HEREAFTER

This is a movie about the afterlife and starring Matt Damon, Cecile de France and George McLaren as the main leads. The story started off as three separate tales on how each of them have a brush with death - Cecile almost drowned in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Matt had a high fever when he was younger and almost died from it and George's twin brother died in an accident.

The movie took its time to develop the characters depth and showed how death affected them in one way or another. Their separate life stories eventually converge together when they somehow meet each other in a London Book Fair towards the end of the movie in a happy ending.

I personally didn't quite enjoy the movie because the director Clint Eastwood tried to deliver the characters with a purpose by taking his time but I felt he lost the audience in the process because the loose ends were only tied at the end and even so, it seemed very trying and was hardly convincing. I love the start of the movie and the CGI effects of the tsunami but it deteriorated from there onwards. The suspense built up in the movie could not lift it from its dreadful pace.

Anyway, the very beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard cameoed in a small role but that was not enough to save the movie.

RAIN

It has been raining cats and dogs for a few days and nights now and the air is so cool and clean. But the poor stallholders at Chinatown are probably suffering since this bout of rain is likely going to continue to Chinese New Year. This would make it one of the worst years for them in terms of sales.

Don't get me wrong. I love the rain and water and most of what comes with it. But the sky has also been so gloomy for a while. There needs to be some light to brighten up everyone's downcast mood to usher in the upcoming new year.

This recent change in weather e.g. drier December and very wet January up to CNY, is testament of changing global climate conditions throughout the world. We should do more to protect mother earth so that it would be kind to us.

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!

FLORAL WALK

The Floral Walk is also looking better these days with the more established landscape and I am proud I had a part to play in it.

TITHONIA GRANDIFLORA

The Tithonia rotundifolia that I grew behind the HortPark main signage is sprouting back again after the parent plant apparently died off. What a delight!

WATER GARDEN

They pruned the trees at the Water Garden, so much so that the pathway is so clear now and everything is in view. To me, this removes the sense of mystery shrouded around the dense plants that once created an element of surprise.

The Brugmansia is flowering again although there were just the few blooms.

FLOATING PLATFORM

It seems the trial prototype worked and they are adding more such floaters into this pond. Someone once told me that I should not plant Strelitzia and Heliconia together because ecologically they are from different habitats.

But I guess at times it doesn't quite matter, does it? This is all about creativity or creative ideas, just like these Sarracenia, Oenanthe and Thalia etc are planted together to form an interesting combination. That is all that really matters.

SARACA & GREVILLEA

Once again, these small but reliable Saraca declinata and Grevillea cultivar are flowering rather brilliantly. They are definitely worth planting in the landscape.

HELICONIA WALK

At this stretch of the Heliconia Walk, the plants are establishing well. In fact, the Canna indica (Family: Cannaceae) that we grew from seeds collected from a chinese temple near Jalan Bukit Timah are flowering well. This is one Canna that can be grown in water or wet boggy soils.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canna_indica

CLERODENDRUM QUADRILOCULARE

This Clerodendrum quadriloculare at the Fantasy Garden is growing so well that younger plants are sprouting beside the parent plant that I planted.

Like I said before, when it goes into mass flowering, I am sure the starburst effect is going to be very spectacular.

GOLDEN GARDEN

This is one corner of the Golden Garden that I loved, especially with the curved and beautiful granite gabion-like bench that I recycled from the previous SGF. The Tagetes lucida is flowering beautifully.

The variegated greenish-yellow leaved shrub is also confirmed to be a Graptophyllum pictum (common name: Caricature Plant) with the formation of the pinkish floral buds, that are typical of this genus.

MOON

This is the beautiful moon in the night sky. But sometimes in myths and legends, the moon that is most apparent at night is clouded in mystery and thought and felt to be ominous.

However, the chinese believes in the Chinese Lunar New Year, and computes the year based on the moon cycles, unlike the western calendar years. The first day of the first month of the lunar year is known as 正月 and the first and fifteenth days, known as 初一and 十五 are the most important days of the months.

A link on the Chinese Lunar New Year is attached below for reference:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year

SUNTEC

Just outside the Esplanade MRT on the Suntec City side was this simple decor of rabbits and 春, which means spring in chinese.

I actually love the chinese zodiac and if you do not know someone's age but know which zodiac they belong to, you can work out their age accordingly. The zodiac runs in cycles of 12 years, so if someone is born in the year of the rabbit, then their age is in multiples of 12 this year e.g. 12, 24, 36, 48.

The story of the race behind the order of the animals is also interesting and the animals are listed in the following order:

1. rat
2. ox
3. tiger
4. rabbit
5. dragon
6. snake
7. horse
8. goat
9. monkey
10. chicken
11. dog
12. pig

The ferocious tiger is exiting to make way for the cute rabbit in a few days time. But the next year of the dragon would likely see a surge in the baby births because it is thought to be auspicious to have a dragon child. A link is shown below on the chinese zodiac:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac

YUSHENG (鱼生)

IKEA was selling this Yusheng, or the chinese equivalent of a raw fish salad, that is eaten during the Chinese New Year period to usher in good luck etc, and I bought a box of it.

But sadly, the taste wasn't quite like the real deal that is served at restaurants. Like they say, you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. For the amount I paid for this, I guess this was the quality that should be expected.

A link on 鱼生 is shown below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusheng

ELEPHANTOPUS SCABER

At this neighbourhood coffeeshop area, they planted a whole range of medicinal and edible plants such as Catharanthus, Chili etc. This is the Elephantopus scaber (common name: Elephant Foot; Family: Asteraceae / Compositae) with medicinal properties.

Sometimes, it is also a weed in the garden.