The wedding party continued deep into bar closing time. When we left The Fullerton Hotel the clock was ringing three times, welcoming the new day. I’ve already been told that it was the lethal combination of jetlag and wedding cocktails but I want to think it was my itching desire to find out whether or not oceanic lions sleep at night: I was wide awake at five in the morning and ready to go on the next photographic adventure to see the famous symbol of Singapore. I gathered my camera equipment in the dark hotel room leaving others asleep in their plush, rented linens and headed down to the lobby to hitch a taxi.
The Merlion Park that I discovered was serene – an empty, floating marble monument, jutting out into Marina Bay. This early morning discovery, in it’s solitude, brought me to the question of the purpose and scale of its fame. By getting to the park before dawn, I had most certainly beaten the crowd and had total control and freedom to capture the perfect angles of the glorious Merlion. This kind of freedom truly brings contentment to the heart of any photographer. In addition, the sunrise at the Merlion Park with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel in the backdrop was quite an impressive sight to behold. If you find jetlag keeping you awake at night the next time you find yourself in Singapore, I cannot recommend more highly making your way over to Merlion Park for a sunrise photo.
Marina Bay Sands
When I got to Merlion Park, it was about 30 minutes before sunrise and there were maybe 10 other people at the park. I saw a group of skateboarders sitting and listening to music through earbuds, staring at the brilliant reflection of Marina Bay Sands floating on the calm river waves. I also saw several travelers who I assumed had made their way down from the airport during a long layover to take selfies and a few stern looking photographers anchoring heavy tripods to frame that perfect sunrise photo. Merlion Park was still under the blanket of a romantic evening, and I quite enjoyed watching the silhouettes of people and imagining the stories of each of their evening’s endings in front of this gorgeous view of the Singaporean skyline.
Dawn arrived suddenly. I was admiring the red glow of sun peeling away the shadows from a dark sky and revealing the somber surface of the river. The city lights that had sparkled like diamonds, quickly faded into the pastel colors of the morning sky. I walked around the Merlion and tried my best to document this subtle yet fast transition of light. The change of color was beautifully intangible, and struck me with a sense of joy in witnessing the beginning of a new day.
Once the sun fully went above my head and the park started to become lively with tourists and early morning joggers, I left the area and explored around the esplanade.
Fishermen undocked the boat and sailed off to the morning sun.Got my red dragon fruit smoothie to start the day.The Fullerton HotelWith applying that formula, they have invented the same kind buy cialis no prescription djpaulkom.tv of medicine that is of low cost. This sort Read Full Report levitra 10 mg of pills include herbs that will help to boost the healthy production of testosterone which are the male hormones. If you do not want such miseries to hamper your life, have this solution to regain the levitra tab 20mg spark of love. Usually, this enthusiasm crafts the check for info purchase viagra online release of the enzyme 5 -reductase, type 2.
The early morning walk in a sunny Singapore was refreshing and lifted my mood for another day in the foreign country. I revisited The Fullerton Hotel in the daylight and tread the riverwalk to Theatres on the Bay, a building better known as The Durian Fruit.
Dorian building
After returning to the hotel and finding my companions just waking to see the new day, I spent most of the day relaxing and taking full advantage of the hotel swimming pools. Yes, I was a relaxing vacationer for once!
In the late afternoon, I made my way to the Tiong Bahru neighborhood and walked around the streets full of local goodness to indulge in my street photography. Here’s some of my favorite snaps from that excursion:
A man searching for dinner idea at fishmarket.According to Google, this was supposedly a famous Monkey God temple. It was closed when I walked by, so I can only use my imagination to think about the giant monkey breathing behind the shutters…
From Tiong Bahru towards Clarke Quay:
Clark Quay in the distance.
Thank you for reading my post. Next up, I will post photos from our wonderful day at Garden by the Bay and the illuminated zoo at Night Safari. Please stay tuned!
Christmas time on the Pacific always brings me special joy.
Having grown up on the Island of Guam, I spent nine holiday seasons celebrating with illuminated palm trees and water buffalos in place of the conventional pine trees and reindeer. There was a sense of bittersweet joy in spending the month of December under a blanket of sunshine and humidity while Mariah Carey’s Christmas song filled the island’s air conditioned shops, malls, offices, and automobiles. I knew Christmas was all about time spent with family and friends but, I must admit, my childhood memories of Christmas were slightly skewed by the absence of the snowmen and arctic creatures often cited by radio songs. Wintertime in Singapore is very much like wintertime in Guam.
Becca, Michelle and I flew in from San Francisco by way of Hong Kong International Airport. Despite the 15 hours of economy class air travel, it was an otherwise smooth trip. The view from the plane during the second leg of the flight was particularly memorable. A peek out the eight by twelve inch portal revealed a deep blue ocean sprinkled with freight ships and green grids of agricultural land. The moment we got off the plane at Singapore’s Changi Airport, we were greeted by a level of humidity that our bodies immediately confused with summer.
Changi Airport was truly a sight to behold. It gave me the impression that we were walking our luggage through an immense tropical forest. Highly functional international airport or, Jurassic Park: The Next Adventure? Our journey to find a luggage carousel and exit the building was a bit like a stroll around the huge lobby of an arboretum. Little did I know, this propensity for encapsulating nature within gallery-like glass walls would be the theme of our Singapore experience.
Just before exiting the airport, we stopped at the food court for a delicious hawker style lunch. This first experience, despite being, “just an airport vendor,” ignited what soon became an insatiable desire to explore the many wonders of street food over the course of our trip.
A view from Oasia Hotel Novena where we stayed during our time in Singapore.Singapore is a city of shopping malls. Malls, malls, everywhere! I’ve seen several storefronts of this “SF” juice shop around the city. Red dragon fruit smoothy was delicious!
It took us about 40 minutes to transport from Changi Airport to the hotel in the Novena neighborhood. The view of residential buildings in the city of Changi reminded me of the clusters of condominiums that I used to walk past on my way to school during the early Heisei-era in Japan. I was pleasantly reminded of the Singaporean film Ilo Ilo that I had happened across 5 years earlier. As we traveled, I had flashbacks of the film’s portrayal of the life of an immigrant worker who served as a housekeeper for a middle class Singaporean family. Singapore is a progressive and fast-developing city. That was quite easy to discern from a quick scan out the car window.
White Label Records — Cool record store in Ann Siang Hill that turn into bar at night. There was 90s Brit Pop music playing inside the shop on the night I visited.
On the first night, having been separated from my companions by the beginnings of the wedding celebrations and bridal party obligations that had brought us to this distant land, I decided to set off on my own. I hired a taxi for a short ride to Ann Siang Hill, a neighborhood situated next to the Maxwell Food Center and Chinatown that I had heard is known to come alive at night. My first stop was White Label Records, a chic record store that has a dual function as a cocktail bar/DJ space. From the record store, I wandered my way down the hill towards Maxwell Food Center and to Potato Head on Keong Saik Road.
Strolling down the street to Maxwell Food Center.A scene from Maxwell Food Center at night.Famous cocktail bar known as “Potato Head” on Keong Saik Road.
Perhaps it was a faulty perception of a jetlagged mind, thinking it was day instead of night. I was surprised to find the city so mellow. Each street was glowing with amber and magenta lighted signs that lured me deeper and deeper into the sound of evening. I had nowhere to go but, I had everywhere to explore. So, I dropped a pin on Chinatown and decided to continue down on Keong Saik Road with the hope of finding the notoriously brightest neighborhood for night photography.
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Chinatown was dimming in the early phases of the afterhour. Many shops were already closing down. The few open shops housed tired-eyed keepers rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to wrap up. I saw some shopkeepers sitting and chatting behind the cartons of fruit, puffing out cigarette smoke. As they noticed me, they pointed to the leftover durians still emanating their unmistakably strong odor. Despite having been offered a heavy discount, I declined and continued through the dungeon of Chinese lanterns and vacant market streets.
Lunar New Year was only a month away, and the extravagant glow of lanterns and celebratory ornaments hanging from each store ceiling reminded me of the story that the taxi driver shared with me on my way to Ann Siang Hill. The driver taught me that Singapore is truly a diverse country where every ethnic group and religious belief can coexist with mutual respect and understanding. Singapore has many ethnic quarters that celebrate special cultural holidays. Little India lights up in glorious illumination on Diwali and Chinatown lights up on Lunar New Year. The driver also happened to mention that this year’s Christmas decorations weren’t as big as the previous years’. I thought the elaborate miniature ornaments of Santa Claus all around the streets of Clarke Quay were more than impressive, but I got the sense many of the Singaporean people have very high standards and expectations for their city’s holiday celebrations.
Behold: durians, the king of fruits.
Taking a night walk is my favorite activity when visiting new cities. At night, the city speaks in a voice that often gets muffled by the daytime busyness that fills the streets. Even the lifeless objects on the street corners, vending machines and new years’ ornaments are sources of intrigue -pulling each passerby closer with their silent glow. Each city reveals itself with entirely new faces in the calmness of the night.
Thank you for reading my first post of this travel series! I will post photos from our surprise discovery in Orchard Road and our first hawker stall experience in the next post.
August is the high season for leisurely lakeside getaways in California. Naturally, Labor Day weekend, which hops over the end of August and into September, is the most desirable weekend for avid outdoor lovers – a last farewell to the summer months. This is the weekend that all of the major attractions throughout the Sierras experience their busiest and greatest influx of city escapists.
Good news is that the world famous Lake Tahoe is quite accessible from the Bay Area and warm weather is guaranteed. The bad news is that everyone else is also staring at the same itinerary. Thankfully, there are many other lakes in the Sierras that are equally beautiful but, are a less crowded destination than their famous brother. On Labor Day weekend, our good friends James and Carline gave us a campsite reservation to spend a fantastic time in Loon Lake in Eldorado National Forest.
We packed the VW Tiguan with gear, including four flimsy filaments of buoyant noodles courtesy of Grocery Outlet, and pulled up to the auditorium of Jefferson pines that we would call home for the next two nights. It felt refreshing to step out from the vehicle to breathe in the air accented by the whiff of afternoon campfire and sun drenched grove. Loon Lake campground is tucked in the depths of the Californian wilderness just far enough to escape city light pollution and service signals (i.e., bye bye work emails).
The first day at a campsite is always exciting; it’s like moving into a new, bigger apartment, and trying to get used to the new space. We unfolded the tarps, still dusty from the last camping trip, and assembled the frameworks of tents. Late August sun was pouring down between the branches of the trees and illuminating the tiny particles of dust dancing in the air. We found home.
After securing the homestead with stakes and an abundant supply of fire wood, we strolled around the campground to familiarize ourselves with our new home.
Loon Lake campground was a perfect size for quiet group camping. The loop C that we stayed at had around 20 campsites with each campsite spacious enough for trailer parking and privacy from other campers. Even a car like the Tiguan felt small in the generously allotted campsite.
Loon Lake was within ample distance from the campsite and shockingly blue. We stepped on the wet pebbles by the shore and found tiny specks of what appear to be water bugs popping above the washing tide. Upon closer look, the specks revealed themselves to be baby frogs – a small sign of life in the eco system of Loon Lake.
Despite having brought the noodles, they laid unused at the campsite as the water was too cold for swimming. We toured around the vicinity of the lake to the boat launching dock and returned to our new nature home to prepare dinner.
Building a fire is an affirmation of survival. It is the single most important activity in camping. There’s really nothing more secure and satisfactory than building a successful campfire from tiny twigs and wood. Camping without campfire is worse than the one without a flask of whiskey (though the latter is also pretty sad). We were fortunate Eldorado National Forest was not under the fire restriction the weekend we were there. We cooked canned chili and bratwurst over the open flame and sit to watch the day turn to night.
After dinner, we gazed over the canopy of trees to remember the presence of galaxies. Jupiter and Saturn were close to us, but not quite visible with the naked eye. Nonetheless, the dark night in the depth of forest treated us with a gorgeous light show. The sky was so clear and cold, and there was nothing between us and the atmosphere to interfere.
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Later that night we decided to head to the boat launching dock for star gazing by the lake. Using the headlamps to beam light onto our path, we pushed back the thick layer of black towards the direction of the lake. It felt like a totally different experience in the darkness even though we had walked on the same road earlier that day. Heavy darkness made the walk eerie, especially with the looming probability of bear.
Finally, we made it to the beach with no bear encounter. A metallic, creaky dock was standing silently over the lake as if it was surprised to see the late night visitors disturb the quiet. We sat near the edge of the dock and looked at the starlight reflected on the lake. We could see the artificial lights gleaming on the other side of Loon Lake and an even brighter glow in the distance – probably from the town of South Lake Tahoe. Other than that, it was peaceful.
The next morning, I woke up before Becca and wiggled my body out of the sleeping bag and unzipped the tent window. It felt nice to wake up to the fresh forest air; I felt the cool morning breeze on my skin still slightly moist from sleep sweat. David was already up and reading a book by the table. He was ready to build the fire for breakfast. I prepped some potatoes, sausage, green onions, and eggs for a power meal before the hike on Loon Lake Trail to Spider Lake.
Loon Lake trailhead was located near the campground, and it was not too hard to find. This moderate lakeside hiking trail starts from the southeast part of Loon Lake and takes the hikers all the way to the Desolation Wilderness through panoramic views of the navy blue lake. We took the trail out and back to Spider Lake, approximately a 9 mile trip.
At about 3.5 miles into the trail, we came across the junction that split into Pleasant Campground and Buck Island Lake. We continued on the right fork towards Buck Island Lake’s direction, slightly lost and confused by the absence of clear markings, and eventually found the unestablished trail down to Spider Lake that was claimed by pebble towers laid by previous explorers. After some bushwhacking through dusty hills and scarcely vegetated woods, we found the peaceful lake garnished with water lilies.
Spider Lake was a neat little oasis perfect for lunch and a swimming break. We spotted two other small groups relaxing and enjoying the early afternoon in the Sierra Nevada. Soaking into the cool lake water in nature was both refreshing and therapeutic for tired feet, legs, and busy brains. It really made me feel relaxed and unwound the entangled parts of my muscles floating on the water. After the relaxing hour at Spider Lake, we hiked back on the trail to the junction to Pleasant Campground for another soaking activity in the clear blue water.
Pleasant Campground was definitely more suitable for backpackers, and it was a world away from glamping (judging from one side of the campground seen from Loon Lake trail). Strangely, I had to say the toilet equipped here was one of the cleanest, and scenic on top of rugged rock compared to the other ones near our campsite. We traversed through the pine forest to exit at the lake. Oh, how nice to see you again Loon Lake.
The water in Loon Lake was colder than Spider Lake and the bottom was sandy like the ocean. It always amazes me to see how clear some of the lakes in this part of the Sierra Nevadas are. The lake looks deep navy blue from the distance, and so clear and transparent when you are inside of it. The afternoon sun was right above our heads and telling us the day is now reclining to the golden hour. It was time to go back.
All in all, our hiking distance totaled 10 miles including the extra bushwhacking business to Pleasant Campground. Although it was not necessarily the longest day hike, it felt so nice to come home and collapse into the camping chair with an ice cold can of beer pulled from the bottom of the ice chest. Labor Day weekend in Loon Lake Campground was the beautiful getaway that I needed. I was thankful to have spent it with great people.
