Oh my gosh...sorry for the massive hiatus! I've been busy ever since my return to Melbourne, and I've not been out taking pictures for a while. I swear - I need a photography trip pronto!
Anyway the plane ride was epic. 2 hours into the flight, someone was found to be seriously ill and there were doctors with her. The pilot and the doctors came to a decision that she had to be sent to the nearest hospital, and the nearest was SINGAPORE - where we set off from!!
So by the time the pilot made his announcement, we were already U-turning back to Singapore! They even had to release fuel and land with almost a full load of fuel when we reached Singapore. Then the ground staff back in Singapore had to cool down the brakes, which were fried by the landing. So we were in Singapore for about 1 and a half hours while the lady got whisked to the nearest hospital, and while the ground staff tried to cool the fried brakes. Finally when the brakes were cooled and when the fuel was sufficient, we took off - and landed 6 hours late.
Anyway that fiasco is definitely something which I'll remember for a long time.
Back to Damo's epic Singapore visit - we took a trip to Chinatown and Little India on his second day in Singapore. Walked down the major shopping area in Chinatown too!
Around this time when I took this Buddha picture, I noticed that my telephoto lens was not focusing automatically. And when I brought it to the nearest camera shop, I realised that the mechanism inside was broken. Which means - only manual focus, no more auto-focus. Oh well. Manual focus isn't that bad.
The first temple we visited. It's one of the major Indian temples in Singapore. The places we visited in Chinatown were in the inner portions of Chinatown. This temple (and the other Indian temple we visited later) had gorgeous roof decorations too! Which includes deities, civilians and animals...
Our next destination - one of the biggest Chinese temples in Singapore. This is known as the Buddha Tooth Relic temple, and is really famous in Singapore. And this was also my second time visiting this temple...
And this is how the exterior looks like...
Sculpture located near the entrance.
The Spinning Wheel on the rooftop garden. You hold the handle-bar surrounding the wheel and walk around it 3 times for luck.
And of course, multiple mini-sculptures lining the wall.
We then proceeded to the main hall, where there was an area for people to offer prayers and donations.
Mini Buddha sculptures all around the main hall. The main hall was extremely intricate.
There was a prayer session in the main hall, but we were short of time, so I took some pictures from the 2nd floor.
And of course, besides offering prayers inside the temple, people could put their joss sticks in an urn right at the entrance of the temple.
Spotted this shirt outside one of the stalls - truly Singaporean indeed!
We headed to Little India for lunch and went to the 2nd Indian temple - also another famous landmark in Singapore. There were even school students visiting the temple.
And then we headed to Ion Orchard for some snacks and drinks. Shopping centre was pretty deserted though...
Got some jasmine flowers from Little India and hung them on my kitchen wall at home too!
Damo left for Sri Lanka shortly after...but now we're both back in Melbourne!
Which reminds me - I'll be putting up the rest of my Singapore pictures soon before moving on to the Melbourne pictures.