The Last Ticket and a Rainy Light Show
In the morning I needed to give a presentation about my dissertation so I only had half of the day to explore attractions in Singapore. I had a buttered toast with scrambled eggs and smoked sausage at a Cafe in Bugis, but the stall holders didn’t seem to be very friendly to me. Never mind, I was going to Artscience Museum near Gardens by the Bay. Just outside the shopping mall at the ground level, I came across an interesting bowl-shape transparent thing and stopped to take a look. It’s actually Rain Oculus made by acrylic, functioning as both a skylight and a rain collector. The rain water is recycled back to the whirlpool and also fills a canal that runs through the atrium in the mall. It showcases Singapore’s dedication to combine the spirit of conservation and aesthetics (Spoiler Alert: the design of ArtScience Museum abides to the same ideology). Besides these, the monumental bowl can also transmit voices. Standing at the opposite side of the speakers, you can clearly hear what they are talking about, which is so amazing!
When I arrived at the ArtScience Museum, it’s unfortunate since I saw a sign that said the tickets for today had been sold out. Well, then I guessed I could only buy tickets for future dates so I headed downstairs to where the ticket office was and saw some self-service ticket vendor machines. While I was navigating the machine to try to buy a ticket, I overheard a staff from another machine saying that the time slot of a date is not significant. Before I came down here, I checked my phone that tickets for 1 hour before closing time were still available, so I asked her if I could buy that ticket. Though she initially said no ticket could be bought any more, she was also surprised that the one last ticket was still successfully purchased and I became the lucky dog of the day by purchasing the very last ticket of the day!
The exhibition I went was called Future World: Where Art Meets Science. As the title suggests, the show breaks the boundary between art and science and has a collection of digital interactive installations recreating some of the famous artworks. Therefore, it’s not the traditional museum because it doesn’t have any real art collection. I had a lot of fun interacting with the digitally rendered artworks, feeling like I were part of the masterpieces. The staff in the exhibition were very friendly and helpful as well, clearly elaborating how to play in the installation and constantly wishing me have a good time.
Sadly, the festival of Inside Out 2 was closed due to the rainfall, so without doubt I would miss it during my trip. I then took a walk in the Gardens by the Bay, explored the places there I hadn’t been to, and happened to watch a carnival at the meadow coming to an end. When I was eating Singapore Laksa at Jurassic Food Stall, the light show at Supertree Grove began and I couldn’t miss it! I left my meal behind, hoping that it wouldn’t be cleared away. It’s rainy and the ground was wet, so people were standing while enjoying the show this time. The music of the show changed to the theme song of Inside Out today, so I could experience different music and light rhythms from yesterday! What a luck! The show was cooler with background music of Inside Out and a vertical screen displaying the different emotions of the upcoming film. I watched the entire show in the rain, but I didn’t care! After I came back from the show to Jurassic Food Hall, the dinosaurs were activated and moving lively, some even roaring and feeding! The continuous series of fun events and the delicious meal made me so exhilarated!
Aside from LV island, there’s also an Apple Store on an island in the shape of a giant apple.
Singapore is just so futuristic!
Still, it couldn’t be accessed through the linking bridge on the water, so I again went downstairs inside the shopping mall and took an escalator to go on the island, where I watched a light and fountain show, silently, since I couldn’t hear any sound from the outside in the Apple Store on the island.
Just when I was about to leave and finding MRT station, I happened to read a sign near the canal in the shopping mall that the Rain Oculus Waterfall had begun minutes ago. I rushed thereand watched the magnificent waterfall from the nozzle of the oculus to the canal. To view it from a different angle, I got out of the shopping mall and watched it from the top. Water injected from the sides were twirling into a beautiful whirlpool before forming the waterfall to the canal. After the waterfall stopped, several groups of young girls from local dance clubs gave performance one by one, igniting the atmosphere and attracting visitors from every corner. By the way, today was the first day of the school holiday in Singapore, so that’s probably why it’s so lively at night at the center of Singapore.
That’s it! An eventful and happy half-day!
