Trip to Asian Civilisations Museum (Part 2)

As it was drizzling lightly when I reached the museum, I made haste and entered. 

If you are a Singaporean or PR, remember to show your identity card for free entry :)

Reception cum ticketing counter where you will see them promoting their latest exhibition ChinaMANIA on the wall. 

Some funky-looking mask on the wall. 

As you can read, the economy of Singapore wasn't rosy throughout its existence. Will this vibrant country return to its sleepy ways? Only time will tell. 

YouTube of the past?

They didn't have Facebook then, but they still formed communities. Blood-drinking now optional I suppose. 

Habits, once formed, can be addictive. 

Opium... The pipe was DIY.

Even people in the past knew how to do a mean boogie. 

The sponsor caught my eye. 

Yes, the tranquility of the place is quite soothing, despite the museum being in the middle of the bustling city district. 

The faces were eeriely life-like. 

Close up shot. 

Some porcelain figurines. 

Chinese gods. 

Indian gods. 

I remember seeing a palaquin like this in the Tokyo-Edo museum which ferried the daimyos and their entourage around. I wonder who invented it first, or were they created in their respective countries along parallel lines of development?

An Afternoon at Haw Par Villa

Ever since the Circle Line opened, I wanted to go back to Haw Par Villa to take a look at the place.

Since I just bought my Sony camera WX80, I thought I should also give it a workout.

Entrance to Haw Par Villa

Mural near the entrance
 

Created just before the 21st century, 15 years ago...

The welcoming Laughing Buddha... I'm sure some people have climbed up to rub his tummy


I could have been somehow related to them...

God of Longevity

Why a goat and snake?

Tiger-Leopard

Villa

Entrance

At 1pm, I don't think there'll be as many people crazy like me to visit.

A dancing Thai-ger?

The dragon before the Thai-ger

Ji Gong pagoda - still needing some repainting

Guess who's this derp?

His "nemesis"

Fighting over something or someone?

His object of affection - Joey Wong played the role best... 

Qing official?

Qilin carving

Kitschy stairs

Nice garden

Gargolye water spout

Some Chinese murals expounding the virtues by personalities of old.

Some of my favourite Chinese generals in Romance of Three Kingdoms - Zhang Fei and Guan Yu.

I always thought playing Liu Bei in Koei's RTK was a lost cause - so I'll always choose Cao Cao or Sun Jian, kill Liu Bei to get his finest generals :)

Zhang Fei

Liu Bei (bleah)

Guan Yu

Some huge face masks adorning the side of the wall

One of the faces lying flat on the ground... every dog has its day I guess.

 

 Nine Dragon Wall (Jiu Long Bi)

I guess a park can be called a "home" too...

In the olden days, geek was still cool enough to get dates I suppose. 

Tigers and Leopards are everywhere.

If you notice, they just got painted differently. When did leopards have sideburns?

A diorama depicting the war in the heavenlies...

Face-off (Looks creepily like Nicholas Cage)

Behold my eye-power!

I wonder what the gate symbolises...

Chiang Kai-Shek?

Grandma goes cruising...

Pop gets eaten by a stingray... some cruise.

When men play hard to get.

Ostrich racing.

Panoramic view of the panoramic dioramas

Possibly the only place in Singapore where nude suntanning is allowed.

Pool of Legacy - and mosquitoes?

Jiang Ji Ya - I remember he always had a role in SBC/TCS wuxia shows. 

The Singapore Dream. 

I wonder why there're two holes below the nose-holes.

Old signage that used to show where things were in the past.

Some abandoned theatrette?

Sit there and all your dreams will come true... do make sure that you're a woman of course.

A familar sight... I posed there when I was one...

Photographers would recognise immediately that this logo has not been used since 2003.

Not a prancing horse or bull but a tiger

And road-worthy!

A relic of the past

After an hour of walking in the hot afternoon sun, it's time to say goodbye until the next time.

Cool-looking animal perched on top the ticketing booth

Rider didn't shave.