Internal Tourist - Musuems

Travel Details:
Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station



I begun my first day of 2009 in a museum, the National Museum. The museum I wanted to visit when I first saw it in SMU. Amazingly, that was 2 years ago, but I guessed it is fated.



The most famous exhibit is the "Voom Potraits" by Robert Wilson although I did not know it when I plan for the visit.  In fact it was such ad hoc that I had absolutely no idea what can I do there.. I only know the entrance is free haha.  But deep down, I trust that I can spend a long time in the musuem...

I do not interpret my work.  Interpretation is for others.  To fix a meaning to a work limits its poetry and the possibility of other ideas.  They are personal, poetic statements of different personalities.
- Robert Wilson "A still life is a real life"

Brad Pitt
Actor
2004

The only exhibit (in my humble opinion) that could gather so many people standing there.. waiting... for the rain to stop... to see him lift the gun... and shoot water at you... hahahah
If you want a replay of the exhibit, click here.


Ivory
Black Panther
2006

The only exhibit I like.. I could stare at it for a long long time....  click here

p/s: At the time when I visited the museum and later did my research, all these links were working.  However at the time this post was published, the links have been removed.  Hmm I can only say ... too bad?

Oh well, I did find you the Brad Pitt exhibit though (famous enough to find it mah haha).. you probably can find other exhibits through youtube.



Off to the next stop... Singapore History Gallery.  At first I did not know how great and big this exhibit is.  Just that when I reached, they were opening for admission (in groups) so I just joined.  And when I'm finally done with the tour which I took very long actually... I saw a long queue waiting to go in.  Phew glad that I missed the queue.  Anyway there were really a lot of exhibits, plus there was this listening companion which will tell you stories of each and every single piece of exhibit.

 I was quite overwhelmed after a while that I skipped and only stopped by those exhibits that have affinity with me haha.  I remembered there was this room displaying about women of the past trying to assert their right to study...   then there was another room about old street names and labels (which is what this photo was depicting) as well as Bai Yan Shu Shu and his wife talking about the past...  It is really a long history lesson...

Oh I found a terse description about this exhibit

This 2,800 square metre space will tell the story of Singapore from its beginnings in the 14th century to the modern period. The Singapore History gallery will adopt a story-telling approach, where visitors will walk through stories, not exhibitions. It will offer different perspectives on our history to encourage visitors to appreciate the struggles our forefathers had to overcome in order to create the Singapore we see today. Visitors will enjoy experiencing our history through the drama of major national events as well as the intimate personal stories of individuals. They will also be able to select their own “path” into the history of Singapore and hear interesting insights with the aid of our newly-produced audio companion.
Source: National Museum

Last stop.. the Singapore Living Gallery which comprised of the most famous topic "Food" as well as "Fashion", "Film & Wayang" and "Photography".  Have to admit the "Food" topic has the most photos to take ranging from Satay as shown in this post to Nasi Lemak, Chicken Rice ..


Ice Kachang and the most interesting of all...


Scents. You can press and get a whif of the scent.. however if you don't like the smell.... too bad haha!

Travel Details:
Nearest MRT: City Hall MRT Station
Beside Fort Canning, Substation


Anyway a few days later, I made my way to the Peranakan Museum



It might/might not have increased popularity after the TCS show Little Nonya. But I can tell you, my interest of Nonya and Baba was way before this show... I do admit that I watched the beginning of Little Nonya too, because it shared alot on the culture. However when the plot thicken to include scheming tactics, rapes and murders, my interest waned.


I loved handicraft (though I am bad at it)... and I simply cannot resist beaded artwork.  Impressive!


Very cute little Qilin on top of the cover...  The reason why I love Peranakan's kamcheng is because of the cover..  Btw, kamchengs are containers used for storing food, drinks and desserts.  (Source: Sparklette And you can find more information and photos there too.  I personally find it a great write-up.)


Just had to show you MY stamp collection haha.. the beaded stamp, released by Singpost on 8th April 2008.  It is one of my favourite stamp collection.  While reading Sparklette's post, I realised I forgotten to take a photo of the real thing in the museum though.  Stupid me!

Travel Details:
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar MRT Station
Besides URA, Maxwell Hawker Centre

 
The last museum stop is the Red Dot Design Museum.  Original plan was to visit these 3 museums in the first week of January.  But I got tired that week and delayed the visit to Red Dot Design Museum till Feb instead.  Haha I only wanted to visit this museum during MAAD and that happens every first weekend of each month (11am-7pm).  It is said that the red paintwork hint of the former traffic police headquarters’ new persona.

Hmm I think it is quite a short tour.. I quite like the exhibits in the Red Dot Design Awards section. 

Most awe-struck by this illuminated bath tub and its controls...

Also like this interesting innovation designed by a 4-man team (Cheng Peng, Jia Peng, Wang Dongdong and Xia Tian) from China.  It is called "Bottle Light" because it is a torch light using the air in the bottle to light up.  The most important aspect is you can use any discarded bottle.  Now that is environmentally friendly!

Travel Details:
Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar MRT Station


After this I visited the Ang Siang Hill Park, Telok Ayer Green and Thian Hock Keng Temple.  As it does not relate to the entry title, so... I shall only share with you one photo taken in Telok Ayer Green.

It depicts a Chinese crowd celebrating a particular joyous festival and is probably one of the favourite photo spot for tourists too as the tourists will like to be part of the procession.  While in Telok Ayer Green, I caught sight of a lady (probably tourist?) reading Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Darnz it is in my reading list!!!

Anyway my plans to be an internal tourist will never stop so long as I am still in SG and there are still places to visit.  Afterall I decided before I explore the world, I would like to explore my hometown first.  I don't wish to be a tourist who knows nothing about her hometown.

So next stop should be URA, The Art House and maybe Mosaic Music Festival???

Related Posts:

Internal Tourist - Wheelies and the rest
Internal Tourist - Club
Internal Tourist - Temples
Internal Tourist - Palau Ubin and Changi
Internal Tourist - Southern Ridge
Internal Tourist - Museums
Internal Tourist - Arts
Internal Tourist - Arts Part 2
Internal Tourist - Asian Civilisation Museum