Gillman Barracks

Originally built in 1936 as a military encampment for the British Army, Gillman Barrcks now hosts ten art galleries located in five buildings. Aiming to set itself up as a contemporary art destination in Asia its big enough to require picking up one of the maps that can be found dotted around the complex.

I'm no art expert, for me somethings work and some things don't. This for example, a hand wound ball of thread, meant to represent the fragile fenced border between India and Pakistan. So,ok,  get that but its not very exciting to look at!

This morning glory made of rattan however is great to look at, and huge!

Plus this movie poster style painting was fun.

Some volcanic ash art.

I also saw some more Sebastiao Salgado photographs. Having seen his Genesis exhibition twice, once in London's Natural History Museum and again at the National Museum of Singapore I was thrilled to spot some photographs from his Workers series.

So still loads to explore there, sure you could get immersed for a whole day, and going on a history tour might be very interesting.

Young Musical Talent

A couple of months back we saw a leaflet advertising a Piano Concerto Festival at the Singapore School of Arts (another unusual and beautiful building). The festival was spread over two Sundays with 6 brilliant young pianists joining forces for the first time in South East Asia. All 6 had been mentored by Tedd Joselson who was the patron of the concert. When I went online to buy the tickets we couldn't decide which week to buy for, then seeing they were only $20 (£10) each we thought, lets go to both!

Last weeks experience was magical with 3 pianists who I would estimate to be in their early 20s. I think today's was extra special though. There was a young lad who looked about 12, they had to bring in a special raised stool for him, playing note perfect Mozart in perfect timing, with the orchestra, all from memory. Then after an intermission another young lad, maybe 16 played Rachmaninoff. Think 'All By Myself', the programme told me the melody came from this Rachmaninoff piece and you could really here it in parts. We watched as he really stepped into the music. His body flowed with his every key press and the speed at which the notes were played, a real knuckle busting piece. When the piece reached its climax he seemed to speed up another gear which you wouldn't have thought possible. On finishing he punched the air with his fists, a big grin on his face. I just can't even imagine how you memorize such a long and complicated piece and all at such a young age. Such dedication and talent! Utterly breathtaking.

Kuala Lumpur

Only 50 minutes by plane from Singapore KL is a very different city from our current second home. The crowning glory of the Malaysian capital are the Petronas Towers standing at 452m .

Tickets for a visit (we had to book in advance or queue at 8am) include a trip to the sky bridge that spans the two towers before continuing to the 88th floor at  the top of the tower. The sky bridge, the worlds highest double decked bridge, connects levels 41 and 42. It is not fully attached to the building and facilities the natural movement due to weather conditions. 

Seen up close from the 88th floor the buildings seem very intricate and the stainless steels gleams in the sunlight. The unusual shape must have been difficult to build and there are many Islamic influences in the design and style.

In the picture below you can just make out the telecoms tower which I have pictured from the ground below.

Sadly it was rather hazy and our view felt a bit spoilt.

Interesting swimming pool on this hotel!

The telecoms tower, reminds of the BT tower in London.

Taken from the park below.

The National Mosque of Malaysia has a capacity of 15,000 people, sadly I couldn't find a vantage point to show off the sheer size of the building.

Stunning pieces in the Islamic Arts Museum.

The dome roof

 Outside of the dome roof

Heritage buildings opposite Merdeka Square.

Sadly KL felt somewhat disjointed. The taxis got snarled up in the busy traffic and seemed to take ages to travel only short distances. The pavements were cracked, full of holes or just plain non-existent. The trains seemed to be the best option but even those were confusing and there was always a queue for a ticket. It wasn't the clean, slick, easy city life that we have become accustomed!

Ice Art

I do tend to want to try everything and have an ability to find random things to do. This may be one of the most random, an Ice Art show. In a warehouse maintained at -15 Deg C was a display of ice sculptures complete with an icy slide for the kids. You could even hire a jacket to keep you warm whilst you look around inside. What a random mix of sculptures too!

Sir Stamford Raffles stands proudly outside his hotel.

Eiffel Tower

Temple 

Santa and his reindeer!

Dragon Art

Dinosaurs

Our very own Big Ben

Keep On Running

Thanks to one of my new climbing friends my first Singapore 10k came forward a couple of weeks with a spare entry into a local event. It was an evening run, a first for me, starting at 18:30. They tried to do an enthusiastic group 'warm up' which made me laugh as I was sweating just standing still, really no warm up was required. The day had peaked at around 35 Degrees and 85-90% humidity so it was a pretty tough run. The setting was stunning though, Jurong Lake Park is now on our list of places to go and see in Singapore and to run round its edges was really very lovely.

Despite the hard work I was buzzing and smiling at the end and feeling more confident having seen that everyone else was finding it difficult too, a great night and a great big chunky finishers medal to remember it by!

This morning my millage build up continued and it was only a matter of time before I got caught part way through my weekly long run in a thunder storm. At first I was quite happy, the rain was keeping me at a relatively pleasant temperature. However, as the storm rolled overhead and the lightening flashes were visible even through it was daylight, followed instantly by ear shattered claps of thunder I began to wonder how safe I was. Added to this the little stream that had started to form on the trail was now filling the entire path and around ankle deep.

So an interesting conundrum started.......seek shelter in the next little wooden huts I passed that are built for such things, for an unknown period of time in the middle of the woods waiting for it to stop. Or continue to try and run in the 'river' that used to be the path. In the end by the time I reached the next shelter I only had to wait around 10 minutes before the thunder rolled off in the opposite direction and I returned to the river path to splash my way back to base.

The reservoir is a beautiful place after a storm though, mist rises up off the water like some eerie horror movie. I think I was just starting to dry off when the rain started again. Bit of a lesson learnt, next time I am caught out I'll be straight in the first shelter I see till the worst passes, that's what the shelters are for after all!

The ArtScience Museum

Such an interesting name for a museum, you don't usually see Art and Science combined under the same roof. In their own words they are  "a museum that celebrates creativity  - the process at the heart of art and science" and well, you can't really argue with that.

First of all I have to talk about the building. One of the iconic sights in the Marina Bay area, it reminds me of a big hand opened up skyward. According to Wikipedia it is supposed to be reminiscent of a lotus flower and perhaps the pond below it full of floating flowers supports this. However, it also says it is referred to as the 'welcoming hand of Singapore' so I guess I'm not the only one who see's a hand. When in the upper gallery inside one of the 'fingers' the curved walls lead up to the skylight windows allowing natural light to flood in. Not just pleasing to the eye the bowl shaped roof collects rainwater which is recycled inside the building.

The museum does have a permanent ArtScience gallery but we chose to visit the two touring exhibits. Dinosaurs Dawn To Extinction was a journey through 600 million years. Informative, fun and lots of hands on items for kids, this was a really great, well laid out exhibition.  With plenty of real fossils and original art work alongside I could see that the Art Science could work.

The touring Art exhibition was Annie Leibovitz - A Photographers Life 1990-2005. I can't say I had heard of her but I was familiar with some of the celebrity pictures that she has taken over the years when I saw them. This was a big exhibition, with many pictures and she had chosen to freely mix her own personal family photos with those she had taken as part of her work. An unusual photographer, often her subjects weren't smiling, perhaps she felt this wasn't a true reflection.

A great museum and with the touring exhibitions one that can be enjoyed again and again!

When the body fails the mind takes over

I wasn't planning on doing a running update again for a while. I have a 10k in just over 3 weeks time so that would have probably been the next installment. Last week, for my long run, I set the alarm for 5:40 giving me time to have a snack and get myself organised and up to the woods ready to run at sunrise (6:45). This really seemed to help, the humidity was reduced, there was a breeze and I got about 3/4 of the way round my route before I really got all sticky and melting. Don't get me wrong, I'm still way slower than I would have liked but I actually enjoyed the run.

So, I had high hopes for a repeat performance this week as I edged the distance up a little. I even managed to eat a little more and was feeling good until I stepped outside. I could feel straight away the humidity was high even though the sun wasn't up. From the moment I started running my body got that horrible layer of moisture and I'm not sure my choice of t-shirt was exactly helping to wick it away. Add to that a generally feeling of tiredness and it was a struggle most of the way round.

My time was even slower than last week when I passed the same distance and I had to dig deep to push out the extra few kilometers. Afterwards I stopped at a cafe for a cold drink, feeling a bit blue looking at my terrible split times on my watch. I was beginning to wonder if there was any way I could complete the 21km that I have entered in August. If I am melting after 13km I'm not sure how that last 8 will feel.

That's when someone ran past me with the slogan on the back of his t-shirt "When the body fails the mind takes over" and that made me smile. A few simple words to remind me that its pushing your body that tests your mind. The only one who is disappointed in my time is me, the only one I am trying to beat is me. And with that note I won't be aiming for a time in 3 weeks when I do that 10km, I'll be aiming to finish and to enjoy it, thank you running man for putting that back in perspective!