So one of my best buddies, Steph, came over to Singapore. We've been communicating through Skype for the past 7 months (when she was in Malaysia for exchange) and it was so good to see her again. So we spent 3 whole days exploring half of Singapore and running around the city.
And yes, I brought my camera as usual.
It feels so good to be back in Singapore again, especially when you walk down the streets and see $1 ice-creams and drink stalls! Steph and I bought a drink and an ice-cream each.
Our first destination - Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay. The workers were washing the roof and their supervisor actually took pictures of them, while standing precariously on the balcony. Just another day at work, I guess.
We also headed down to the iconic Merlion and took lots of funny pictures, and there happened to be a snake charmer.
But the main focus of that day was the Terracotta Warriors exhibition, at the Asian Civilisations Museum. It was Steph's second time there since my brother brought her around the city before I arrived.
Some exhibits outside the main exhibition. We walked through some ancient Asian exhibitions and other exhibitions before going to the main terracotta exhibition.
Mini-terracotta warriors with headphones - pretty cute!
One of the other exhibitions we saw was the Buddhist exhibition. It was really gorgeous.
One of my friends commented that this picture makes the statue look very angry.
Some of the pottery in the Buddhist exhibition.
A sculpture of a man praying. The sculpture was so high up - I could only manage to get half of the man's body.
Some other sculptures around....
The Guanyin with the Thousand Arms. Really impressive indeed.
One of the last few sculptures before we left for the actual terracotta exhibition.
While waiting in line to enter. There were lots and lots of people. I've seen the actual terracotta museum in China (while on exchange a few years back), but this one was also pretty good.
Qin Dynasty artefacts. The Qin dynasty lasted from 221 to 207 BC, and followed straight after the "Warring States" period of the Zhou Dynasty. Its capital was Xianyang (the place I stayed in while on exchange), and the actual terracotta exhibition was in Xi-an, about an hours' drive from Xianyang (from what I remembered).
The actual terracotta exhibits.
Qin Shi Huang (the "first emperor" of unified China after the warring period and the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty) ordered the creation of these sculptures to accompany him to his grave, as one of his earliest projects during his younger days. The terracotta army itself was discovered in 1974 by farmers who were digging wells, and it has not been completely uncovered yet.
Some of the better-preserved terracotta warriors on display. When I went to Xi-an, many of the warriors had missing limbs, heads and so on, but these were intact. The display depicted a general (in front) and his army, plus a horse carriage.
Details of the general. Each terracotta warrior was unique to each other - they had different features, different clothes and so on.
Outside the terracotta exhibition itself, there were other exhibits, mainly porcelain from subsequent dynasties.
We then headed to the Botanic Gardens, took some pictures and headed back home.
And that was my very first day back in Singapore. Pretty eventful compared to my other "first days back in Singapore".