by Kerry Tolson @kerrytolson.com.

Instead we duck back into the shopping mall, down the escalator and find ourselves ‘picnicking’, Asian style – mouth-watering Vietnamese fare and cheap beer in enamel cups while sitting on cute plastic stools with a 'field of grass' table.

It's still raining after lunch, so we head for the National Museum of Singapore located in a beautiful 1887 Renaissance-style building filled with endless rows of arches and a massive ‘white-house’-esqe dome.  The museum is the oldest in Singapore, although it’s original name was the “Raffles Library and Museum”.  

Its building is a big favourite for photographers of all scopes. There are ‘shoots’ everywhere – wedding pics, fashion shoots, photography-workshops – all taking place while we wander through the stunning architecture - and  inadvertently photo bomb the equally stunning images with 'the-drown-rat'-in-the-background'  pose.

Most of the exhibits are free, and I'm particularly interested in the What is Not Visible is Not Invisible , the light and texture installation from the French Regional Collections of Contemporary Art (FRAC) but  before we even step out of the main foyer of I'm gobsmacked at the enormous sphere of pots and pans suspended above my head. 

Aptly named 'Cooking the World' (by Subodh Gupta), it's a representation of the surplus and shortage throughout society -  though with that many pots in the kitchen, I'd be mithering about the shortage of dishwashers.   

We go up the ramp to the glass dome to see the exhibit "Story of the Forest" , and  I notice out the corner of my eye a sign warning about possible Vertigo and or Epilepsy. “Ah” I think, “strobing” and behind a black curtain and into a pitch-dark black ‘nothingness’ I go. 

No sooner do I step into the room than I immediately feel a spinning sensation as neon colours flash all around me.  But it’s not a strobing, no, the dome is a huge moving screen-ball and the images of trees, flowers and ‘who-knows-what-they-are’ travel about.   Mal keeps walking ahead, totally oblivious to my ‘spinning’… although I’m actually standing very still… and my sudden need to throw-up.  I turn quickly and try to find my way back out through the curtain, but that isn’t very successful and I end up becoming tangled in it and bumping into people trying to come in to the exhibit.  Mal continues wandering off into the ‘forest’. 

Outside, I take deep gulps of air and end up with the head spins.  Gripping onto the glass banisters I try to calm myself and focus on the beautiful crystal triangle lights above… turns out when you’ve got vertigo, looking upwards is not a good idea. 

Within minutes Mal comes strolling over from a totally different direction to where we had entered. He's surprised to see me.  “How did you get here before me?’
                     He hadn’t even missed me. 

At the What is Not Visible is Not Invisible exhibit I see a sign warning of high voltage and that touching the exhibits may cause fatal injuries. Nerves about possible ‘side effects’ get the better of me and I quiz the poor door attendant as to ‘how can I get out quickly if I have an attack’ and ‘what if I faint?’  By the look on the poor woman’s face she is horrified at the thought of a museum attendee collapsing in the exhibit and suggests that I ‘walk around the exhibit very quickly’.   

Wandering back towards Raffles Plaza we find ourselves in the grounds of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd admiring the beautiful Christmas Orchestra lights when I notice what appears to be a person wrapped in a blanket lying on a bench seat.  As I draw closer it becomes apparent that it is a sculpture... of a homeless person. 

One of the things I love about Singapore is the eclectic mix of sculptures dotting the city and the nation as a whole;  many quirky, modern or representative of the past, but most of all I love that this neat orderly city isn't afraid to 'court' controversy in its art expression.  And this sculpture was a prime example of making a statement and encouraging people to think.

Called "Homeless Jesus"  the piece by Timothy Schmaltz is one of fifty Homeless Jesus installations throughout the world including one at the Vatican City.  Life-size and very much lifelike,  it is only by getting up close and personal that you notice that the form is representative of Jesus by the two nail holes in the feet of the sculpture.   Installed in November 2016, the piece has ruffled quite a few feathers, with calls to have it removed as it 'demeans' the neighbourhood or that it is a misrepresentation of Jesus.... 'Jesus was never homeless nor a beggar according to the bible' was a quote of one of the detractors - of course the fact Jesus wandered around the desert for forty days and nights seems to be lost on the person who said it...

I find this piece an interesting juxtaposition to the installation of the pots and pans, and contemplate that even in comfortable prosperous Singapore there is an fractional element of homelessness; invisible it would appear, dossing down in the voids of apartment buildings, sleeping in tents on the white sands of Sentosa, even blending in with the sleepy 'in-transit'  travellers at Changi Airport - invisible but definitely there and making 'do' with selling tissues at the food courts and receiving assistance from various groups or the Cathedral, which distributes some 150packages each Sunday.

Meanwhile back in vibrant Chinatown thousands of lanterns dangle in garlands over the streets, swathes of red and gold adorn buildings and enormous Roosters and hens galore bedeck the road verges.   In a less 24hours we'll all be celebrating the 2017 New Year, but Chinatown was hanging in anticipation for Lunar New Year - Year of the Rooster - which was happening in less than three weeks.

by Kerry Tolson @kerrytolson.com.

Singapore is known by many monikers from the ‘Little Red Dot’ and ‘The Fine City’ to the ‘Asian Tiger’, the ‘Lion City’, and ‘Chilly Crab Country’.  But today it was the ‘Garden City’, and that is just what we planned to do today, explore its beautiful gardens… just as soon as we could drag ourselves away from our ridiculously sumptuous bed and our ridiculously scrumptious breakfast overlooking absurdly opulent views… particularly the little known but incredibly tranquil Chinese and Japanese Gardens.   These gardens, nestled on two small islands in the Jurong Lake (which sits on the western side of Singapore) are just a short fifty-minute MRT trip away from the city. 

It’s a brilliant day screaming out clear blue skies and with it comes a mugginess that has me breathless the moment I step from the air-conditioned train.  This is a small problem we find with travelling around Sing… from the moment we wake up in our suite, we don’t step out of air-con into fresh air until we reach our destination. Our hotel leads directly into the Raffles City Centre, which in turn leads into the City Hall MRT, which takes you directly onto an air-conditioned train to another air-conditioned station. It’s not until we reach the Chinese Gardens Station an hour later that we realise how heavy and moist the air is.  

As we walk towards the East Entrance along the tree-lined path which runs through the middle of a wide open grassed area we notice that the green is absolutely peppered with the chocolate brown of Indian Mynahs. At first I mistake the brown mounds for ants nests until I see they are hopping about and taking flight.  These birds are the same species that is ‘invading’ Australia and where they are officially recorded as  "The Most Important Pest/Problem" and colloquially refed to as the Aussie  ‘flying cane toad’.

But here in Singapore they are very much a native bird and their numbers are declining due to another mynah bullyboy – the Javan Mynah – who is so invasive that  it was recently mooted in a newspaper (most probably with tongue-firmly-in-cheek) that  perhaps one way to be rid of the Javan Mynah, is to turn them into Mynah soup.  Perhaps an accompaniment to that other delicious dish – Frog Porridge. 

Scattering the flock, we cross the lake via a small unassuming red bridge into beautiful breathtaking gardens with first view being of a magnificent seven storey red and gleaming white pagoda – Ru Yun T’a . Immediately upon stepping into the gardens we feel an incredible sense of tranquillity and although the shade is abundant as the gardens are graced in the most enormous wide-spreading trees from massive bamboo clumps, entwining ficus and dripping willows, the humidity from the greenery seems to raise the mugginess factor by quite a few degrees. 

many areas to see that we’re not sure where to start first as we peruse the map of the 13.5hectar gardens. 

We decide to start with the ‘Garden of Abundance’ which features hundred-year-old pomegranate trees and sweet almost comical statues of the Chinese zodiac.

Turns out the 'star' they are chasing is a beautiful Grey Heron down on the pond.

 Just past this beautiful bird is a stunning bridge, glittering white in the sunlight. 

Across from the pavilion is the Stone Boat - 'Yao-Yueh Fang’ - that glimmers into the green waters and has an almost ethereal look about it.  We wander the ‘rooms’ of the Tea House - 'Ming Hsiang Hsieh’  - and fall in love with its beauty; the ceilings ornately carved, deep red pillars capturing the sunlight blazing like fire, lines of  terracotta cups hanging in rows create a mesmerising waterfall feature - it’s possibly one of the prettiest garden buildings I’ve ever seen – but there’s not a cup of tea in sight and I could really do with one! 

Just down from the Tea House we stumble upon a tussle between a group of enormous water monitors over a fish, of course the biggest monitor (which surely must be a Komodo Dragon! although after reading that these lizards can grow to 3metres in length,  I'm now convinced it's on it's way to being a crocodile)  wasn’t going to share his bit of flake with anyone and with his powerful tail smacking the others around, let all know in no uncertain terms the  morsel was going to stay as all his.   The brawl continued for quite a while, going round and round the tree, on and off the pond’s bank, and in and out of the water - at least they were probably cooler, which was more than could be said for us as we melted in the rising temps. 

We puddle off to the building that housed the “Live turtle and tortoise museum’ and holds a Guinness Book Record for the largest collection of tortoises. 

They also claim to have the Flattest tortoise in the world, a 6-legged tortoise, the MOST DANGEROUS tortoise in the world, the 3rd largest tortoise in the world (wonder who has the first two….) and the world’s most beautiful tortoise…  which I find very curious as I never knew there were beauty pageants for tortoises and turtles.

Reading the sign, Mal declares the flattest tortoise must have been ‘run over’ by the 6-legged tortoise and therefore, it’s the 6-legged tortoise that’s also the most dangerous. 

Never being ones for animals in captivity (although I'm sure they are kept quite well), we skip popping in to see for ourselves these curiosities and instead watch another curiosity – a model trying to look nonchalant and cool in melting heat during a ‘fashion shoot’ which is being undertaken under the arches of the magnificent Main Gate. 

Kampong Glam is indeed glamorous, although this is not where the name for the area comes from, in fact, Kampong means village and Glam is from the Gelam Tree that grew abundantly in the area... however, I like to consider it very cosmopolitan and as we wander down from the mosque into the heart of the Arab Quarter, we're 'transported' to Turkey with its stunning mosaics, luxury silk carpets, glittering multi-coloured ottoman lights and tantalising smells of divine food - a perfect late lunch indulgence of a meze plate.

 "Congratulations! Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away!" (from 'Oh the places You'll Go' )   Later I read the tree is inspired not by naughty cats-in-hats but by the 20th century surrealist art movement particularly Dali's melting clocks.