Singapore Chic: International Museum Day 2006

It's International Musuem Day!(though its a good ten days of programmes 18-28) With free shuttle services, free/discounted admission on pre-determined dates and various special activites, it's an event that's too good to miss. So... over the weekend, yours truly thought of doing a little museum-hopping here in my own backyard, and well surprise surprise, it was really quite a delightful weekend. Read on... oh, and by the way, it's still on, so check out the website here.

First stop- Red Dot Design Museum. A haven for students of industrial design, it showcases lots of really neat inventions or rather improved designs of existing products. Not just from students, they feature stuff from some of the big names like Phillips & Tag Heuer just to name a few. Some are patent pending, some are award winning products already out in the market- Unisex urinals, jet propulsion life bouys, snazzy gadgets- all pretty amazing stuff, though not exactly my cup of tea. Oh well, i'm glad i'm only paying $2bucks to see it. (normally $5 for adults)

Some kind of chair which lights up with different colours

New-age layout

Next stop- Chinatown Heritage Centre. Had an amazing encounter here. Remember the Yip Cheong Fun photo Exhibition that i featured in an earlier blog? I met his son, Mr Andrew Yip, who's selling reproductions of his father's great work here for a while. A talent himself, he's written quite a number of poems to go along with his father's photogtraphs. I bought one, and i'm really glad about it! Back to the centre itself, what can i say, it's great! Really authentic stuff, portraying a really vivid image of what Singapore was like back in the 1900s, cramped quarters, food hawkers, opium dens, brothels and all. I think every grandparent would have lots of stories to recount after seeing all the stuff. There's even a really neat section that helps to retrace our ancestral hometown in China through our surnames. I think i'm from Hebei, if i did'nt remember wrongly. In any case, i think my $4 was pretty well spent for this visit.(usual $8.80)

Tai Tai having Dim Sum at traditional restaurant

Street Hawker: '来来 - "Fresh pomfrets 2 for $1!"

Cramped quarters at a Chinese shophouse

Day 2 morning- Singapore Philatelic Museum. I'm not a stamp person, so i shan't comment much on it. Should be fun for kids though, as there were quite a number of sections and guided tours catered for kids. Oh well, it's free, so no complaints.

Antique Postbox

Last stop- Asian Civilisations Museum @ Empress Place. Wicked! This one's really amazing- It was free on that day, but even if i had to pay the $5 normal admission fee, i'd say that it's well worth it. I've been to several World-class museums around Europe like the Louvre and the Hofburg palace, but i must say our our own ACM certainly holds itself well against them. Sure it's not as big or as grand, but everything is done beautifully- from the lighting of the displays to the decor of the different region-themed galleries. The whole place just emanates a mysterious but nevertheless impressive aura- loved it. One small complaint though- the Hydraulic lift. There's a sign pasted next to it that warns any user that it's a slow lift, taking about a minute to move between floors. Its not just slow, its REALLY SLOW. Take the stairs- you won't regret it.