Singapore and Malaysia

Photographed in Canning Park in Singapore, this has been identified by Maureclaire as a Cleome (thanks!), but certainly is beautiful by any name. This will probably be the last of my Singapore pictures at least for a while. I have some other things I want to post. One friend, zxgirl, has mentioned that these are sometimes called Dr. Seuss plants, and I can see why. I did a search on the subject of Dr. Seuss plants, however, and while this one is called that so is every other weird and strange plant.

This is another photo taken at the raptor show in the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. I did not remember what kind of owl it was - I was too busy trying to get pictures, but my good friend Fizgig provided the id. The park is a fabulous place with a number of superbly prepared shows and beautiful exhibits.

As I understand it, this place was originally purchased and built by Aw Boon Haw (Tiger), the inventor of Tiger Balm, for his bother Aw Boon Par (Leopard), and filled with statues and dioramas of every kind, including the "Ten Courts of Hell," some of whose scenes are too graphic to post here. There are statues of animals, gods, mythological figures, even the Statue of Liberty! This particular statue is near the entrance to the Villa, which is now owned and operated by the Singapore Tourism Board. It is an incredible place.

In Explore December 4, 2011, #227. Taken in Canning Park in Singapore. I had never before seen these growing outside of a greenhouse, and was really taken with their beauty as a garden plant. Too cold here, though.

In Explore December 2, 2011, #438. One more photo taken on the Esplanade and Marina Bay in Singapore. The picture shows the lotus-shaped entrance building to the Art-Science Museum, the Marina Bay Sands Casino, as well as the rising moon. The photo was taken by my wife, who as usual, got better pictures than I did.

In Explore December 2, 2011, #401. On the evening that we visited the Night Safari in Singapore, we went for dinner in the courtyard there and were entertained by a group of young men dressed as American Indians and doing fire-breathing. The photography was a challenge since I did not have a tripod with me and had to use a telephoto lens. This was one of the better shots.

In Explore December 1, 2011, #496. This bird is native to southeast Asia and we saw it hunting in the straits between Singapore and Malaysia, but this bird was photographed in the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore and was part of the raptor show there, a utterly fascinating and well-presented show. I am not particularly impressed with this photo, by the way. It has quite a bit of noise, had to be cropped, and still leaves something to be desired. It was hard getting decent photos, though, since everything moved so quickly and the lighting was also very difficult.

In Explore November 30, 2011, #316. This sculpture by Victor Tan Wee Tar is in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Futher information can be gotten by searching for the name of the artist or of the sculpture. I am not entirely happy with the photo, but it was the best I was able to do on a very bright and sunny day.

This was photographed in the Jurong Bird Park in Singapore. Every park had its own collection of orchids, but best of all were the orchids in the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Sadly, we only had a few hours there when they really needed to be seen over several days This will have to represent all the orchids we saw, therefore.