Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion, including cost of the prime land. With the casino, the resort features a 2,560-room hotel and a 120,000 sq.m. convention-exhibition center.

Built across the mouth of the Marina Channel, the Marina Barrage creates Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city. With a catchment area of 10,000 hectares, or one-sixth the size of Singapore, the Marina catchment is the island’s largest and most urbanised catchment:
Looking West you can see the ship yards and financial district:

Stretching longer than the Eiffel tower laid down or four and a half A380 Jumbo Jets, with an impressive 12,400 square meters of space, the Sands SkyPark can host up to 3900 people. The gravity-defying cantilever is one of the largest of its kind in the world:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1289194/Marina-Bay-Sands-resort-opens-Singapore.html

Singapore financial district:

Mid Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar. It is a date that parallels the autumnal equinox of the solar calendar, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest. The traditional food of this festival is the mooncake, of which there are many different varieties.


The Chinatown Mid-Autumn Festival Street Light-up and the Mass Lantern Walk


The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the few most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the others being Chinese New Year and Winter Solstice, and is a legal holiday in several countries.


Much like Thanksgiving, it is an important occasion that is spent with family and friends. To celebrate this festival, mooncakes and pomelos are eaten, while activities such as carrying and lighting lanterns also take place.

Haw Par Villa

August is Hungry Ghost month here in Singapore and bonfires for burning counterfeit currency and food offerings for ghosts are commonplace.

Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore believe that the gates of Hell open on the 7th lunar month, freeing the spirits of the dead to roam in the world of the living.

The living, in turn, must make offerings of food and burnt prayer money to the souls of the dead to appease them.

I ventured to a lesser known landmark today, Haw Par Villa, as it is presumably haunted:

Opened in 1937, this weird park was named after its owners, Aw Boon Haw and Aw Boon Par, the brothers who made their fortune from the cure-all ointment Tiger Balm (it’s also known as Tiger Balm Gardens). Multicolored statues, some looking rather neglected, depict scenes from Chinese history and mythology.






The highlight is the Ten Courts of Hell (responsible for childhood nightmares for generations of Singaporeans) show depictions of human sinners being punished in a variety of hideous and bloodthirsty ways – in extremely gory and graphic detail.


Many believe this area to be haunted, here is an interesting article on it:
http://www.spi.com.sg/spi_files/haw_par/main06.htm

Rambutan

Its Rambutan (rahm boo tahn) season in Asia, I bought a bag of them today for S$3.

The Rambutan is closely related to several other edible tropical fruits including the Lychee, Longan, and Mamoncillo. The name is derived from the Malay word rambut, which literally means hairy caused by the 'hair' that covers it.

http://www.rambutan.com/

Fusionopolis

Fusionopolis is a research and development complex located at the One-North business park in Singapore. It houses various research organizations, high-tech companies, government agencies, retail outlets, and serviced apartments in one location. The centre, which consists of three separate towers, each 100 m tall, contains government-funded research institutes, international companies and a range of facilities such as a gym, a theatre and restaurants.

The idea of Fusionopolis is to attract multinational companies from all over the world as well as local firms to establish a research and development base in the country.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=868222


Looking north east, my apartment is in the center:
http://www.onenorth.tenantz.com/

Looking south, Pasir Panjang shipyards in the distance:
Looking down at Phase II, multi-tenanted concept of labs and clean rooms complete with offices, specialized laboratories and a centralized clean room with plans for approximately gross floor area of 100,000 m².(1.1 million sq ft)

Durian

Its Durian season in Singapore. Widely known and revered in southeast Asia as the "king of fruits", the durian is distinctive for its large size, unique odor, and formidable thorn-covered husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and it typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lb).
Some people regard the durian as fragrant; others find the aroma overpowering and offensive. The smell evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust. The odor has led to the fruit's banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in southeast Asia.
Fruit stand in Chinatown, Durian is sold all over the city and the smell is everywhere.

Singapore Flyer

The Singapore Flyer is currently the tallest Ferris wheel in the world. Described by its operators as an observation wheel, it reaches 42 stories high, with a total height of 165 m (541 ft). Each capsule holds 28 people and takes 30 minutes to make each rotation.

Located on the southeast tip of the Marina Centre reclaimed land, it comprises a 150 m (492 ft) diameter wheel, built over a three-story terminal building which houses shops, bars and restaurants, and offers broad views of the city centre and beyond to about 45 km (28 mi), including the Indonesian islands of Batam and Bintan, as well as Johor, Malaysia.

In and around Singapore

To the right in the above picture is a view of the new Marina Bay Sands Hotel and Casino scheduled to open at the end of April 2010:
http://www.marinabaysands.com/en/index.html


The Financial District above is home to many banks and financial institutions. It is filled with skyscrapers that lend Singapore its distinctive skyline. The most prominent buildings here are the UOB Plaza and OUB Centre (along Boat Quay), both skyrocketing to the maximum permissible height of 280 metres.






This is my neighborhood, Holland Village. A small commercial enclave near the Buona Vista MRT Station in Singapore. A popular venue for younger Singaporeans and expatriates, it is dominated by, and often visited solely, for its eateries and watering holes, along with some specialist shops selling non-traditional wares. The place is sometimes referred as "Holland V". Holland Village will get its own MRT station in 2010 with the same name.

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple - ஸ்ரீ வீரமாகாளியம்மன் கோவில் is a Hindu temple located in the middle of Little India in the southern part of Singapore, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. It was built in 1881.