The Accidental Tourists visit Arab Street

Arab Street, the place where the first Malay community in Singapore settled before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.

The place where we wandered on a weekday morning to encourage the little ones to take in the colorful sights and the bustling sounds of Singapore’s Malay culture.

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The first landmark in Arab Street that the children had to spot was Sultan Mosque. The mosque was built in the 1820s and is considered the national mosque of Singapore. It is named after Sultan Hussein, a man who was known as Sultan of Singapore by Sir Raffles.

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Here, the children ventured through the shops lined with textiles; lace, chiffon, silk, georgette, batik.

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And found that Arab Street is arrayed with shops stocked with floor mats, prayer mats, cane and rattan ware from chairs to serving trays.

T, J and K paid close attention to the details that they spotted while walking down Arab Street. Part of the fun of the walkabout was to complete a scavenger hunt that Pauline and I developed for this visit.

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To complete the scavenger hunt, the children had to ask the shop-keepers questions…

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Try on the Malay headwear for men, the Songkok.

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Play the traditional game of Goli Panjang (Marbles),

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and paid a visit to the Malay Heritage Centre at the end of Arab Street.

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Take a trip down this ethnic Malay street with your kids, to immerse in the Malay culture and heritage unique to Singapore. Perhaps this is one of the best way for children to learn that there are more to Singapore’s culture than our hawker centers, food courts, air-conditioned malls and manicured gardens.

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Coming up soon on the blog, a walk down another ethnic street in Singapore.

 

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A little spot of Haven in Upper Bukit Timah

When I first saw the theme that Sarah created for the latest series of blog hops. I thought that it will be really interesting to read about wat the other SMBs have to say about their spots in Singapore. It took me a while to convince myself that I could write anything mildly interesting about the area I live.

The thing is where I live isn’t just ordinary. It’s just well…boring and familiar. Maybe it’s the familiarity that makes my eyes gloss over the surface of things, thinking that I have seen these things before. 

Getting into the swing of this exercise, I realized that walking around the neighborhood helped me to dig deeper into things, challenge myself to re-discover my surroundings.

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So what I really love about this area where I live? Let me list the things…

Sights

I love having nature at my doorstep and squirrels, iguanas, strange looking birds and monkeys for neighbors. Just a stone’s throw away from my home is Dairy Farm Nature Park, Bukit Batok Nature Park, Hinhede Park and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve.

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The Bukit Timah Nature Reserve retains the only substantial area of rainforest left in Singapore and has the most diverse ecological system in the world. It is a botanical collecting ground for more than a century. An eminent conservationists has even pointed out before, that the number of tree species growing in a mere hectare of the Reserve is more than the total number of tree species in all of North America!

There are so much to see and explore in these nature parks. All you need are a set of eyes that see and not just look, and God’s wonderful creations will not cease to amaze you with their intricate little details.

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Eats

I love that there are no lack of eateries to choose from. Like many residential areas in Singapore, there are many places in the vicinity where you can find local food any time of the day.

There’s Rail Mall, where there are two 24 hour cafes serving local fare, pubs serving bar food, and a supermarket, sandwich cafe, Thai fusion food, as well as a Italian restaurant.

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And Cheong Chin Nam Road opposite Beauty World Centre,

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Where you can find Chicken Rice, Korean Food, Chinese ‘Zi Char’ or simple Malay fare at a 24 Hour Prata shop which has a really extensive menu of Malay food. My favorites at the Malay Prata shop include, the height-defying ‘Prata Tissue’ and mouth watering ‘Ayam Pemyat’.

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History

– Memories at the Old Ford Factory

I love that despite all the new developments in the area, there are still that little bit of history and nostalgia retained here.

Nestled along the junction right before Hume Avenue, is a building whose history dates back to 1941. The Ford Factory’s origins started as the first vehicle assembly plant for Ford in Southeast Asia, and more notably was used as the venue for the formal surrender of Malaya by the British to the Japanese.

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The Ford Factory was rebuilt in 2004-05, and it serves as an permanent exhibition gallery of the memories and reflection of the hardships faced by the SIngaporeans who lived through the darkest years of Singapore history during the Japanese occupation.

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Right behind the Old Ford Factory building is a quiet garden known as Syonan Garden. Where you will find an assortment of “food crops” like Tapioca, sweet potato, yam, banana, coconut, pineapple and rice, crops which were grown during the Japanese Occupation.

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Nostalgia

– The Old Railway

We used to take short hikes into Dairy Farm Nature Park, wandered off the beaten track to a little bridge where we will be able to see the KTM train passed below the bridge. I can still recall the sight of the train and sound of the train driver blasting the horn, each time he caught a glimpse of people on the bridge looking down to the passing train below.

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The old Railway ceased operations in July 2011 and only 400m of the railway tracks were retained. This is part of the Upper Bukit Timah track, next to the classic cast iron bridge on the far right of Rail Mall.

Looking to the southbound side of the tracks, all that is left of the track is a long gravel track stretching for miles ahead.

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– Beauty World Centre

Way back in the 60s, Beauty World Park was a popular shopping destination in Singapore, where there were over a hundred stalls that sold fresh produce, household items, textiles and stationery. The park experienced many incidences of fire during that time and thus most of the stall-holders were relocated to the Beauty World Centre. The former Beauty World Park site is now an open field and car park.

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There is an open air food centre on the 4th floor of Beauty World Centre where you can find yummy Satay Bee Hoon, Mutton Soup, Thai Food, Handmade noodles and Xiao Long Pau.

I can’t help but ending off this post with food again, I guess the way to most Singaporeans’ hearts have to be most definitely through their stomachs :)

So u know who to find next time if you do come around Upper Bukit Timah after your nature or nostalgia walk and need a lunch/dinner partner, I will be more than happy to join you for a good meal!

 

This post is part of the series of posts hosted by Sarah of The Playful Parents. Do check out the rest of the blog posts in this series to uncover all the little gems found in various neighborhoods of Singapore.

Loving My Spot SG edition

 

The next stop on our ‘Loving My Spot’ blog train will be Regina of MummyMoo.

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Regina documents her little family as they grow as one, charting everyday mundane events to milestones that will chart the shape of their future. She is enjoying being a wife and mother, two personae that she has never thought of becoming – in the past. She takes pride in being a working class stiff trying to be a first class Mum!

Regina shares her thoughts about parenting and personal experiences as : MummyMoo

 

 

 

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Discovering Pop Art – Warhol style

“Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.” Andy Warhol

I hope this post doesn’t get me infamous for 15 minutes, especially since I flouted the no photo rule (I did not use flash!), and sneakily took a couple of photos of the exhibits (like two?), just to get this written for my blog.

I have always been quite rebellious as a child, so ‘no photos’ rule, and being told off by a nosy woman with her remark, “You are not suppose to take photos,” (like who is she, my parent?), obviously did not stop me. So just let’s keep this between us ok ;)?

I find it puzzling though; Why no photographs? This can be easily prevented by the “no flash/ no tripod policy,” or maybe it is a question of the loans on display. The museum is able to show the exhibits to the public but not have the public photographed them. Maybe they are afraid that the photo reproductions will be duplicated to wall-sized and framed then sold?

But looking at the photo angles that I have taken of the exhibits, I doubt anyone would even consider buying them from me.

Enough said, now’s here a quick run through of Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes Eternal exhibition:

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“An artist is someone who produces things that people don’t need to have.” – Andy Warhol

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Right before the we viewed the exhibits, we watched a snippet of an interview with Andy Warhol, which went like this:

“Interviewer: “Andy do you feel that the public has insulted your art?”
Andy Warhol: “Uh no.”
I: “Why not?”
AW: “Uh well I hadn’t thought about it.”
I: “It doesn’t bother you at all then?”
AW: “Uh no.”
I: “Well do you think that they have shown a lack of appreciation for what pop art means?”
AW: “Uh no.”
I: “Andy do you think that pop art has sort of reached the point where it’s becoming repetitious now?”
AW: “Uh yes.”
I: “Do you think it should break away from being pop art?”
AW: “Uh no.”
I: “Are you just going to carry on?”
AW: “Uh yes.” ― Andy Warhol

 

A visit to an Andy Warhol exhibition will not be complete without a photo of the famous Campbell Soup series. These were Warhol’s pop paintings created in the 60s that caused a sensation in the art world at that time.

“I like boring things,” – Andy Warhol

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“I’ve decided something: Commercial things really do stink. As soon as it becomes commercial for a mass market it really stinks.” – Andy Warhol

IMG 7120Warhol’s Cow Wallpaper 1966, flanking the Heinz boxes.

The Cow wallpaper was Andy Warhol’s initial formal effort for making wallpaper part of his creative territory. His seemingly mundane work isn’t meaningless, as the Cow Wallpaper was meant to be more of a comic statement of parisian wallpaper art at that point, rather than a mechanical repetition.

Warhol’s first exhibition of sculptures held in 1964, included hundreds of replicas of large supermarket boxes, including Heinz Boxes.

The exhibition also featured Warhol’s work from the 70s, which consisted of commissions for painted portraits from wealthy socialites, musicians and film stars, as well as various paintings and photos from the 80s.

We ended off the exhibition with a hands-on ‘art’ activity provided by the Art Science Museum.

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It wasn’t quite Warhol’s style of art, but we appreciated the little activity nonetheless for K which kept him busy for a while.

“Art is what you can get away with.” – Andy Warhol

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The activity was made a little more fascinating when K gave the museum assistants his completed creation. They popped it in the toaster for less than a minute and the ‘plastic-like piece’ where K drew on shrank into 1/6 of its size.

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We then donned the signature silver colored wig and black rimmed glasses and gave our best interpretation of Andy Warhol.

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In the spirit of Warhol’s pop art style. I attempted my photoshop version of a pop art portrait of the little guy. If you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, check out this tutorial. Really, it is not as hard as it looks.

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If you are planning to extend this visit with a hands-on art lesson for your preschooler, here are some ideas you can explore with your child;

Art Smarts for Kids

Let’s Heart Art

 

Here are some recommended books that you can read with your child about Andy Warhol’s art

Andy Warhol (getting to know the world’s greatest artist)

Uncle Andy’s (written by Andy Warhol’s nephew)

– For the really little ones Andy Warhol’s Colours

 

Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes Eternal

17 March – 21 October 2012

Singapore ArtScience Museum

10am – 10pm daily

Adult – $15.00   Child (age 2-12) – $9.00

 

Do note :  This exhibition can be a quick visual introduction into pop art for a preschooler, however it might get quite challenging to sustain a typical 3-6 year old’s attention for some parts of the exhibition. Do highlight to your child Andy Warhol’s signature pop art creations and some of his whimsical art pieces, and consider leaving the rest of the browsing of photographs and self-portraits for the adults only.

 

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