i Light Marina Bay 2016

This year is the 4th edition of i Light Marina Bay, and this year’s event is brighter and seeking to reframe perceptions of light and sustainability, the team hopes to inspire artists and festival-goers to re-imagine and reconsider sustainability issues in a new light and come together to create and sustain a harmonious relationship with the environment.

As a person who likes photography, lights and shadows have always been something fascinating for me. After the first introduction to i Light Marina Bay 2014, this is the second time I am bringing the girls back.

This year the stretch just outside The Shoppes @ Marina Bay Sands, was transformed into a bit like “Artbox” in Bangkok. With small little stalls selling different sorts of arts and stuff. It would be nice to see more of such setups happening in Singapore.

Before we walked through the i Light, we were greeted by this colorfully bright rider, sometimes we are able to see a few other riders together but this night there was only one. Hence, he absorbed all the lime light. He has unofficially became part of the event exhibits.

Ground Control to Major Tom
This multi-colored rocket piece is like a childhood dream coming alive. As simple as it seems, many people were queuing up just to have a look from within, at the world outside. I guess all of us need to see things a little different some times.

Blot
Inspired by how the lightning behaves, this installation aims to bring the irregularity behavior of the lightning closer to earth. By a simple touch of the steel structure, one gets to activates the flashes of the LED tubes attached.

Lampshade
Totally the coolest and most environmentally inspiring piece of installation. During day time, this unique art piece prevents sunlight to shine through and at the same time conserve energy which is used during night time as solar energy enough to power up thousands of lamps.

Shadow Bath
Playing with light and shadows, this is one piece of art I would love to have at home. Maybe a miniature size that could sit nicely in a living room as a coffee table. Imagine the mood it would create at night when you are enjoying a nice glass of wine with your love one. Awesome!

Angels of Freedom
This year, kudos to the organizers for placing many of the light installations against the beautiful Marina Bay night scene. One of which is this angel wing (there are 5 sets of them), and you will be expecting some queue to get your chance for a photo. The halo was a brilliant idea to enhance the structure but also as a great illuminator for the visitor’s face.

Moon Haze
One of the most photographed light installation. The Moon Haze also functions as a monitoring system for air pollutants, picking-up and responding to the ambient air quality – the better the air quality, the brighter the installation. Maybe an idea will be to place this piece on the waters? The reflection will be awesome.

The Cloud
Seriously, I do not understand this art installation. However, this is one of the few installations that captured my attention the most. Maybe it’s the inert nature of man that is drawn towards things we do not understand.

Ping Pong Table
Mini table-tennis tables for visitors to test their skills. About a quarter size of the usual table, this cool piece is lighted underneath with changing lights to create that mystery feel. The game is not about winning, but it’s all about fun and innovation.

There are a few installations that are not really related to lights, but nonetheless it was super creative and simple. The simplicity of the creation amazed me and many others, providing much fun to all.

Started the walk with the multi-colored rider and ended with the same guy on the Helix Bridge.

Heard that i Light Marina Bay will be back starting this year as a yearly event. I’ll raise both hands and legs and shout hurray! Looking forward to more creative installations in 2017.

3D2N Malacca Trip

This is the first time we organized a big group trip with some of the friends in cell group. So we decided to plan a short trip to the nearby Malacca. 15 of us took the bus from Queens Street Singapore. A wrong decision to plan a trip to Malaysia during a long weekend, because we took more than 6 hours to travel from Singapore to Malacca.

I am the ‘gang leader’ leading the group to Malacca.

Different ones have been asking me what would I recommend in Malacca, are there any interesting places to visit or any tourists must-go places. Simply put it, Malacca is a very small town. You can find only one large shopping mall (Mahkota Parade). The interesting things are along the old streets and personally I feel the interesting part of the streets is to roam without any idea what to look for. and purely enjoying what you can find round the corner or off a certain main road.

This trip was a chance for the big group of friends to enjoy each other’s company and a chance to know each other better. So my rationale is, if the group is fun, the trip will be fun.

Even the children have their own buddies.

 

Through Airbnb, we booked a house that is just 5mins walk from Jonker Street (the main night market street that opens on Fri-Sun nights). Since we are big group of 15, we had the entire house (five double bedrooms & one 7-bed room).

 

The boys graciously took the 7-bed room.

Level 1 is the open space and toilets.

 

There is also a dining room but we hardly uses it since most of our meals are all outdoors.

 

Moving to the end of the house, we found this super chill area, facing the river and there is a rocking chair and a bed on ropes.

We were blessed to see fireworks that lasted for more than 10mins.

 

Kitchen. The host prepared for us unlimited coffee and milo sachets. Breakfast was also included and we had roti prata and nasi lemak. Sedap!

Waiting for the rest to wake up the next morning, I just enjoyed my time playing the guitar and singing in the cool morning with a cup of coffee. Holiday should be like this!

Here are my personal 3 must-do things in Malacca.

No. 1 – Malacca Town Center.

You won’t miss this historical and iconic church building in Malacca. You are able to find a lot of souvenirs here.

Christ Church Melaka is an 18th century Anglican church. The church is built in Dutch Colonial architecture style.

And since you are at the town area, try out the thirst quenching Chendol. Not as nice as the ones in Penang, but with the hot weather, this is just as good.

Either you squat along the road or walk up the stairs, I am sure everyone can find something to do in Malacca.

 

Where Joey is walking as shown on the photo above, leads to the other famous place to visit in the vicinity.

St. Paul’s Church, originally built in 1521. Now the church no longer functions but lies as a ruin and a part of Malacca’s rich history.

 

The girls sportingly posed for us in the hot sun.

Walking down from the ruined church, you can find this stationery train head, now changed into a tiny souvenir shop. And the other famous sight, Maritime Museum & Naval Museum.

 

There are a lot of other interesting places we did not visit like, A’Famosa, Baba-Nyonya Heritage Museum, Cheng Ho’s Cultural Museum, Coral Wonderland, Bird Park, Botanical Gardens, just to name a few.

A piece of advice, wear comfortable shoes and clothing, the weather can be quite hot in Malacca. Most of us just wear slippers.

No. 2 – Jonker Street

Inside Jonker Street you will find the famous Restoran Famosa Chicken Rice Ball shop. Over a hundred years old, they serve one of the best chicken rice ball.

Typical Singaporeans, although hungry but always remember to take a photo first.

Glorious food! Each rice ball is M$0.40, which is less than 15cents.

 

Jonker Street opens at 5pm, but it is more advisable to go after 6pm, when most of the stalls are open.

 

One simply cannot miss the street food. This is why we chose Malacca for this group trip.

 

 

Another recommendation is to have seafood in Jonker. There is a lane towards the end of the street that sells some fantastic grilled seafood.

 

Me and Jayne enjoying an ice popsicle after a long walk through the entire street. Can you see our tired face?

A night view as we walked back to our rented house from Jonker Street.

No. 3 – Old Street Photography

For all photographers, or just like a bit of street arts, Malacca provides the access to walk around the old shops and take in some of the landscapes and arts.

An old lorry not found in Singapore anymore. I used to sit in one of these lorries when I was a child, when I was staying with my grandparents in JB.

Street art.

  

The river side in day time.

These pictures are so huge, you may not be able to recognize the item until you take a photo of it.

 

  

Even the reading room (library) is such an old traditional shop.

I found this deserted house, almost left with the 4 walls and nothing else. Walked in and took a few photos, I think this place would make a good wedding shoot venue.

 

Let me introduce some of the food we ate in Malacca which are pretty famous too.

Restoran Kok Keong

 

Café – Alley No. 5

 

We had a wonderful time, our first road trip with this group of friends. Though we were quite apart in ages, but we shares the same passion to be friends. Thanks for the experience.