... I never went in there but from the outside it looks like an amazing hotel. The building has a long history prior to its current status as a hotel.

The last two photos are of Anderson Bridge... look familiar? If you are a fan of Formula 1 auto racing it should. This is the bridge that the cars cross during the race! It's fairly old and construction was finished in 1910.

I'll post some more photos later... To those who have never been there, all I have to say is Singapore is an amazing city, and if you get the chance, pack your bags and GO!