Chinatown, Singapore

A visit to Chinatown in Singapore. I spent a morning there and did a walking tour with a guide whose family grew up there. Hearing her story from the living conditions of when she grew up there to what it’s like today was interesting to say the least. From explaining government housing (fun fact: earlier buildings had clothesline outside their windows but the govt decided that didn’t communicate the right perception so the later buildings didn’t have them) to trying local foods (nothing like starting the day with a spicy dish that I can’t tell you what it was), it was a great morning and reminder of why it’s sometimes best to hire a local guide.

Super Tree Grove, Singapore

The Super Tree Grove at the Gardens by the Bay, south garden. These futuristic trees, 18 in total and up to 50m in height, are actually living structures in a sense as they provide the lattice for other plants to grow on. Like real trees, they also harness some solar energy (that is used to power these lights in part), collect rainwater, and serve as an air intake and exhaust system for the conservatory.

I visited at night which not only includes lit up trees but also a music show synced with the lights.

All photos from April 2024.

Exploring the streets, and Buddhism, in Bangkok

On my first full day in Bangkok, we met a local guide at 5am to tour a flower market before sunrise. While the market is open 24 hours a day, it’s most active in the early hours of the morning. We knew little about the market going into the day, except that it was near our hotel and easy to reach at 4:30am.

Despite the early hour, the market was very much awake. Two big things I hadn’t realized beforehand: One, this is a wholesale market only, meaning you buy in bulk and the average person couldn’t just wander in to buy a bouquet for themselves. Two, these flowers are largely for the temples. Once I learned it was a wholesale market, I figured that meant other shops, hotels, and restaurants came here. No, the 450+ Buddhist temples in Bangkok alone provide enough demand as flowers often adorn the temples and are given as offerings. The fact that this entire infrastructure was there to serve that number of temples was mind-boggling. 

Here a few photos from that morning walk.

The Burj Khalifa – Dubai, UAE

Dubai – hot, new, modern, glitzy, and hot. Did I mention hot already? For someone used to moderate, dry temps here in Colorado, it’s very much an adjustment (I’m sure someone visiting Colorado from the UAE would call our 80-degree temps cold).

Dubai was not the destination on this trip, just a part of the journey. But one I was still looking forward to and wanted to experience as it’s simultaneously modern and easy to explore, yet very different in its “newness,” culture, and environment. 

The below photos are all of the Burj Khalifa, plus one from another rooftop at sunrise. I share these not just because of the architecture of the Burj Khalifa, or the fact that it’s the world’s tallest building currently, but because of what these scenes represent – an entire modern city full of skyscrapers built in only about one generation. Hardly anything you see in these photos of the Burj Khalifa, taken from an outdoor deck on another nearby building, was there at the turn of the century. 

Walking around the streets, everything just feels like the same vintage: new steel, new concrete, well-manicured landscapes. It has a sense of place that is hard to explain. We had a similar feeling visiting Doha in Qatar a few years back. Perhaps these cities just need some time to age with development occurring over different eras. Or perhaps, the heat was just too distracting for me to see more.

I also shared these in part for pragmatic reasons as street photography, and inadvertently photographing people, could get you in trouble (seems to be a bit of a gray area). So, I played it safe and limited what photography I did at street level to “old” Dubai (still not that old) as part of a guided walk. Check out a few of those photos on my Instagram.

All photos from April 2024.