Singapore Garden Festival 2014

This year's Singapore Garden Festival (in Gardens by the Bay) is certainly held in a way bigger scale than the one in 2012 (in Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre). The previous one took up two floors of exhibition space, while this year's festival is spread out to three areas: (1) Orchid Extravaganza in Flower Dome, (2) Marketplace at the Supertree Grove and (3) various garden displays at The Meadow. It was quite a bad idea to go to this event on a weekend, because it was super crowded.

The crowd in the Flower Dome queuing to see the orchid displays.

Phalaenopsis orchid (left) and Oncidium orchid (right)

Winter Illusion

Winter Illusion

Watching outdoor performance

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Snails made of brown fiber ropes

Sound of the Forest

Garden display with colourful umbrellas

Full Circle?

ITE Art Show

Every two year, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) will put together an art exhibition to showcase the artwork of students and staff from its colleges. This year, it coincides with the National Day Rally, which is also held at ITE Headquarters. It was a proud moment when our Prime Minister highlighted the art piece titled “Aspirations” in his National Day Rally speech.

Drawings of animals in colourful cages.

Balloon sculptures decorated the ferns.

Handmade flowers using recycled plastic bags


This YouTube video shows you how to make these plastic flowers.


We have seen many "Keep Calm and ..." poster. Ever seen one "Now Panic and ..." before?

My department own these photos. Nine of them were selected for this art show, from the photomicrographs we exhibited in College East last year. Photomicrographs are photos taken through a microscope.



Left: Paper lamps shades
Middle: Flowers in glass tubes
Right: Lamp shades made up of hundreds of namecards from ITE staffs.

Pylon Lookout

It is kind of troublesome to get to Pylon Lookout, because you can't just take the stairs / elevator from the street just below it. There's two ways to get there: (1) take the Bridge Stair at The Rocks, or (2) take the lift from Circular Quay. (See the exact location in their website). Option 1 is a climb up about two storeys, followed by a short walk to the lookout, while option 2 is a longer walk, uphill, along the expressway. I chose option 2 because I didn't know how high the flight of stairs was at The Rock and I didn't know the walk along the expressway was going to be partially uphill and super windy.

Panoramic view from the Cahill Expressway near Circular Quay.

Panoramic view from the viewing area below Pylon Lookout.

After a long walk on the expressway, we lost the interest to climb the stairs to the Pylon Lookout. I'm satisfied with the view below the lookout. Obviously, we didn't walk back from where we came from, but take the Bridge Stairs to the streets below.

Direction sign at The Rocks showing the way to the Bridge Climb and the Bridge Stairs to the Pylon Lookout.

WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo

There's more than just Kangaroos, Wallabies and Koalas at the WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo.

Brown frog sleeping on a branch

The best part for me is the area where there is no glass or fence between the visitors and the Kangaroos. But the animals are too busy feeding, they didn't bother coming close to us.

Koalas at the Gum Tree Valley

I didn't really take much photos here because I'm too tired. This is the last of the 3 attractions at Darling Harbour that we visited and I have expanded all my energy at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium and Madame Tussauds.

SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium

For AUD 63 per adult combo pass, we were granted entry to 5 attractions:
1. Sydney Tower Eye
2. Manly SEA LIFE Sanctuary
3. SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium
4. WILD LIFE Sydney Zoo
5. Madame Tussauds Sydney

KB and I had already accomplished the first two in the list on day 1 and day 2 respectively. So, on day 3, we are going to finish up the remaining three, which are located side by side at Darling Harbour.

Out of the 5 attractions, the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is my favourite and we spent the most time here. It's really difficult to take photos because of the glass reflection, the dim lighting and the constantly moving marine life. Probably, it's better to just enjoy watching the creatures swimming around.

Little mini fishes

Shark nursery

Close-up on the shark eggs

Baby shark

A tank with stingrays inside.

Stingrays

Sad-looking little fishes

penguins

Seahorse

Bloodless, heartless and brainless jellyfishes

Fishes are in front, behind, left, right, top and bottom.

Smalltooth sawfish swimming above you

Sydney Fish Market

KB and I started day 3 at the Sydney Fish Market. The bus journey from Swissotel was about 5 to 10 minutes, but it costed AUD 2.30 per adult ticket. Thankfully, this is in our itinerary on a weekend and thus we avoided having to buy pre-paid tickets, which are only accepted on the buses on weekday 7am to 7pm.

True to what my friend had warned me, there's a lot of birds dining with you outdoors!

Prawn sashimi!

Blue swimmer crab

Big salmon slices

Raw oysters in their clams

Lobster platter

Cheese

I regret big time that we came here after a full breakfast at the hotel. These lobsters look so yummy!

At the Fish Market Light Rail station

From the Fish Market, we traveled to our next destination at Pyrmont Bay on light rail. We spent AUD 4.60 per adult ticket and traveled 3 stations. The payment was the old-fashion way, where there's a bus conductor on board and he will go to each passenger to sell the tickets. Then I thought: we're only traveling 3 stops, if we were to board the last cabin, by the time he reaches us, we would have gotten off the light rail already.