The Blog and Musings of Gnarfgnarf The Travel Mouse

What's with Singapore's "Park Connectors"?

Posted by Vera on 17 June 2011

It's hard to spot the trees behind the sky scrapers, or "condos" as they are known in Singapore. If like me, you're uncomfortable with heights, better leave the 60th floor to the extinct sea eagles. You'll end up hugging the dull and oppressing lower cityscape of this concrete metropolis. Until suddenly and often by chance, your footsteps lead you where no car has rolled before, across a breathing patch of nature, some trees and biodiversity thriving against the dystopia. These pockets of oxygen and green corridors are called "park connectors" and are managed by the Singapore National Parks Board. Of course, park connectors are puny when compared to the Tuileries, the Presidio, Kensington Gardens or Central Park, but an absolute necessity in the alienating urban dullness of Singapore's modernity. In a city where landscape architects' bread and butter consists of designing gardens for fast food joints, parking lots for high rises with exclusive sounding names, and potted greenery for shopping malls, the cleverly designed network of park connectors figuratively and literally brings fresh air to the masses, the plebes like you and me. See, people do use Singapore park connectors: take granny for the evening stroll, let baby try his first steps in the playground, muscle up with the outdoor fitness contraptions, cycle and stroll along the water for the next Iron Man triathlon... So don't miss out on a truly local everyday life experience in Singapore and find out where the park connector nearest to your hotel is (there are 42 of them!) on the National Parks Board map. For more tips on enjoying nature in Singapore, read our travel tips on the main Gnarfgnarf pages.

Things to do in Singapore in June 2011

Posted by Tony on 2 June 2011

3 - 19 June - Face without Name at the Substation, charcoal on canvas by Bayu Utomo Radjikin.

3 June - 30 August - Art Garden at the Singapore Art Museum, interactive contemporary art for children.

4 June, 8.00 pm - Tribal Gathering of Tongue Tasters at the Substation, alternative music ensemble.

4 June, 7.00 pm - Rise of the Bands at the Substation, emerging local music.

15 June - 30 September - Transforming Landscapes, Improving Lives: 50 Years of Economic Development at the Singapore National Museum, Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore.

Until 26 June - Negotiating Home, History and Nation at the Singapore Art Museum, two decades of contemporary art in Southeast Asia 1991-2011.

22 June - 2 July - Untitled (Wildlife) at the Substation, experimental performance and installation on consumerist materialism and the relationship between humans and the environment.

24 June - 16 October - Terracota Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy at the Asian Civilisations Museum, exhibits from Shaanxi documenting the rise of the Qin State.

Until 26 February 2012 - Sarong Kebaya, Peranakan fashion and batik masterpieces, Peranakan Museum.

Things to do in Phnom Penh in June and July 2011

Posted by Bonna on 2 June 2011

3 June, 7.00 pm - Meta House: "Lost Loves", fiction directed by Chhay Bora, 100 minutes, 2010, Khmer version with English subtitles.

3 June, 6.30 pm - French Cultural Centre: Hilltribe dance and drums performance by the Kok Thlok Company.

4 June, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "The Siamese Crocodile" , directed by Christophe Gargiulo, 24 minutes, 2010, and "Lands of the Lake", 2008, 48 minutes, documentaries, Khmer version with English subtitles.

7 June, 7.00 pm - Meta House: "Encourage and I can: Khmer Women Living with Disabilities", documentary directed by Elspeth Waldie, 32 minutes, 2010, Khmer version with English subtitles.

8 June, 7.00 pm - Meta House: "Bang Beng", edutainment drama set in rural Cambodia, directed by Chum Reap, 49 minutes, 2011, Khmer version with English subtitles.

11 June, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Crépuscule" (Twilight), drama directed by King Father Norodom Sihanouk, 69 minutes, 1968, Khmer version with English subtitles.

14 June, 7.00 pm - Meta House: "Between", Cambodia-Burmese Art Exhibition.

22 June, 7.00 pm - Meta House: "Enemies of the People", winner Sundance 2010 world documentary, directed by Thet Sambath, 93 minutes, 2009, Khmer version with English subtitles, screening attended by the director.

25 June, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "Chaoeung Andeth" (Floating Bone), fiction produced by the Department of Cinema and Cultural Diffusion, 107 minutes, 1991, Khmer version.

2 July, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "La Joie de Vivre" (Joy of Living), comedy directed by King Father Norodom Sihanouk, 65 minutes, 1968, Khmer version with French subtitles.

16 July, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "A Strange Islam", documentary on the Cham communities in Cambodia and Vietnam, directed by Agnès De Féo, 52 minutes, 2006, Khmer version with English subtitles.

23 July, 4.00 pm - Bophana Center: "My Mother is a Virgin", drama directed by Nuth Sarun, 105 minutes, 1990s, Khmer version.