Thursday, July 31, 2008

Night Festival @ National Museum

After the Marc Jacobs event, V and I hopped on down to the National Museum to catch the Night Festival. I didn't get to go last weekend, so this was good. By the time we got there, it was close to 10pm and some of the performances were over. We managed to catch the last bit of a drumming performance and also explore the various exhibits inside the National Museum. Last night was also free entry after 6pm to all the museums in Singapore. Pity there was no time to go explore the Peranakan Museum (next on my list to visit).
The night illumination continued the entire night outside the museum. It was so crowded. Kudos to the organizer for a free event for 2 weekends. And it gave people something to do till 2am too.
I love this purple combination. Blurry pic though.
Isn't this a bit eerie? Somehow the illumination on the museum reminded me of the grand opening of The Arts House at The Old Parliament House. They did something similar during the opening ceremony :)
This was even scarier. You could imagine it like a doll house and the window opened suddenly. Lol, the museum is haunted. I went on a Singapore Ghost Tour and they brought us to the National Museum. But with the changes to the exhibitions and the renovations, I don't remember which rooms were haunted. They also took us up to the roof top for the tour, so we got to climb that metal spiral staircase which is still inside.

The tour was organized by someone else (obviously not the museum staff) - think someone involved in the heritage of Singapore or something - we were brought to a room with Peranakan features - the altar, wedding bed etc and also the surrender chamber thing? Memory is vague now as the tour was conducted in 2002. We also went to the Singapore Arts Museum (used to be SJI) and Raffles Hotel - haunted too :p



I like this too. Leaving the Night Festival.

In the clothing section. It showcased the women fashion through the years and how dresses changed from being loose to tighter as influenced by Dior in the 1960s. There was even a vintage pair of Ferragamo heels on display.

Singer sewing machine!
We used to have this at home. It seemed like most families will have a sewing machine at home in the old days but what happened now? Everyone just buy and no longer make their own clothes.
At the film and wayang section. The old old old cases of reels of films. How old is that?
Gramophone. So cool. The oldest player I have seen and played with was the turn table for the vinyl records which my cousins used to have.
I didn't take picture of the wayang or puppet theatre as it looked too eerie. Almost like those people burned to worship the dead. But look at the costumes for the Chinese opera. You hardly see this anymore. I remembered when it was the Lunar 7th month, there would be wayang shows and those pasar malam food stalls along the walk way. Those were the days in the early 80s.
At the food section. Kueh tutu. So cool.

And kickapoo! Green Spot! I remembered those drinks in primary school. Soft drinks used to cost 10 cents for a small cup and 20 cents for a big cup. Those were the days before inflation and all that stuff.
I remembered the fan too. Satay, anyone?
And look! The metal thing to make love letters. Gosh! My ex-neighbor's mom used to make love letters and I remembered helping out. Trying to make it, but it was so hot! The metal thing got very hot after being heated on the satay man's charcoal stove thing.
All the kuehs! Mooncakes, rice cakes, tortoiseshell cake. The old days where people actually still made their own goodies.
David? Or the Greek God from the previous visit I made to the museum to check out the Greek Masterpieces. I need to find time to go visit the Peranakan Museum. Anyone interested?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's David.
is that the one made from brocade material?
I saw it was ensembled during my visit to see the Greek Masterpieces.
The David was created by Indonesian, as i heard them talking on that day.

carolyn said...

Ah ok. Was wondering as it was so crowded that night, didn't really get to slowly explore and see the exhibits. Good thing that it will be free entry after 3pm for all museums till 15 Aug in celebration of its anniversary.