Having seen the works of Taiwanese artist Li Chen 李真 at the Singapore Management University ground in mid September, I went to see the full exhibition nearly a month ago. This post is delayed partly due to heavy work schedule and partly cos I felt my pictures did not turn out well and was hoping to get a chance to reshoot them. But well, I think I should share some of the works that I like in case I don’t have the time to revisit the exhibit.

As a self-taught artist, Li Chen began his career by producing traditional Buddhist sculptures. His breakthrough came in the 1990s, where he fused Zen thoughts, deepened through his study of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, with contemporary art practice. At the Singapore Art Museum courtyard, Itchyfingers had a wonderful time looking at the many beautiful works that really made me smile. I think I can just sit that the whole afternoon admiring them… :p

Snow Wonderland 雪峰仙踪. The Taoist sage is seen leaping across the peak
of the mountain, making his celestial sojourn in a confident mode

This is so cute – The Buddha in the Cloud 云中一如来. The Buddha is standing
on top of a mountain with his head sticking out of a white cloud The cloud
actually represents a pair of wings

Cultivated by Mist and Cloud 烟云供养. I really like Li Chen’s work, cos the
sculptures are big and heavy, yet they gave a sense of lightness, like this one,
it is as if the figure is ‘cloud skating’..hahah…so light and elegant..This is
inspired by dance music of the ethnic minorities

Golden Rain 黄金雨 depicts a boy gazing skyward while holding a small
collection of golden ‘raindrops’ as the last rays of the setting sun disappear
across the horizon…heee very cute

So peaceful looking…

Egret’s Spring 白鹭的春天. This may not be among my favourites but it has
an environmental message – protection and care for the environment so
that man may coexist with nature in perfect harmony

Siddhartha 法界游子. “Siddhartha is the founder of Buddhism, who blesses
and protects the pure in heart. Also known as Sakyamuni, he is an
embodiment of love, purity and sincere honesty. The figure of Siddhartha
assumes a sitting position, holding a child and a stalk of lotus in hand.
To the artist, the child in the hand represents the self in every viewer.
Afterall, everyone was a child before.”

Avalokitesvara 大士 has strong Buddhist theme. The rotund figure holds a
vase in the left hand and a seal in the right, standing with arms outstretched,
ready to embrace his followers

Yet another figure with open arms, as if welcoming visitors at the entrance
of the museum. Dragon-Riding Bodhisattva 大士骑龙 is the biggest work in
this exhibition. Simply magnificent!

Just opposite the road above the work-in-progress Bras Basah MRT station was this fiery red sculpture that was not there earlier.

Lord of Fire 火神. Here the artist explored the relationship between the
five elements and the forces of nature. The figure of a bright red flame dances
above the black ‘charcoal’

Lord of Wind 风神. My picture turned out bad…too windy cannot hold
camera still…hahahah…

Fulfillment Bodhisattva 文殊菩萨, an example of the artist’s exploration
of alternative interpretation of traditional Buddhist them scuplture

All in One 合十, yet another example…

These few works at the SMU ground had a very child like, carefree feel,
which I like very much…

Floating Heavenly Palace 天阙轻舟 is inspired by a poem by Song Dynasty
poet. I love the small details like the hand in the pocket… :p

Float to Sukhavati 飞行乐士 made me wanna sleep too…

Pureland 无忧国土

Clear Soul 无心海. I found it so tough to take a nice picture of this…

Landscape in Heaven 天界山水…wow 有山有水..very good feng shui…hahah
The golden mountain and the silver sea represent the materialistic lifestyle.
But the chase of these materialism often leaves one with a sense of emptiness
and loss of direction. To the artist, “the perfect life encompasses not only
the satisfaction of material needs but also the pursuit of an inner spiritual life.”

The same sculpture in the original environment. Actually it is a bit apt to
place these buddhism-inspired works here, cos after scrutinising my bad
photos, I think some trees on the SMU ground look like the Ficus Religiosa,
or the Bo Tree (菩堤树), commonly believed to be the tree where Sakyamuni
attained enlightenment…will check them out again if I have the chance…

Moving over to the National Museum ground, the artist gave yet another surprise. The style seems a little different from the rest, yet the same full bodied figures suggest that they all came from the same artist…

Five Elements 五行 consist of five sculptures positioned at the five cardinal
points on a Chinese Feng Shui compass

At first I thought this is a bear…hahah…but the stripes suggest it should be
a tiger. Very cute… :p

Itchyfingers love most of these work and would strongly recommend everyone to go visit the exhibit and spend some time admiring each of them as our pcitures do not do justice to these beautiful works. :p The exhibition is on-going till 9 Decemeber 2009.

Also see related post:
> Oriental Beauty

Itchyfingers went for a short visit at Lower Pierce Reservoir with a friend last Sunday and was glad to find something new at the boardwalk. Remember our earlier posts about mistaken identities of the different reptiles in Singapore?

This wasn’t there a few months ago when I last visited. I am so glad NPark
finally put up a sign to educate people about the differences among the
different species of lizards found in our forests and parks!

A closer look. The white patches were light reflections through the tall trees…
Lazy to touch up all the patches…since you can never alter the work of nature…
hahah…Now I know skinks give birth to live young…hmmm :p

Yes! And that’s not an Iguana either! Incidentally, I saw a nice Green-
crested Lizard sitting very quietly among the leaves, very close to where
people walk…but it was partially covered that I couldn’t get a nicer
picture of it. But glad to see it around!

Haha…and yes, that’s not a crocodile either! Great that they list the
differences between the Clouded and the Water Monitor Lizards. So now
you know…

Now I am starting to wonder if any of the NPark staff read my previous posts on these reptiles? Hahaha….no lah, they must have heard enough of the mistaken identities and feedback from the public that they decided to put up this very useful sign. Really hope they will put up more of this in other parks too! Hey, then how about our Sunbirds and Hummingbirds?

Also see related posts:
> Humming to the Wrong Tune – Mistaken Identities #3
> Slow But Steady – World Turtle Day
> Changing Colours – Mistaken Identities #2
> Living in Cold Blood – Mistaken Identities #1

I can’t remember when was the first time I ever heard of the name ‘Horseshoe Crab’, but I vividly remembered one of my friends from the Bird Group of Nature Society reported rescuing some stranded Horseshoe Crabs in abandoned fishing nets while birdwatching in some ulu parts of Singapore some years ago. That was the time I started to know more about these animals and their plights. Shortly since then, there have been regular trips organised by volunteers to try to save these animals. Again, like most busy city dwellers always full of excuses, Itchyfingers had long wanted to join in and do our little bits to help but it was only recently that I really found the time to sign up as a volunteer.

Despite the name, Horseshoe Crabs are not crabs but are more related to spiders and scorpions. They belong to the large group of invertebrates (animals without backbones) called Arthropods. Horseshoe crabs are always called the ‘living fossil’ as they have remained basically unchanged for millions of years – fossils over 400 million years look almost identical to the species living today!

The venue of the Horseshoe Crab rescue was at some ‘nameless track’ near Kranji. When we reached the end, we could see the mudflat ahead, but just to be sure we were at the right ‘nameless track’, I checked with the people nearby at some factory/workshop to confirm. Seeing us, the uncle immediately told us, “they are all down there!”. We were kinda surprised how they knew the reason we were there for, but actually, we shouldn’t be, cos, like what they said, who else would come to this place then? :p

As we were about to join the others, the people suddenly mentioned about some 老古董 (old antique). Being Itchyfingers, of course I was curious to find out what were they talking about. Then the uncle showed us this…

A whole terra cotta pot of horseshoe crabs! (Photo by my friend, Butterfly.
Read here for her side of the story…)

They said these Horseshoe Crabs were collected when they were ‘washed up the shore’ and they were going to eat them. I remembered watching tv about some people in Ansila, Thailand, grilling them to remove toxins from their eggs, but I have not heard of people here eating them. In my mind, I was thinking, “Goodness, here we were, trying to rescue the animals from the net and these people were telling us they were going to eat them when they knew that there were people just down at the mudflat doing the rescue!” How ironic! So I just said they were posionous and cannot be eaten, but the folks told us that they would grill them to eat the eggs…

The uncle promptly flipped open one of the females’ book gills to show us
the eggs. According to the tv programme, normal grilling may not remove
the toxin completely, so I was kinda curious how did they do that…But I
refrained from asking…in case they start to show us on the spot how to
grill…:o Now I wonder what do people do to the males, as there is hardly
any flesh for consumption…

The uncle also showed us some mussles and clams that they collected. Then he told us to check with the researchers if they want to buy the Horseshoe Crabs at 50 cents a piece…er…gotta go join the rest since we were behind meeting time…

The folks down at the mudflat had already started their rescue. We met the lady in charge and were given a few tips on how to handle Horseshoe Crabs – by the side of the shells and never by the tail in case we break them. The telson (tail) may look menacing especially when it is pointed up, but actually it is harmless and not used as a weapon. Instead it is used as a rudder when swimming as well as to right itself when the animal is flipped upside down. The Horsehoe Crab may bend its abdomen at the point where it joins the main shell (carapace) and dig into the sand with the tail to support itself while it turns over. So, without the telson, the animal may not be able to survive. I was kinda excited to hold a life specimen for the first time. Besides captives and dead ones, this was the second time I saw and hold a life adult Horseshoe Crab. The first time was at the Pulau Semakau trip but it was a tiny juvenile one…can’t see much details…hahah… :p

A female Horseshoe Crab has 5 pairs of legs with similar sized claws

Can you see the difference? The male has bulbous front pincers on the first
two pair of legs which they used to cling onto the females whilst mating.
Males are smaller than the females. Juveniles do not display this difference
until they are much older

Locally, we have two kinds of Horseshoe Crabs – the larger Coastal Horseshoe Crabs (Tachypleus gigas) the Mangrove Horseshoe Crabs (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) that we were rescuing. Besides being smaller, it can also be recognised by the tail – there is no spike and the cross-section of the tail is round (The coastal species has triangular cross-sectioned tails) And oh, Horseshoe Crabs are romantic creatures.. :p They mate during high tides under the new and full moonlight. According this site, it was said that “the advantage of a full moon is that by laying eggs in the highest tidal point, subsequent high tides won’t wash away the eggs before they’re hatched and juveniles are ready to take their places in the deep bays or continental shelves a few weeks later.”

When I told the lady in charge about the terra cotta pot of Horseshoe Crabs, she went up immediately to talk to the folks. Oops…hopefully there won’t be a clash, as my friend said she sounded furious. Meanwhile, we tried our hands in helping to free our first Horseshoe Crab of the day! I felt so sorry for the poor animal entangled helplessly in the net…Horseshoe Crabs use their five pairs of book gills to breathe underwater. Though these book gills also allow the animals to breathe on land for short periods of time, they have to remain moist. Thus, if the animal is being trapped in net for an extensive period especially under our hot weather and unable to free itself back to the water, it will soon die. We had to carefully cut all the fine wires in between the legs…I could almost feel its pain…I must admit my eyes were slightly moist when we finally got all the wires cut off from the many legs of the poor animal.. :p By then the lady in charge had returned with a big grin, her hand holding that big pot of Horseshoe Crabs. She had saved them from the dinner plate…yeah!

Besides saving the stranded Horseshoe Crabs from abandoned nets, we also helped to look and collect life specimens for data recording so that more studies can be done. First, I went with another lady to collect pails of water under the hot afternoon sun. Then, we split into groups with the more experienced volunteers helping newbies like us to look for Horseshoe Crabs in the mudflat. After our intertidal walk at Semakau last month, we decided to get a pair of booties to help us wade through water better. But our booties were not that useful here at the mudflat cos half the time I found my feet stucked deep in the soft mud and had to use all my strength to pull them out so as to make the next step! At the same time, we had to look for the animals and also be mindful not to step on other smalls animals. Should have taken pictures of our clumsy moves but we were carrying both our backpacks and a pail of water to put the Horseshoe Crabs found and also a plastic bag to do a mini coastal cleanup…so busy…hands full…not very convenient to keep snapping away, especially when the others were hard at work… :p

Only managed to take a pic with this guy we found in the mudflat…Initially
it was kinda hard to look for one, but observe carefully for movements and
soon we found our pail filled with big and small Horseshoe Crabs to be
brought to the guys for measurement and recording

In total, within the two hours of so under the scorching sun, the group of volunteers collected 168 Horseshoe Crabs. They measured the width of the carapace, recorded the number of males and females before releasing them back again. For us, we rescued three Horseshoe Crabs from the net, but too bad we didn’t take pictures of them. Must be serious at work mah, hahah…

We were shown a moult of the Horseshoe Crab and the lady in charge asked if I would like to bring it back as a keepsake. Since it is just an empty shell, there won’t be bad smell and I was also curious to look at the anatomy more closely. So happily, we packed it in a recycled plastic bag…

The moult really looked like a life animal! Especially when you flipped it
around, the legs also flipped over, as if alive.. hahah

Like insects and all over invertebrates, Horseshoe Crabs moult a few times
in their life time as the hard exsoskeleton do not grow. To grow, it splits
open along the front edge as seen here, and crawls out. When it first emerges
from the old shell, the animal is soft, making it vulnerable to predation.
It then takes in lots of water and stretches itself until it is about 30% larger
than the old shell. The new shell hardens in a few hours. The normal crab species
we are more familiar with moult by slipping out from the end of its abodmen.
The soft-shelled crabs that people eat are actually crabs that have just moulted

Back home, I soaked the moult overnight in a pail of water to get rid of the mud. Just like what the lady told me, when the moult dried, it felt like paper. The legs turned stiff so it is no longer movable as if it was a life animal. So interesting!

Top view of the Horseshoe Crab moult. There are two compound eyes along
the ridge. Other simple eyes not visible to our naked eye are located  along
the front, while other senory organs are along the side

Can you see one of the compound eyes here? Will be quite interesting to
take a super macro closeup shot… :p

I wanted to take a picture of the front edge where it spilt opened but the moult had turned stiff. Amazingly when soaked back in water, it turned soft again…hahah…

The underside. There are five pairs of walking legs, with the first two pairs
of appendages for shovelling food into the mouth. Under the abdomen are
5 pair of flaps known as book gills used for respiration. Their flapping action
helps propel the animals through water. I noticed the fifth walking leg of
the moult looked rather different and undeveloped…They are called the
‘pusher legs’ which are used for cleaning gills on its abdomen and pushing
the animal across sandy beaches or the seabed

Now, if I didn’t bring back the moult, no way I would have noticed this difference on a life Horseshoe Crab! :p

The mouth is in the center. Can’t see any suggestion of a mouth here though…
hahah…They feed on small worms, shrimps and other mud dwelling creatures

Do you know that the blood of the Horseshoe Crabs has medical uses? For a long time, the blood has been used to test drug for endotoxins, a byproduct of bacteria that remain even after sterilization. The blood of the Horseshoe Crab is copper based instead of iron based like ours. Upon exposure to oxygen it turns blue! The blood gels when it comes in contact with bacteria or endotoxins – if a horseshoe crab sustains an injury such as a cut, when bacteria tries to enter it’s body, its blood gels, hence creating a barrier against the bacteria. Biomedical companies extract the compound that makes the blood gel, and used it as a test to ensure the vaccines or drugs produced are not contaminated with endotoxins. Even though it was claimed that care is taken while harvesting the blood from live specimens, there will always be a certain percentage of casualities. A good news is that our own researchers at NUS has achieved “a bioengineering feat in successfully cloning the enzyme that clots the blood of the horseshoe crab, making it one of nature’s most sensitive sensors for toxic contaminants.” Certainly a great news since now we won’t have to traumatise the Horseshoe Crabs then!

After the ‘workout’ at the mudflat, I found myself having muscles aches…Had been so busy rushing deadlines that I missed my routine exercise for more than a month…But I think the effort was worth it. Horseshoe Crabs certainly are amazing creatures. 8) To learn more about this ‘old antique’, do visit this very informative site!

Also see related post:
> Between the Tides – Semakau Intertidal Walk

Itchyfingers was so swarmed with work and deadlines for the last few weeks that I have not been able to do any updates. Apologies to those who have been visiting regularly. Now, Itchyfingers is back!

It is especially during stressful times like these that one realises the importance to get out to nature, to breathe some fresh air and forget about the evil forces at work…hahah…Not only it relieves stress, it also has the power to rejuvenate the mind and soul. :p That is why I made time for some outdoor nature activites while juggling deadlines - Itchyfingers did a Charity Bazaar besides my regular volunteering work; a night walk at some ulu countryside and saw many fireflies after so many years; as well as a very special project that I have always wanted to join.

Here’s a closeup of the subject of the special project Itchyfingers joined recently. Any guess what is this?

Make a guess. Itchyfingers will tell you more in our next post. This time
it won’t be a few weeks before we write again… :p

Itchyfingers had been waiting so long for this chance. Although I was invited by friend from RMBR for their trip to Pulau Semakau before, I never really have a chance to join them, mostly due to bad timing. So when Itchyfingers knew of the public walk to Semakau in September, we quickly signed up with some friends from our volunteering group. Access to the island is restricted and the public can only visit by joining activities conducted by designated interested groups and organisation. The intertidal walk conducted by RMBR is such a popular activity that openings are often taken up very quickly once they released the date. So we had to quickly grab our seats (in June!) before they were gone, therefore it was a long three month wait.

But the wait proved to be worthy. The day started very cloudy. Then it poured heavily and continued to drizzle after lunch. I was so worried that the trip might have to be cancelled due to bad weather, or if we were to go ahead, would we be able to see much interesting stuff or be able to take any photos on a wet day. When we finally reached Marina South Pier, there was still a light drizzle…Worries continued…

Itchyfingers were surprised to see our friends from RMBR there as nowadays they are less involved in guiding. More surprise followed as the guide for our group turned out to be another friend!

The boat to Semakau took about an hour or so. It was still drizzling but the cool weather and good company made my worry go away soon. Instead, we spent the time chit chatting and taking photos at the deck.

Pulau Jong 炯岛 as seen from our boat. My RMBR friend said it has the
shape of a bun…Ooo…maybe during their many boat trips they must had been
quite hungry to associate the island with a bun… hahah…so this was called
the 包岛 (Bun Island) by me…hahah…Apparently this little bun size island
had some interesting marine lives too as seen from this site

Once we reached Pulau Semakau, we were ferried in mini vans for the Semakau Landfill tour, before heading for a short slide presentation. Certainly informative especially for first timers but it would be a bit dry for repeat visitors I guess. But I found out later that, not only was the tour and presentation important to educate the public about the importance of reducing wastes and encourage recycling, it was also to buy time for the other guides to recce the shore for interesting marine lives before the start of our intertidal walk in the late afternoon. By now the sky had miraculously cleared and the temperature was cool, perfect for an excursion!

We were warned of the many mozzies ambushing in the forest waiting for their next warm meal before trekking through the muddy forest ground. True enough, there were so many mozzies that all of us had to hasten our pace, absolutely no mood for any pictures!

Starting of the short forest trek…I didn’t apply the repellent made of natural
ingredients offered by our guide as I hate the oily feeling on my palms. Didn’t
want to use my own repellent to spray on the legs as we would be treading in
the water and the chemicals might not be very safe for the marine lives

It proved to be a wrong decision, cos the mozzies there were seriously out for a feast! Even when we were out of the forest, they were still chasing after us and it was disgusting to have at least 8 or 10 blood suckers on the same calf or arm at the same time! Eeeek!

The forest was darker and more humid with mozzies chasing us, and imagine
reaching the end of the forest patch and saw this open land! The feeling was like
reaching paradise…hahah…  The mozzies followed us until we were further
out in the open…

You would think this tree was the only one surviving on the shore but look
under your feet and you would realise lives were everywhere!

The mangrove tree, Bakau Pasir (Rhizophora stylosa) that Tisu Boy said
looked like the Nature Society’s logo, or the Sungei Buloh’s logo… Bakau
are used as firewood and also made to charcoal…

Oysters! Hee…I dun eat shelled fish, so wasn’t drooling…

The bright orange flags were laid by the guides who went scouting for
interesting animals earlier on. They called them the ‘hunter seekers’ :p
So we were led from one discovery station to another

Can see Pulau Bukom from here

During the van ride, we were briefed on the dos and don’ts when doing our intertidal walk. To minimise damage to the environment, we had to follow the guide’s trail closely. We shouldn’t be touching the animals as many might give a nasty sting. Obviously, touching would cause stress to the animals so do not be an itchy finger unless the guide says its okay to do so!

My first encounter with a life Horseshoe Crab! All these while I’d been seeing
only the dead ones in the wild…The Mangrove Horseshoe Crab
(Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) is the smaller species found in Singapore
and the cross-section of the tail is round. They are related to spiders and
scorpions. They swim upside down and their tails are used as a rudder when
moving underwater and as a level to right themselves if they were overturned

This tiny Hairy Crab (Pilumnu vespertilio) is supposed to have silky
hair covering the body, but when I put it on my palm, it felt very prickly…
hahah…maybe due to the sediment trapped between…hahah..

At the various discovery stations, animals were placed in container so
we didn’t have to touch them, which might stress them. Swimming
Anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichi) are fragile and the sticky tentacles
will tear off in the hands, so do not pick them up!

The Fan Worm lives in a long tube made of sand and mucus. These feathery
stalks located at one end of the worm are the modified tentacles. The rest of
the worm remains in the tube. There are eyespots on the tentacles which can
detect light intensity changes and movement, and the Fan Worm will retreat
immediately into the safety of the tube

Earlier I was wondering why the other group’s guide had a pair of wooden
chopsticks in his hand. Then we saw our guide also took out a pair of metal
chopsticks, which they used to point or pick out small animals in case they
are venomous. Here, our guide used the chopstick to gently touch the Fan
Worm and immediately it disappeared into the tube

Tape Seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) meadow. These are the longest
seagrass found on our shore, at 30 – 150 cm long and is one of the main
food of Dugongs. We had to be careful not to trample the meadow and sticked
with the trail already cleared by earlier groups to reduce the impact. I guess
that’s always the pros and cons with organising trips to nature areas. While
educating the public is important for the conservation of these wild lives, a
balance has to be struck so as not to compromise the survival of these
fragile lives

These floating whitish bits that resembled styrofoam are actually the
male flowers of the Tape Seagrass

The Round Sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera) are not seagrass. They are
seaweeds, which are large algae. Like plants, algae have chlorophyll and
carry out photosynthesis. To find out more difference between seagrass
and seaweed, see this site

The Noble Volute (Cymbiola nobilis) is a large shell that can grow up to
20cm and is threatened by over-collection as food and for its beautiful shells.
These predatory snails hunt and feed underneath the sand. The tube on the right
is called the siphon, and the animal uses it to seek out buried bivalves (like
clams). The black fleshy part with bright orange spots underneath the shell
is actually its large foot! After finding the bivalves, it wraps it with its large foot
and then waits patiently until its exhausted prey opens its shell to breathe.
The Noble Volute then seizes the opportunity to stick its proboscis to feed!

Spider Conch (Lambis lambis) got tis name from the six spider-like spines
on the flared lip. Can you see the pair of large eyes on stalks peeping out?
No wonder I found this familiar, as it was on the cover of RMBR’s earlier
publication, Private Lives: An Exposé of Singapore’s Shore

A Marine Spider (Desis martensi) with body about 1cm. Normally I wouldn’t
want to touch a spider, but I got it transferred to the back of my hand and
its furry legs didn’t feel that itchy…hahah…

Sponges are actually simple animals with no mouth, guts or other organs!

Sponges come in various shapes and colours!

Sponges have lots of little holes and a few large ones. They are filter feeders
(or suspension feeders) that collect bacteria, plankton and organic particles
from the water

Each hard coral is a colony of tiny animal called polyps that produce a
hard skeleton from calcium carbonate

One of the highlights of our walk was seeing the many beautiful starfishes. Though often referred as starfishes, they are actually not fish, so a better name should be sea star. :p There was a patch of shore with many sea stars, some of them buried in the sand but they often leave obvious star-shapes on the surface, so we were all very careful not to step onto them! Pity itchyfingers somehow din take photos of these nice patterns. I think our eyes must be full of stars! Hahaha….felt like singing, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little stars..”

Sea stars are echinoderms, that is, they are symmetrical along five axes,
have spiny skin and tube feet. Other examples of echinoderms are the Sand
Dollars and Sea Urchins. This is the Common Sea Star (Archaster typicus)

The underside of the Common Sea Star. The greenish stomach can be pushed
out from its mouth at the centre to ‘mop’ up detritus from the sand…When
our guide picked this guy up, he was in the middle of his meal but quickly
retracted its stomach…eeee…

A closeup of the tube feet that emerge from the grooves along the five arms.
Tube feet may be used to cling on surfaces, gather food, excrete waste and
breathe. Itchyfingers held one up and the sea star felt stiff…The spines help
the sea star to burrow into the sand

The arms may be stiff but they can become quite flexible. Instead of a hard
skeleton, the body is made up of a tissue that can change rapidly from rock
hard to almost liquid like. This allows the sea stars not only to bend its arm
to embrace its mate during mating as seen here with the smaller male on top,
but also enable them to deliberately drop off an arm if caught between the
jaws of predators. Sea stars can regenerate lost arms, but the process can
take as long as a year! During mating, their sexual organs do not meet
and fertilisation takes place externally where the eggs and sperms are
released simultaneously

We were lucky to see this six-armed Knobbly Sea Star (Protoreaster nodosus).
The other was an unidentified sea star

It has pink or purple tube feet. Unfortunately this one was so alarmed when
our guide ‘molested’ it that it kept almost all the tube feet in immediately…
amazing how the grooves closed so neatly almost like a zipper!

Underside of the unidentified sea star. Sea stars use sea water to support
its body and move its tube feet. Thus it is stressful for a sea star to be left
out of the water

The more common five-armed Knobbly Sea Stars. Notice the colours can
vary too

These sea stars do not look like the normal ones with long arms. They are
the juvenile Cushion Stars (Culcita novaeguineae). My friends said they
look like malay cakes!

This elegant animal is a Marine Flatworm. But they way they mate is
quite vicious! As flatworms are hermaphrodites, that is, having both the male
and female reproductive organs, they engage in a sort of ‘penile fencing’,
where the needle-like organ is pierced anywhere in the body of the partner

See how they mate!

“The loser bears the burden of motherhood”….

We all said this trip we learnt a lot about biology….hahah..

Another interesting find by the hunter seekers – the Sandfish Cucumber
(Holothuria scabra). These are the edible ones found in Chinese restaurants…
eeeee…But they must be probably treated to remove the toxin. Some sites say it
looks like garlic bread…hahah…Why was the last one contorted like that…? :p

Cos the moment our guide picked it up and it started to squirt some liquid
as if peeing…! Hahah…Under stress, they will squirt water from both ends.
I took picture of that but thought it looked a bit obscene to show here…hahahah…
It was interesting cos when I first held on the sea cucumber, it was still
quite solid, but gradually turned flaccid while waiting for this picture
to be taken… Quite heavy though :p

Under extreme stress, some sea cucumbers are capable of expelling their innards. The stomach will eventually be regenerated but the sea cucumbers will not be able to feed until the regrowth. Like sea stars, sea cucumbers are echinoderms and they feed with their tube feets. Similarly, instead of a hard skeleton, the bodies are mostly made of tissue capable of changing from hard to soft, thus aiding movement etc. According to the WildSingapore site, “a unique feature of some sea cucumbers is an internal breathing system of branching tubes along the length of their bodies. Called respiratory trees, most large sea cucumbers have a pair of these, each connected to the opening on the backside. To breathe, the sea cucumber pumps water in through its backside and up through the respiratory trees. The water is then flushed out through the backside again. With this constant flow of water, some tiny creatures find the backside of a seacucumber a cosy and safe place to be! Small or thin-walled sea cucumbers, however, simply breathe through their skins.“

I am glad I do not eat sea cucumbers cos always think they look quite gross…hahaha…

Another sea cucumber, the Ocellated Sea Cucumber (Stichopus ocellatus).
We were not allowed to handle this one cos it is said that under too much stress,
it may become limp and disintegrate. The many white “eyespots” on its back were
believed to possess some sensory functions to help the animal move around
or hold to the substrate. By now the tide was starting to come in…

With the sun setting soon and the tide coming, it was also towards the end
of the walk. Time to head back. Everyone was treading slowly to avoid stepping
onto animals

This cute little cuttlefish topped my list of favourite animal of the trip! At
barely 4cm, it already has the ability to change colour! Sweet!

Last animal of the day. The Onch Slug breathes air with simple lungs
and has thickened skin to prevent themselves from desiccation when the tide
goes down. They leave a trail of faecal material whenever they go! Eeee…. :p

Time flew and the sun was setting fast

And then near the forest entrance, I managed to see this dead jellyfish

It was a great trip with good guide and good company. There are so much more we have yet to learn about the many amazing creatures on our own shores! Itchyfingers certainly hope to be back again!

Also see related posts:
> The Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
> Private Lives: An Exposé of Singapore’s Mangroves

While on our way down from Fort Canning, Itchyfingers saw some sculptures across the road on the SMU field. My immediate reaction was, “Botero?” cos the corpulent figures looked similar to that of the famous Colombian artist. But when I went nearer, I knew they were not Botero’s. They looked too oriental to be his.

I was right. The sculptures laid on the field were indeed not from Fernando Botero, but they were equally beautiful! The figures had lines that were simple, expression that were so lively. Excited, I went around to take photos of all the sculptures…but Itchyfingers shall not show all of them here…yet…

Beautiful big fat toes…

The toes really reminded me of Botero’s sculptures…

Attack! Charge!

I was curious who did these but was disappointed to see no credit given to the artist. Finally I found the inscribed seal…Ahhhh…Bingo! A Chinese name…

So, they were from this artist called LiChen…

But why wasn’t there any sign to credit the artist? Then I saw across the road another sculpture standing proudly in front of the Art Museum. Have not passed by the area for some time so not very sure when were these put up. Could these sculptures been placed there for an upcoming exhibition? Maybe they had been laid not long ago, so signs were not put up yet. I decided to cross the road to take a look at the lone sculpture to find out if there was any sign there…

He looked like he was gonna embrace everyone…so beautiful! And no,
no sign either…

Being Itchyfingers, I decided to check it out at the museum reception. True enough, the man at the counter told me the artist’s name and they were there in conjunction with his solo exhibition to be held at the museum on the 25th of September! Yeah!!! Certainly something worth waiting for!!!

Itchyfingers will definitely be back when the exhibition starts!

Do look out for Li Chen’s “Mind. Body. Spirit” exhibition from 25th September
to 4th December at the Singapore Art Museum!

Fort Canning (福康宁) was known as Bukit Larangan in Malay in the 19th century before the arrival of Stamford Raffles in 1918, whch means “Forbidden Hill”. This is because the Malays believed that it was the site of palaces built by their ancestral kings. The Keramat Iskandar Shah at the foot of the hill was believed to be the resting place of the last Malay king of the island, and was venerated by Muslims. Later, Singapore’s colonial leaders made their residences there, and the hill became a military base during the Second World War.

Short writeup of Fort Canning…The Civil District logo was done by my
friend…

I knew there were some archaeological excavation years back on Fort Canning Hill, but I think it was kinda covered or out of bound to visitors for some time before they were done with all the digging, cos I couldn’t remember seeing the site at all.

So, the work should be done only in the late 90s as this exhibition site was
only opened in 2001…and that was the time when I was not in Singapore…

The excavation site…it was interested to read the explanatory signs
around..the only thing was the hot and humid weather made it very
uncomfortable to really read slowly…so as usual, I took photos so I can
read back again at home.. :p

The excavation work actually started back in 1984. Among the artefacts recovered were porcelain, earthenware and glass shards. These artefacts show that there could have been a Malay kingdom on Fort Canning Hill, with possibility of glass and gold workshops.

One of the signs explaining how archaeologists determine the age of
ceramics artefacts – by using a method called Carbon-14 dating, which has
a margin for error of at least 75 years. Another technique called
Thermoluminescence (TL) dating, which measures bits of trapped energy in
the crystalline materials of pottery. The shadow you see was from my
Itchyfingers…

Bits and pieces of porcelain excavated from Fort Canning. No complete
pieces were found as it was not a burial site. Rather the area was more
like a place where daily activities were carried out. Maybe a bit like a dumping
ground where unwanted stuff were just left there..?

From the excavation ground, we went to look at the rows of embedded tombstones…Fort Canning Hill used to have the earliest Christian cemetery. This cemetery ceased to be used by the end of 1822; all traces of this burial ground have also disappeared except the inscriptions on tombstones now embedded in the wall surrounding it.

I would love to look and read all the tombstones again, but it was such a
hot and humide day and I was wearing a rather thick tee-shirt…not forgetting
all the mozzies flying around…

The caretaker was still with us so I didn’t want to take up too much of his time either, though I am sure he was more than happy to have people talking to him. In the end, I managed to take a few photos of the tombstones…

Many of the people died at a very young age. This belongs to Jane, an
assistant surgeon on the Bombay Establishment, wife of Thomas Henry.
She was only 22 years old when she died…

He was just a baby…! Wonder what was the cause of death…

Does the name Spottiswoode sound familiar? Not sure if the road with the
same name was named after this Charles Spottiswoode. He was a respected
merchant who was living at his residence “Spottiswoode Park” at the time
of his death…

I read that there were some prominent person who were buried in the cemetery. One of them was George Dromgold Coleman, the first Government Architect, Superintendent of Public Works and Executive Officer of the Convicts and Surveyor. Oooo…must find some time to go back again to look for it…

At the other end were these remaining tombs. But my friend said they
should be just monuments as tombstone with bodies buried underneath
should normally read something like, “Herein lies xxx…”

But this one looked like a tombstone…

Hmmm…maybe she was right. The bottom line said this monument was
erected by the nephew

The inscription here were quite clear after all these years…

I found this interesting and tried to look up for this person…but could not
find any information other than a link on a The Straits Times (pg 14) notice on
27 September 1927. It read, “NOTICE IN THE ESTATF OF LEE KHIA SOON,
DECEASED Pursuant to Ordinance No. 144….”  I think he must be one of those
rich merchants…

There were lots more interesting stories and person behind these old tombstones or monuments, but as it was getting late again, we decided to make our way down. Itchyfingers would definitely be back, as I missed some of the old buildings and many of the trees were so beautiful…Fort Canning Hill today is no longer the “Forbidden Hill”, as it is a popular venue for outdoor performances and events. I think if people were to spend more time to understand the history of Fort Canning Hill, we would be able to appreciate it even more.

Also see related post:
> Guardian Angel at the Forbidden Hill

Itchyfingers had an exciting weekend…one which brought me back to my school days, and one which also reminded us to respect other people’s beliefs and most importantly, to respect nature. Wow…so deep…hahah…let me elaborate… :p

It all started cos I wanted to watch Ironman under the stars. The local radio station had two free movie screenings on last Saturday evening at Fort Canning Hill – the first one being Ironman and then followed by Transformers 2. Since I missed Ironman and also have not been to Fort Canning for a long time, I thought it would be fun to go.

But we ended up reaching a bit late at 7pm cos we were distracted at the new malls along the way…No, the show had not started yet as there was some contests and games going on..but the field was already filled with a sea of people! Couldn’t really get a good spot to sit…

Now…just where to find a spot to rest my itchybackside?

We went up the steps where we saw the wall with the rows of embedded tombstones. It reminded me of my (either first or among the first few) visit to Fort Canning Hill during school time. I remembered reading through all the tombstones with my school mates. It was a bit dark that night to read and we were still trying to get a place to watch the movie. But I told myself, “I will be back.”

When we got to the Fort Canning Centre, I must say we had the best unobstructed view there. The only thing was, we would have to stand for the next two hours or so as all the sitting areas with clear views were taken. The show was still not starting yet…since we weren’t that hot on watching Ironman standing, we decided to give it a miss and take a slow walk down the hill.

Best view…hahah…but gotta risk falling over :p

Somehow my friend suggested walking over to take a look at the Keramat, which I remembered was the site of a Malay King’s tomb. Maybe because it is still the Lunar Seventh Ghost Month, that’s why we had the sudden interest…hahah…Both of us couldn’t really remember how it looked like…it was such a long time since we last visited Fort Canning Hill, and especially the Keramat. :p  I think they might have changed the design of the pavilion, which is now styled after the 14th Century Malay roof called a pendopo.

We were greeted by a guy mopping the surrounding of the Keramat. I asked if he is a volunteer and he said he is the caretaker, and told us it was okay to enter the Keramat but we had to take off our shoes (as a form of respect). We didn’t enter since he was still mopping and I didn’t want to take photo with flash out of respect, so we went around reading the signage as I really had no recollection as to who was this Malay King… :p

Ooooo…So this is the Keramat for Iskandar Syah (or Shah), the last of five kings
of Singapore….Wow!! I really don’t remember ever reading this in my History
textbook….

Then the friendly caretaker told us Iskandar Syah was also known as Parameswara, whom my friend instantly recognised the name…er…but I didn’t…hahah…obviously I was dosing off during the very dry history lessons in school…. Bad Tisu Girl! :p

The Kings of Singapore

Somehow the caretaker started talking to us about the Keramat. It was never confirmed if this was the exact location where the body was buried, but there were stories (or rumours) that during early excavation, there were ‘things’ happening. We were surprised to know that he used to be an IT manager. He had been visiting the Keramat for many years but it was only three years ago that he had a certain dream that made him decide to come and look after the Keramat full time. Some kind of calling, I supposed. He shared with us some interesting titbits about the architecture of the pendopo, like the motifs that look like mask and crown, and the tiger teeth. The light was dim for us to fully appreciate the design though. He also mentioned about the 20 pillars supporting the structure – they were supposed to be the 20 (supernatural) guards guarding the tomb. According to him, when he was there, he saw many people came trying to get favours, and he vividly remembered many years ago before he became the caretaker, three men came to ask for 4D lucky numbers. When they came back again after striking it rich, one of them was paralysed, and his thought was that he was being punished for asking for short cuts in life. There were also some stories he heard from drunkards or vagabonds who slept at the Keramat at night that they saw a big creature dragging them out of the sacred site. For a moment I thought to myself, if not for the fact that my friend was with me and there was also a tourist who came to visit, I might have gone home thinking all these was my imagination, and that there was no such guy at the Keramat!! After all it was the Ghost Month! :p!

Well, whether we believed what he said is true or not, I guess we have to respect other people’s beliefs. After all, there are so many things in this world that are still unexplained. And to give up one’s career and devote his time to take care of a site (for free!) which he truly believed in is something not many people would be willing to do. But he strongly felt that it was something he had to do, and he also enjoyed talking to visitors and tourists and bringing them around the park. He also told us about a giant Fig tree that looked like a woman hugging another tree, and there were also others with snake-like roots around. It was too dark to see anything but I was already getting curious…I had decided to come back the next day to take a look, and also to look at the other part of Fort Canning Hill. We did catch about 20 minutes of Ironman in the end…hahah..

The next day when we went back to the Keramat, someone was already there doing his prayers. Not wanting to disturb him, I could only take a photo from outside…

Fresh flowers were offered. I forgot to check out the design motifs he was
telling us the previous night  

We saw the caretaker again. (Yeah…so confirmed I wasn’t dreaming last night… :p) So I asked him about the Fig tree…Actually it was visible from where we were standing, just that to see the woman’s feature we had to go down a small slope to get to see it…

When we reached there, all I could say was that, you really need to have a lot of imagination to see the ‘woman’…

I had expected to see a woman’s face or the whole body, cos that was what
I thought the caretaker meant…instead, what he showed me was what
looked like a woman’s lower body with legs slightly opened…er…can you
see that? This fig tree is slowly engulfing another tree, which he said is a
species of the mango family

It reminded me of the Bodhi Tree (Ficus Religiosa) at the Jin Long Si Temple 金龙寺 that believers claimed to see the Guanyin’s palm and other figures.

Believers sweared that they see the Guanyin’s palm…I remembered it looked
more obvious on the photo on display…

The caretaker also showed me the interesting snake-like roots that were only discovered after NPark cleared the overgrown vegetation there.

Hmm…this I gotta admit I have never seen Yam plants’ roots growing above
ground like this….

Finally, he showed me the ‘face’ of a unknown creature on another tree…

Wow! This one I seriously cannot make out any facial feature….can you?
It might need to be a certain time of the day with the correct lighting to have
a better view…

Again, it reminded me of the case of the Monkey Tree at Jurong that caused a big havoc years ago, which experts explained was the result of callusing, a natural reaction in which the tree grows new bark over injured areas. I am not sure about this tree, cos I am no expert in trees. But I didn’t tell him my thoughts on this, as everyone is entitled to believe in what they choose to believe in.

We walked around the park for a while before saying good-bye as my friend had to go off for a family gathering. But I managed to spend a little time looking at the tombstones again…and also some interesting finds around the park, which Itchyfingers shall write about in the next post.

Also see related Posts:
> Carving a Living – Varnishing Trades
> Paper Merchants
> Paper Goodies
> Tomb Raiding the Tree-strangled Temple – Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia Trip #4
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes

Walking on the streets of the Old Quarters of Hanoi, Vietnam, one could find many interesting trades and crafts. As early residents of each of the more than 36 streets at the Old Quarters came from the same village, so on every streets you would find them selling the same thing or making the same crafts. On some streets, you would see all the shops selling shoes (mainly Vietnamese wooden clogs); on some streets, you would see traditional crafts made of wood, silver, bamboo etc. All the streets were named after the things that they sell. This is quite similar to our Chinatown in Singapore in the older days, where early Chinese immigrants staying in the same streets were from the same provinces so they would be in the same profession. :p

Out of the many shops and streets, Itchyfingers found the street selling these the most interesting. It didn’t seem much of a taboo for them to make a living out of these…afterall, it is something that everyone eventually will have to end up in…hahah…our last purchase…

So you guessed it? Yeah, it’s the coffin…

Interesting to see the shops displaying coffins openly outside the shops. Many of these shops selling coffins also sell made-to-order tombstone…

Didn’t see the making of the coffins..but saw these people carving the stones
instead…

Samples on display, and some ready made ones too…just fix in the photo!
Oh, wait…did you see some familiar faces???

Britney Spears! Since when was she dead?

And there was something else…

“还珠格格”  赵薇! Or Vicki Zhao from the “Princess Pearl”, the once popular
TV adaption of a novel…Since when was she dead also?

Haha..Chinese consider it a taboo and inauspicious to put a living person’s photo on a tombstone, well, unless you are in the television or movie industry where the script requires you to act dead. But the actress or actor involved would always be given a ‘red packet’ of token money to wade off bad luck. :p Wonder if the celebrities involved were to find out that they were ‘pronounced dead’ in Vietnam, what would their reaction be? :p

Also see related Posts:
> Paper Merchants
> Paper Goodies
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes

The paper goodies that Itchyfingers just talked about were meant to be burnt for the deads, and in recent years there are more varieties and choices available. From daily necessities to luxurious goods, you could almost always be sure there would be a paper version of it. :p

Then there are these other kind of paper goodies that were used mainly during the funerals. These are the larger items like houses, cars, tv etc. Sometimes, there would also be paper figurines to be burnt as servants for the dead.

Itchyfingers always wanted to visit and take pictures of how these paper goodies were made. I remembered seeing them some years ago but couldn’t remember the exact location now. Then recently, we happened to pass by (again…:p) a shop at Joo Chiat area and saw how a paper house was being made.

These were to be the ’skeleton’ of the houses. Often, bamboo sticks were used
and taped together…like making kites… :p

Work-in-progress. See the chests at the side?

A completed paper house. The front portion was to be inserted or placed
on top of the portion at the back. They were left like this for ease of
transport to the funeral wake. A paper house of this size seemed to be quite
normal, though I have seen bigger and more elaborate ones…

Itchyfingers peeped into the shop and saw some people busy working on more paper models. We had wanted to ask them if they mind us taking photos, but the expressions of their faces seemed kinda unfriendly. So we had to give up the idea. Well, maybe we shall try other shops when we find the time to… :p

Anyway, seeing how they made these paper houses reminded me of our trip to Bangkok some times ago. We were in the chinatown area when we saw this shop selling paper goodies for religious ceremonies too.

Ooo…the Eight Deities..short of four leh… :p

Ah ma doing cut and paste…

Totally unexpected…! :p

Also see related Posts:
> Paper Goodies
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes

In Chinese, perhaps more specifically Taoists’ culture, ancestor worship is commonly practiced. Besides the daily offering of joss sticks, flowers, fruits and food are also offered on certain traditional festivals. The Hungry Ghost Festival is one of these special times where more offerings were made to the deceased. During these special occasions, incense papers, hell notes, as well as all sorts of paper goods are burnt in the hope that the dead can have a better afterlife in the other world. There are such a wide selections of these paper goods that one is almost spoilt for choices! Hahaha….

Itchyfingers happened to pass by a shop selling these paper goodies after their business hours and I was wondering why didn’t the stall owner keep all their merchandise?

“Don’t they worry that they would get stolen?” I asked Tisu Boy.

“Wow lao! Who wants to steal these things! They say steal liao will suay one!” Tisu Boy said.

He meant to say the mysterious ‘they’ said that stealing these paper goodies meant for the dead will bring bad luck. Besides, who would wanna steal these otherwise useless stuff? Somehow I always wonder who are these mysterious ‘they’ people often like to make reference to…hahaha….

Anyway, since the paper goodies were out there in display, being Itchyfingers, we couldn’t help but start taking photos of some of the funnier and interesting ones..like these…

We all know about the hell notes, how about gold bars? There were silver
bars available too…

Cars were pretty common items on sale. Many came with chauffeur too!
Oooo….the logo looked like a certain sports car brand with a ‘F’?

Oooo….bikes were less common…at least it was the first time I saw this..

For ultimate luxury, how about a private plane for the afterlife?

Er…if you couldn’t afford the plane, a plane ticket will suffice…

What if you couldn’t afford all these ‘expensive’ vehicles?

Then i guess you would have to send these nice sports shoes instead…haha
These were actually life size, about man’s size 8 or 9 shoes!

How about a sewing machine for the creative fingers, or to help kill some
time in the other world?

For ancestors who were fashionistas, they would be happy to receive these… :p

Not just any brands, must be the IT bags!

Couldn’t afford a LV while alive? Well, at least you could get an XL in the
other world…

And then something caught our eyes…

Black lacy intimates! Hahaha….Er, no cup size to choose leh…hahah...

Very creative hor? Next time you pass by these shops, take a closer look at what new items are available!

Also see related Posts:
> House of Fame @ JiuFen
> House of More Ghost Masks @ JiuFen
> House of Ghost Masks @ JiuFen
> The Haunted House @ JiuFen
> The Eyes
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

At the ghost mask museum at JiuFen, Taiwan, not only you were able to see hideous looking masks as well as hilarious looking ones, there were also a few masks of famous people there. But, to be displayed in a museum with a name like ‘ghost masks’ ( 泥人吴鬼脸馆), does that mean that these famous people were also regarded as ‘ghosts’ by the creators? :p “Ghost” or 鬼 in Chinese has many layers of meanings. Besides the literal meaning of ‘ghosts’ or ’spirits’, it also means ‘evil’, ‘mischief’, ’secretive’ etc. Whatever meaning of ‘ghost’, certainly it is not a compliment to be part of the exhibits…hahah…

Most of these famous people were politicians and celebrities. Among all of them, the most notorious and deserving ‘ghost’ must be him…

Osama Bin Laden! Like a devilish ghost, his whereabout is unpredictable
and mysterious…but once he made his appearance, there would be havoc
and disasters…!

Taiwan’s former President, Chen Shui-bian 陳水扁, who was arrested and
charged with financial shenanigans

Chen’s son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming 趙建銘, who pleaded guilty in court
to perjury. Do you know why was he made with eyes looking up?
Well, that should be meant as a mockery for his habit of looking at people with
chin raising up according to the local news media…

James Soong 宋楚瑜, another politician in Taiwan

Lee Myung-bak 李明博, President of South Korea

安倍晋三 Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan

There was also some historical figure…

Wu Zetian 武则天, the only woman in the history of China to assume the title
of Empress Regnant

Among the celebrities, these were the more well-known ones..

Andy Lau 刘德华…not as life-like as the waxed figure Itchyfingers saw in
Hong Kong…

Jackie Chan 成龙. Since Itchyfingers do not like him, we din take any of
his waxed figure in the Madame Tussauds Museum

Fans of Jay Chou 周杰伦 are gonna scream when they see their idol being
portrayed so uglily :p

Luckily the creator redeemed himself with this second mask… :p

Wow, even 茂伯 from Cape No. 7 made it to the list of celebrities…

This one was bizarre…Why was it there?

You would have thought this was a piggy mask. But the name said otherwise.
This was Lin Wang 林旺 , the famous Asian Elephant that served with
the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the Second Sino-Japanese War
(1937 – 1945) and later relocated to Taipei Zoo. He died in 2003 at the ripe
age of 86…

If only Itchyfingers were to visit Taipei Zoo six years ago….Nevertheless, we saw the huge container used to transport Lin Wang during the zoo’s relocation.

Huge container…

Sign outside the container

Old photos of Lin Wang inside the container

Try to look for the mask of the creator when you visit the museum…not tough to miss it though!

The 搞蛋鬼 (mischievous ghost), creator Wu

Do visit the ghost masks museum 泥人吴鬼脸馆 at JiuFen 九份 next time you are in Taiwan for a good laugh or good scare! Haha…

Entrance to the museum…Only now on closer look at the photo that
Itchyfingers realised that the admission charges were NT50 for adults and
NT30 for students…and we were asked to pay only NT30 each! Hahah!
So Itchyfingers still look like students??? Hahaha…. Biggest joke…

Also see related Posts:
> House of More Ghost Masks @ JiuFen
> House of Ghost Masks @ JiuFen
> The Haunted House @ JiuFen
> The Eyes
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

Words of Caution (again!): The following post contains graphical imageries that may make you feel sensitive, uncomfortable or offended; and may be unsuitable for those physically or mentally under 18… :p

The creator at the ghost mask museum of JiuFeng must be someone of a great sense of humour to come out with so many different kinds of ghost faces, though some of them, he claimed, were what he saw day to day with his accidentally-acquired ‘gift’ of being able to see the deads, or what we called the ‘yin yang’ eyes 阴阳眼.

There were a few masks made with multiple numbers of extra organs on the face, which often made them so funny looking…

The literaly Eyes-with-four-views Ghost…haha..wow his vision must be
very wide…

This was the Dirty Ghost…should be called the Nosey Ghost instead!

The Multiple-mouth Ghost! Talk only when necessary if not you ended up
like this when dead… :p

Or if you love to boast a lot, you also may become like this one…

The creator also seemed to have something against plastic surgery, cos a lot of the masks made fun of flopped procedures… :p

The Crooked-mouth Ghost…but maybe he was suffering from a stroke?

Another Surgery Ghost…

The Flopped Tatooed-Brow Ghost… haha

This was the Beauty Brow Ghost…wow….the two of them looked like twins.. :p

Not sure who was this person…maybe a Taiwan celebrity who had gone
under the knife to enhance her assets… :p

This was the Perky-Boob-faced Ghost… :p

Some masks made fun of prominent and often, unfortunate features of the face… :p

The Pockmarked Ghost…the chinese name was literally
“Fight-the-(chicken)pox Ghost”…but to fully appreciate the joke, you really
need to know Mandarin! :p

The Pile-faced Ghost!

Some were named completely opposite from how they looked… :p

Like this Handsome Ghost…haha…looked more like a villain in period drama

And this was called the Innocent Ghost! Goodness…he looked like a lecher!
Doesn’t he look like a Taiwanese comedian, 九孔?? (must click the link!) hahah..

The Gentle Ghost

Like to act innocent and you ended up looking like a Moron Ghost…

Too much of anything is always a bad idea… :p

The Reading Ghost…

The Web Ghost…

The Cigarette Ghost…see, smoking is really bad for you!

The Gambler Ghost

Gamble too much and lose money…you become the pathetic Borrow-money Ghost

The Sadistic Ghost

The Foul-mouthed Swearing Ghost

Some of the ghosts made Itchfyingers see red… :p So shy and embarrassing… :p

The AIDS Ghost

The wolf-calling Lecherous Ghost…”Gimme a kiss, gimme a kiss…” :O

The Brothel-patron Ghost… :p

Er, if you are underage, please skip these ones.. :p

The Masturbation Ghost… wow lao! :O

Eeee….the Oral Sex Ghost..! Wow lao! :O

And the perversive Bra-stealing Ghost! :O Wahahah!

Also see related post:
> House of Ghost Masks @ JiuFen
> The Haunted House @ JiuFen
> The Eyes
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

Words of Caution: The following post contains graphical imageries that may either scare you to death or make you laugh till you get tummy cramp. Do read at your own risks…

If you think that Itchyfingers were so freaked out alone at the ghost mask museum, then you are wrong. In fact, most of the time we were laughing while looking at the ‘name tags’ of the masks. Must say the creator is quite creative to think of so many different look…haha…

Many masks were meant to look hideous when they were made, but looking at these, I don’t think anyone would feel scared though… :p

The friendly-looking Cow Head Ghost, similar to the one Itchyfingers looked
on our last year’s Ghost Month’s masthead

The Horse-faced Ghost…ugly but not scary… :p

The Rectum-faced Ghost…hahah…

This was the Ghost of the Elected Officer…not sure why was he looking like
that…haha..

This looked like a Watermelon Alien Ghost!

Some of the masks made fun of certain humans’ habits or sins…like these…

Gluttony Ghost

Greedy Ghost…similar in ‘concept’ with the Gluttony Ghost…

The Bloated Ghost…again, similar as the previous two but different
‘presentation’…hahah

Gossip too much and risk looking like this when dead..

Some showed excessive ’secretion’…..eeeeee…..

Like the milder Cold-sweat Ghost…

Or this Crying Ghost…

The Mucous Ghost!

This Crying Ghost not only had lotsa tears but also lotsa mucous!

But none of them could match this one! Super gross! :O

The ultimate Shit-faced Ghost! :O

Gross! :O

Also see related post:
> The Haunted House @ JiuFen
> The Eyes
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

Words of caution: The following post contains scary and hideous imageries that might caused uneasiness and nightmares for some. Do be prepared for the shock or come visit us later!

Itchyfingers chanced upon this museum while roaming around the old streets of JiuFen in Taiwan early this year. Looking at the newspaper clip and the exterior, it looked interesting so we went in.

There was a middle-aged guy at the door and told us that we had to pay an entrance fee of NT30 (S$1.30). Wow! So cheap! Itchyfingers peeped inside and decided that it was worth paying the money as it was something different. :p

The moment we stepped in, walls after walls of masks ‘greeted’ us…

The ‘galleries’…made with walls of masks

All the ghosts you could name were written on this wall

Itchyfingers were the only visitors to the museum. There were a few people passing by but none came in to join us. Inside the dimly lit galleries, with walls after walls of ghost masks, it could be a bit scary for some people. Not to mention some of the masks actually looked quite creepy…

This group display looked scary huh…a bit bloody…

This Red-clothed Girl reminded me of Chucky’s girlfriend…

Another group display…long haired ghosts, double and triple-head ghosts,
headless ghost…

Peeping from the back…

Ghosts strung together…

Pig-headed ghost…

The majority of the exhibits were face masks hung on walls from ceiling to floor, some were hung on the pillars.

Long-tongued…

Frightening or not?

This looked fresh out of his grave… :p

Want a kiss from this French-kisser ghost? :p

Bushy demon

Red-eyed ghost…

Died from poisoning…

The One-horned ghost…he looked cross-eyed…

This one looked like one of those murderers sentenced to death in old chinese
period dramas…look at the deep cut on his forehead!

This one was worse, the Chopped-head ghost

He looked like he had his face sliced by the wires…

The badly-scalded ghost…

Nightmare of a flopped plastic surgery

The Half-man-half-bird ghost…

The Alien ghost

Towards the end of the galleries, there was a door that prohibited visitors from entering. It could be the door to the storeroom or the workshop, but as it was not completely closed, there was an air of mystery to what was behind the door…

The words said, “Do not enter. Treacherous ghosts inside”. Wow! This was
more effective than those warning signs with guard dogs…

I thought the effect could get even better if there were some background music…hahah…

At the entrance of the museum, there was this door with many ghost masks and a hole for visitors to pose picture with. How could Itchyfingers miss this chance?

The Tisu-faced ghost among other ghosts…think this should be the scariest
of all… hahah…

Also see related post:
> The Eyes
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

Do you believe in ghosts? Do you believe that some people can see ghosts? What if you are able to see ghosts? What would you do?

He used to be a chef in a restaurant. 20 years ago after attending a friend’s funeral wake, he felt his body being possessed by the Black and White ghost generals 黑白无常 (the pair just like what Itchyfingers are dressed like on our new masthead ). At the same time, he discovered that he has the special ability to see the deads, or what is commonly known as the ‘yin yang’ eyes 阴阳眼. From then on, he started to see faces of the deads, and that sparked his idea of ‘recording’ these faces. Initially he used flour to make the faces, but changed to using clay as it provides more flexibility and is more lasting.

Besides his claim of real life encounters with these dead people, he also likes to draw inspiration from Qing Dynasty’s literary work, 聊斋志异. Naturally, he is also a frequent visitor to graveyards, to get more ideas for his creation. During his creation process, he claimed that he had a few close shaves with death, but as long as he meant no harm, he believes eventually these ghosts will leave him alone.

As his collection of clay face masks increases (he has more than 1,500 masks and aims to increase the number to 5,000 or even 10,000), naturally he would like to share it with more people. Hence the birth of an unique museum on ghost clay masks. Itchyfingers chanced upon this museum during our visit to Taiwan early this year and had a fun time looking at the many clay masks. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, many of the masks were hilarious looking rather than scary! Certainly worth a visit!

A newspaper cutting outside the museum on the creator

Chanced upon this sign while wandering aimlessly along the narrow
old streets of JiuFen, Taiwan. Was curious what was this about but didn’t
really make it a point to look for it, but eventually we bumped into the
museum…

Do look out for our next post to find out more!

Also see related post:
> Open Seasame!
> Nine Portions with Nine Lives – Taiwan Trip #14
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

By now if you have not noticed, surely you should have at least smelled it. Yes…it is the time of the year again – the Lunar Seventh Month, also known as the Ghost Month, where the “Gate of Hell” is supposed to be opened for the souls of the deads to come out for their yearly ‘excursion’… :p So the livings will start to burn incense papers for them, which explains the lingering burning smell in the air.

Since it is the Ghost Month, like last year, Itchyfingers will write about nothing but scary or the supernatural stuff for the next few weeks… hahah…:D

While looking through the many ’scary’ photos, Itchyfingers found this picture and think it looked a bit creepy, especially at night…

A scarecrow at Pulau Ubin. Imagine walking alone and bumped into this
fellow with sharp claws! :p It has a mop for hair… :p

Scarecrows are put up in fields to scare away crows and other birds to protect the crops. But after a while, the smart birds learn that it is stationary and so there’s nothing scary about it…

Well, imagine you have a scarecrow like this one… :p

The naughty Tisu Girl turned scarecrow… :p Looked more like Sadako from
The Ring!

Also see related post:
> Money No Enough Too
> Death Notes
> Death of Friendship
> Dying Trade, Dying Career, Dying Crowd
> A Singapore Horror Story
> The Gate is Opened!

Besides the many animal specimens on special loan from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR), there were other interesting artefacts that were collected by the six collectors featured in the Hunter & Collectors exhibition now at the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM).

A Dayak Hampatong, or ancestor figure from Sarawak, Malaysia.
Try to identify the four animals flanking it… :p

One of the ancestor carvings collected in 1887, commonly found in
households throughout the Nias Islands of Indonesia

Ancestor carvings served as reminders of the deceased and as charms to
protect the household. They were containers for ancestral spirits. It was
believed that by trapping the last breath of a dying person, the soul could be
contained and transferred to the carving

This ain’t normal coconut shell, but a coconut shell container for fishing
bait. This was dated back at least a century ago!

Singapore a “rotten place”?! Wow! What did we do to annoy him? Read on
and you realised he was just complaining to his sister in a letter that he
felt uncomfortable in towns and preferred to rough it out in faraway places.
William Louis Abbott (1860 – 1936) spent a good 10 years in Singapore from
1899. He was the one who discovered the large endangered seabird, the Abbott’s
Booby (Papasula abbotti) on Assumption Island in 1892. The bird is named
after him

A basket collected from the Iban, natives of the island of Borneo. This was
carried on the back like a haversack, probably used to store precious
harvest like grains

Of the many kris (keris) on display, Itchyfingers felt this was quite unique…

Closeup of this keris with hilt in the form of a deity (19th century, Bali, East
Java). The figure depicts Bayu, the Hindu god of the wind. Bayu is often shown
encrusted with jewels and holding a prominent centre stone which symbolises
amritsa, the elixir of life

A bullet holder from Sumatra, Indonesia. Some of the lead bullets are still
inside the holder!

Old records of specimens collected

These were some reports of the Raffles Library and Museum for the years
1874 to 1900, consisting research papers written by museum staff and
other scholars about the collection. Notice the design of the book looks like
what we can still find in the shops nowadays? Hmmm…certain things sure
can survive the tests of time… haha…

A shell ornament…dunnu from which turtle or tortoise…poor thing….

From Kelantan and Perak, Malay Peninsula in the 19th century. Any idea
what were these for?

See where the plate was used? Haha….the plates are called the ‘modesty
plates’, used to cover the boys’ you-know-where….hahahah….

The ‘modesty plates’ were really small since they were for children. Then what about adults? ?

No, you are wrong if you think these bigger plates are ‘modesty plates’ for
adults… :p They are actually buckles… hahah…

Beautiful Ceret (Kettle) from Brunei

A Kendi (Water Vessel) from West Sumatra, Indonesia

A sarong, probably belonged to the Iban Dayak from Sarawak. The repeated
geometric design, known as hooked lozenges, is one of the most basic forms,
and is used to represent living beings, both human and animals

A closeup of the unusual armour, probably from the Iban Dayak, Borneo
in the 19th century. This war-coat is made of bark and fish scales. Some
Iban Dayak are known for using the skin of a scaly anteater to make these
war-coat

A carved wooden crocodile from Sarawak. It is believed that crocodiles
have the power to capture the soul of a human, which would entice the body
to come looking for the soul, and fall prey to the croc. This wooden croc,
possibly a preventive talisman, could have been carved by an image maker
or a shamen

Decorative house panels. They actually reminded me of the aboriginal
arts of Australia.. :p

A female ancestor figure from the Eastern Indonesian Archipelago

We were wondering why this figure looked so familar. So this is Madonna
and Child, from East Timor. Colonised in the 16th century by the Portuguese,
East Timor was one of the earliest areas in the region to see mass conversion
to Christianity. While the image was probably made locally to copy the
European style, the face mirrored those of local ancestor images and carved
in the local style

Museums today are getting more informational and interactive. There are always no lack of activities to engage both the young and the old. Do look out for the fun stations located throughout the gallery where you can listen to indigenous music, collect embossed tribal symbols and hunt for missing objects in the Virtual Raffles Library & Museum! The Hunters & Collectors exhibition is on till 21 September!

Also see related post:
> When the Hunters Became the Hunted – Hunters & Collectors

In the late 19th century, expeditions were often organised by explorers, nautralists, businessmen and missionaries to the Southeast Asian region. The latest exhibition at the Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) features more than 300 artefacts by six of these collectors during their many trips. Many of their collections made their way to the then Raffles Library & Museum (the present National Museum of Singapore), the first museum in Singapore. Established in 1849, the museum was founded to study the region’s exotic flora and fauna. The Hunter & Collectors exhibition in ACM recreates the old museum with the many cabinets of rich ethnographic collection and natural history specimens; the latter were on-loan from the Zoological Reference Collection of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR).

Well, frankly speaking, it was a time when natural specimens were collected through ‘hunting’, which means that predators like tigers and leopards, the ‘hunters’ themselves, were now the ‘hunted’, by early collectors.

The hunter….a leopard taken from the zoo…

The highlight of the natural specimens section must be this one…not sure if I have seen this specimen in the RMBR during my many visits there…

A leopard (panthera pardus) poised to pounce! These cats can run at speed
of around 58 km (36 miles) an hour, three times faster than an average
human being!

According to the sign, “leopards were found in Singapore at Pulau Ubin, the
MacRitchie Reservoir before 1924, and one is believed to have been shot near
Orchard Road! Although they are believed to be extinct here since WWII,
leopards have reportedly been sighted on Tekong island around 1988.”

This tiger was at the RMBR gallery…but I like the shadow cast. The teeth
looked a bit comical….haha…

This is the False Gavial (Tomistoma schlegelii). The stockier one is the
Estuarine Crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), and can be seen at the Sungei
Buloh Wetland Reserves

Since some of the specimen on display were the same as those in the gallery of RMBR, we shall not show those again.

Yes, I have showed and written about these Proboscis Monkeys (Nasalis
larvatus) on my last visit to RMBR. But what I did not notice was this…

..that the Proboscis has this distinctive white patch on the rear end that looks
like it is wearing a white underwear! Hahahaha….! These guys are good swimmers
and can dive underwater..er…no wonder they need the white swimming trunk..
haha…The thick brown coat looks like a vest… Somehow it looks lost on
the specimen…

This is the Siamang (Symphalangus syndactylus), the largest gibbon and one
of the noisiest

The Siamang is aboreal and a vegetarian. This species was named by
Stamford Raffles

Can’t remember if this beautiful specimen was displayed at RMBR. This is
Asian Brown Tortoise (Manouria emys). The one Itchyfingers rescued at
Fraser’s Hill should be this species…

This one is so cute, with the head and limbs tucked in! According to the
sign, this is the Pineapple Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata). I have never
heard of such a tortoise species, and thought I have seen similar ones like this…

And yes! A search online says the Pineapple Tortoise is another name for the
Elongated Tortoise. They are also known as Red-nosed Tortoise (how apt!),
Yellow Tortoise and Yellow-headed Tortoise. This sweetie is from the zoo..

This Orange-spotted Grouper (Epinephelus coioides) must be the grumpiest
fish I have ever seen…hahah… Looks much better when it is alive…

The grumpy fish seen in the old museum in this archival photo…

Moving on, we were attracted by these beautiful drawings by Carl Alexander Gibson-Hill, a British medical doctor, naturalist, ornithologist and curator of the Raffles Museum, in the 20th century. Hmm, no wonder his depiction of the birds and animals were so accurate.

This is the Lesser Crow-Pheasant, or the Lesser Coucal (Centropus
bengalensis javanensis). Can’t find our picture of this bird taken in the wild…

Not too sure if this is the other name for the other Pipit found locally?

Lapwings in flight

The Red-wattled Lapwing (Vanellus indicus) taken in the wild

Notice how the artist used white paint to correct on the paper which had
since turned yellowish with time… :p This is the Spotted Dove (Streptopelia
chinensis), a common bird in Singapore

The ’spots’ on the neck are actually from black tips of the white feathers.
Somehow, many malays like to keep these as pets

The Eastern Swallow, better known as the Pacific Swallow (Hirundo
tahitica) here

Unlike Swifts, Swallows can perch and come to the ground to drink or
gather nesting material. Pacific Swallows are common in Singapore, usually
near water and open country, along the coast and also in mangroves

By far, this is the least accurate of all the drawings. This is supposed to be the
Yellow-vented Bulbul (Pycnonotus goiavier)…a bit fat leh… :p

The Yellow-vented Bulbul with the newly fledged…a very common bird in
Singapore

The Siamang

The Long-tailed Macaque (Macaca fascicularis)

Remember Itchyfingers’ post on ‘Monkey See, Monkey Do‘?

Besides the live size specimens, there are also some in this form…

Flattened like pancake… :p This is the Sunda Colugo (Galeopterus variegatus)
or the Malayan Flying Lemur. Itchyfingers just read on the latest issue of
Nature Society’s magazine about a pair of mating colugo, which showed the
male as a brownish one and the female as the more grayish one. This brown
specimen was labelled as a male too

Can you see anything here?

Now, you can see it! The Malayan Colugo are not related to true lemurs of
the Madagascar. These nocturnal and often well camouflaged animals have
membranes that connect their legs and tail, enabling them to glide from
tree to tree…Itchyfingers have yet to get the chance to see them glide…

The greyish female with a baby…

Remember the Jungle Nymph (Heteropteryx dilatata) that Itchyfingers once cut open?

So many butterflies, some of which Itchyfingers have never seen before…
Remember the Atlas Moth (Attacus atlas) we wrote about?

The Common Birdwing (Troides helena). This specimen must have aged a lot…

..cos the life butterfly spots a bright yellow on the wings…Was so thrilled
to see this big butterfly again recently…

Nowadays, specimens are no longer acquired through the organising of expeditions…thanks goodness!  Most of the newer specimens are from dead animals collected locally. Since the open house of RMBR few months ago which attracted a lot of visitors, many who were first-time visitors, vast interest in natural history was generated and discussed on the papers. It was said that plans for a new and bigger gallery space are being explored, as RMBR has so many more specimens that were only accessible to researchers. Hopefully Singapore will have a better museum for natural history very soon! In the meantime, do visit the Hunters & Collectors Exhibition at the ACM from now till 21 September, or look out for Itchyfingers’ next post for more!

Also see related posts:
> Seeing Double
> Humming to the Wrong Tune – Mistaken Identities #3
> Slow But Steady – World Turtle Day
> Changing Colours – Mistaken Identities #2
> Living in Cold Blood – Mistaken Identities #1
> Snake Tales
> Monkey See, Monkey Do
> The Web Crawler
> Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research
> Attaining Immortality – Body Preservation
> Life in the Mountain – Fraser’s Hill, Malaysia Trip #4

Last week, Itchyfingers visited one of the newest shopping centres in Orchard Road. The first thing that attracted us was the very long escalator on the exterior of the building that brings you up, up, and up….all the way up to the shops!

You could see the main road from the escalator…dun look back if you are
afraid of height… :p Er…and please dun wear mini skirts or flare skirts…
it can get quite windy up there… :p

There were three long escalators but only two were operating when we
were there…I think the sign said this goes to level 7…? Forgot… :p

So the interesting thing was, not only the escalators were open and located outside the building, once you reached the end, there was this open balcony for you to get a view of Orchard Road.

A view from the balcony

It was a hot afternoon so we were glad to escape into the air-conditioned brand new shopping centre. It was spacious…and when we looked up the ceiling…

I like the lighting effects created by the ceiling

Not all shops were opened yet. The overall interior felt big and spacious, especially the floor we entered. But there were also some corners where we found many smaller shops…a bit cramp along those smaller shops…and didn’t feel as classy as the rest of the place. Once out of that stretch of shops, looking up the ceiling again was another interesting picture…

The lights looked as if they were moving….

Then we looked straight ahead. Er, something else were moving….

What the…?!?  :O

An indoor rock-climbing wall in the shopping centre!

There were two girls among the group of about 10. Er..they din look like
they were the very fit kinds leh…maybe the sports involve more technique
than strength?  :p

There were comfortable resting lounge areas and next to one of them, we saw this huge sculpture of a lady with shopping bag. Wonder why wasn’t there a sculpture of a man? :p

See anything special about the sculpture? No?

Look from the front and you noticed that her face was squashed…

She wore hot chili-red boots and there were stream of shoppers taking
turn to pose with her huge feet!

We wondered why she was made like this…We decided to take the escalator to the lowest level to take a look at her huge boots.. :p But before we even reached there, Tisu Boy already had it figured out…

Have you figure it out?

Looking up at the glass lifts…see how perspective made things look narrower
and smaller on top?

Similarly, at about 20 metres tall, the lady’s height was greatly accentuated
with big foot and significantly smaller head…  :D

Since we were here, Tisu Girl decided to pose with the huge boots too!