Singapore Arts Festival @ Esplanade: Bornfire 2007

The Esplanade was an integral part of the Singapore Arts Festival 2007 and there were many different outstanding performances, plays and artistic displays from different countries.





I went on the 23rd June and watched a breathtaking display of fire burning, throwing and dancing. This is known as Bornfire 2007 and please do visit their official website bornfire.





The performances were held at the Esplanade Forecourt over 3 days from 22nd to 24th June and I managed to catch 2 different awesome performances from a star studded line up of many other different performers from other parts of the world.

Enjoy the fire burning !

Singapore Arts Festival 2007 Closing Celebrations - Time Out by antagon theaterAKTion (Germany)

On 24th June 2007, The Singapore Arts Festival came to a close, held in the heartlands of Western Singapore, at the open field between Jurong East Central 1 and JTC Summit.



antagon theaterAKTion from Germany graced this spectacular event and their performance synopsis could be read from the official homepage of Singapore Arts Festival 2007.
Closing Celebrations - Time Out.





It was a unique experience (especially for me), watching a theater play in the midst of our heartlands. The play somehow reflected the life we were leading, lost, locked up, struggle and searching for energy release and a new life.

During a segment of the play, the performers presented people slowing down, fighting and catching something they wanted badly ..... it was a clock on a round metal plate, TIME ....... to turn back the time ? or wanting more time ? This particular play segment would always leave a deep impression inside me.







Fire , pyrotechnics and a finale fireworks lighted up the outdoor arena, though the fires gone yet leaving fiery memories in Singapore.

Fast & Furious Drifting Action @ Texas Revolution Carnival ~ 9th June 2007

I am a sports car fanatic. I can't call myself a great expert in all racing cars, parts, modifications, clubs, racing circuits, drifting techniques etc etc ..... Nevertheless, if you wish to chit chat until the sun comes down on racing and sports cars and related stuff, do feel free to drop me an email.

I am a huge fan of Initial D (Anime dramas and movie) and basically anything to do with sports car racing, Formula 1 , GT Races. My favourite sports cars are Nissan Skyline GT-R, Nissan 180SX and Subaru WRX and I have great respect for sports cars such as Honda NSX, Mazda RX-7, Toyota Supra, Honda Civic EG6, Mitsubishi Evolution 6.

During the Texas Revolution Carnival, I was entertained by some great performances of drifting and high octane racing by different sports cars and there were a significant proportion of S14 and S15, driven by professional drifters from Malaysia and Singapore.

Presenting to all ....... some photographs from that Saturday's hot burning actions,

(1) Police and Thief Story









(2) Drifting









Time to be a drifter ? Hmm ..... Keep a lookout ......

Texas Revolution Carnival on 9th June 2007 @ Old Police Academy Parade Square

There was an awesome event known as Texas Revolution Carnival, in conjunction with the Police Week Carnival. It was held from 8th June to 10th June at the Old Police Academy ground. It was a fun-filled event of games, displays and hot racing actions.

The hot racing actions at the Texas Revolution Carnival, consisted of
- Drifting Sports Cars
- Racing Bikes
- Go Karts
- Race Queen Search

It was a hot afternoon when I got there around 1500hrs, and the Race Queen search was starting to kick start. Fixed up my arsenal, my Canon 30D + EF 70-200mm F4 L + Sigma Super DG 500 Flash, got myself a position behind the early bird photographers and started shooting away. It's always fun to see rows of photographers with similar arsenal setup taking photos of models/race queens, brought back photojournalistic memories during the Motorshow 2006.





The ladies participating in the Race Queen competiiton deserved a special mention. They were beautiful, awesome and fun loving, I wished them all the best on the final day of the competition.

After the initial round on the Race Queen contest, our attention was turned to the parade square, the first action was the racing bikes running out for their runs around the circuit. After that, the drift cars came in, displaying a racing & drifting performance called "Police & Thief". It was great to view such live action performances and there were lots of tyre burning and white smoke coming out from the rear tyres, all in the art and love of drifting.





The next drifting performance consisted of racing cars from Singapore and Malaysia, mainly Nissan S14 & S15. It was hot burning action and the drivers displayed the art of drifting and racing, with precision, skills and timing. Our Malaysia counterparts later performed professional stunts and partnerships, they were really great racers and it was a joy watching them. Go-Karting racing was next and I just enjoyed watching them zooming left right in the circuit.





Finally, the action ended with the selection of the finalists for Sunday's Race Queen competition.

Mr Chim Chee Kong - A 3rd Generation Snakehunter

My old friend, Zhigang, a fellow Dragon Scout old boy (same cohort), is a very passionate zoologist/biologist/photographer/nature lover in the field of snakes research in Singapore. He had recently went on Air with Radio Station 938Live (93.8 FM) The Living Room on 5th June 2007 and shared about his passion for snakes in Singapore.

He is conducting a seminar on Snakes in Singapore on 16th June 2007, Tampines Regional Library, 3pm to 430pm:
Snakes in Singapore - Know them and you will love them

Do attend his seminar if you are keen to learn more from this great man !

Check out his Blog too ! SLOG (Singapore Snakes Blog) and also a write up by Habitatnews on the great man himself ! Sat 16 Jun 2007: Chim Chee Kong on "Snakes in Singapore"

Survival Training @ Dragon Scout Group Camp ~ 3rd June 2007

Survival Training is a specialised skill that is usually taught in the armed forces especially in vocations like Special Forces or Recon.

In Dragon Scout Group, we learned some basic Survival Training and they were taught during the Venture Scouts training program. During this camp, the Ventures built and demonstrated a few traps, shelters, smoke signals and water collection methods to the scouts and cub scouts. I remembered during my Venture days, we used to build the traps and shelters too, very interesting and fun to learn and the survival skills learned would definitely come in useful.

Dragon Scouting is really fun, even for an old boy like me, I still enjoy coming back and be part of the fun and action, bringing back great memories. I hope my writings on the various Dragon Scouting activities would keep my fellow Dragon Chapter members updated and rallying them back again to Dragon Scouting.

Backwoodsman Cooking @ Dragon Scout Group Camp ~ 3rd June 2007

The Dragon Scout Group went for their Annual Camp from 1st June to 4th June, along with our cub scouts from Radin Mas Primary and Gan Eng Seng Primary. I believe they had lots of fun during this camp.

I pop down on the 3rd day and it was Backwoodsman Cooking day. Well, before it began, there was the usual campsite inspection of the respective patrols. Walking around the various patrols, it brought back many different memories (good, bad, funny, tiring) during my scouting days. Some things just never change, traditions as some of us called it, priceless. Moving around, chatting with the leaders and teachers, had a great time visiting the various patrols campsites.



Just before the Flag Break ceremony, I walked around Sarimbun Camp. Gee.... If I remember correctly, my last visit was in 1998..... 9 years..... wow ..... some things are still the same, never change and there were new additions, improvements, upgrading and removal of some structures e.g. Pondoks. My senior, GSL Hongliang was making fun of me, being lost in time and suggested a senior Gessian to give me a tour of the Sarimbun Camp.

After the Flag Break ceremony, Backwoodsman Cooking began and the various patrols went behind the campsite and started their preparations, collecting firewood, dry leaves, preparing their indgredients and dishes. They had to start their fire using 3 matches, our minimum scouting standard. Overall, it was a good experience for all the younger boy scouts and cub scouts, allowing them to learn more about cooking in the outdoors.







Various dishes were cooked and we moved around to taste their food. Reflecting back, I did had a lot of fun during Backwoodsman Cooking, although it was pretty hot that day, the scouts and cub scouts were having fun cooking, marinating and making fun of one another. I went around tasting the food they cooked, taking photographs and chatting with the folks around the Backwoodsman Cooking compound.

A very hot day of Backwoodsman Cooking but it was great to be part of it.