Singapore has her fair share of serious statues. Of great heroes, important people. Glaring down in stony silence.
Statue of Sir Stamford Ruffles Sculptor: Thomas Woolner
And that “dare you, I’ll out stare you” game — oh! don’t go there! Not even well-aimed bird droppings can get these guys to blink! Being statues is serious business!!
But despite its repute for strict, not far from The Grim and The Great, Singapore has these real fun, playful ones – statues practically brimming with merriment, alive with effervescence. I’ll roll with these guys…
First Generation sculpture. Sculptor: Chong Fa Cheong
First I come across the “First Generation”. The scene throws you back to a glorious time when life was uncomplicated, boys romped at the riverside, yelling, pushing, jumping… What fun, what bonding in the warm Singapore sun! And to think, no iPhones, no Pokémon, no apps… OMG! Or in today’s lingo – ???!!
First Generation sculpture. Sculptor: Chong Fa Cheong
And create a splash they did, taking Singapore soaring from river bank to financial banks! All in trice…! What a ride!
Single whip, part of sculptor Ju Ming’s Taichi series. Single whip was displayed as part of a Ju Ming exhibition
Farther on, I meet Taichi Single Whip. She’s at the very pinnacle of the playful index. Comfortable in her shape, utterly secure in her identity, her cheerful attitude overflows like sparkling champagne. Despite her girth she’s all moves and agility, laughing at the fad for A4-size-paper waists! Roll over Michelangelo, the blithe and bouncy are back in!
A wee distance away I find a place they must call the Happy Afternoon Land!
Girl on a bicycle. Sculptor: Sydney Harpley
Everything you imagined of a sunny holiday afternoon is suddenly brought to life… in living, breathing sculpture! The Girl on a bicycle has every giddy vibrant thrill of going downhill captured. And she merrily whizzes past The Girl on a Swing, whose each
Girl on a Swing Sculptor: Sydney Harpley
swoop lightens an afternoon grown heavy with a downpour in the making! And then there’s the Lady on a Hammock – clearly the lady’s had too much rice (yawn!), as they
Lady on a Hammock Sculptor: Sydney Harpley
say in Singapore! Oh yes, happiness is a languorous siesta!
Now between the flash of lightning and thunder rolling in, there are a few seconds… When I espied Chang Kuda, I felt suspended in those few moments between light and
Chang Kuda (means carry horse in Malay) Sculptor: Chong Fa Cheong
sound. Anticipating at any instant their peals of laughter rolling in. Their contagious giggling, cackling, sputtering, splattering… In Malay, Chang Kuda means something like leapfrog, but universally this means prancing, frolicking, unforgettable fun! I realize I’m still goofy grinned, as I move on!
That’s when I chance upon the Flight of Swans. Wild! Energized! Are we still talking
Flight of Swans Sculptor: Eng Siak LoySwan on Swan Lake, Botanical Gardens
sculpture? Most definitely! It’s a bevy of graceful wild swans in that heartbeat when their wildness soars, shattering any image of calm, placid you might have nurtured. Even my thoughts are thrown aflutter! As expected a couple of beautiful live swans serenely glide on Swan Lake… but in that wild backdrop, it brings this funny momentary confusion. Like mistaking a man for a mannequin, and realizing “oops…!!”, just in time!
Then “I wandered lonely as a cloud, when all at once I saw… ” …Joy. The famed poem gets halted in my head. For there it was – Joy, pure and simple! Just the sheer
Joy. Sculptor: Ruth Bloch
joyfulness of the moment, the lightness of the emotion and being in it! Snippets from Daffodils continue to knock around in my head.
“The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the dancing waves in glee…”
I tuck away that glee for a rainy day! And forgive me W, old chap, but a thing of Joy, is a beauty for ever!
My rambling done, ’tis time to head home. And that’s when a sculpture strikes a chord… it’s not the funny bone this time, but it speaks to me in the most elemental way.
La Famille de Voyageurs. Created by: Bruno Catalano
I find myself looking at an articulate expression of a thought – nay just a vague whisper of a feeling – which had eluded coherence somewhere inside. Yet suddenly, “voilà! there it is”, a form I’d not know a moment earlier, but recognize immediately! La Famille de Voyageurs expressing that age old traveler’s sentiment — any place we travel to, we invariably leave behind a part of us, taking away something of the place with us. Depicted timelessly in a vignette of space and volume, exteriors intermingling with our innermost impressions…
And it leaves me thinking what I take away from Singapore – other than my fav fun statues! ? A veritable riot of greenery, of flowers, of gorgeously old trees. A city of Gardens! What is not garden-variety however, is their celebrated ethnically diverse vibrancy… which then colors up everything else. From the food, the cultural mix, to the local neighborhoods to discover. I’ll drool thinking of
Lau Pa Sat – historic iconic food center
the staggering array of food options – from mom n pop’s and hawker centers, to the most celebrated chefs in the world! And market stalls where I haggle over pennies for trinkets, to arcades of haute couture, where my heels tap hoiti-toity-aren’t-we-
Marina Bay Sands, luxury hotel, shopping, dining, entertainment
grand! I’ll recall her penchant for clean, efficient, and order above all, but will also fondly remember the smiling ‘it’s ok, lah!’s from its friendly people. A kaleidoscope of colors, shapes and forms in creative art, world class entertainment and amazing architecture. Of a world in a microcosm. Even from an expensive city, it’s I who leave enriched!
Gallery:
Singapore Soul depicted by a human figure made of painted stainless steel words and ideograms in the nation’s four official languages by Jaume Plensa
12 Gentlemen is a permanently installed Ju Ming sculpture, at The Metropolis building.
The Geese (donated by Tan Jiew Hoe)… the proximity to water, and changing light gives the Geese a lifelike feel
Urban People by Kurt Laurenz Metzler symbolizing everyday life in Singapore
SkyMirror by Anish Kapoor, reflecting the ArtScience Museum and the sky at Marina Bay
Swiss Granite Fountain by Ueli Fausch. The ball (700kg!) is kept “afloat” by strong water pressure directed through the basal block
Environmentally sustainable Supertrees, Lit up by solar energy & Integrated with the Cooled Conservatories, serving as air exhaust receptacles.
Sundials at the National Orchid Garden
At Duxton Hill one of the cutest elephants among a myriad, from Elephant Parade.
I don’t think we get that radio station anymore. Now it’s all static and nothing else.
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Thank you indeed – being a newbie at blogging myself, I quite understand where you’re coming from. Thank you for your kind words, and I do hope we’ll continue our journey together to more mutually enriching experiences.
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Thank you very much for your visit here, and for sharing your thoughts! It’s exchanges like these that make this journey more interesting, I hope my stories, more than anything, help continue a dialog. Thank you!
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Thank you so much! Very happy if this site helped any initiative! Your feedback and visit also provides me inspiration to keep writing, thank your for sharing your thought! Please do visit again! ?
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Thank you for your visit. I am actually still with WordPress, and haven’t run into issues yet! I’ll keep in mind your experience, for all of us are equally vulnerable. Sorry I couldn’t really be of help!
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Thank you for your visit and for sharing your thoughts. I’m not completely sure I fully comprehend the “issue” you mention, but am happy to know you feel it’s not unreasonable. Would be happy to dialogue further, if you so wish. Thank you!
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Thank you secured. I’m glad you feel there is more to be written. I wasn’t aware that people don’t speak of such thoughts. As you’ve stated, as it’s not taboo, please stay tuned, I’ll be happy to write more, although it may be several different topics and places! Thank you!
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Thank you online education, very kind of you to call it enormous! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say superb blog!
Sorry Med Web, that’s frustrating when it happens! But I did get this message, although even this must’ve shown up later, only after an administrator approves it — this is to prevent spam. I’m so glad you enjoyed this piece. Hope you’ll continue to travel with me, company always livens it up! Thank you!
Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Thank you
I was also in the same boat, but you’ll find there is a wealth of material on the Web. I went with blue host for my Web hosting service and they have several YouTube training videos and such. Hope that helps!
It’s not too difficult and should be very doable for a person fitting your self description.
Now you post this 🙁 I will be forever thinking what I missed not visiting S’pore with you!
I loved your romp through the statues in Singapore, really impressive. Loved the “First Generation”, “Chang Kuda” and “La Familie…”.
Now do that food post please and show us the street hawkers and the fancy restaurants where you had the bird’s nest soup!
Thank you BM, so haopy you stopped by and enjoyed this! I’d probably have had a more hilarious view of this, had you joined me on my romp! Hope at some other time, some other place, we can travel together, and through this blog site too! Thank you. Details section on Singapore coming soon!! 🙂
What a nice story! I visited Singapore several times and never notice what you have noticed. You must have some special observation gift. So, Singapore is a beckon in the making?
Thank you Leszek! Indeed I find that I am more consciously observing, now that I write about places. So the two interests feed each other well! So glad you liked this beckon!
There are people who can see what others can’t ?. Cheers!
Thank you! Everyone sees something different, picks out something special from their own angle. This makes exchanges so much more interesting, finding out other perspectives… thank you for stopping by and sharing your thought!
I was specially touched by 2-3 lines about the La Famille de Voyageurs statue capturing the traveler’s sentiment ‘any place we travel to, we invariably leave behind a part of us, taking away something of the place with us.’ So, true. In fact Charlee pointed it out to me, how well it captures the sentiment of transnationalism.
Thank you Diya! Indeed it does apply far more to transnationalism, even more so! So happy if this sparked a thought which you might be able to build upon. Thank you for sharing this.
You have the amazing gift of transforming a city to a real life persona! One can feel, touch even probably can have a conversation with those places, they are so alive!
Thank you so much! So happy that you enjoyed this personalized feel. Much fun as it is to discover places like getting to know a person, it is even more enjoyable conversing with others about places visited and loved. I hope you will continue the exchanges. Thank you for your visit.
I love your photos of the sculptures and the way you use them to tell the story of your trip and stories about Singapore’s history and culture. I particularly love the last photo of the voyagers and your interpretation of that sculpture—bravo!
Thank you Charlee!! They say when you get touched and write from the heart, those expressions come out the best. It is true in this case, La Famille de Voyageurs touched something deep in me. Really appreciate your comment, thank you for sharing your thought!
Greatly enjoyed reading this post Loved all the pics of the playful statues as well. It brought back happy memories of my visit to the city, but also made me think what I have missed seeing closely …..
I look forward to reading your posts because of your ingenuity in highlighting the ‘often missed’ or hidden aspects of the place you have travelled. Now hoping to see the ‘extra’ details for this post. Lovely, you make me go to so many places in your posts
Thank you Diya! So happy you enjoyed! Each of us see different things and that is the fun of an exchange, it enables us to see with many more eyes! You are right, I have been lax in writing up the extra details for Singapore, it should be there in couple days… so much to see,so much to write about…!! Thanks you for sharing your thoughts!!
Loved this one. inspiring me to go and see the ones i havent seen yet.
Thank you Deepa! So happy you liked this enough to feel a want to go out and look at these sculptures… they are indeed wonderful and worth it! Have fun, and thanks again!
Wonderful side of Singapore. Looking forward to many such unusual angles of Singapore through your posts.
Thank you Shreenivas! So happy you stopped by and enjoyed! That is true, Singapore could indeed do with more posts, for there are more facets yet left unexplored. Hope you will revisit, both Singapore and my site… ?
Going on this journey with the writer was a complete delight. Love your writing and photographs ?
Thank you Anu! So glad you enjoyed the journey! Your delight would make any journey more enjoyable! Hope to journey on together!
What a fun way to look back where and how Singapore came to be! All of these get lost amidst the glitz of high rise and shopping craze! Well done my friend..
Thank you dear Arpita! Having visited Singapore you got it just right, we tend to lose the subtler aspects amidst the obvious attractions! If only that were possible more often to revisit places in search of those..! Thank you for stopping by!
I don’t think we get that radio station anymore. Now it’s all static and nothing else.
Wonderful article! We will be linking to this great content on our site.
Keep up the great writing.
I want to express thanks to you for rescuing me from this particular matter. Because of looking out through the internet and finding things which were not pleasant, I assumed my entire life was over. Living minus the strategies to the difficulties you have solved by means of your website is a crucial case, and the kind which might have badly affected my entire career if I hadn’t discovered your blog. Your own capability and kindness in taking care of every item was vital. I don’t know what I would have done if I had not encountered such a solution like this. I’m able to now relish my future. Thanks for your time very much for this expert and sensible guide. I won’t think twice to propose the blog to any person who wants and needs support about this area.
Thank you indeed – being a newbie at blogging myself, I quite understand where you’re coming from. Thank you for your kind words, and I do hope we’ll continue our journey together to more mutually enriching experiences.
I just want to tell you that I am new to blogging and really savored you’re web page. More than likely I’m want to bookmark your blog . You definitely come with great stories. Regards for revealing your blog site.
Thank you very much for your visit here, and for sharing your thoughts! It’s exchanges like these that make this journey more interesting, I hope my stories, more than anything, help continue a dialog. Thank you!
I truly appreciate this blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Fantastic.
Thank you very much, your comment enboldens me to carry on! Truly hope I might live upto your high expectations!
Hello there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information to work on. You have done a wonderful job!
Thank you so much! Very happy if this site helped any initiative! Your feedback and visit also provides me inspiration to keep writing, thank your for sharing your thought! Please do visit again! ?
Hey! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at options for another platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Thank you for your visit. I am actually still with WordPress, and haven’t run into issues yet! I’ll keep in mind your experience, for all of us are equally vulnerable. Sorry I couldn’t really be of help!
Peculiar article, totally what I needed.
Would love to know more on your point. Please do feel free to elaborate. If this article helped in any way, I am happy, but am keen to understand your perspective. Thank you!
You’ve made some good points there. I checked on the web to learn more about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this website.
Thank you for your visit and for sharing your thoughts. I’m not completely sure I fully comprehend the “issue” you mention, but am happy to know you feel it’s not unreasonable. Would be happy to dialogue further, if you so wish. Thank you!
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Thank you very much! Your cheers in turn cheered me up, and feedback is the best way to keep a blogger going! If I provided information I’m glad, happy to be of help. Please do visit again, thanks!
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Thank you gemstone! I’m glad you enjoyed the piece. Please do stay tuned, it’s great to travel with company! Thank you!
An interesting discussion is worth comment. There’s no doubt that that you ought to write more on this subject matter, it may not be a taboo matter but typically people do not speak about such issues. To the next! Many thanks!!
Thank you secured. I’m glad you feel there is more to be written. I wasn’t aware that people don’t speak of such thoughts. As you’ve stated, as it’s not taboo, please stay tuned, I’ll be happy to write more, although it may be several different topics and places! Thank you!
I am in fact thankful to the owner of this site who has shared this enormous article at at this place.
Thank you online education, very kind of you to call it enormous! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wow that was strange. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t appear. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Regardless, just wanted to say superb blog!
Sorry Med Web, that’s frustrating when it happens! But I did get this message, although even this must’ve shown up later, only after an administrator approves it — this is to prevent spam. I’m so glad you enjoyed this piece. Hope you’ll continue to travel with me, company always livens it up! Thank you!
Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog. Is it hard to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions? Thank you
I was also in the same boat, but you’ll find there is a wealth of material on the Web. I went with blue host for my Web hosting service and they have several YouTube training videos and such. Hope that helps!
It’s not too difficult and should be very doable for a person fitting your self description.
Now you post this 🙁 I will be forever thinking what I missed not visiting S’pore with you!
I loved your romp through the statues in Singapore, really impressive. Loved the “First Generation”, “Chang Kuda” and “La Familie…”.
Now do that food post please and show us the street hawkers and the fancy restaurants where you had the bird’s nest soup!
Thank you BM, so haopy you stopped by and enjoyed this! I’d probably have had a more hilarious view of this, had you joined me on my romp! Hope at some other time, some other place, we can travel together, and through this blog site too! Thank you. Details section on Singapore coming soon!! 🙂
What a nice story! I visited Singapore several times and never notice what you have noticed. You must have some special observation gift. So, Singapore is a beckon in the making?
Thank you Leszek! Indeed I find that I am more consciously observing, now that I write about places. So the two interests feed each other well! So glad you liked this beckon!
There are people who can see what others can’t ?. Cheers!
Thank you! Everyone sees something different, picks out something special from their own angle. This makes exchanges so much more interesting, finding out other perspectives… thank you for stopping by and sharing your thought!
I was specially touched by 2-3 lines about the La Famille de Voyageurs statue capturing the traveler’s sentiment ‘any place we travel to, we invariably leave behind a part of us, taking away something of the place with us.’ So, true. In fact Charlee pointed it out to me, how well it captures the sentiment of transnationalism.
Thank you Diya! Indeed it does apply far more to transnationalism, even more so! So happy if this sparked a thought which you might be able to build upon. Thank you for sharing this.
You have the amazing gift of transforming a city to a real life persona! One can feel, touch even probably can have a conversation with those places, they are so alive!
Thank you so much! So happy that you enjoyed this personalized feel. Much fun as it is to discover places like getting to know a person, it is even more enjoyable conversing with others about places visited and loved. I hope you will continue the exchanges. Thank you for your visit.
I love your photos of the sculptures and the way you use them to tell the story of your trip and stories about Singapore’s history and culture. I particularly love the last photo of the voyagers and your interpretation of that sculpture—bravo!
Thank you Charlee!! They say when you get touched and write from the heart, those expressions come out the best. It is true in this case, La Famille de Voyageurs touched something deep in me. Really appreciate your comment, thank you for sharing your thought!
Greatly enjoyed reading this post Loved all the pics of the playful statues as well. It brought back happy memories of my visit to the city, but also made me think what I have missed seeing closely …..
I look forward to reading your posts because of your ingenuity in highlighting the ‘often missed’ or hidden aspects of the place you have travelled. Now hoping to see the ‘extra’ details for this post. Lovely, you make me go to so many places in your posts
Thank you Diya! So happy you enjoyed! Each of us see different things and that is the fun of an exchange, it enables us to see with many more eyes! You are right, I have been lax in writing up the extra details for Singapore, it should be there in couple days… so much to see,so much to write about…!! Thanks you for sharing your thoughts!!
Loved this one. inspiring me to go and see the ones i havent seen yet.
Thank you Deepa! So happy you liked this enough to feel a want to go out and look at these sculptures… they are indeed wonderful and worth it! Have fun, and thanks again!
Wonderful side of Singapore. Looking forward to many such unusual angles of Singapore through your posts.
Thank you Shreenivas! So happy you stopped by and enjoyed! That is true, Singapore could indeed do with more posts, for there are more facets yet left unexplored. Hope you will revisit, both Singapore and my site… ?
Going on this journey with the writer was a complete delight. Love your writing and photographs ?
Thank you Anu! So glad you enjoyed the journey! Your delight would make any journey more enjoyable! Hope to journey on together!
What a fun way to look back where and how Singapore came to be! All of these get lost amidst the glitz of high rise and shopping craze! Well done my friend..
Thank you dear Arpita! Having visited Singapore you got it just right, we tend to lose the subtler aspects amidst the obvious attractions! If only that were possible more often to revisit places in search of those..! Thank you for stopping by!