Dragons, No Dungeons

This week I took a temple tour with a group of about 16 expat ladies. One of the temples we toured was the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery in the Bishan area. This is a huge complex of several buildings, some open to the public and some closed as monks do live there. They are currently adding on another building for a Buddhist college. We spent almost 2 hours there and I have so many photos it was hard to choose which to post. I decided to focus on the dragons used to decorate the roof tops that are meant to represent protection. Enjoy!

Happy Friday!!!

Telok Ayer Street Photography

Saturday morning I met with my photo explorer group at Telok Ayer and we planned on walking around for about three hours and shooting whatever came our way. It was a small group of five photographers plus one organizer/photographer. We started at the Thian Hock Keng Temple, one of the oldest and most important Hokkien temples in Singapore. Photography is allowed in most areas of the temple and it is often frequented by tourists with large groups arriving daily.

Inside the temple courtyard looking at the back roof.

Inside looking at the open doors. There is a high door frame you need to step over to enter. This is there to make sure you are looking down (bowing your head) as you enter the temple.

A closer look at the doors. There are a few sets of doors painted like this.

Close up of one of the dragons on an incense urn. 

Here is the incense urn from the above photo.

Every inch is very detailed. Even the ceiling is beautiful. 

The temple started to get crowded with tourists and a few worshipers so we went for a walk around the area. Here are some of my photos. This neighborhood is very close to home for me, I walk around here all the time. 

This photo was pointed out by our organizer. The new high rise buildings and the old refurbished building with the street lamps gives a nice old and new contrast. This is why I like the group photo outings. I am here all the time but I don't always see the same things the other photographers see. 

Alley barber shop. I liked the reflection of the first customer in the mirror. He is waiting for the barber to finish setting up. The barber was excited to see us there and liked that we were taking his photo. According to the Singaporeans in the group, alley barber shops are hard to find these days. 

I took a photo of my group hard at work. They are trying for a reflection shot in the window of a business that is closed for the day.

I preferred the reflection in the car hood.

Another temple just down the street. This one does not allow photographers to shoot inside. The large metal furnace in front is for burning offerings.

I like all of the street lamps in this shot.

Happy Friday!!!

Joo Chiat Neighborhood Walk

This week some of the members of the Singapore International Ladies Group went for a walk through the Joo Chiat neighborhood. I signed up to go along and brought my camera with me, just in case. This is a residential conservation area and some of the buildings are just beautiful. We met at the Paya Lebar MRT station and walked for a bit then stopped for lunch. There were 14 of us walking that day, we must have been a sight to see ourselves. 14 super sweaty expat ladies walking through a local neighborhood taking photos of just about everything, lol! We had a good time and after the holidays we will be going to another neighborhood for another walk around. Here are my photos from Joo Chiat, enjoy!

This building is from 1928, beautifully restored.

These are homes that are in the process of being restored. They are even more beautiful in person.

So colorful and cheerful.

An up close shot of the detail around the window. 

Another window, just beautiful. Makes me want to put on a flowery dress and sip iced tea and eat tiny cakes while fanning myself.

Detail of one of the tiles.

Gorgeous!

Off street parking is nice, however, I have heard from other ladies that many of these homes do not have air con. Some have open air kitchens. Beautiful to look at but I will stay in my condo for now.

Neighborhood junk shop.

I like to think the Loving Hut is the name of a restaurant or coffee shop or pet adoption center...sure looks like a bunch of tiny rooms.

Hardware store. I love these little local shops. They are crammed full of stuff and when I go I always ask the person for whatever it is I need and they always know exactly where to find it. 

Looks like a nice restaurant. Pretty red building.

This building was so bright and good looking. Next door to a temple, not sure if it is a private residence or part of the temple.

Reflection of the temple across the street in the hood of a car.

Kuain Im Tng Temple

From the web:

The first thing that strikes you upon entering the temple is the statue of the Goddess of Mercy, the statue provides the main centre of “attraction”, drawing masses of worshippers to the temple. Although Goddess of Mercy is generally associated with Buddhism, it doesn’t mean that Kuan Im Tng Temple (Joo Chiat) is a place of traditional Buddhist worship. Instead, it upholds a unique three in one combination consisting of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, capturing and consolidating the essence of these three religions into “Xian Tian Sect.” What then are the exact elements preached in this fusion of religious beliefs?

They are: -
• To cultivate the mind and body through Taoist philosophies;
• To accumulate merits and good karma through recitations of Buddhist mantras; and
• To apply Confucian etiquette in everyday lives.

Super cool!

This is the lion that is in front of the temple. I loved his eyes

Restaurant to hang out at all day with your neighbors. Overall a very nice area of Singapore. I loved our walk. 

In honor of Vesak Day

Hi everyone,

Friday is a public holiday, Vesak Day, which is the commemoration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death. It is the most important day on the Buddhist calendar. I decided to go to the Buddha Tooth Relic Museum and Temple to take pictures since it seemed to be the most "tourist friendly" temple. All visitors are free to take photographs of most areas of the temple and there were plenty of cameras out so I felt pretty comfortable snapping away. The lighting is sort of odd, it is sort of dark and bright, at the same time, you'll see. I love that Singapore celebrates so many different holidays, Vesak Day, Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Deepavali and Christmas to name a few. There are so many fun and exciting things to see, do, learn and explore that is very different from what I am used to in California.

The back of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum.

The lanterns have names hanging from them. Some are families and some are companies.

Inside the courtyard in front of the temple.

The red square box to the right is where you can purchase incense to burn during your prayer and then place in the giant urn in the middle of the picture. 

For Vesak Day you can come into the temple and make a donation and then wash the Buddha. Washing of the Buddha is the single most common ritual on Vesak Day in Asia. According to legend when the Buddha was born he stood straight, took seven steps, raised one hand and declared "I alone am the world honored one" to indicate he would unite heaven and earth. There is a line of people waiting to wash the Buddha and another group of photographers taking pictures of everyone.

Gorgeous temple. The gold was super shiny and the rest of the room was sort of dark with areas of brighter spot lights so it was hard for a newbie photographer to get a good picture! This one turned out pretty good.

Here is the roof top garden with the Ten Thousand Buddha's Pagoda housing the Vairocana Buddha prayer wheel. 

The prayer wheel. It is large enough for about 15 people to walk around it together. Just happened to be empty when I was there. You hold on with one hand and walk slowly around chanting. 

Happy Vesak Day everyone! For more information about the temple, please visit: www.btrts.org.sg