For those who missed it... here's what it is all about...


Going through the police gantries

First you need to be invited and go through those gantries to make sure that you did not bring any weapons of mass destruction into the ballroom...

The address of the museum

Somewhere along the road at Pasir Panjang where my family visit the famous Tung Lok Kuey Chap lies a bungalow museum that is dedicated to the ill-fated battle against the Japanese during the second world war. The Japanese mounted a surprise attack on Singapore and Kent Ridge was Singapore last resistance against the Imperial troops.


Is this a watch tower to over look the south coast of Singapore for Japanese Navy?

Admission to this little museum would cost you $2 per adult and aside from the groups of secondary school students, there were a grand total of 2 other visitors beside me and sucre. It's no wonder since Bukit Chandu, or Kent Ridge Park, is not really accessible to the public.


Those rude secondary school students

We were greeted by a friendly caretaker when we entered the museum and followed his kind advice to move to the theatre for a video before the seats were taken up by those students. Unfortunately, the pleasant experience ended there. After settling at a nice corner of the small theatre, hordes of rowdy secondary school students swamped the quiet theatre. And for some reasons, a couple of them just had to sms their friends throughout the entire video, blinding us with the light from their handphone.


One of the many multimedia display for the museum (Taken with Fuji F11)

There were plenty of displays for the museum, including the following:-
1.) A computerized touch screen multimedia video display superimposed on a 1940s map of Singapore showing the tactical and strategic superiority of the Japanese compared to the powerful but naive British troops.
2.) Audio recordings of unnamed survivals of the war sharing their memories of the war
3.) Video of a Steve Irwin impersonator in a presentation that tries to bring back the war in a sandbox shown above
4.) Various rifles, helmets and war artifacts


Uniform of Malay regiment officers

Shortly after the battle was lost here, Singapore lost her war against the Japanese. I wouldn't have known all these without visiting the museum and it seem to me the main purpose of the museum is to educate Singaporeans about this historical part of Singapore. The museum was boring and lacked interactive elements. It may have good facilities (Sennheiser headphones at the theatre) but all the resources are used in presentations etc. In other words, the museum is a bit boring.


Artillery of the past.

If only they put more thoughts in designing the museum. Perhaps they could design it such that a visitor would "live" through the few days before, during and after the battle as they explore the museum. We could walk into the first room where a family is having their dinner listening to radio for the latest updates on the war, and they could be talking about the retreating British troops that they saw earlier in the day. The next room could be a war-torn room or a bomb shelther where the Japanese had launched their first wave of air strike. Another room could mimic the command centre where the generals discuss the battle movement. And don't fence off your display items. Putting those dummies behind glass wall would keep the visitor detached from the museum.

Reflections at Bukit Chandu, could be better.

All photos taken with the Sony Alpha using the 18-70mm kit lens unless stated otherwise.

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Spotted this one out of eighty-five QQ cars in Singapore. These cute little 0.8l cars just hit the local market in less than 3 months and I'm lucky enough to spot one recently, that is cutely decorated too.

Because you will get photographed and posted online...


Boo Hoo.. I want my toy


This is the hardest bolster I ever had... Boo Hoo...


This is what happens when you don't change diapers often enough


Let me try mastermind's shoes


Opps.. too big.. how about this instead...

All photos taken with either the Sony A100 or Fuji F11.

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Incense paper (金银纸)

Last month, I had a chance to bring my alpha to this hungry ghost festival ceremony for some cultural immersion and to test out my new camera. This authentic cultural experience sure beats all the stuff we just read from textbooks as I got up close and personal with the rituals involved in this festival of the ghosts.


Always seen this around but wonder what is it called.

This is a great experience for me both culturally and photographically. It's the first time I tried to shoot a night only indoor event and the first time I attend such a ritual. I was told that I should not use flash photography so I had to rely heavily on the super steadyshot of the camera to yield a few good shots out of a bunch.


Pot of flame, taken handheld, just like most of the other photos here.

We have seen rituals like these on TV and movies but its never like it in real life. I could hardly get a clear shot without anyone around in my frame because it takes a lot of people to ensure that everything runs smoothly throughout the ritual.


Sun Wukong with his rod. 孙悟空和他的金箍棒

Without any flash it means that I had awful shadows at places that you would least want it. Plus the ritual could not stop and pose for you to take photographs, I had to run around to get the best angle. And before I could take a couple of shots, the subjects moved on to another place or did a somersault throwing me off my position.


Awful shadow on the face.

I suppose there are lots of meaning behind these rituals that I do not know and I'm pretty sure that many younger Singaporeans would not know either. I recall that almost 20 years ago, one taoist ritual priest wanted to recruit me as his disciple to learn his trade of performing rituals for the dead. Which of course I flatly refused back then.


Carrying the incense pot to the altar.

Now, almost all the people performing these rituals are in their middle age and I wonder how long could these traditions last in Singapore.


Joss sticks

That night was a night of a series of rituals. After the Monkey god, we have the black and white guards of hell (黑白无常) gracing the altar from a lorry. I wonder how could it be safe to seat on chairs in a lorry. But maybe they were driving very slowly.


The guards of hell in their 5 star lorry seats.

These guards were welcomed as I guess they bring fortunes and luck to the worshippers present. But you have to treat them with respect and do their biddings to receive blessings. I always thought that they were associated to death but the words on their hats suggest otherwise.


Anticipated for this shot but sadly the shutter was too slow to do a good one. I think this is about 0.2 s exposure.


One could read the 4 characters on the white hat. Which literally means "Great fortunes with a look" (一见发财)

Now I learnt that these guards from hell used to smoke opium in rituals of the past but since opium is a controlled drug in Singapore and I'm sure no one wants to be hanged for just a ritual, they changed to cigarettes instead.



Smoking and relaxing

They were soon joined by another guard from hell, from a different level, to have their kopitiam chit chat session here. I couldn't understand most of what they are saying since it's in hokkien and the only dialect that I'm proficient in is cantonese.


Getting ready for the ritual to invite the guard from hell for the tea liquor (五加皮?) session.

Sucre sweared that she heard loads of swear words from these guards and she was very disturbed by it. As for me, perhaps those were the only words that ring a bell from me as it brings me back to my army days. It's rather unfortunate that most of the hokkien that I could decipher were the swear words.


Now they were drinking, smoking and swearing

We managed to spot this gem from the ritual too. I'm sure most of you would have seen those mother of all joss sticks that is at least an inch thick. Ever wonder how they light it up? Here's the modern answer.


Pyro just lost his job to this gas flamer because he couldn't control his fire

The ritual would last through the night but it's almost midnight and time for us to leave. As we were about to leave, they were setting up another area for the next part of the ritual. Who knows what did we miss... but it's getting a bit too late for us and we had to do a bit of travelling too.


Looks like a mat for people to lie down and relax. Who knows.. (Taken with the Fuji F11).

I would need a fast lens (i.e. Minolta/Sony 50mm 1.4 prime lens) to do a better job without flash. Compare to the kit lens, a fast prime lens would be 2^4 times as fast so it could push the shutter speed from a SSS limits of 1/13s at 70mm (105mm equivalent) to a cool 1/200s at 50mm (85mm equivalent).

All photos taken with the Sony Alpha 100 with the Sony 18-70 mm DT kit lens unless stated otherwise.

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I celebrate my first teacher's day today as a full time teacher and had my first teacher's day dinner 2 days back which was the first time I had a hand in organising. So many first time in a few days. LOL. So here's part one of a series of photos for the many first times.


The theme of the dinner is a night at the movies. No prize for guessing which movie this table had chosen.