You’ve probably seen this intro at the start of every Tally Ho piece:

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

I can hear you wondering: Who are the Adventure Crew? Fear not, dear reader, for I have the answers!

Sarah Coldheart, Adventurer Extraordinaire

Essentially the leader of our motley crew, she has considerable powers in computeryness, as well as the perchant for finding all sorts of interesting things and knowing interesting people.

She has many identities and faces, and sometimes she doesn’t even have a face – and that’s because she’s a superhero by night. Her gentle alter-ego is quirky and chic lit-loving; but her other identity of Seriously Sarah has her wielding the Ukeleles of Justice in a never-ending quest for adventure and fun.

Avariel, Ship and Photography Devotee

She once ventured into the wilds of the Amazon in a ship that was an exact 1:4000 scale replica of the Queen Elizabeth 2 — yes, she went through the world’s largest rainforest in only a scaled down cruise ship. She took a photo of a chupacabra with her very last shot on her very last roll of film, on her trusty LOMO LC-A+ camera… and lived to tell the tale.

Avariel spent four years in the Australia Beyond — not our lovely continent of koalas and kangaroos, but a strange and wild Australia filled with cryptozoologic specimens most of us have never even heard of. Now she travels through our world and the World Beyond to seek out others like the chupacabra, on her trusty 1:4000 scale replica of the Queen Elizabeth 2, dedicating her life to amassing a reliable photographic record of them.

She masquerades her travels in the World Beyond as normal holidays on her blog – but if you look hard enough, you might be able to see a Yeti lurking in the background…

Joelyn Alexandra, [------------ classified ------------]

Joelyn is [------------ classified ------------], where she [------------ classified ------------]. Rumor has it that she was responsible for [------------ classified ------------].

She likes [------------ classified ------------] and [------------ classified ------------]. Her range of skills include [------------ classified ------------]. The most famous story about her exploits is the one about [------------ classified ------------]; she was [------------ classified ------------] and [------------ classified ------------], whereupon [------------ classified ------------] and [------------ classified ------------]. Then she (or they; there is some debate about whether one person can do so much alone) [------------ classified ------------].

You can find her at [------------ classified ------------] and her home on the Internet.

Mintea, She of SCIENCE

She knows the most scary power of them all – that of SCIENCE, which confounds, confuses, and frightens many. Do not underestimate her petite frame and kind eyes. She knows more science than you and I can never hope to know, wielding its many mysterious powers in thick rubber gloves and safety goggles.

She uses the mysterious power of SCIENCE for the good, which we should thank our lucky stars for because the power of SCIENCE is not to be taken lightly. Her only weakness is caffeine, but fear not! She is learning how to use the Ukeleles of Justice as well, and her razor-sharp wit keeps most caffeine tempters (the dastardly devils!) at bay when the need arises.

Raven Silvers (me!), Geek Girl Ordinaire

And then there’s me, Raven Silvers, general laggart and gaming geek girl. I can’t tell you much about me, since I lost most of my memory when my arch-enemy (the name of who I can’t remember) hit me in the head with a Heat-Seeking Playpen Ball of Forgetfulness.

Don’t despair! One day I will remember who my arch-enemy is, and why they robbed me of my identity, and I shall regain my full superpowers. Until then, I spend most of my time travelling; my favorite places include Toad Town, Hyrule, Italy, Goldenrod City and Ankh-Morpork.

Also, I like cats and Mudkips.

The Adventure Crew asked ourselves: We can has picnic? And we answered: Yes [...]]]>
Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

The Adventure Crew asked ourselves: We can has picnic? And we answered: Yes we can!

And so it was that we resolved to go to Marina Barrage to have a lovely little picnic. Except the weather was very wet. But because we’re the Adventure Crew, we decided to take a gamble with the weather anyway!

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming... (Photo courtesy SeriouslySarah.com)

And we won! It was probably the first day in the week that it hadn’t rained when we headed down to Marina Barrage :D

We would’ve walked to the Barrage in our joy, but there’s a lot of construction going on so there’s no way to actually walk from the Marina Bay mrt station to the Barrage. So we had to take a big loop around to find a very weirdly-placed bus-stop.

There are two buses; one is a shuttle, the other is a normal bus. I’m not sure which is which, but I think we took the normal bus there and the shuttle back.

At any rate, it’s about 15 minutes from station to Barrage. Once you walk into the Barrage itself, you get treated to some lovely views:

Inside the first floor of the Barrage, with the second level visible and Marina Bay Sands in the background

And because it was such a clear day, we could see quite far out. That was really rather nice (:

Some background on the Barrage: it was opened in 2008, and serves as the most glorified dam I’ve ever seen (not that that’s a bad thing). It’s a reservoir and a floodgate at the same time, as well as a sort of public park. Sort of.

We took advantage of the park-ness of it, and found a spot in the shade to unpacked our picnic stuff!

Drink, sushi, curry puffs, bagels, cookies, and potato salad

We ended up with a lot more food than we’d expected, heh! But s’okay. I had cornflakes in my potato salad, which I find incredibly weird, but it tasted good.

After we ate, we went up to the second level and attempted to fly our kites. My cheapo $3 plastic kite broke in about two minutes ): I fixed it, then it broke again, and I gave up on it.

Mintea’s kite kept breaking too, so after a while, we went downstairs to buy a kite for ourselves. I bought a proper cloth kite and string from the shop ($14). A bit expensive, but it’s a pretty sturdy kite.

They have lots of kites in varying sizes. I bought the smallest one, and it was pretty big!

Woohoo!

Because the Barrage isn’t surrounded by tall buildings, you get some amazing wind up there. But a note to all kiters: bring lots and lots of sunblock, a pair of shades, and a hat. I ended up horribly sunburnt on one arm ): Not enough to be all peely and icky, but enough to hurt.

The weather was a bit too good, and we didn’t stay up there for too long because it was just too hot. To cool down, we went into the gallery. It was quite dark inside, so I don’t have a lot of pictures.

Section talking about the Singapore River

The whole gallery is dedicated to Singapore’s attempts at building a sustainable urban country, so it’s all about the environment. Some of the exhibits were really very interesting, and they talked about things like the 80s cleanup of the Singapore River. (Before my time, but I’ve heard stories of how horrifyingly dirty it used to be.)

Inside the gallery

Entry to the gallery is free, and it’s a really interesting way to learn about the environment and the government’s efforts in maintaining it.

My favorite part was towards the end, where they have a fully working scale module of the Marina Barrage itself. There are demonstrations on how it works every half an hour or so I think, and we were just in time to catch it.

A bird's eye view of the complex (top), with the floodgates (bottom)

Basically, the Marina Barrage works as such:

1. The gates are closed by default, forming a reservoir on one side.
2. When it rains, water levels in the reservoir rise. If they keep rising, various areas will flood.
3. Once they reach a certain level, the floodgates open. Water rushes out into the sea, evening out the water level in the reservoir.
4. Various areas stay unflooded!

Excess water also gets pumped out through the pump side, but that’s in extreme cases.

It was really cool to watch, and it’s easy to understand. We all went “ooooh” when it started to ‘rain’, heh.

The gallery is very large, so do take your time to explore it!

And as we headed out, I had to take a photo with Water Wally, the PUB’s water mascot!

Water Wally! :D

The Royal Selangor showroom-shop at Clarke Quay hides a very cool secret: the [...]]]>
Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

The Royal Selangor showroom-shop at Clarke Quay hides a very cool secret: the School of Hard Knocks, a little pewter workshop that anyone can sign up for. They’re open for walk-ins, but it’s best if you call or email ahead if you have a big group just in case. It was the Adventure Crew with Arrch, who was going back to Australia that night!

It’s $30 per head, but I was awesome enough to find a little discount booklet for everyone so we all got $2 off. :D

Basically it’s a short workshop on how pewter is shaped. They give you a flat disc of pewter, and it’s your job to shape it into a little bowl using traditional techniques.

Tools of the trade: a mallet, a hammer, disc of pewter, and letter stencil things

You can’t see it in the picture, but there’s also a wooden block. It’s shaped in a bowl on each end so you have something to knock your disc into. There’s an instructor who’ll teach you how to do things, and help you out if you’re in a jam – which, typically of me, I ended up in. But more later!

So we had to tie on some really strangely-designed aprons, and then he taught us how knock the bowls using the right side of the mallet. There’s a rounded side and a flat side, and you’re supposed to use the rounded side.

But first! You can ‘write’ whatever you want in your bowl while it’s still flat. Most of us wrote our names and/or URLs. I included the date, because it’s fun that way!

The instructor walked us through it; first you shape it into a bowl, then you deepen the inside curve, and attempt to knock out all the uneven bumps. It’s harder than I can describe, mostly because I kept nearly knocking my fingers instead. X_x

Oh, and a sampling of how noisy it gets when you’re shaping the bowl:

SoHK

The workshop timing is anytime you want. Ideally, you should be done with all the hard knocking and shaping in 30 to 45 minutes. We did it for about 45 minutes and my hard was killing me after that, because you do need a considerable amount of fun.

The instructor will help you out if you're having trouble

I attempted to give my bowl a flat bottom so it wouldn’t roll around like crazy, but I got a bit overenthusiastic. Which meant I needed a lot of help because my plate was beginning to look more like an ashtray at one point. (Sarah called it “interesting”. Polite lies.) I am not very good with heavy equipment, no.

And once you’re done knocking the heck out of it, you have to wash it! This is to give it a nice shine, and you use your typical household rough scrubbing sponges. They leave nice lines on the pewter too, so if you keep doing it evenly, you get a nice shine with very pretty polish lines.

The finished product!

And then you’re done! As a gift besides your bowl, you get to keep the apron, and you get a nice little cert and complimentary Chinese-style coin. It’s a pretty nifty gift to remember the School of Hard Knocks by.

Royal Selangor gift bag

Since the workshop is at the shop, you can buy other professionally-made pewter items too. Like pewter fruit! Though I’m not sure why you would want one.

After that, a late Turkish lunch near Bugis:

I have no idea what it is, but I liked it

After lunch, Arrch went back to get his luggage to prepare for his flight. Meanwhile, we ran off to a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (H2G2) art show somewhere in the area!

And we got lost. As usual.

To be fair, it was impossible to find the space. We had to ask for directions, and turns out it’s super nondescript on the second floor. Kinda freaky though, because it felt so isolated.

Found it!

As the name suggests, it was all H2G2-themed. It was really quite interesting to see what they did with the space, which wasn’t very large.

Mock babelfish

How cheery!

Sad Marvin is sad. ):

And my favorite exhibit:

Wise words to live by

But for a better coverage of what it’s all about, check out the Toysrevil post on it! They were at the opening and everything.

As we were leaving, the people there were nice enough to give us a free issue of KULT magazine! It’s like an art-y type mag, and the issue was all about anti-Aids themes, so some of the art was really quite cool.

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

I like seafood. Or, rather, I like eating seafood. And, as they [...]]]>

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

I like seafood. Or, rather, I like eating seafood. And, as they say, the taste of victory is sweet – and what’s sweeter than really fresh prawns?

So it was on a drizzly Saturday afternoon that I met several members of the Adventure Crew — Mintea, Avariel and Sarah — to head to Bottle Tree Park for prawning!

Because, you see, when you go out and catch fish, it’s called fishing. When you go out to catch prawns, it’s called prawning. The logic, it hurts my brain!

We were heading to Bottle Tree Park, which is a rather large activity park of sorts. It’s at Yishun, but it’s only a 10-minute walk from Khatib mrt station.

The only experienced prawner among our little motley crew was Avariel, whose sister had taught her how to prawn. I believe she usually goes to Pasir Ris, so it was her first time there too.

It’s quite large; its front is dominated by the main fishing pond. You can also do the couple swan paddle-boat thing too! But it was rainy that day, plus the main fishing pond was closed for a corporate event.

Swan paddle boats (Photo courtesy SeriouslySarah.com)

The prawning ponds are easy to find if you keep left and head towards the Japanese restaurant. There are two prawning ponds: one is for normal prawning, and the other is for children. The children’s pond is for ‘longkang fishing’ (longkang = drain), where they use nets to catch small fish like guppies.

Main prawning pond

Prawning is $14.50/hour at the main pond, rod and bait included. You head to the counter and pay for your hour, collect your bait and rod, and then find a spot by the pond to settle down.

Amusing sign above the counter - if you read Chinese, you'll get it. Otherwise it's hard to explain

We’re not sure what the bait is, but we think it’s fish insides. They’re raw and kind of slimy though, which may be enough to put people off. But not the brave and somewhat ick-resistant (except for insects of the crawling, wriggly and flying persuasion) Adventure Crew!

So what you do is you take a piece of chopped bait and poke your prawning hook through it, pick a patch of water, and throw your hook in. There’s this floating thing that will, er, float. And then you settle down to wait.

And wait.

And wait.

This is why they charge you by the hour. Most of the prawning expedition was spent waiting for a prawn to take the bait.

When you feel a tug on your rod and your floater thing bobs up and down, that means a prawn has decided your bait looks yummy!

Then comes the tricky part. You’re supposed to kind of flick your rod upwards to get the hook into the prawn, but that doesn’t always work. And then you kind of wave your rod madly to get the end back to you (there is no winder, like in a fishing rod) while fighting the prawn.

And the prawn will fight. During our hour there, we saw some rather impressive rod-bending action. Mintea actually got one heck of a fighter, but it got away ):

Once you get the prawn up onto land, they have this very long blue-black pincer. It looks a bit like a black-blue twig, but I’m told that they can cause injury. So you have to remove the pincher by stepping on it and pulling the prawn away from said pincer. We had to get Avariel to do it, since she had boots on and was the only one who knew how to de-pincer the prawns.

First to catch a prawn was Sarah.

And then, very soon after that, Avariel caught a prawn.

Mintea caught the third. She nearly caught another one, but it got away; to be fair, it was a very large prawn with two pincers.

And I… didn’t catch any. ):

MEANWHILE, a group of Chinese tourists on the other side of the pond were catching prawns willy-nilly! They caught at least five or six while we were there. Clearly, prawns do not like me. ):

Prawns in the net

What do you do with the prawns you’ve caught? You cook them! (Evil laughter completely optional.)

So after our hour was up, we took our de-pincered prawns to the small grill they had there. The bait man — who kept talking to us in Chinese, despite our collective lack of understanding — helped us poke satay sticks into the prawns. And then onto the grill they went.

Half-cooked prawns on the grill

It’s a bit creepy to see your prawns twitching on the heat; they are, after all, still alive. All I can say is that they died before they were cooked through, which was a bit of a relief. I generally like my food to be unconscious when it’s being cooked, but I don’t think you can knock out prawns.

Here are our happy prawners!

I basically sulked at the side for my lack of prawns, but you can eat the prawns there and then. These are probably the freshest prawns any of us have eaten; the brains are a bright, yolk yellow, which I’ve never seen before. And I bet they (the prawns, not necessarily the brains) were sweet.

Prawn gills

After that we walked around the grounds for a bit, exploring some of the interesting items on the lawn – there is the eponymous bottle tree, as well as a fake giant ribcage.

Mucking about at the ribcage

The famed bottle tree

As mentioned before, Bottle Tree Park has got other activities too. They actually have a zipline and a paintball park.

The zipline was closed, and looked semi-abandoned, but I’m told it can’t compare to Megazip.

We headed to the paintball park next. Red Dynasty Paintball Park is a bit hard to find, but basically go back to the entrance and, instead of walking away from the small access road, follow the road all the way up the slight slope.

If you see this on the road, you're on the right track.

Red Dynasty Paintball Park

Red Dynasty Paintball Park has a few courses, including a shooting gallery. We didn’t have the minimum six people to have a match, so the shooting range it was! It’s $10 for 30 paintballs.

The staff there briefed us on the masks, how to use a paintball gun, and safety. The paintballs travel at something like 90 meters a second; while it won’t kill you, you can lose an eye. And then it’s fun and games without depth perception.

But seriously, it can be dangerous stuff. But listen to their warnings and don’t be an idiot, and you’ll be fine.

I wear glasses, but the Halo-esque paintball mask goes over the entire face and glasses. It isn’t too uncomfortable, even with glasses on, but it does fog up very quickly.

I was the second to put on the mask. By the time we were led into the shooting gallery some thirty seconds later, I couldn’t actually see anything but big colored shapes.

Which is a bit of a pity, because I was basically shooting blind.

See how fogged up the visors are? (Photo courtesy SeriouslySarah.com)

The paintball guns use canisters of compressed air so there wasn’t much recoil. The guns are a bit heavy, though you can adjust your stance to compensate.

It was over very quickly, alas. Within about ten minutes all of us had exhausted our ammo.

It’s fun though! Especially if you get the chance to shoot at other people, heh. As we left, we saw a group of guys duking it out at one of their courses. That particular course is big enough to move about with and take cover, but not big enough that you feel like a sniper waiting for your target to come into view.

Although, with the way the mask fogs up, you might never see your target.

At any rate, by then it was noon! So off to lunch we went. It’s a short bus ride to Yishun Interchange, where Northpoint mall is.

Because we lead such interesting lives, the minute we walked in we saw interesting stilt-walkers who looked right out of Carnevale. They waved hello, and we waved back – professional courtesy, as it were.

Stilt-walker

And then to lunch proper. I got my revenge for my lack of caught prawns by eating the famous, delicious, nom-worthy flaming prawns at Manhattan Fish Market. Bwahahaha.

So yes, it was a very seafoody day. Not that I’m complaining! I like seafood, I like prawns, and I really really like Manhattan Fish Market – and, most of all, I love hanging out with the Adventure Crew.

Om nom nom nom.

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

This is where I was today:

I was at the [...]]]>

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

This is where I was today:

I was at the National Museum of Singapore to go to the Quest for Immortality – The World of Ancient Egypt exhibition. Alone, le gasp! Because the Adventure Crew has to work or go to school, and I run on a different calendar than them.

Adult admission to Quest for Immortality is $15, but I got in free because I’m a student. The exhibition runs until April 4, so there isn’t much time left to see the artefacts! The 200+ pieces are from the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History) in Vienna.

Here’s a summary:

Quest for Immortality – The World of Ancient Egypt offers an insight to the ancient Egyptian’s attitude to life and the afterlife, and the preparations they made to ensure their transition from earthly existence to immortality. Discover the Egyptians’ means of equipping the dead – through mummification, provision of sustenance, magic and ritual – and explore the evolution of their burial rites as well as the changing relationship between man and ritual through time.

The exhibition isn’t so much about mummies than I’d expected; it’s more about the symbolism and meaning that the Ancient Egyptians attached to the items they used in their elaborate and extensive burial rituals. It’s quite refreshing to see the various artefacts put into their cultural context, rather than just being interesting objects on display.

Basically, the Ancient Egyptians believed that dying was just transiting to another state of being; the afterlife was just another form of existence, very similar to the flesh and blood state of living.

They mummified the bodies because the ba, which is the non-corporeal state of being (not the soul – that’s the ka) would perish without having a physical body to return to.

But yes. Pictures! Plus a sorta-kinda-not really walkthrough.

Statue of a Pharaoh, with the royal snake symbol and nose missing

A lion eating a bull or a bear

This elephant statue is only one of three known large Egyptian elephant statues. The other two are in Rome and in Aswan, Egypt.

Elephant statue

This is the very large head of a ruler from the Ptolemaic Period, name unknown. It’s really big, and they think the full statue was about four metres high. The eyes were probably some other colored material.

Head of Ptolemaic ruler

This one is interesting. It’s King Horemheb sitting with Osiris, god of the sky or sun; Horemheb was believed to be the earthly incarnation of Osiris.

Statue of King Horemheb and Osiris

This is a… I can’t actually remember the word, but pieces of clay or pottery were used as sketchpads.

'Sketchpad'

Jewelry was very important religious items, even for the poor. Specific materials, designs and colors had different magical properties, or were associated with various deities.

This piece has 24 different amulets made from precious stones and hammered sheets of gold. The beads themselves are precious stones, gold, silver and glass.

Innit pretty?

There was also a section about pyramids, but I guess those have been talked about to death (no pun intended) so not too much information there.

Cross-section of a pyramid

Statues also served as a kind of proxy body for the buried, and were usually placed in the tombs or offering chapels. They weren’t always faithful representations of the owners; their names on the statues were considered enough for the souls to identify their own.

Incomplete statue of scribe called Henka with a papyrus scroll on his lap and holding a reed pen in his right hand

Crooked statue of a man called Hetep-seshat and a woman, name unknown

Funeral cones were also used to identify tombs. They were shaped as cones so that they could be pushed into the plaster above a tomb’s doorway. The flat round part would be visible. They seemed to be more of a regional thing, mostly found around Thebes.

Funerary cones

I overheard a tour guide saying that at least one of the cones belonged to a Pharaoh because of the words that were inscribed into the cone.

Another form of grave markers were called stele (plural form stelae). They had the names and paintings/cravings of the owner, plus inscriptions of prayers to various gods. Our concept of tombstones evolved from stelae, which is why they seem so familiar.

Stele of a police captain named Teri. Topmost: symbols of protection. Top: Teri brings a sacrifice to Osiris. Bottom: a couple sits behind a sacrificial table with offerings.

You can still see some of the paint on the stele – which, to be honest, kind of freaks me out. Because you realise that you’re looking at someone’s gravestone, that several thousand years ago this person really lived.

Moving on.

Tomb chapels were the accessible parts of the tombs, usually for families to conduct prayer rituals and place offerings. Offerings of food and drink were really important for the deceased; they had lists to make sure that the deceased were properly provided for in the afterlife.

Offering list of wine, bread, fruit, and grains from a tomb of a person called Bak-en-renef

The chapels also featured false doors, which didn’t actually open. These were meant for the spirit of the deceased to pass through, either to collect offerings or return to the burial chamber.

False door

Tomb chapel relief

The final part of the exhibition are the coffins. Most are empty, though at least one contains human remains. There are two empty coffins at the start of that section. The neat thing is that you can look down at them to see them from the top, and you can descend a small ramp to look at their sides.

Coffins were the most important part of the entire burial, since it housed the body of the deceased – it gave the deceased some magical assistance in the afterlife.

Early coffins were rectangular and imitated the grand exterior of the Pharaoh’s palace, since the coffin was considered a house for the dead. Later on, they would evolve into the more familiar mummy-shaped type, and were made from wood, stone, cartonnage (layered linen stiffened with plaster) and sometimes even precious metals.

This exterior coffin was, I believe, made out of wood.

Lower half exterior

Lower half interior

Coffin lid exterior

Coffin lid detail

Another coffin:

Interior detail of coffin

There was at least one mummy with actual human remains, though you couldn’t see said remains.

Mummy of Nekhet-iset-aru, covered in fine linen cloth and bandages (the sort of crinkly things at the head)

Organs were placed in jars bearing the heads of the gods

As the mummies were being mummified, they were identified with pieces of wood with their names and the names of the families.

This particular label dates from 30 BCE to 395 CE and is written in Greek – the same practice that helped decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone.

Mummy identification tags were the equivalent of modern toe tags

We’re coming to the two most interesting pieces – for me, at any rate!

This piece is a fragment of a painted mummy bandage, which shows scenes from the Book of the Dead – the Egyptian funerary text, which was placed in coffins or burial chambers.

Painted bandage fragment

Detail of bandage fragment

And, my personal highlight of the exhibition: the Book of the Dead.

The Book of the Dead contained hymns, prayers, and instructions that would help the deceased properly enter the afterlife. It was incredibly important, and the exhibition has lots of translated quotes from the Book.

There was a very long papyrus containing excepts from the Book of the Dead in the exhibition. It was easily eight feet long, and contained a number of large drawings accompanied by a lot of text.

Unfortunately I couldn’t really get a good look at it, because there were three(!) school excursions there. But here are some shots of a scroll that belonged to Pay-nefer-nefer:

Excerpts from the Book of the Dead

Detail, Book of the Dead

Isn’t that incredibly cool? Not to mention the huge significance of the Book in the culture and religion of the time.

So, in all? The exhibition is amazing, but only if you’re interested in the socio-cultural contexts of Egyptian burial items. If you’re there to see mummified human remains, you’ll be sorely disappointed; but go in with a relatively open mind, and you will learn a lot of things.

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

It probably comes as no surprise that my friends and I love places [...]]]>

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

It probably comes as no surprise that my friends and I love places like Books Actually, because it’s a place that’s just so special. You can feel it in the walls, the people and the products, and it makes you feel glad that there are places like this in Singapore.

I am glad to say that Books Actually is not alone in its independence.

Post-Museum is a little slice of heaven located in 107 and 109 Rowell Road; it’s a small 1920s shophouse near Farrer Road MRT station. It has four studios, an event space for rent, and a vegan-friendly cafe called Food #03.

Our friend Rozen had stumbled upon it a few weeks before. She was thinking of renting a studio there for her own mini-office and possibly sharing the space with the HSWG, which of course was a exciting prospect for us. We were sent to recon the place, and also to try vegan food.

So it was on the last Sunday of January that Sarah, Mintea and Avariel headed down to see what Rozen had been raving about.

She was right.

Post-Museum is located at the very end of Rowell Road, so once you find Rowell Road just stay on the left and walk alllll the way down. You will pass interesting shops selling interesting goods and, er, services, but just keep going.

It just so happened that we were there on the same day as the Really Really Free Market. The RRFM is literally that; you can bring your stuff there to give away for free. If you don’t have stuff, services are also offered; I saw someone doing tarot readings and another who would teach you how to play reversi.

Really Really Free Market

I picked up a bottle of fairtrade instant coffee and several packs of red packets, seeing as the Chinese New Year was rapidly approaching. They had a donation box there, with proceeds going to help keep Post-Museum going.

After that, we headed over to the adjoining cafe Food #03 for a spot of brunch to try their food. They serve fairtrade coffee, tea and cocoa, as well as vegan-friendly food. It’s vegetarian by default, but you can ask for it to be vegan and without onion and garlic, so it’s good for folks with a variety of dietary restrictions.

Hand-stitched menus

Let me describe the inside of Food #03 for a bit. When we entered from the front, to the left were a few shelves with some merchandise. Proceeds from the sales go to supporting Post-Museum. There are t-shirts, tote bags, olive oil, even cute little badges that you can get. A bit further down is the counter, where there is a big red bottle for donations.

The walls are not fully finished; the lower half of the walls of the left wall is tiled over. The rest is just exposed brick and mortar, possibly dating from the original construction. The floors are bare concrete, the tables and chairs simple wood constructions. There is just enough space to seat twenty.

There is the quiet buzz of happy conversation. It’s warm, but not too warm; the three fans spin lazily overhead, providing just enough ventilation to keep things cool. There is an airconditioning unit in the corner, but they only switch it on when it’s very hot.

Close your eyes, lean back in your chair with a cold drink in your hand, and just relax. You feel like you’ve left the urban concerete jungle and you’re someplace else – somewhere special, where things are different. Slower. More special.

There's something magical in the air.

It's like you're elsewhere.

It was quite crowded because of the RRFM, but we were able to get a table. We ordered drinks, starting with their signature drink: the Post-Museum pour. It’s a mix of apple juice, mint and spiced tea served with a longan. It was a little too strange for me, but the others liked it.

Second round of drinks involved Bundaberg Lemon Lime & Bitters, which I love and was really happy to see on the menu. We ordered a vegan pizza with grilled mixed vegetables with tofu instead of cheese.

Lemon Lime & Bitters ($3.50) and Post-Museum Pour ($2)

I was a bit apprehensive about the pizza because I’d never tried vegan food before. It’s something you can’t get anywhere else, so we gave it a shot. I needn’t have worried, because it came out quite tasty.

Vegan pizza: mixed grilled vegetables with tofu instead of cheese

It tasted non-awful, and I quite liked it. The tofu did not taste weird when baked! Which is good to know.

All in all, Post-Museum is an amazing place. We didn’t get to see the rest of it because they were busy, but before we left I made sure to donate. They’re a very special place that needs a bit of help to keep going, and I’m more than glad to help out as much as I can.

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

Saturdays are usually my days to recover from the previous school week, which [...]]]>

Tally-Ho is a semi-regular column of my adventures with the Adventure Crew (and sometimes other people). We figured that Singapore can’t be all that boring, and are determined to show other folks how fun Singapore can be… if you know where to look.

Saturdays are usually my days to recover from the previous school week, which means sleeping in.

But not two Saturdays ago. Instead of experiencing the simple joy of unconsciousness, I found myself climbing a mountain hill and attempting to save a prince(ss) from the dragon keep up with everyone else.

Along for the hike up Bukit Timah Hill were most of the Adventure Crew: Joelyn Alexandra, Avariel and Seriously Sarah. Mintea joined us later, for Part 2 of the adventure.

Joelyn, Avariel, Sarah

So it was early on a Saturday morning that I found myself climbing up Bukit Timah Hill, learning about local flora and fuana, running away from butterflies, and pretending that I was an explorer in a never-before-discovered jungle.

We’d signed up for A Walk In An Ancient Forest, which is held every third Saturday of the month at the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

We had a volunteer guide, a nice lady called Anne, who took us along the green trail, which I believe is called the South View trail for a bit.

Volunteer guide Anne

We set off from the Visitor’s Centre and almost straightaway there were interesting plants to show us.

This is the betel nut, which is usually wrapped in betel leaves and assorted spices and chewed. It’s supposed to be a mild stimulant, so truckers in Asia chew it when they’re driving long routes.

Betel nut, still in its husk

And then we started climbing up the hill, stopping along the way to see various plants and animals – like big termite nests, which look like orange-brown basketballs.

I found out that the taller trees in the reserve actually have lightning rods attached to the back, because they don’t want the trees to be struck down by lightning. Considering that the hill is the highest natural structure in the island, and perhaps one of the few remaining patches of primary forest, I totally get it.

We saw a monitor lizard lying in the sun near the tree with the lightning rod, but it ran away as soon as we approached so I only saw its tail disappearing behind a tree.

Up we go! Picture by Sarah.

Anne told us that we might see pitcher plants, but probably not because this part of the reserve has quite a lot of topsoil and dead leaves on the ground, which means that the soil is relatively nutritious. Pitcher plants only grow where there isn’t enough nutrients in the soil, so the trees get what they need from unfortunate insects.

We came across this, which is wild pandan:

Wild pandan

Wild pandan is different from the pandan leaves that we use to cook! For one, there’s no smell. I don’t think it’s used for cooking at all, though it’s used to weave mats and stuff.

Another interesting factoid: if you can hear the cicadas (like crickets, but not) chirping away, the weather is gonna be fine. But if they suddenly stop or are very soft, then get your behind to shelter as soon as you can because it’s going to rain. You do not want to be in a rainforest when it rains. Cicadas can sense barometric pressure, which means they know when it’s going to rain. Neat, innit?

The green path is actually quite walkable and is supposed to be the easiest of the four trails, although I did have some trouble in certain spots. There are these concrete blocks set into the ground to help deal with compaction and erosion, and the older ones make for very high steps. And — I make no secret of this — I am short and fat, so there were areas where it was actually kinda difficult to climb. But I made it (:

The tour was a very interesting hour, but eventually Anne had to say goodbye. She left us at the halfway point of the hill where all the trails converge to head to the summit. We decided to head up to the summit since, heck, we were halfway there already.

We climbed. And climbed. And climbed.

And, because I was feeling rather sticky and somewhat isolated from the rest of the modern world, I made pretend in my head that I was an adventurer exploring the hidden depths of an unexplored island and that I was doing a Great Service to Mankind. I was at the back of the group not because I was slow and out of shape, but because I was looking out for man-eating tigers!

…

Hey, it got me up the hill. I’m not complaining.

296º Northwest, old boys!

Okay, so the iPhone compass somewhat spoiled the effect. BUT YOU GET WHAT I MEAN.

Incidentally, I was surprised my phone was working. There are two signal towers at the summit of the hill, and the last time I was there I had no reception as we approached the top. But this time I had no problems until we actually reached the top, so I suppose we won’t all die from radiation poisoning. Which is good, but it also means we probably won’t wake up with superpowers ):

We came to a really steep-looking path called the Summit Path, which was a shortcut but looked frighteningly steep. So we took the long way around, which is a slope. We saw lots of people coming down, so we figured it would be easier if slower. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the top that way.

It’s a winding slope and all flat ground, so it was easier.

That being said, I have never been so happy to see a big rock before.

I love you, rock.

We rested for a while, enjoying the view of the cell towers:

One of two phone/radio/signal towers

They’re in use, by the way. I had some trouble getting reception from the top.

And then after a bit, we headed down, this time using the shortcut that we’d avoided before.

Now we know why everyone was using the long winding way instead of the shortcut! It was a shortcut, but it was ridiculously steep and treacherous. I couldn’t pretend to be a Brave Forest Explorer because I was too busy trying not to slip on rocks and roll down X_x

I'm at the back. Notice a pattern here?

And then! While we were on the treacherous path, we nearly stepped on a monitor lizard. That caused a small amount of panic. We were sure to panic very carefully because there are so many other ways to die on the way down.

I could feel every rock jabbing at my feet through my Doc Martens, because the hill is made from granite they were strewn all over the path down. Eventually we made it to flat ground, which is just as well because very shortly after I had my very first leg cramp.

We headed back down to the visitor’s centre, which is at the foot of the hill. Along the way we did the butterfly dance (mostly me trying to avoid and run away from butterflies, with a panicky expression), the bee dance (like the butterfly dance, but with more panic) and the “don’t stand there, there’s a big spider!” dance which involves me half-hopping, half-limping away from a big spider in a rotting log.

And after lunch at nearby Al-Ameen, off we went to the second jungle: the urban jungle! We met up with Mintea along the way.

We made our way to the Singapore Art Museum, which has a really awesome exhibit right outside:

Flirting Point by Vertical Submarine

About Flirting Point

So amusing. I’d seen Vertical Submarine’s work before, which was really cool and interesting. They share my sense of humor, which is great because quite a lot of the time I find art installations too abstract and serious to appreciate. They don’t have a website of their own though, so I can’t point you towards their awesome.

And then we headed to the National Library at Victoria Street to do a little research on a semi-secret project. They were having a sort of humanitarian and environmental fair, and we each got to ride on Segways! I suck. But it was fun! No photos, though.

When we came out of the library again we had drinks, and we spotted this very cool can recycling machine. So since we had cans, Sarah and I figured we’d give it a try…

The machine noms the can

It’s a really neat machine that eats cans and bottles up and crushes and stores them until a recycling company comes along to collect the scrap. There’s another model that doesn’t crush the cans, just stores them as they are.

Interior of the machine

For every can you put in, the machine prints out a coupon for you to redeem something. This machine is sponsored by Coca-Cola, so we got a voucher for a can of Coke.

I can has a Coke

The company that brings the machines in is looking to put these in assorted office buildings and schools to encourage recycling. The great thing is that the machines are quite compact; the big one is slightly larger than a vending machine, so it’s entirely possible you might be seeing these near normal vending machines.

In case you’re curious, I recycled the Coke can after I was done with it.

So I felt good. I’d spend the day in a forest, learning about the local natural heritage; and I ended the day with recycling to help reduce waste.

Good karma makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (: