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Last time I took you for a stroll – by “stroll” hear a “photowalk” – we went to Chinatown.
Today, I’m taking you to another very colourful part of Singapore, Kampong Glam, with its famous Arab Street, the beautiful Sultan Mosque and the Malay Heritage Center.
Like usual I spent most of the time hunting for photographic treasures in the backstreets.
But enough talking, let’s go! 😉
After all this walking, let’s relax on a swing shall we?
The colours of Singapore – one of my favorite photography subjects.
It’s funny but from Europe I’ve imagined Singapore as a very modern (which comes in my mind with greyish-glassyish buildings), and while it’s partly true, the Red Little Dot is so much more.
I already talked about all the beautiful green places all around the island, but another charming trait of Singapore is all the traditional colourful Peranakan shophouses all around the city. Who can see them in Little India, Emerald Hill, Chinatown, …, and of course Joo Chiat.
Joo Chiat is a small and charming neighbourhood, toward the east coast, well worth a stroll.
I arrived there early in the morning, and was welcome by singing birds on a balcony.
I stopped a few minutes near a very small temple, between two condos.
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
And like I always do, I enjoyed walking around the back streets, taking pictures of bikes (another ones of my favorites subjects) and hunting colours in every corner.
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
and hunting colours in every corner.
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
Joo Chiat @ Catherine Houston
What’s your favourite part of Singapore?
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As you may know by now if you stumbled upon my blog before, I love doing street photography in my free time (I’m not that rich in free time however, which probably explain the lack of regularity in my postings…).
Some of the most colourful streets of Singapore are found in Little India. I organised there a few weeks back a photography walk mostly focused on Tekka market (one of the biggest wet market in Singapore), but a short walk in the neighbouring streets gave me also the opportunity to rediscover some wall paintings, and to pay a closer attention to the flower shops.
The flowers are omnipresent in Little India.
There are sold not only in bouquets for the obvious decorative purpose, but also cut and/or organised for temple offerings. Either way passing through one of the many flower shops in Little India is overwhelming for your senses ( the colours, the smell, textures, …).
For the last few months I have been stroke by an urge for anything minimalistic in my photographs.
Minimum number of subjects, minimum colours, and even more recently a phase of white on white pictures (with just a little bit of textures and shapes). So of course, as a photographer, it could be my current school of thoughts (that sounds so cool and romantic right 😉 )….
and then again as a mom of now 4, living in a perpetual mess (visual, but also the noises, …) that could be an inconscient therapy…. my soul trying to resist the chaos by creating a little bit of cleanliness in my world!!!
In any case, here it is….
The art science museum of Marina Bay Sands, in Singapore.
A frangipane flower on the floor, in the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.
A fake window on a real green wall in Chinatown, Singapore.
A row of silver mailboxes on a white wall, in Tiong Bahru, Singapore.
Birds flying in a sample of street wall art in Singapore.
A stack of white coffee cups on a white background.
I’m excited! I’m motivated! I will go out and shoot more !!!
I don’t know about you but when I know that I’m staying for a while somewhere I get a little “lazy” about visiting my new home. I always tell myself “there is plenty of time for that….”. But then, before I realise it, several years go by, and it’s time to move again. So this time, I will go around and visit Singapore, one neighbourhood at the time (and yes I hope I’m here for several more years!).
So last week I decided to go for a stroll in Tiong Bahru.
Tiong Bahru is a hipster neighbourhood of Singapore, in the Central region of the city-state island.
This is such a lovely neighbourhood. First of all, it’s extremely peaceful – you have the impression to have been suddenly “teleported” (yes, I’m a little bit of a nerd…) to a little village in the countryside. There are a lot of pedestrian paths, bikes, greenery…
Then you notice the art deco architecture (far from the modern high rises from the downtown area or the high rise HDBs). The buildings are small, with spiral staircases, rounded balconies and storage areas on the ground levels (holding charming old rice cookers and bikes).
The predominant color is white with some touches of green from the vegetation and some amazing wall paintings (art paintings can be found all around Singapore so I will do a different post just on that subject).
And then, maybe because I’m french, I noticed the amazing smell from the bakeries and coffee shops! :-). All of that makes it your perfect neighbourhood for a morning stroll on the week-end (and there is a nice playground just behind the market, which makes it even more perfect if you’re visiting as a family).
PS: By the way, do you know the meaning of “Tiong Bahru”??? Well, according to Wilkipedia it means “New cemetery”…(thióng 塚 – Hokkien for “cemetery”, bahru – Malay for “new”)…you’re welcome :-).
Last week I spent a few days in Bangkok and just had time to wander around a little bit and do some major tourist attractions: mainly The Great Palace, Wat Pho and the Flower market (blog posts coming soon…).
I was exciting about seeing some grilled scorpions, terrified of spotting some grilled giant tarantulas and dreaming about the floating markets…
Unfortunately (except for number 2, for which it was quite a relief…) I did not have enough time to do that, but I still made it to an adjacent small street market.
But which has made for a long time such an impression on people, even the ones who just dream about it…
It’s a tourist destination, symbol of romanticism and love.
It’s a concentrated of History, with not only museums but walls, houses, neighbourhoods filled with histories.
It’s a big city hosting millions of people studying, working, living.
For me it was first a big, loud (way too much in the North) city were I spent a summer a long time ago working as a research student in a lab in a well-known hospital. I felt crushed by the city at the time, feeling only the monotonous rythmes “metro-boulot-dodo” (train commute – job – bed time, and repeat).
Then years (a life time??) later I came back and spend a year with my family in the center of the city and I learned to love it. I discovered Paris by foot (I admit sometimes quite painful with a stroller!!).
My Paris, became my paradise for Street Photography.
From the saffron colour of the monks’ robes (mainly due to the available dye centuries ago ), to the golden of the statues, the yellow and the red of the decorations…
Between the powerful scents of incense and the bouquet of colours chances are that a visit inside a Buddhist Temple will not leave your senses indifferent.
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Orange and Buddhism Ⓒ Catherine Houston
And yes, I can’t help it, even on a blog post focusing on colours I HAVE to put at least one Black and White ;-).
I confess I have many passions…ranging anywhere from my kids, chocolate, photography, travel,food…
For whatever reason since I was a little kid going to vacation in Corsica with my family I had a big thing for fishing boats. It became a tradition to hunt on the harbour for a yellow boat, anywhere we would go. I still do look for fishing boats anywhere I go.
A few years ago my husband and I, while living in France for a while, took a mini-trip to Italy and more precisely to the Cinque Terra. I’m in love with anything involving sea-landscape (with a huge preference for the Mediterranean sea – so so blue -but in occasions any ocean will do too…). ;-). So obviously I fell in love with these five villages. The landscape was amazing, the architecture was colorful, the food was tasty, the sea was very blue…. and here they were… the fishing boats.
We visited the five villages of the Cinque Terra: Monterosso, Vernaza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. The villages were built up cliffs and overlook the sea. Although similar in many ways each one of them has a different personality.
Cinque Terra Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Today’s pictures are from Manarola. As you can see on the pics we went there in the winter and the weather was not exactly on our side. The fishing boats were therefore out of the water, in the streets leading to the sea.
This short name alone brings dreams to a lot of people.
One may think island, exotic, Asia, flowers, colours, beach, diving, volcanoes, rice fields, yummy food …
The best way to discover this Indonesian island would probably involve staying at least a couple of weeks with a good pair of hiking shoes. Meeting people, discovering villages, hiking in the middle of rice fields away from the tourists’ paths, climbing a volcano, going all the way to the adjacent island of Lombok, scuba diving, …
But what if you had only a handful number of days to spend there? (and/or if like me you were traveling there with 3 little ones!!). Then your best bet is probably to hire a taxi-driver for a day on the road…
Well welcome to my express road-trip to Bali!!
There is a few things that you can expect to see in Bali even on a very short trip:
1- Temples
You are going to see lots of temples and sculptures. Big ones, small ones. You will see some even on the side of the road on your way from the airport to your hotel.
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
2- Offerings and Flowers
Offerings are everywhere: on the side walk, in your hotel, on the beach, and of course in the temples.
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
3- Small markets and yummy looking fruits
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
4- Rice fields (within a short driving distance from Ubud)
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
5- Hard working people
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
6- Awesome gas stations
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
7- Dancers (in Ubud)
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
8- You may even come across a village’s celebration
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
Road Trip in Bali Ⓒ Catherine Houston
9- And make sure to relax a little on the beach (a massage?) before catching you plane!
Cinque Terra Ⓒ Catherine Houston 
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