This week I was all consumed by a book I started, The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. It is so good I cannot put it down. I'm about 75% through and I would love to scream at the main character to get his life together!!! Thursday morning rolls around and I know I do not have any good photos for my blog and I really really want to finish my book, ugh! But with 300 pages left it will have to wait. I decide to walk to the bus stop and take the first bus that comes along and jump off when I see something interesting. Bus 131 did not let me down. This bus goes to Telok Blangah, a neighborhood near Keppel Bay, south west of the CBD. I took almost 200 photos and I would say I am happy with about 20 of them. I think that is pretty good, not sure how it goes for pro photographers in general but I think 10% is good. None of them are what I would consider to be good enough to win any contests and I am really OK with that. What I like about these photos is that it captures a small part of Singapore that will always remind me of the reasons why I love it here. The HDBs, the neighborhood feel, the giant trees lining the streets, the temples and the fact that I can hop on a bus going just about anywhere and find something interesting and beautiful to photograph. Maybe its not always about the quality of the photo but just getting a thought or a feeling recorded. At least I like to think so since I am giving up on getting to be as good as a pro, instead I just want to have fun with it. Enjoy!
Riding on the bus I have a Singapore Maps app with GPS so I can see where I am and whats coming up. The trains I have all figured out, very easy, but the buses are harder for me. I get so lost! This app is super helpful. I saw a park coming up on the route that I haven't seen yet and chose to get off there. Then we turned down this street that was so pretty with a colorful temple on the corner. I decided if the bus stopped close-ish I'd have to jump off and investigate., maybe save the park for another trip. Luckily the bus stopped just a few feet down the street. The Koon Seng Ting temple in Telok Blangah is an older temple in Singapore, completed in 1881. According to the web it became a home to orphaned and abandoned baby girls who were seen as less desirable than boys.
I wanted to go up the steps to photograph but I'm always so concerned that I'll be taking photos of things that maybe it isn't so cool to photograph so I stayed outside. Most temples are fine with photos inside and out, I always ask first just to be sure. The HDB complex in the background has their flags out for National Day, August 9. Soon there will be flags all over town to celebrate the holiday.
The front gate of the temple with a view of the beautiful trees. Love the hanging lanterns, wonder if they light up at night?
Just behind the Koon Seng Ting Temple is the Ban Siew San Temple, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy.
Butterflies always make me smile!
Walking in the neighborhood, just past the temples, I came across another giant HDB complex with this covered walkway and flags for National Day.
This apartment complex had some cool murals painted in the common areas on the ground level.
You wouldn't believe how the temperature changes when you get into some shade and have a nice breeze. This is as good as air conditioning. I was surprised no one was sitting here but it is a week day, lunchtime. I bet everyone is eating at the hawker center down the street or at work or school.
I wonder if the residents did the murals or who did them? There was no information that I could find.
You can see the covered walkway I photographed in the background with the red tiled roof, flags aren't visible here.
Bike storage and a pay phone...haven't seen one of those in a long time. I didn't notice it until I was editing my photos.
This is the apartment complex just outside the first floor murals. The bin is for burning offerings, usually paper offerings.
This is the street the apartments were on. Such a pretty tree lined street. Across the street, just out of view, is a hawker center with cooked food and fresh food, markets, clinics, hair salons, bakery and home hardware. These HDB communities seem to have everything you need close by.
Some residents waiting at the bus stop.
Telok Blangah in Malay translates to Cooking Pot Bay. Named because of the shape of the island resembling a cooking pot and also a "b langa" is a cooking pot made of clay in South India.
OK, I don't know why but I love seeing the laundry hanging to dry.
Hang it while its sunny, you never know when a storm will pop up.
When we first moved here we were out looking at apartments and our realtor asked if this view of laundry bothered me. I said no, of course not. Its laundry, why would it bother me? I guess some expats do not want to see it. She also said that sometimes it isn't so great to hang your laundry outside because someone on a higher floor could hang out their mop heads to dry and guess where that drips...yuck!
Happy Friday!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment