Sunday, March 16, 2008

Visit to the museum

Today after duty, my parents and I went to the Singapore National museum where the Greek masterpieces from the renowned Louvre museum, Paris were on display. It was a very informative and interesting visit and I took lots of photos!

Presented for the first time in Southeast Asia, some 130 exquisite pieces of marble sculptures, terracotta figurines and gold jewelry from the 5th to the 1st Centuries BC will bring to life the story of Athens.

There was this interesting giant led/fibre optic display at the main hall... Was a hit attraction with the families...

After the Greek gallery, we headed to the Singapore History Gallery, where it was basically a long path going through Singapore's roots to where we are now, from the founding of Temasek, to the growing up years, to WW2 and the dark ages of the Japanese occupation, to post-war independence to industrialization to the city that we are now today.

We were given this really cool full-screen audio-companion that would talk to us like a guide throughout the whole tour, and you can choose what you want to listen to wherever, whenever.

This picture may seem nice, but it's without flash! Ultra-long exposure of 15-seconds, ISO-800.

Old Japanese machine-gun

I didn't have a flash diffuser with me, so the flash was kinda irritating.

It was all a very unique learning experience, and what surprised me was that even on this weekday, there was still a significant number of people visiting this museum! Families, parents, children, other students etc. It was not like it was crowded or anything, but it was not as devoid of people as I thought, and the whole place has been renovated and retrofitted with advanced exhibits, not like perplexing audio-interactive exhibits, but more like subtle audio-companion, visually stimulating exhibits, wide exhibition area and subtle warm lighting.

Exhibits on yesterday's heyday cameras for all you camera buffs out there!

The damn flash again, anyway without a tripod, it was impossible for me to take this on long-exposure and even high-ISO, low aperture modes were a problem, so the flash was a better choice. This is a picture of a portable out-door camera in the 50's.

Textiles and linen in those days..

I thought this pair of shoes were pretty cool in the contempory section. You probably didn't notice it, the next shot shows the support on macro.

Cool little legs supporting the shoe!!

We also visited other small galleries showcasing other unique Singaporean signatures, like fashion in the 50s to the 70s, film, theatre and the arts and Singaporean signature foods like laksa, satay, mee pok, hainanese chicken rice and “tuk-tuk” cakes.

Lunch was a splendid fare at Novus, a small café-restaurant in the museum.

Pumpkin soup.

smoked-cajun chicken in wholemeal bread.

Coffee Frappe.

Can't help but take a pic with the wine cellar.

I had a pleasantly-tasting Cajun chicken sandwich and a chocolate coffee frappe. I feel so much like a socialite today! Visiting expensive areas with no time-limit imposed, just genuinely relaxing and visiting interesting exhibits at our own leisure and indulging in a nice pleasant lunch.