I go to Vivo City after Moonlight service to meet Ken to discuss the upcoming production of Blue Willow House, whose music I am to arrange. When I arrive Ken is finding a parking lot in the packed car park, so I wander about the mall - the outdoor areas which I have not been able to visit since the mall opened. The pictures are not in order... Blogger has an irritating way of posting the photographs and it's too troublesome to drag them around and re-arrange them in the right order. So I'll just post captions.


OUTDOOR PROMENADE FACING THE HARBOUR AND SENTOSA ISLAND (from 2nd floor of Vivo City)

Sentosa looks as if it blacked out. You used to be able to see the bright lights of the Ferry Terminal - now sadly demolished in its youth, to make way for the future IR. So all the main activities at Sentosa are concentrated on the other side of the island, where the beaches are.

Wading pool atop Vivo City (on the 3rd floor). HarbourFront in the background. Pity the cable cars do not show clearly.


A water feature at the promenade where I take the above 2 photos. I like the contrast between smooth and rocky, warm and cool. Water slides from the marble pool, over the jagged rocks and into the hole (a bit like the dentist's sink)



Keppel Harbour again. Singapore Cruise Centre to the right, with the cable cars (aargh they don't show again) above. The skinny spire on the left is the Carlsbeg Tower. Imposing in the day, almost invisible by night.



Aah, here's a clearer view of the high-speed ferry you saw in the earlier picture.


Brani terminal and the Sentosa Causeway.


FOOD REPUBLIC (3rd floor)

This is one of the most fascinating food courts I've seen (after the one at Suntec Convention Centre - the design of the library of an antique Western house). You'd think you'd walked into some amusement park. Seriously the other nicely-designed foodcourts in the past were at Funworld (Parkway Parade) and Magic Land (Marina Square), both former indoor amusement parks. Funworld had a similar concept as this Food Republic outlet - old Singapore. Magic Land had a medieval castle-like decor - but the whole place was pretty dark and dank. But I LIKE.

Anyway the place is very atmospheric. If only it were less crowded... Ken and I would have discussed our stuff here, because the scenery fits that of Macao Street in Blue Willow House!

The caption reads: "The chair-like sedan lined with colour silk was one of the vehicles used in ancient China. Just like a donkey for the poor, the sedan is mainly used by the rich as a mode of transportation. However, on special occassions such as weddings, the poor would also use it to ferry the bride to the groom's house.

"The use of the sedan for weddings dated back to the Qing dynasty. Emperor Qianlong, the great and powerful emperor at that time travelled far south of China for inspection tours. On one of his trips, he crossed paths with a wedding band and the bride who was travelling to the groom's house on a donkey's back. None of them would give way to the other to pass. So the Emperor got off the sedan to challenge the bride to compose a poem and in return, he would lend her his sedan for her wedding. From then on, the use of the sedan gradually became a customary wedding vehicle."










By the way, the guy standing on the right with arms on hips is the manager (I think, for I notice he wears a name tag as I walk past him) who looks out of place with the times - if you get what I mean.