Streets Ahead Photography

Singapore - A Brief Visit

We decided to get away for a few days so we made a trip up to Singapore. Its only a 5 hour flight from Perth in Western Australia where we live. My wife and I had last been to Singapore over 20 years ago, so we were eager to see how it had changed and how we had changed.

Shopping was no longer on the agenda we were now more interested in the surroundings the food and of course for me the chance to photograph a new location.

One of the must see items on our list were the Supertrees at Gardens by the Bay, so we timed our visit for the evening when the lights would be turned on. I found if I laid down on my back and using a fish-eye lens, I captured some interesting compositions looking up at the trees.

(Tip) Don’t get run over by the electric ice-cream truck, you can’t hear it coming and the driver is not on the look-out for photographers laying on the ground.

The Supertrees are behind the Marina Bay Sands hotel which is a 55 story building with what looks like a ship dropped on the top. This is a spectacular building that we walked through on the walkway and apparently you can have a beer in the bar on the top but the pool is only for paying guests. I would of been up there in a flash to take some photographs but we had a lot of smoke from bushfires in Indonesia and visibility was not to good at that height.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel

Inside the Marina Bay Sands

The view from underneath

Just strolling around the waterfront there was always something happening. The Formula 1 was starting on Friday so it may of been the excitement building for the weekend.

City Skyline

Tree Walk

Laser Show

Of course it wouldn’t be Singapore without some rain, its the ideal time to stop and have a coffee and something to eat and wait the 2 hrs for the rain to finish. Spending $6 on an umbrella also helped for those times we had to dash across the road or just wanted to wander around some more.

Rain

China Town and Little India

Visits to China Town and Little India were interesting, different suburbs with there own character sometimes bustling with energy sometimes a little seedy.

Descent into Chinatown

Lanterns

Red

Temple

Carvings

Restaurant ?

Nightclub ?

The Zoo

Of course it wouldn’t be Singapore without a visit to the zoo, judged to be one of the best in the world.

Nice Haircut

Laughing at the tourists

That's Funny

Missed the Joke

By the end of the week we were shattered, the high humidity and the amount of travelling we had done walking, and also on a bicycle tour around the City was now taking its toll. I could only manage one beer and then wanted to go to sleep. But when its Happy Hour with two beers for the price of one, well you just have to suffer. Funny thing Happy Hour was from 4pm to 7pm then again from 9pm till midnight.

Singapore is such a mixture of old and new architecture and a blend of several cultures it's really unique.

Taxi

Old and New

The way it used to be

Architecture

Also stumbled on Cosplay Day in Singapore which I always thought was a Japanese thing but I managed to push my way through a whole bunch of professional photographers to get a few shots. Hey why not I’m a professional photographer even if they had bigger cameras than me.

Posing for the Camera

Working the Camera

Finally at the end of the day we always stumbled back towards Clark Quay where our hotel was. It’s a place with many bars and restaurants and rocked till 2am. Our hotel room was on the 20th floor so it was nice and quiet, this was the place where I paid $14 for a beer sitting at a table by the river. But at the end of the week on our last night I don’t even mind getting ripped off one last time.