Plane Spotting At SIN

Plane spotting at Sngapore, Changi Airport's Terminal 2 was a bit of a disappointment. Besides, Singapore Airlines and its affiliates - Silk Air, Tiger Airways and Scoot, there were hardly any beauties to spot. I frankly expected much more from Changi...

Plane spotting from the Sunflower Garden - I could not resist clicking this beautiful flower with a bee on it...

That Singapore Airlines A380 was the flight bound for Delhi, while a Cebu Pacific from Philippines has just come in....

Finally something different - a Qatar Airways...

The Singapore Airlines A380 flight for Delhi has pushed back, and a Swiss International Airbus A340 has just come in from Zurich...

The flight to Delhi is taxiing to the runway....

My ride to Mumbai, 9V-SKI, is being prepped up for departure....

Pushback time....

Passing by the Swiss International A340...

And Etihad in the distance....

And it's time to say, Goodbye Singapura... See you you soon...

Goodbye Temasek!

As we leave Singapore, the island which was called Temasek, or the sea-town, by the Javanese in ancient times, I can only appreciate the spirit of the people here, people from varied varied backgrounds who have come together from all over and transformed a marshy swamp into a megapolis which today at the crossroads of modern civilisation...

I saw these school kids so enthusiastically visiting the National Museum...

The residents take pride not only in their original homeland's heritage, but also the heritage of modern Singapore that they have collectively forged...

Traditions survive alongside modernity..., I would rather say, thrives...

That gives the island state a unique zing...

The nation recently celebrated its national day as well as commemorated Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's decade in office...

The newspapers showed the Prime Minister as quite a people's man...

Celebrating the National Day festivities with communities across the city, he seemed quite at ease...

Probably that's the kind of connect that the rulers need to make with the commonfolk...

At the recent National Day Rally, the Prime Minister paid tribute to Lee Kuan Yew's former driver, Rahmat Yusak... The common man is also worthy of honour...

Singapore also has a keen watch on its neighbourhood...

The general public too seems quite conscious that they live in an ecosystem that thrives only if the neighbourhood thrives...

That is perhaps why Singapore is quite keenly looking at India, China and Indonesia...

And they have great hopes on India... they were looking for key economic announcememts on Independence Day...

I remembered the affable, elderly Chinese man I met at Bukit Chandu who was nothing but positive on Prime Minister Modi, he called him a "man of action"!

The soon to be launched airline, Vistara is proof of our collaboration with Singapore...

We need each other... They need growth opportunities, we need investment and expertise...

50 years and going strong...

External Affairs Minister Swaraj visited Singapore a few days...

And we joked that she had come to check that our trip was going fine!

I was surprised to see Mamata Bannerjee put up advertisements in the Straits Times...

India's defence also made for prominent news here... The underlying tone was positive, as though India was being seen as a net provider of security in the region!

But, it is time to head back to opportunities back home...

The sunflower at Changi Airport reminds of the warmth and positivity that Neeti and I had encountered here!

My ride back home - 9V-SKI!

We took off and headed up north crossing Johor Baharu which is Malaysia's gateway to Singapore...

And dinner was served - for me it was a seafood meal - crunchy shrimp salad, baked snapper fillets with vegetables...

For Neeti, it was an Indian meal - dahi bhalla, pulao, dal and alu palak.... with papad medallions!

And now, its time to say Goodbye Temasek, it's time time to stretch and relax before we hit Mumbai...

At Home In Balestier... Part III

Our next stop on the Balestier Heritage Trail was the Maha Sasana Ramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple, which is located on the Tai Gin Road, off Ah Hood Road and right behind the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall...

The Tai Gin Road is a narrow, tree-lined avenue. The name of the road literally means "great man" in Chinese, attributed to either Dr Sun Yat Sen, who lived here or to William A. Pickering, who was officially designated as the Protector of Chinese, in 1877, to take care of the needs of the Chinese here. Tai Gin Road used to have small units manufacturing wooden crates for the beverage industry, but today, it is a placid residential area.

Ah Hood Road too is named after a Chinese businessman of repute, Wee Ah Hood, a trader; and pepper and gambier estate owner. Ah Hood Road was home to textile dyeing units, rubber smoke houses, cane factories, oil and soap factories and a biscuit factory... But today, it is a quiet road...

Just about 50 metres from the junction of the Ah Hood Road and the Tai Gin Road lies the Burmese Temple. Founded in 1878, by a Burmese, U Tha Hnit, the temple was initially located close to Serangoon Road.

The temple was shifted here in 1991 and is built in Burmese style with a tiered roof, adorned with teak wood carvings. The roof also has a golden pagoda which makes stand-out... 

The entrance to the temple is ornate and detailed in styling...

Mythical creatures guard the entrance to the temple...

A very pretty idol of Lord Buddha is the heart of the temple...

This idol was brought in, in 1907, by a physician, U Kyaw Gaung, who was temple trustee then. He wanted an idol of the Lord similar to those in Burma (now Myanmar). 

On one of his many trips back home, at Saygin Hill, near Mandalay, he found a 10-tonne marble slab, which was then carved into the idol of the Lord, 11-feet high. 

The idol was brought into Singapore in 1921 and was enshrined in the temple in 1925...

Today the temple is a centre for congregation of ethnic-Burmese in Singapore...

After seeking blessings of Lord Buddha, we embarked on our ride into Changi, from where our flight for Mumbai departs in the evening...

But, no description of Balestier is complete without a mention of the Balestier Market, a place that has fed me ever since the day I landed in Singapore... who can forget the comforting Bak Kut Teh I had that morning.... or the amazing Kaya toast with Kopi-C that the two ladies at the Koptiam served me for breakfast, almost everyday...

And it turned out, the Balestier Market too, was steeped in history, as much as other parts of Balestier...

The market was built in the 1920s to give local vendors a permanent place to sell their produce. It was an open-air market but bustling, despite the remoteness of the Blaestier area then... It got a roof in 1925 and was known as Or Kio which means Black Bridge in Hokkien...

During the Second World War, the authorities used the market to distribute rations to the local population. And the market we see today was redeveloped just about 10 years back!

As I head back home, I will carry with me sweet and lip-smacking memories of the lovely food I had at Balestier Market, not knowing it had a history to it....