this neck of the woods

Archive for the ‘Singapore’ Category

Thaipusam

This Tuesday just gone was Thaipusam, a Hindu festival in which devotees shave their heads and undertake a pilgrimage along a set route while engaging in various acts of devotion (notably carrying various types of burdens).

It was incredibly fascinating and awe-inspiring. We watched men carrying huge installations down the street on their shoulders, with big metal rods poking into their skin from every angle, and canisters of milk hooked through their skin. Not to mention the metal spikes piercing their mouth and tongue. To top it off, as they walk, their family and friends walk with them, some playing drums and making music for the devotee to dance to. Once you see the photos you’ll realise how incredibly difficult that would have been!

**note: some of these images are graphic in nature**

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All Photos by Claire Dalgliesh

A walk at West Coast Park

Orchid Overload

On a recent tip from Maryline, and in a bid to actually venture outside our apartment this weekend, Dave and I headed off to the Singapore Botanic Gardens – specifically, the National Orchid Garden.

If you don’t like orchids, look away now.. it’s about to become unbearable for you :)

A day at the Zoo

We’ve had our first visitors here in Singapore for the past few days, in the form of two wonderful friends. We took one day to spend at the zoo, which turned out to be really awesome! We’d heard great things about it, and it didn’t disappoint. We even stayed for the Night Safari, where you can walk and/or take the tram around a different part of the zoo at night. It was actually a really different experience that I would highly recommend to anyone coming over. We even got to see a pack of wolves howling at the moon, it was fabulous! The normal zoo is also pretty cool, with the certain animals allowed to roam around free.. we had monkeys and lemurs jumping from tree to tree right above our heads!

At the elephant showMr Lemur chilling out on a railing Cute duck wandering aroundFunny little deer with stick legsLemur that was jumping in the trees just over our headsThe sweetest little Orangutan.. it was the end of the day, and they were being taken inside for the night.

Exciting stuff!

Fellow FellowHelloooo! I have some exciting stuff to share with you today :)

While it may appear that I’ve dropped off the radar these past few weeks, I’ve actually been a busy bee creating a new blog and identity for my new business, Fellow Fellow!

I’ve had a lot of questions about what I’ll be doing while we’re in Singapore and I can now tell you that, along with the blog, I’ll be screen printing and handmaking products to sell online. A bit like this neck of the woods, but different products – and full time. It’s not yet 100% settled that I will be working for myself full-time (waiting for the paperwork!), so until then I thought I’d get the Fellow Fellow blog underway. So come on over and say hi! :)

At this stage, I still plan to use this blog to post about more personal experiences in Singapore, however most of the focus will now go to Fellow Fellow. Hope to see you over there soon!

Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre

Not far from our apartment is the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, so yesterday we went exploring to see what we cold find there. It’s a huge place that sells fruits, vegetables, and dried goods that have come straight off the boat, and was a really great experience! We didn’t buy anything this time, but I plan to go back again. I must admit that I didn’t feel completely comfortable being there – we were getting some strange looks at times (which may have something to do with the giant camera I was carying around), but pushed on to find some really interesting fruits and veg that we’ve never seen before.. totally worth it!

basket-o-pineappleIMG_9099_smShame i don't like them.. they look so good!Shut up shopexploringDried shrimp

We’re in!

We’ve arrived back in Singapore, and have moved into our new apartment :)

We’re still waiting for our shipment from Germany to arrive (and still will be for a while) so we’ve been sleeping on air mattresses on the floor of our completely empty and echo-y apartment! During the days we’ve been busy organising all the essential things like Internet connections, bank accounts, and visas.. and have been having fun trying to work out the bus systems, exploring some really cool areas of town, and filling up on delicious Ice Lemon Tea!

Soaking up the atmosphere in China TownSoaking up the atmosphere in China TownMy new favourite drink - Ice Lemon Tea!