Went for a walk down by the Singapore River today. It was a overcast yet humid.
 
I eventually walked down to Pagoda Street to have some lunch. The gopuram on the Sri Mariamman temple is being renovated.
 
The Singapore River appeared quite brown today. Made for some contrast in the photographs. More to come.

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During 2001 Shao Ping and I lived in Choa Chu Kang in Singapore. It is a ‘new town’ located in the north-west of the island. We lived in an 11 storey Housing Development Board building on Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4. As you can see from the Google Maps image below the town is a maze, albeit highly organised at that, of high rise buildings.

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We quite enjoyed our time in Choa Chu Kang. The bus service was excellent. The MRT was nearby and there were plenty of handy shops. In the midst of this highly urbanised environment were two nearby Buddhist temples. Within a couple of minutes of our flat is the Hai Inn Temple. About 15 minutes in the other direction is the Uttamayanmuni Buddhist Temple. From time to to time we would visit either temple. The temples provided a moment of tranquility.

The Hai Inn Temple, Singapore. Gallery.

The Hai Inn Temple is positioned to the south of Choa Chu Kang in Bricklands Road. Here are the directions to the temple. It is quite a beautiful temple, like all Buddhist temples come to think of it. The temple has its own web site which you can explore here.

The Uttamayanmuni Buddhist Temple, Singapore. Gallery.

The Uttamayanmuni Buddhist Temple is an interesting temple that follows the Theravada tradition. It has a statue of the four faced Buddha. The decorations on the temple are quite exquisite. The temple is almost completely surrounded by the HDB Blocks of Choa Chu Kang. There is a private condominium located on one side.

I sometimes take the MRT to Choa Chu Kang and go for a walk around the town to capture some of that time duirng my visits to Singapore.

Mudskipper. July 2008.

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is celebrating its 15th anniversary. My friend Siva has blogged about the forthcoming event as well as a related photography exhibition and book launch.

Sungei Buloh is a great place to visit in order to escape from the hectic life of the city of Singapore. You were never sure what you may see when you visited. Over the years I have seen otters, Malayan Water Monitors, mudskippers, tree-climbing crabs, macaques, snakes, spiders and so on. Of course there is a rich variety of mangrove species as well.

Well, to share in the celebration I thought I would share some of the photographs I have taken at the reserve over the years…

Rain storm. January 3rd, 2003.

View from the tower

A view of the mangroves. April 12th, 2003.

Mangrove Pit Viper. 26th October 2003.

During my stay in Singapore I also helped out with the International Coastal Cleanup event at Sungei Buloh. I took photographs of the event and captured video. Galleries of those photographs can be found at the official site for the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. Gallery 2001. Gallery 2003.

Happy Anniversary Sungei Buloh!

This morning I posted about Google Maps and some of the interesting discoveries made by users of the tool in the past. I just made one of my own. I was exploring the town of Pasir Ris in Singapore and discovered a strange white blotch near the intersection of Pasir Ris Drive 1 and Pasir Ris Drive 4.

View Larger Mape

What is this?

What can it be? A massive liquid paper spill? A horrendous bird dropping?

Singapore, 2003.

Well, the week is over. It was hectic. No time for reading feeds. Just a couple of blog posts. Did engage in some Twitter repartee. That was good. For all of you that responded to various tweets and shouts during the last few days… thank you. This was my week…

Monday AM: Interview and video recording
Monday PM: 2 hour presentation ~ The Read~Write Web in the Classroom
Tuesday: Workshop ~ Getting started with the Read~Write Web (8 hours)
Wednesday: Workshop ~ Nurturing your Networks (8 hours)
Wednesday: Presentation @ eFest2008 ~ LMS and Web 2.0 Technologies (Evening)
Thursday: Workshop ~ Getting more out of your RSS feeds (8 hours)
Thursday: Evening: ME@N Meetup ~ Macintosh Evangelists at Nanyang
Friday: Workshop: Podcasting and Vodcasting (8 hours)
Friday: Evening: Fly home to Australia from Singapore Changi International Airport

It was hard going at times, yet, I kept finding a second wind. I felt I would hit the wall and then my energy levels would be restored. Teaching teachers is energising and enriching.

Last night, after the workshop had completed, I took a bus and train from the NTU campus into the city. As I walked from City Hall MRT across to Singapore’s Suntec City to meet up with my buddies in ME@N I felt mindful. You know, those rare moments when you are completely at peace with the world. The word nirvana crossed my mind. I was wearing my iPod and I was listening to Jeff Martin’s cover of a song by Daniel Lanois, I Love You. It is a live version that segues into The Messenger. The moment was so complete. I felt happy.

Today’s podcasting and vodcasting workshop was good. Everything worked. Podcasting can be an inexact science at times due to the vagaries of servers and networks. All the teachers and academic staff managed to:

1. Create their audio and video projects
2. Publish/upload their files
3. Subscribe to the ‘casts in iTunes and Google Reader for good measure

The timing was good. I had time for lunch and some administrative activities.

This evening a group of former colleagues at the CED and I shall be sharing dinner at the airport. They are all wonderful people. I feel as if I have been adopted by the team. A member of their family.

Wish you were here too.