Hi,

I will have about a 6 hour layover on my way to India on 24th July (a saturday), and wanted to take a bus/cab out of the airport and do some photography. I noted the responses to the nature sites for the question below. What are some other interesting destinations, especially where you can see colorful shops/characters/old houses/alleyways etc. I know Serangoon road has a lot of Indian shops and restaurants. Are there other roads to keep in mind, and what ere similar streets for viewing/photographing Chinese and Malay street life.

Thanks,

Praveen Murthy

-- Praveen Murthy (murthy@eecs.berkeley.edu), July 02, 1999

Answers

For 6 hours,I doubt u can do much.
Nevertheless, I think there's a free tour to the Singapore River for transit passangers. The tour has good photography opportunities of the river and buildings.

-- Wee Keng Hor (weekh@singnet.com.sg), July 02, 1999.

Very nice picture Keng Hor, I like it.

Praveen, stay a little longer like 3 to 4 days, you might get what you like.

Happy shooting.

-- Paul Chuah (the_photo_workshop@Yahoo.com), July 03, 1999.

Well, the helpful advice notwithstanding, I did my 6-hour singapore tour on 24th anyway, since the alternative was to sit in Changi and stare at $500 whiskey bottles. I took bus #36 to Dhobi Ghaut and walked to little India, hoping to do some shooting and then taking a subway to the Japanese/Chinese gardens.

Little India was quite interesting. I managed to get 2-3 semi-interesting shots in my meandering there. One was of a guy lazily delivering banana leaves to a semi-posh looking restaurant. The guy was very cooperative and I had him walk towards me and flash a grin with his load of leaves with the hotel in the background.

After this scene, I came across another interesting one, when a flower vendor on Serangoon road delicately opened up a garbage can. While I composed my shot of his colorful flower stall, he proceeded to look left and right before unleashing either a stream of spit or a stream of snot into the afore-mentioned can. I clicked, and hope that the shot includes this stream...

Then it was to another alley, where a highly incongruous sight presented intself. Parked in front of a rather dilapidated building were a late-model Mercedes and a BMW. While this was interesting in and of itself, a Chinese woman, whose parents had cruelly neglected to get her some braces while she had been younger, ambled out with a cardboard box and non-chalantly threw it out on to the sidewalk, where it settled with a loud clanging noise. Had I been Raghubir Singh, the great Indian street photographer, I would have clicked at the instant the box left her hands, with a cleverly chosen shutter speed that would have blurred the hands and the box just enough to suggest its flight, and I would have had a picture with a real sense of dynamism. But alas, it wasn't to be. I hesitated, and missed my chance, and had to be satisfied with a comparitively static shot of the Merc and Bimmer against the dilapidated building. Aah, I still rue that missed chance!

After having some ghee-fried dosa, I walked back to Bras Basah road, and went into a cafe where I was robbed of $4.50 for an ordinary cup of coffee. I made a half-hearted attempt to walk to chinatown but cut short my visit due to lack of time and caught bus 36 again, perspiring heavily and giving off enough BO to make a Frenchman cringe. Luckily (or unluckily), it was apparently durian season, and after a couple of stops, the bus door opened, and copious amounts of the vile fruits odor entered the bus and stayed there till the end. My BO, powerful as it was, didn't stand a chance against the durian's reek, and so malodorous was the smell that I was soon longing for the sweet smell of my sweaty armpits again. Note to self: next time, wear a t-shirt, carry a deodarant, and avoid durian season.

On my next layover in S'pore, I will try those gardens I think.

Praveen

-- Praveen Murthy (murthy@eecs.berkeley.edu), August 04, 1999.

That was an entertaining travel story, Praveen. Do you have more posted somewhere for your travels to India and other places?

-- Fred Sun (redsky@singnet.com.sg), August 14, 1999.

Thanks. I don't have too many stories written down on the web; my home page does have a travelogue of my visa experience in Madras that might be interesting. These are the links to my home page and my photography pages: Praveen Murthy's Photos

Praveen Murthy's home page

Praveen

-- Praveen Murthy (murthy@eecs.berkeley.edu), August 14, 1999.