Sir Stamford Raffles (6 July 1781 – 5 July 1826)

Today I went to Malaysia in Johor Bahru to keep myself busy but mostly to see how long it takes and how easy it is to reach the place by public transport as I will be leaving next week-end to Borneo from Johor Airport. Flights are much cheaper from there but I really do not think it is worth the hassle. Anyway, I bought the Saturday paper to keep me busy during the long trip and saw that it was the anniversay of the death of Sir Stamford Raffles while tomorrow is his birthday. I had to pay homage to his most famous representation statue as Singaporeans owe him everything since he decided to establish a post at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula instead of the Karimun Island he was previously eying at.

Lanterns

In Chinatown, as everywhere else in town, everything seems to be in place for the forthcoming Vesak celebrations. Vesak Day is one of the biggest days of the year in the Buddhist calendar and is celebrated by Buddhists all over the world. The day marks the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha and is a day of great celebrations. It is traditional to clean the home and decorate it in preparation for the celebrations which begin before dawn and continue throughout the day with religious services, prayer meetings, meditation sessions and processions. Monday will be a public holiday in Singapore and the celebrations are supposed to be some of the finest (but I will not be there to witness them).

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

In a couple of days time we will celebrate the biggest event in the area. The Christmas decorations were set up as early as October in Singapore and lasted until the end of December but they were swiftly replaced by the Chinese New Year decorations which means that the city will have been adorned with fancy garlands and decorum for over 5 months! The colour red is everywhere which is kind of... bright. The low point though is that we are entering the year of the rat and Disney surely took this opportunity for a big sponsoring with Mickey hijacking the whole event! I believe it should indeed be renamed the year of the mouse. Anyway, tomorrow I am ready for a long 4 days and a half weekend. That's so sweet!