O Blog, Where Art Thou?

Just got back to Hong Kong from a visit to Singapore and I'm wishing that my blog would write itself. Alas, it won't! I'm a little tired after trying to keep up with my 3 wee cousins for the past few days, but it was great to catch up with relatives that I hadn't seen in a long time.

The weather in Singapore made me appreciate how lucky I was with the weather in Beijing, which was nice and sunny. Singapore was basically overcast and raining the whole time- not the biggest incentive to get out there and explore the city. Which reminds me, did you know that Singapore- like Hong Kong- is also one of the few city-states around? Of course, Hong Kong is not completely independent whereas Singapore is.

The little of Singapore I did get out to see was cool- the downtown area is centred around Marina Bay and the Marina Bay Sands, a new casino/resort with 3 towers joined together at the top. You can also see the (ferris wheel-like) Singapore Flyer, which apparently is not generally considered to be worth the price of admission.

This is some of the nightly show that happens at the Sands, apparently there is a video component that is coordinated with the water display in the lower right-hand part of the screen- but I was way across the bay so I only caught the light show and a bit of the audio.

Another highlight is the only residential building in the downtown area, The Sail- you can see where it got its name:

I also went to the Singapore Zoo- although I'm generally not a fan, as zoos go I had to admit that this one is pretty decent. It is generally regarded to be world-class, and I can see why. There were lions

(rare white) tigers

and bears... um, scratch that last one- this is a tropical zoo after all. Singapore is only 137 km north of the equator!

One thrill for me (and for my wee cousin) was getting to feed one of the giraffes- check out the gigantic tongue, this one would be quite the french kisser:

And they're so tall, this is where they have to stand for the feedings:

Another highlight for me was getting to ride an elephant- I've got a bit of video footage that I'll share with my mailing list subscribers in my September newsletter, so be sure to sign up soon!

We also visited the lovely and extensive Botanic Gardens, here is one pastoral scene I captured:

And here is a very cool jazz club that we checked out- they were having their weekly jazz jam, interspersed with a comedy acts during the breaks. It was a great vibe with some great music and laughs:

This was the house band, I jammed a couple of tunes with them early on- later on a funky beat-boxing crew came up and did a great job, again I'll share some of that video footage in my next newsletter.

Gotta try and get some sleep before my next gig at Blue Bar tomorrow night, thank you Singapore- over and out til next blog!

J.

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