Roger and Stephen in Singapore: January 2013

Thursday 31 January 2013

Chinese New Year decorations 2013

Singapore is gearing up for the Chinese New Year on 10th of February. This year it is the Year of the Snake.

According to Chinese astrology, the Year of the Snake person is a very smart person. They generally think of clever schemes to make wealth in a cold calculating manner. The snake also represents people who are loners and use others to achieve their aims and goals.

Chinatown once again is very crowded with temporary stalls set up selling decorations for the home as well as many food items for the feasting that will take place. Chinatown has two large snake decorations that are lit up at night.
Shopping centres also have extra stalls set up with gifts for family and friends. Decorations are every where from simple pots of Cumquat trees to more elaborate decorations.
Our apartment block has also being decorated with the taxi waiting room decorated and also pots of Celosias planted in the gardens.

Snake in Chinatown

Another snake in Chinatown

The tail end of the snake

Lanterns in Chinatown

Decoration shop in Chinatown

Decorations available to purchase in Chinatown

Decorations available to purchase in Chinatown

Decorations for windows

Decorations available to purchase in Chinatown

Decorations available to purchase in supermarket

Decorations at Marina Bay Sands

Decorations on the Marina

Decorations in Orchard Rd

Decorations in shopping centre, Orchard Rd

Decorated Shophouse

Our taxi waiting room

Sunday 6 January 2013

Macau day trip

We decided to go on a day trip to Macau as Roger had never been and I was last there about 20 years ago. How things are changed, the ferries that leave Hong Kong are now 24 hour and leave about every 30 minutes. The trip takes just under an hour
The biggest shock was the amount of casinos now in Macau as there was only one when I was last there. The old part of town is still chaotic as ever and were extremely busy with Chinese tourists. The streets leading up to the Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral which is Macau's most famous landmark were decorated with Christmas lights which would have looked good lit up at night. The signs of major landmarks are still in Portuguese. and the many of the buildings are in a ramshackle state.
The number of casinos in Macau now number around 33 and include many of the big name casinos of Las Vegas such as the Venetian and the MGM Grand and also Melbourne's Crown Casino.

Ruins of Saint Paul's Cathedral

Parterre gardens leading up to the Ruins of Saint Paul's

Looking down the street from Ruins of Saint Paul's

Ruins of Saint Paul's

Grand Lisboa casino

Steamed ducks drying in the street

St Domingo's Church

View of Macau from the Fort

Birds in the park

Restored building

Streets leading up to the ruins

Christmas decorations

Christmas in Hong Kong

We spent Christmas 2012 in Hong Kong and it was interesting to see how they celebrated Christmas and the holiday season.
We were both surprised just how big Christmas was and how lavish Christmas decorations were in shopping centres. One particular shopping centre has a ski mountain with a model gondola moving across the shopping centre. Another shopping centre had fake snow blowing down from the ceiling. Shops were busy and many of the high- end stores had queues out the front to get in. Roger and I felt we were the only ones on Christmas Eve without a Louis Vuitton shopping bag!
Each night the buildings on the harbour would light up with spectacular Christmas lights which drew large crowds. Christmas Eve saw many roads closed to cope with the crowds and the amount of people that were walking down the normally busy Nathan Rd was mind boggling.
Tourist spots were also very busy and the wait to catch the tram up to the Peak was nearly an hour. We went for a walk up Nathan Rd Christmas morning and it felt strange that most of the shops were open and people were shopping. In the park many of the domestic helpers had the day off and were having picnic lunches.