yueni ([info]yueni) wrote,
@ 2005-01-09 01:23:00
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Entry tags:photo essay: singapore

Photo Essay: Welcome to My World #1

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9


The roots of this photo essay started because i found this wonderful website which had pictures of Singapore. And they made me homesick and nostalgic, and I decided that I had to share my love for my country to everybody on my flist and anybody else who is interested in knowing about the country I grew up in and love. All photos should be credited to John Leonard Larkin. I merely am giving you my interpretation of Singapore through my eyes: a girl who has lived an ocean away in America for the past eight years.

It will be broken up into multiple posts because I have picked out just tons of pictures from the tons that he had up on the website, and I have friends on dial up, and I don't want to crash their computer, and yet still want them a glimpse of the world I come from. Singapore is a place so rich in culture and people and everything that there's too much for me to talk about.

I figured maps would help for people who have no idea where in the world it is. Singapore is located in South East Asia:



Yes, it is that teeny tiny dot down there at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula. Singapore is, I believe, the 9th smallest country in the world, and yet, it has a population of 4 million people. It is the second densest region after Hong Kong. The main island of Singapore is diamond in shape, and that is where the bulk of the population lives:



To give you some context of my life, I used to live near Ang Mo Kio, I went to primary school in Paya Lebar and to secondary school near Tuas. I had cousins in Clementi. Went to Orchard Road every Sunday for church. That is also where the Istana (the president's residence) is. My parents used to work around Orchard Road too. Mostly near where Novena MRT station is (for you SGers on my flist).



My father used to work in the blue-glass building to the left, and my mother in the salmon pink building with the funky top. It wasn't salmon pink when she worked there. I swear. It was a more mellow brown.



Since we're still in the Orchard Road Area, I'm going to stay here for a while. Orchard Road is the main shopping district in Singapore. Singaporeans pretty much do three things: eat, shop, work/study. Not necessarily in that order. If you want to go shopping, Orchard Road is usually the place to be. It's called Orchard Road because in the colonial days, it used to be fields and fields of orchards, but no longer.



This is one of the older shopping centres, although I don't think it is any more. I'm sure any SGers on my list will correct me if I'm wrong. (It has been 8 years, after all) I remember it from when it used to be the old fogey's place, but I guess the shops inside are more upscale now and geared towards the younger set.



Orchard Road comes into its own during the Christmas season. I have just beautiful memories of my parents taking my sister and I down Orchard Road at night to look at the lights. All the buildings along the street would take part in a massive light display competition, and each year, it would just be phenomenal. The Shaw House behind the overhead street banner thing is a large movie theatre complex.



Paragon is one of the big shopping centres. There are loads of them down Orchard Road. It's just like one big mall after another, pretty much. And the decorations are restricted to the exteriors either. Even the insides are gorgeous, and the last picture of this post shows the inside of Centre Point Takashimaya (thanks [info]peiyu!), yet another shopping centre along Orchard Road.



I'd also like to add that I'd love comments on these posts. Partly because it tells me who's reading them and if people are actually interested. I guess, like all others, feedback is always a good thing. Comment on one post, comment on them all, you pick. =)

All pictures in this picspam are copyrighted to and reproduced with the kind permission of the photographer, John Leonard Larkin, and taken from http://www.larkin.net.au/. Interpretation given by yours truly. I would love feedback, and pimpage is welcome. SGers, if you see any discrepancies or want to update me, feel free to poke me.

(Post a new comment)


[info]iamari
2005-01-09 09:50 am UTC (link)
Wow...they really do go all out on decorations. Definitely interested. Thank you for sharing.

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:15 pm UTC (link)
Yeah, they really do, and the ones I've shown really don't do it justice. I mean, the light displays are spectacular. There are definitely more bombastic ones.

*grin* It's a pleasure to share, definitely.

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[info]peiyu
2005-01-09 01:12 pm UTC (link)
The last one belongs to Takashimaya, and the old forgey-ish (haha, now more of the Phillippines/Indonesian/etc. maids and workers hangout) Lucky Plaza.

The first picture of Orchard, of Crown Prince Hotel (Swensens there) is different from now, but I can't place my finger as to how.

There is an extension on Paragon now... Gosh, that place is definitely the best! And CK Tangs have the prettiest exterior decoration (on ceiling outside main doors so not very visible from the roads opposite).

:D

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:17 pm UTC (link)
O___o whoa, it's Taka? Really? Why do I keep on thinking that it's Centre Point?

Yeah, I was looking for a good picture of Tangs, but I couldn't find any, unfortunately. Good grief, so many things have since changed. I think most of the pictures here were taken in late 2003, early 2004.

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[info]peiyu
2005-01-09 07:20 pm UTC (link)
Haha maybe because CentrePoint always has the best decorations? It's alright, that shot was not exactly flattering of Taka. It just proves I'm there too often (Kino).

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:44 pm UTC (link)
AHAHA. I still remember when Taka was first built. Ah how the years have passed.

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[info]shira
2005-01-09 02:11 pm UTC (link)
Well... I read backward, and I started commenting from the beginning, lol, which was really the end. But very nice, indeed. I'm still not getting past the clenliness. *is majorly impressed* The cities here on the east coast are just... nasty, compared to this.

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:21 pm UTC (link)
Hee. I've added more entries since. I had to take a break and go to bed. I was tired. The government fines Singaporeans for littering, spitting and so on. There are signs all over the place. $500 for littering or spitting quickly diminishes your desire to do so.

There is a reason we're called a fine city. ;o)

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[info]shira
2005-01-09 07:23 pm UTC (link)
Well... "supposedly" Americans will get fined for littering, too, but it's just another one of those things that doesn't get taken seriously. I'm suuure you're aware. Anyway, I'll look at the rest a bit later when I flip back through the f-list again. :)

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:45 pm UTC (link)
Oh yeah, *g* I do know how that goes. Sure thing. They'll be here for a nice long while, I'm sure.

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[info]cherryscott
2005-01-09 05:13 pm UTC (link)
From someone who knows very little about this part of the world, this is highly interesting for me. The pictures are beautiful, and it's particularly lovely to hear about a place from someone who lived there, rather than a history teacher who learned everything from a book.

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[info]yueni
2005-01-09 07:24 pm UTC (link)
I am so glad that it is! And yes, the pictures really are. The man who took them was an Australian expatriate in Singapore, and it was so cool to see my country through his lense, so to speak. I wish he had left his contact information on his webpage, because I'd love to email him to thank him for the pictures and also to let him know that I'm using them.

I think it's always best to hear about a place from somebody who's been there and lived there. It's always so much richer. I never really saw myself as having any kind of exotic culture until I moved here, and then I realised that I did have something, so I'm really happy to share what I have. =o) It's one thing why I like the internet. I can share and can also find other people who are willing to share.

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[info]soultoad
2005-01-10 12:08 am UTC (link)
Oh, those Christmas decorations are gorgeous!! It looks like something I could've gotten completely lost in as a child. I'm off to look at your other posts, I wanted to see them in order so I've saved them till I finished reading my other flist stuff. :) I love these posts you do!

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[info]yueni
2005-01-10 12:48 am UTC (link)
*grins* I knew you'd love them, which is partly why I did them. They are truly spectacular, and it became a huge Christmas tradition for my family when I was younger.

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[info]dragon_within
2005-01-10 06:20 am UTC (link)
Thank you for sharing these with us, sweetling. *hugs*

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[info]yueni
2005-01-10 06:57 am UTC (link)
♥ It was a great pleasure to do so. *kisses*

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