Singapore Day 1

We have this guide book - "Singapore's Top 10" that's given us a long list of things to do. From our Hotel on Butik Pasoh Road, we wandered up to Chinatown and wandered past the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, located here.  

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/320s, f/1.4, ISO 100

The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. Costing S$62 million and 2 years later, a soft launch was held to coincide with the 2007 Vesak Day celebration." It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar. Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served for free in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted.

Next up was the Than Hock King Temple, also in Chinatown. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/2500, f/2.0, ISO 100
Dragon on roof of an incense burner. One of the interior walls of the temple proper can be seen in the background.

This Temple is the oldest and most important Fukien, or Hoklo (Hokkien) temple in Singapore. The main temple is dedicated to Mazu, the Taoist goddess of the sea and protector of all seamen, while a second temple at the back is a Buddhist one dedicated to Kuan Yin, the bodhisattva of mercy.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/160, f/4.0, ISO 100
Collection box for the Than Hock King Temple

After the temple district we wandered down to the shorefront to have a look at the developments of the Singapore skyline, which already is impressive. They have a statue, a cross between a lion and mermaid (Merlion), which is the symbol for Singapore. It is a massive tourist attraction, and we got swamped by people.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/40, f/4.0, ISO 100
Bridge near the Merlion Fountain, Singapore Harbourside.

There seems to be constant construction works at the perimeter of the city centre, but the city centre itself is completed. The thing which strikes me about Singapore as a city is how clean it is. It seems that people are very conscientious about rubbish. Also, the commercial district has been planned out well, with emphasis placed on a green city - between the towering skyscrapes, room has been allocated for gardens, open plazas and green belts.

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/640s, f/8.0, ISO 100
Walking from Chinatown to Little India, Singapore. Detail from a wall near some roadworks.

For lunch we headed into a Japanese restaurant, which seems a little strange, in that I felt I should be at least eating Singaporean food! However, there were plenty of opportunities to try hawker food (street food) later in the day. 

EOS 1Ds II, 35mm f/1.4L, 1/60s, f/1.4, ISO 100
This was taken when we were at lunch (Japanese Restaurant). They'd lined up these finished Sake bottles against their outside window.

The thing I like about this photo is the phenomenal ability of the 35mm f/1.4 to be sharp at 1.4. I also found out that I have a slight backfocus problem on the 35mm f/1.4L. As you can see here, the focal point of the pocture should be the green bottle. However the lettering of the bottle to the left of it (in red and white) is mostly in focus. It is small, and most likelIy not noticable (or so I keep telling myself)!  However I still have a learning curve with this lens, and probably need to master the technique of focusing accurately with such a thin depth of field. If I had a 1Ds III, of 5D MkII body I could do microadjustment (to bring the focal plane of the lens into line with the sensor plane of the SLR), however I don't have that capability on the 1Ds II. 

After lunch we headed out to the botanical gardens (walked actually - quite a long way too!). I'll dedicate the next post to the gardens, so see you soon! As always, you can see all of these photos on my Flickr site.