Lunar Snake Year @ Chinatown, Singapore 牛车水蛇年延庆

Location: Chinatown (牛车水), Singapore

It has always strike me as weird that a nation with the Chinese ethnic as the dominant population would have a place named Chinatown. And it strikes me even weirder that said nation celebrates Christmas with more bang than it does for Lunar New Year. 

Just as Orchard Road strives to be its best in the month leading to Christmas, the same happens in Chinatown during the Lunar New Year. In fact, one may notice that Chinatown is the place where Lunar New Year is celebrated with more festivities than most other areas in the island nation. Chinese lanterns adorn all over an area which borders blurred with its neighboring districts, and this year 2 special guests graced the streets. 

The gigantic Red Snake invaded Chinatown with a message: Happy Lunar Snake Year!

The Way Back Home - Train Journey from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur

Location: Woodlands Train Checkpoint, Singapore to KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

How does one travel from Ipoh to Singapore, or vice versa? The typical answer would be by bus, by car or by flight. But one rarely does consider taking a train unless being subjected to a desperate situation. Unfortunately, I was.

Despite the romantic notion of train travels popularized by novels such as Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, I assure you that it is anything but if one were to take KTM's train service. The slow crawl of the locomotive was only faster than a car or bus's speed if there were a severe jam on the road, affording this choice of transportation the least preferred.

Changi Budget Terminal - Before the End of Days

Location: Changi, Singapore

The news of Changi's budget terminal closure on 25th September 2012 should have been known to all frequent travelers of budget airlines, which incidentally does not include Air Asia in its ranks. I traveled through Air Asia more often than other airlines, but I did peruse the service of Tiger Airways once in a while, so I was still well acquainted with this wayward terminal situated at the fringe of its 3 larger cousins.

The announcement of the end of Changi's budget terminal service on 25th Sept 2012.

Kinetic Rain @ Terminal 1 (T1), Changi International Airport

Location: Changi, Singapore

Kinetic Rain is now the latest addition to Singapore's Changi International Airport, delighting travelers and visitors with its fluid dances.

It is usual for frequent travelers by plane to feel bored by the unchanging scenes of an airport save for the ever shifting bulk of pedestrian traffic. Having to wait for my Air Asia flight in Changi International Airport's Terminal 1 (T1) did not prepare me for a new sight within the departure hall's check in counters.

Travelers who frequented T1, including fellow travelers of Air Asia, could now spend their spare waiting time by feasting their eyes on the latest addition to the departure hall - Kinetic Rain.