Singapore’s Esplanade: a different kind of durian

The comparison is inescapable. From a distance, Singapore’s Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay resembles a pair of durian, the fruit that is distinctive not just for its taste (buttery) and smell (noisome) but also for its thorns.


the Esplanade by the Singapore River



a closer look of one half of the Esplanade


Consciously conceived by Singapore as an edifice of world note, this center for cultural and arts shelters a concert hall, a theatre, studios, galleries, a public library and of course the inescapable mall.


the pair of thorny domes



the roofscape at daylight


The design has its share of critics. When officially opened in October 2002, the initial reception was mixed. The aluminum sunshades which cover the two domes elicited association with eyes of a giant fruit fly, two sliced microphones, a couple of cheese graters, fencing masks or even a pair of copulating aardvarks.


the “durian”’s metallic surface during sunset


Perhaps 7 years is not yet sufficient a time for the Esplanade to be indubitably acclaimed as a modern architectural wonder. But for anyone who has seen the Esplanade up close, it certainly is no eyesore anymore.


cleaning the thorns is never easy

temple scenes in Little India, Singapore

Singapore has a vibrant and influential Indian community. Cultural identity remains strong among these immigrants and they practice traditional customs and religion with fervor. Just go to any of the island nation’s thriving and colorful Hindu temples. In one visit to Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, the Hindu temple of Kali, last 2007, I happened to come on Friday noon which was most fortunate. It was one of two days that ceremonies are held and holy water are dispensed. The rites are different to what I witness at Hindu Bali which of course is already mixed vigorously with Javanese animism.



priests at an inner courtyard in the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, Little India, Singapore
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/400s, f/4.5, 34mm, ISO 800, -1/3EV


The prayer ceremony was swift. All of a sudden people converged at the corner in front of a Brahmin priest, chanting and offering flowers and candles. The atmosphere seemed intense to me, especially when traditional trumpets and drums were blaring inside. Perhaps the worshippers are aware that they are in one tourist-popular temple that they did not mind me. I tried to be discreet as much as I could as they are after all, lost in their own reverie.


worshippers at the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, LittleIndia, Singapore
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/25s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 1600, +1/3EV

Postcards from Singapore

Singapore was a frequent stop in my travels in the early 90s but not anymore. It took me almost 10 years to visit the island in August 2006. Like any modern metropolis, Singapore has changed tremendously- a new airport, a pair of "durian" theatres, denser urbanscape. With photography as a hobby this time, I began seeing Singapore in a new light. No more buying postcards to keep my memories. I made some for my own.

the Merlion

Definitely the one symbol Singapore is most known of. No better time to shoot it than that short period immediately after sunset, when the sky dims, discernibly but not completely. Not yet at least. Sometimes, the heavens would turn violet. Rarely, pink. That night it was just blue.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 6s, f/16, 18mm, ISO 100


Faber Hill, Sentosa island

There is a legend of a princess named Radin Mas Ayu that is immortalized in Faber Hill. The stone statue rests in a beautiful pond full of koi or carps that are seriously fat. All those feed thrown by well-meaning tourists are turning them into blubbered giants. The sky was overcast that afternoon so I saw the opportunity to use the low light for a long exposure. Then it was up to the kois to do their choreography.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 4s, f/29, 46mm, ISO 100


the Esplanade

After the glorious blue hour in Merlion Park, sundown turned to night. Before having dinner with flickr friends, a good friend Gregory took us to a promontory above the Esplanade. What a breathtaking view of modern Singapore! No colorization here.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 10s, f/5.6, 18mm, ISO 100, +2/3EV


Chinatown

In Chinatown, the sight and smell of food are distinctive. Open streetside stalls offer all the imaginable spices, condiments and medicine that one can expect from old China. Take the picture below. How could I identify everything here? I see pistachio nuts, mushroom varieties... and are those shriveled stems or roots at bottom right? Whatever they are, I bet that these are tasty delicious when fully cooked and served in a Chinese restaurant. If I were a cook – and I am not – I would have stopped and shopped. I photographed them instead.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1250s, f/4, 27mm, ISO 1600

Asian noodle indulgence, part 1

I admit, I am not a noodles fan, especially egg noodles. It’s not much about the calories – the high levels of monosaturated fat and carbs certainly don’t help – but it is just preference.

However, I travel a lot and curiosity gets the best of me. In my visits then, I have checked countless of specialties featuring the ubiquitous noodles. Too bad I haven’t been diligent in photographing the dishes I’ve tried and enjoyed. Hunger takes precedence sometimes and not even my avowed proclivities in photography could hold off my determined companions in digging into the food before I had the chance to setup a shot.

Still, there are a few I managed to photograph and I am compiling here a few indulgences that I recommend.

hokkien mee, Singapore
Egg noodles and frying don’t make a good mix to me but when balanced with the heat of sambal chili, the bite of curry and the promise of fresh prawns and squid, hokkien mee becomes a possibility. There is the halal non-pork version but undeniably, I want mine with the chopped pig meat, please.


Britney, a daughter of a high school friend, stretches her mee before eating, at Bugis Junction, Singapore
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/25s, f/6.3, 22mm, ISO 1600


fried crispy noodles, Cebu, the Philippines
A variant of the popular pancit canton, the fried egg noodles laden with stir-fried slivers of beans, carrots, pechay (pak choi in Chinese), pea pods, shrimp and pork. The noodles are pre-fried in hot vegetable oil and then allowed to drain and dry to brittle crispness. Upon serving, you can then pour the concentrated heated soy-based sauce over the dry nest to rehydrate the noodles as if you just came up with freshly fried chow mein in front of you. This is an experiential treat where the actual mixing on the dinner table is a significant part of the fun.


fried crispy noodles, Big Mao restaurant, Ayala Center Cebu, the Philippines
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/40s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV


While, I am picky with egg noodles, I dig rice noodles. Still definitely carbolicious but without the incumbent fat, rice noodles come in various varieties. The flat types that I would order in a heartbeat would include the stir-fried and nutty pad thai (Thai) and cockle-rich char kway teow (Malaysian or Singaporean). Here are two Vietnamese rice noodle delights worth trying:

ban pho (rice noodles) with beef (xao thit bo), Cebu, the Philippines
This is a Vietnamese delicacy which being a dish of beef, a meat I eat but not necessarily seek, is a hit to me. The flat rice noodles come with stir-fried tenderloin of beef. The version that Lemon Grass restaurant in Cebu carries has the most tender of beef. Sprinkled with nuts and garnished with thai basil, the dish is surprisingly light and to me has a hint of fish sauce. I could be wrong but I like it.

Lemon Grass, The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu
Cebu, the Philippines
195 PHP(4USD)/serving


ban pho xao thit bo, Lemon Grass, Cebu, the Philippines
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/800s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV


ban pho (rice noodles) with crab, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
So what happens when ban pho is added to the one food I crave the most, crabs? Foodie heaven, I say. As the coup de grace in the dinner I had in my last night in Vietnam last week, my friends ordered Chinese-style steamed blue crab broken over a bed of sauteed rice vermicelli. Served in hot clay stoneware, the noodles expectedly imbibed the salty and savory flavors of the shellfish. Needless to say, the plate was cleaned up to the last morsel. Highly and truly recommended!


ban pho with steamed crabs of the Nha Hang Hoang Long (Dragon Court Chinese) Restaurant, downtown Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/60s, f/1.8, 50mm, ISO 800, +1/3EV

up next: more noodle indulgences like bam-i guisado, soto ayam, La Paz batchoy and pancit Malabon

Photographing mosques: Asia and Africa

Ask any Catholic and an overwhelming majority have not entered a mosque. For Filipinos in particular, the exposure would be slim as not only is the Philippines predominantly Christian (80%), the some 5% of the population who profess the religion of Islam are concentrated in the southern part of Mindanao.

I probably would not have ventured into a mosque were it not for my frequent travels. As a photo hobbyist, I am fascinated by the architecture and grace of mosques. Motifs feature repetitive and rhythmic patterns, radiating and concentric structures and even Arabic calligraphy. In replacement of the human form common in Christian art but as a rule forbidden in Islam, geometric forms come into play, suggesting the shapes of nature, like leaves and flowers and on occasion animals specifically birds. Architectural attractions closely identified to mosque include domes, vaults, courtyards and minarets.

While mosques are open to any practicing Muslims, some do allow visitors. Most of the photos are exterior shots though as often, time is not on my side when I pass by these mosques. Whatever interior shots I have of the few mosques I have entered, I am sharing them below. Hopefully someday, I will be able to take more.

Masjid Muhammad Cheng Hoo, Surabaya, Indonesia

As there are Chinese churches, there are also Chinese mosques. Sino-Islamic architecture are distinct from traditional dome and minaret design. Think of pagodas and Chinese scroll paintings.

One gorgeous example is the Masjid Muhammad Cheng Hoo in Surabaya. Established to commemorate the arrival of Chinese Muslims who sailed from Mainland China to Java several centuries ago, the mosque has to be seen to be appreciated.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1.3s, f/4.5, 18mm, ISO 400
Masjid Muhammad Cheng Hoo, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia
phototip: night exposures are dramatic… be careful of bleeding.

When I visited the mosque last year, it was during nighttime. Fortunately, the watchmen still allowed us in and here is a glimpse of geometrically sharp interiors.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 0.5s, f/4.5, 18mm, ISO 400
Masjid Muhammad Cheng Hoo, Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia


Masjid Abdul Gaffoor, Singapore

From the outside, one thing is clear with the Masjid Abdul Gaffoor. This mosque has walls and minarets embellished with a plethora of celestial bodies. Crescents shot up profusely from the minarets around the central dome.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/1000s, f/4.5, 110mm, ISO 100, +1.0EV
Masjid Abdul Gaffoor, Little India, Singapore
phototip: Focus on the extraordinary, that which makes the architecture unique. In the case of this mosque, it is the profusion of crescents adorning the roofline. Getting them in one shot is difficult. I had to overexpose the shot by 3 stops (a full 1 EV) to provide the contrast and drown the noon sky a bright white.


the Sultan Mosque, Singapore

Back in August 2006, I was having a wonderful dinner meet with Singapore flickr friends in a place called Zam Zam at Arab St. The Muslim restaurant just happened to be across the Sultan Mosque so we had plenty of time to shoot the mosque after sundown. Some mosques, I think, are perfect for night photography. Such is the case of the Sultan Mosque with its beautiful golden dome.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 20s, f/18, 18mm, ISO 100, -1/3EV
Sultan Mosque, Arab St, Singapore


Masjif Nurul Huda, Bali, Indonesia

This is mosque is probably an early 20th century structure right in the heart of Klungkung regency. We stopped over this mosque one afternoon to take a toilet break. Mosque toilets are open to everybody and are known to have clean running water. This one takes the cake: every one of the 12-15 cubicles in the men's and women's rooms have 2 taps of fully running water that just stream down the drain! I hope they get their source from a river somewhere or else that's a wasteful use of a resource.


Canon PowerShot S40, 1/400s, f/8.0, 8.6mm
Masjif Nurul Huda, Klungkung, Bali, Indonesia


Masjid Raya, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

This is a fairly new mosque that was made by the initiative and benefaction of the current vice president of Indonesia. Reputed to be the richest man of the country who made his fortune in holdings from real estate to forestry, Hj Jusuf Kalla made sure that this mosque stands out in lime and soft yellow. The exterior and interior furnishings are said to have come from Turkey.


Canon PowerShot S40, 1/500s, f5, 7.1mm
Masjid Raya, Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia
phototip: Use noontime sun to make the marble gleam.


Masjid al Markaz, Maros, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Indonesians love to express their faith by building mosques. This one in Maros, a town south of Makassar, was just a skelelon last June 2005 but when I took the photo in October of the same year, it looked almost finished. In primary yellow and red, the architecture is stunning. The tiles are said to have come from Australia.


Canon PowerShot S40, 1/800s, f5, 14.7mm
Masjid al Markaz, Maros, South Sulawesi, Indonesia


Masjid Agung Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia

This is a truly eye-catching mosque by the ~10km Gresik-Surabaya toll highway connecting Surabaya and the Juanda Airport. Its construction started around 1993 but was finished in about 8 years. It is so big and so blue. The mosaic, the tiles and the minaret are visually arresting.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f8.0, 17.5mm
Masjid Agung Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
phototip: If possible, do not crop minarets! Unfortunately, I was traveling in a speeding car when I took this.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/125s, f/5.0, 37mm, ISO 400, +1/3EV
Masjid Agung Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia


the Mosque du Nord of Diego Suarez, Madagascar, East Africa

In Madagascar, about half of the population are Christians who are concentrated in the central highlands and half are Muslim who are mostly in the coast. You therefore see a lot of small quaint mosques in the northeast city of Diego Suarez. The Mosque du Nord in beach of Ramena in the Emerald Bay is particularly small. Not only is it built on the sand, it sits on such a parched and arid landscape which could only be described as unforgiving.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/80s, f/10, 40mm, ISO 100
the Mosque du Nord, Ramena Beach, Diego Suarez (Antsiranana), NE Madagascar



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/250s, f/10, 30mm, ISO 100
the Mosque du Nord, Ramena Beach, Diego Suarez (Antsiranana), NE Madagascar

Sunset Moments

This is an accompaniment of my sunrise moment blog. Sunsets remain the ultimate romantic moments, immortalized in many a movie scene, a storyline and a photograph. They remind us not only of day that just came to pass but also of another new one coming just around the bend.

Zamboanga del Norte, October 17, 2007, 5:28PM

The tidal flats of Jose Dalman in Zamboanga del Norte appear nondescript. But slather the rocky coast and the lonely waters with the colors of the sinking sun and you get affirmation that just about anyplace can be deemed romantic.


Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/30s, f/3.5, 18mm, ISO 200, +1/3EV
Jose Dalman, Zamboanga del Norte, the Philippines


Canggu, Bali, Indonesia, November 11, 2007, 6:26PM

The place is Canggu and the occasion is Banyu Pinaruh. Although this ceremony of ritual bathing is prescribed during sunrise, the beach was still full of people until late in the afternoon as it was Sunday. After six, the sky started to dim and the crowd began to leave for home. The tide was just rushing back to shore and the sealine began to change. The ocean was seeking its own level and the earth can only oblige.

Canon EOS 350D Digital, 5.00s, f/22.0, 24mm, ISO 100, +1.00EV
Tibubeneng Beach, Canggu, Bali, Indonesia


Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, February 3, 2007, 5:38PM

Surabaya is a historic city in East Java, known as a city of heroes. One of the most celebrated battles in Indonesia’s struggle for independence from the Dutch transpired in this city, specifically in Jembatan merah or the “red bridge”. Smack in the center of the old Chinatown district, the bridge remains busy and became a perfect spot for my panning experiments. I remember standing in the island in the middle of the road, cutting a figure in the busy late afternoon, hoping to catch fleeting scenes like the one below.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/10s, f/5.6, 31mm, ISO 800
Jembatan Merah, Surabaya, Indonesia


Singapore, August 17, 2006, 7:06PM

I normally request for a window seat when I travel. I also check the direction of the plane so that if the flight is late in the afternoon, I’d ask for a seat facing west. It even pays to get a seat at the back of the plane to get a clear window view without the obstruction of the plane’s wing. Getting a clear and clean window pane is another matter. Luck always plays a part.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/200s, f/5.6, 55mm, ISO 400, -2/3EV
over the South China Sea, near Singapore


New York City, December 23, 2005, 4:42PM

New York City does not just qualify as a metropolis, it defines the word. Skyscrapers soar right vertically into the sky, traffic chokes mercilessly the concrete streets and lights flicker sizzlingly all night, all day. Laid on a grid, Manhattan is segmentized to upperside (northside), lowerside (south), westside and eastside. This makes it much easier to traverse on foot and simpler to orient when trying to capture the sun as it is about to set, need I say at the westside.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 1/20s, f/20, 55mm, ISO 1600
NY, NY, the US


Kutuh, Bali, Indonesia, August 25, 2007, 6:27PM

Business can be mixed with photographic pleasure. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived in the seaweed farms in Kutuh, Bali. Light was fading fast. The farmers have already left home and the boats were already tethered to shore. Empty cultivations lines confirmed the recent seaweed die-off . Replanting was ongoing. Tomorrow would be another day.



Canon EOS 350D Digital, 3.20s, f/25, 55mm, ISO 100, +2/3 EV
Kutuh, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia