Stephen & I flew to Bali for the holidays leaving Seattle on the day of Christmas Eve arriving after a total of more than 20 hours sitting in cramped airplane seats, plus the time waiting between flights, but… Stephen had planned a short overnight for us in Singapore!
We shared a new camera because both of ours are aged… we also used both our iPhones… plus; I had my new iPad, so there is much play & experimentation in our photographs with no real way of knowing or caring which shots are by which of us with which device… Stephen made this one of our breakfast banana peels on the plane using a mode to make it look like a watercolor!
Our wild room in Singapore had a glass bathroom! There were shades if one wanted more privacy… It was great to sleep comfortably before a nice soak! You can see Stephen in the tub through the flowers painted on the glass wall while I sat playing with the camera from the bed!
Our friend Ali, who grew up in Singapore, & whom we know from when he lived for awhile on Vashon several years ago, came to the hotel for breakfast before taking us on a walking tour of the city’s central core, which is a collection of wonderfully wild modern architecture…
Beginning with our windows at the Crown Plaza which were masked with a sort of “propellor” grill.
The poles on the train from the airport/hotel had the handsome detail of branching into three… a very functional solution multiplying spaces for hands holding-on, which I thought was brilliant. Add to that those shoes… seeming to match!
Escalators with their wheels showing brought a bit of what seems “steam-punk” to the numerous underground walkways to protect from the heat on the streets
In the lobby of a theatre some curious holiday vignette of a herd of paper-mache dogs & cats all but obscured the function of another fascinating idea… to combine a ramp for wheels zig-zaging integrally with a short flight of steps for feet! I wish I could have experienced its lack of “handicap” without that of all those papier-mache beasts!
Ali caught me making a shot inside that admiration… I further appreciate his sharing of photos!
The exterior of that building took the form of a fruit called durian…
I’m often amused & sometimes dismayed by Christmas decor in the tropics… even as that happen as well in Florida or Hawai’i… still I had not expected so much of these traditional decorations, even as it is a very international city, well aware of the commercial value of the holidays… I obviously must learn to be even more amused at my dismay…
Since we had only a few hours before the flight to Bali, we walked toward the spectacular Marina Sands towers…spanned at the top with a bridge-like structure from which we would have views of both the city & the harbor beyond.
Along the way we passed a lagoon in which were floating balls which were part of the preparations for their New Year’s celebration… to one of which I was invited to add my own greeting… which I assume is now part of that flotilla noting the year’s turning.
A foot bridge engineered with the strength of a helix from that lagoon parallels the auto bridge to the complex.
Here it is from above…
But… before we got up there, approaching at the street level, I saw these facades rippling with huge architectural curtains designed of petals or flags on the facades… made to flutter in the breeze delicately forming ever- changing patterns… Quite delightful!
An expensive, ear-popping elevator ride to the top gave us views down to the river lagoon with stadium seating for a fireworks display overlooking the “exploding” museum building & the flotilla of floating balls…
In the opposite direction, the huge outer harbor beyond the botanical park & gardens below… a flotilla of rather larger sort. As we were landing the night before I had seen the lights of many more ships & boats than this narrow sample suggests…
Our schedule toward Bali allowed not enough time to visit what looked to be fascinating structures housing the collections of a botanical park. The sprouting towers seem intriguingly odd… not quite groking their function thus invites me to a longer visit in future.
Meanwhile, Ali caught me several times demonstrating what Stephen calls my “Ancil
