Remember my previous post about being caught in the rain while gallivanting around Singapore? Well...after that incident, the weather kinda improved. But that didn't last for long. About a week before Chinese New Year (10 February), the weather just deteriorated and the heavy rains started again!! And I thought that the good weather would stay. Usually it's sunny during the Chinese New Year period. Fortunately I managed to enjoy the short period of good weather - as evident in this post on the Singapore River.
Part 1: Haji Lane
Before I left for Perth, I went to a number of places - one of which is the famous Haji Lane. But before that, I went to Fullerton Hotel as the rain was coming down pretty fast. And during that time I was already nursing an extremely sore throat and a throbbing headache. So I needed to find somewhere to sit. But first, snapshots of Fullerton Hotel with my new camera!
Still can't get over this beautiful staircase. Its symmetry, its grandness...everything!
Went to the basement of the hotel to take a rest as the headache was too unbearable. Around two days later the sore throat and headache developed into a full-blown cold thanks to the rain and the cold (yes, anything below 25 degrees Celsius is cold to me!).
The main reason why I took this pic? Well - the grand piano of course! I'm a pianist and a piano fanatic - as seen from my blog name. :)
Standing out the Post Bar - where the former GPO was in Singapore.
Went over to Kampong Glam for awesome briyani. And while walking to Haji Lane (the main destination), I took some snapshots of Kampong Glam's famous old shophouses. I should really come back here again to take pictures!
Finally got to Haji Lane! Haji Lane is full of quirky stuff and vintage clothing. I bought a really, really adorable sushi shirt from Haji Lane.
And I left Haji Lane just as the rain started coming down again.
Part 2: Bishan Park
I coined the term "scumbag weather" because of this trip. After days and days of heavy rains, I woke up one morning - to be greeted with gorgeous blue skies and wispy clouds. So I thought - OK, time to bring out the camera! After all, I won't want to miss a good photo-taking day!
So all went well, I happily did my photo-taking...until I saw this.
You guessed it. Heavy rain clouds in the distance. And the heavy rain clouds were beginning to engulf what's left of the gorgeous blue skies! I wasn't impressed...and hence the term "scumbag weather" was coined! Gorgeous blue skies and wispy clouds engulfed by horrid rain clouds!!!
And as you can see from previous pictures, the water levels were much higher than usual! Compare the water levels here with the water levels from my previous post on Bishan Park. When I last went (before this trip), the water was so low! Now it submerged lots of the rocks and plants that I remembered seeing.
Now this was when the epic cloud formations caught my attention. I was looking at the clouds as they moved in...and I noticed the skies turning very, very dark. Ominous looking clouds started coming in and I knew that it'd rain extremely heavily. After all, this wasn't unusual in tropical Singapore.
Check it out! No photoshop whatsoever done on the pictures. See how dark the clouds are?
Thinking that it would rain suddenly, I dashed into the nearest shelter - a MacDonald's outlet. Bought an iced Milo and waited...but the clouds seemed to get less dense, so I came out again.
Walked to one of the stone paths that I walked across in my previous trip. It was totally submerged from the high water levels, and we weren't allowed to cross, in case of fast-flowing water. Well - no one actually cared. I spotted 2 boys going into the water and stepping on the submerged stones. I was kinda concerned, but they were fine.
If you look closely, you can see parts of the stone path in the bottom left corner of this pic.
Standing on the edge of the stone path crossing.
It started to drizzle and I decided to call it a day. So I left using the usual route and headed off for lunch. Was really famished by then!
And now - back to doing some revision! I need a break sometime soon or I'll burn out.
This post is actually the final post for my vacation in Singapore...for now. I'll definitely have more pictures when I next go back. Hopefully I get to go back in July - so that I can escape the cold!!!