CENTRAL MALL

Right in front of the Singapore River, they have put up this decor that is more reminiscent of Valentine's Day than Chinese New Year. I guess they want to capitalize on both the CNY and VD at the same time?

Within the mall, I love the colourful lanterns strung high up on the ceiling. It is not too "cheena" looking, but it is interesting.

And at B1 of the mall, there was another world. It was another one of those underground shopping areas with lots of eateries and a pet shop. I was pleasantly surprised!

SINGAPORE RIVER

The Singapore River was cleaned up for so many years now and the view of this waterfront compared to at least 3 decades ago is so drastically different. For those who were born before the 70's would likely remember the highly polluted river with lots of old shophouses and infrastructure in the area.

And I remember because my late grandmother used to stay nearby somewhere at what is Clarke Quay today. The riverfront is so colourful these days and people can be seen enjoying themselves sitting on the banks of the river taking in the beautiful view.

2 links on this river are attached below and the 2nd one is particularly interesting with all the old photos of the place:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore_River
2. http://pemsea.org/eascongress/international-conference/presentation_t6-1_Jothieswaran.pdf

BOY & DOG SCULPTURE

The sculpture of the boy and dog is probably one of those in Chinatown to depict the early days of the settlers along the Singapore River. It reminded me of the ones at Telok Ayer Green.

This particular one shows a boy holding something in his hand, and looking towards the direction of the sea, whilst his dog slept quietly next to him. There were some uplighters to lit up the sculpture at night, but unfortunately one of them has become a tray to stub out cigarettes. Poor dog, maybe it inhaled too much smoke that it fainted.