歡迎來到木龍年！
- sophia bird
- Feb 11, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Feb 15, 2024
welcome to the year of the wood dragon!
on lunar new years eve, we went to the national singapore museum where they have a fantastic exhibit detailing the history of singapore–the culture, trading of hands etc. also a great exhibition on old trees and their stories. my favorite is one where the earth is weathered in a circle around the tree due to a practice of people. after, we walked through fort canning park on the way back. we needed to rest up for the events in the evening!
after resting up, we headed to maxwell food centre, a hawker centre near our hotel. i got laksa which is original to singapore. and we shared a scallion pancake.
and then it was chinatown time! they had streets blocked off so stalls could set up and have a little market. the nearby Buddha Tooth Relic temple (and really the whole area) was glowing for the new year and we waited a long, long time for the singaporean version of rockn' new years eve, sitting on hard cement steps heh. our tailbones did not like that at all. the show was nice though with dancers, singers, and both lion and dragon dances. also there are a bunch of cute, cute dragon mascots for these events.
we made it to midnight and welcomed the year of the wood dragon!
new years day, we were able to enter the Buddha Tooth Relic temple and perform traditions like pouring water over the Buddha, burning incense and 拜拜ing which is "to pay one's respects by bowing with hands in front of one's chest clasping joss sticks, or with palms pressed together".
then, we headed into the city to see the Raffles Hotel and mom got to try the traditional coffee called "kopi". we walked the helix bridge (the other side of the water than merlion) which was modeled after a DNA strand. it took us straight into gardens by the bay where we stopped for dinner before seeing the light show in the supertree grove and the beginning of river hongbao (you should be able to watch the replays at that link). unfortunately, it was off and on raining which kept delaying and messing with the program. it's funny as a pnw girlie that at a single drop of rain, everyone grabs their umbrella or other rain gear so dang quickly. it was the same in taiwan.
祝大家：
恭喜發財
身體健康
年年有餘
萬事如意
龍年大吉
♡蘇晨
pov: JV
The National Museum was well-done, carrying visitors through galleries that follow a timeline of Singapore's complex history, with 3-D walk through displays and plenty of artifacts. Singapore has been a busy crossroads for trade for centuries and has been ruled by a number of foreign powers. It has only been an independent country since 1965, and has made huge strides as a nation. Housing is largely government subsidized (something like 65% of the population lives in subsidized housing), and it is quite nice, not the "projects" many Americans would think of - its a completely different perspective. A percentage of Singaporeans income also automatically goes to savings, it's required, so many can afford to buy into public housing using their savings. Back to the museum - the complicated history is told concisely, I appreciated learning more.
The first exhibit we entered was not a history exhibit though, it was an art installation celebrating the flora and fauna of Singapore called "Story of the Forest." Really beautiful and truly a delight to walk through! Hard to convey in video but here are a few short clips to share the beauty of the artwork:
I also really loved the exhibition "Singapore, Very Old Tree" featuring photos of heritage trees or trees that have significance to local people and communities. Each photo was paired with an oral history explaining where the tree was located, why it was important and to whom. After that when we were walking through Fort Canning, I saw an incredible, HUGE rubber tree - this type grows like a banyan tree, with many trunks. It's impossible to capture the enormity of this tree on video, but I tried ...
The evening's festivities in China Town - so lively! I'm grateful that Sophia wanted to be in Singapore for Chinese New Year. China Town was all lit up, decorations and lanterns everywhere, market stalls, and soooooo many people out to celebrate. The Singapore version of "New Year's Rockin' Eve" was entertaining - the finale was especially energetic with a long paper dragon and a double lion dance, noisemakers and fire crackers.
There are many artful murals in Singapore, the one nearest the plaza in China Town was amusing.
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple is the most awe-inspiring of the temples we visited. On New Year's Eve it was lit up all around the outside with figures from the Chinese zodiac and lanterns.
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