29 February 2012

THE GREY

Today's weather - sunny
In real life, Liam Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson passed away in 2009. Starring Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo from the TV series "The Gates", Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts etc, this movie tells the story of a team of workers, who completed their work at an oil drilling facility in Alaska and was on the plane home when it crashed in a blizzard.


Only seven men survived the plane crash and they had to team up together to try to find help, whilst trying to escape from a pack of wolves which were hunting them down. Led by Liam's character John, who was suffering from recurring haunting visions of his wife, they tried to fight tooth and nail against the big menacing beasts which were hot on their trails. Regardless of how intelligent humans are, they were no match for nature's creation in their home ground. Slowly but surely, they were decimated one by one and unknown to the rest of mankind, they poignantly perished horribly in a still and tranquil landscape of conifers and snow with the alpha male seeking a showdown with John in the final scene.


It is definitely not a movie for everyone and I don't think it did well at the box-office.

23 February 2012

CHANGI CITY POINT

I visited this new shopping centre beside the Expo MRT station and was attracted to the long-legged flamingos situated at the entrance. The shopping centre is actually bigger than I expected and there were a surprising number of people at that time.


The garden in the center looks so manicure but the trees are still young.


BOUGAINVILLEA GARDEN AT EAST COAST PARK

The year was 2006 and it has been 6 years since I last stepped foot here. The familiar red and white zebra crossing was still there to greet me but it was no longer shimmering under the sun light. The sparkle was gone.


Sunset Bay is still there but it was closed. Is the beach a popular spot for beach volleyball, as originally proposed, I wonder?


Most of the vertical structures are now covered with Bougainvilleas and one of the nine sundials (Neptune) around the island is still located at the far end of the garden. When I checked the time, it was quite accurate and differed from the actual time by about 10 minutes.


I actually wanted to go up the look-out tower to snap more photos of the garden and area but it was not meant to be. It started to drizzle and I disappointingly left the place in a haste.


















KHOO TECK PUAT HOSPITAL

Like humans suffering from weariness, these trees, palms, shrubs and climbers planted in planter boxes are starting to exhibit signs and symptoms of chronic nutrient deficiency.


Unless they are regularly fed with a combination of organic fertilizers in the long term and compound fertilizers with trace elements in the short term, the problem will not go away so easily.


I wasn't able to take close-up photos of the plants from where I was because my camera was out of battery then. Well, let's see how the situation will be the next time I come here.

HERON

These birds are often spotted as solitary individuals looking out towards the water. I wonder if they have feelings of loneliness because they are always alone.

SARACA & EPIPHYTES

 Today's weather - sunny
These Saraca trees planted around 2005 at this down ramp from ECP to Beach Road are so big and beautiful now. I am glad we made the right choice.


On the other side of the road, the epiphytes on the Rain Tree are also colonizing the tree forks naturally. I just wished there were more tree branches so the picture looked more complete.




22 February 2012

COLOUR & LANTERNS

I have always love colours and would not give up a chance to take photos of colourful stuff, like this shop at the CityLink Mall and the pyramidal roof tiles of the Millenia.

The latter has been around for a while now and I wonder how many people are as amazed as me by the colourful roofs. In fact, every time I gaze up at this part of the building, it reminds me of those thousand buddhas found in temples. I can almost imagine them being placed at different tiers. Only this time round, I am also drawn by the pink lanterns, which reminded me of the sky lanterns (孔明灯).




DEVILZ PARADIZE

After leaving the seafood restaurant, I saw a leg, or rather what is left of a leg at the front door of this shop. Fortunately, it is not real, otherwise the bloody leg with a bone sticking out would have freaked me out.



RABBIT BRAND

We ordered this lunch spread at the Rabbit Brand seafood restaurant at Circular Road. They use a lot of oyster sauce and mushrooms in their dishes and if one loves to eat seafood such as shark's fins and abalones, then this is a restaurant worth trying out.

CERBERA

This is a red-leaved grafted Cerbera, with pinkish-red flowers, presumably from Indonesia. 


Interestingly, the rootstock is sprouting green leaves with white flowers, and is completely oblivious to the more showy scion grafted above it. I know it makes good horticultural practice to prune off the undesirable branches to prevent the more vigorous rootstock from overtaking the whole plant.