HortPark on a not too hot day

Finally made it to HortPark on Alexandra Road this week. Unfortunately the weather played truant and we couldn't stay long and explore the Southern Ridges. The upside of a fairly downcast sky was that there wasn't a soul apart from a TV crew, a few enthusiastic makciks and a sprinkling of tourists.

HortPark is beautiful and there are lots of ideas for the green-fingered. The play spaces and fantasy gardens are great for the little ones, laid out as they are in various sections so that there is breathing space in between.

It's also the perfect place to take your kids if you want to introduce them to the world of caterpillars. We had to walk carefully to avoid stamping on one, they were everywhere and some of the bushes looked ragged, chewed up as they were.

I could just imagine it all baking under the Singapore sun on a clear day. Why don't planners think of some shade so more people can use it between 11-3 when most playgrounds are empty for that very reason? Take water and snacks along, HortPark only has one fine-dining outlet. We ended up at Ikea for lunch.

Nature walks at Seletar: 6 & 12 July

The feathered denizens of the once-peaceful Seletar area are migrating because of the construction activities around it and the residents are organising a guided tour and birdwatching experience in an area that in six months will be part of the planned aerospace hub. Register with Sue at 91057778.

Ballet Under the Stars - 25-27 July

I love the composition in Ngiap Heng's pic for the next edition of BUTS.

Anyway, the next arts-in-the-park experience is coming up at the end of the month at Fort Canning Park. It's SDT's 20th anniversary and they've planned excerpts of their most popular works. There's  face-painting and tattoos for children and do I even need to mention the word picnic?

Gates open at 5pm, performance at 7:30pm. And tickets from Sistic. Free admission for infants in arms and children below 6 years of age.

SDT I notice also has some cool dance appreciation concerts for upper primary and secondary school children in August and October. At $11 a ticket, it's a steal. The Nutcracker children's day special in October is even appropriate for kids 3 years and above.

Night Festival, National Museum: July 18-19 & July 25-26

There's nothing scary about these nights at the museum. The first weekend features aerial performances on the premises and in its gardens by Italian group Studio Festi who have performed at the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

If your kids are the the kind who fight for their right to party into the night, the National Museum and other museums including the ACM and SAM will offer free admission to the public on July 25 till 2am. I'd think this one was more to draw the teenagers in, though there are a couple of younger child friendly activities from 6pm - 10pm including open-air screenings of the original 1971 film adaptation of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Hairspray.

Since we're hitting the museums a lot these days, thought I might get the annual individual membership costing $50 (LO is below 3 so she gets in for free most times) next time I'm there as they have a discount of 15% off membership subscriptions till 6 July. Dual membership is $80, family $120 and student $20. More details here.

Opera outdoors, 21 June

About a thousand people gathered on a balmy and clear Sunday to listen to some opera at the Palm Valley at the Botanic Gardens.

Most came with picnic baskets, nibbled on cheese, sipped their wine and caught up on gossip between Delibes and Donizetti, while the kids ran around the trees. It really was an enchanted evening.

I do hope this is going to be a regular event, and also that the singers wear something bright and colourful the next time around; we could barely see them and we weren't sitting too far away.

If there is going to be another edition, we also hope to hear about it in advance. One way would have been more signs in the gardens itself. There were benches all around advertising the garden festival which is more than a month away and not a single sign about Opera in the Park, not even one piddly directional sign.

Update on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 12:22AM by MamaSez

While on the Botanics, feeding the ducks and turles at the eco lake - or for that matter in many water bodies here - is a popular pastime for kids. I just remembered a friend saying that these must be the best-fed ducks and turtles in Singapore. And I wonder how many folks throw in appropriate food rather than just bits of bread. The monkeys around Macritchie are said to have become this aggressive because of people feeding them. I wonder what effect all the food thrown into the water has on the ducks and turtles at the eco lake.

Hydro Sapiens, Bedok Reservoir: A dark water tale

Why Bedok? No idea really. The arts fest has ventured in the past into the heartland, to places such as Choa Chu Kang in 2006, so I guess this is another one of those forays, this time in partnership with the PUB.

On a huge floating platform overlooked by HDB blocks, theatre group The Lunatics from the Netherlands has constructed a marine rig/theatrical spectacle from scratch. 

There was lots of water play in this story. The artistes made music from it, fished things out of it, jumped in occasionally, romanced on it, emerged out of, and, naturally, sailed on it to touch on the various aspects of people's relationship with water. There was even a Singaporean touch in the form of twelve volunteers in the show. All very colourful.

 

Be warned, however. For a family show, the themes were quite dark and included some death and destruction; a baby near me even cried. Disappointingly, the fireworks were minimal, apparently the proximity to the Paya Lebar airbase limited their use.
 

Hydro Sapiens is on till Sunday, 22 June at 8pm, Bedok Reservoir Park. Remember to get off at Block 744 on the main road and walk toward the reservoir.

Opera in the Park: 21 June, Botanic Gardens

SDT has done it for years. Now SLO is going to try. I'm talking performances in the park, au naturel, under the stars, pinic baskets, wine in hand, you know what I mean.

The Lyric Opera is doing its inaugural Opera in the Park at the Palm Valley at Botanics next weekend and unlike Ballet Under the Stars, it's free.

I've only seen recorded broadcasts of opera outdoors; the last one I saw was Anna Netrebko and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Berlin Waldbuehne in front of 15,000 people. All I'll say is, even if it was a bit disconcerting to see the beads of sweat on the singer's face, I really wanted to be there.

There's no Russian soprano or Simon Rattle conducting here but I'm definitely going.

Update on Monday, June 16, 2008 at 05:18PM by MamaSez

Just learnt that June 21 is the summer solstice/midsummer's day and World Music Day. I can think of no better way to spend it.

Reef walks on Sentosa

Naked Hermit Crabs is organising guided reef walks on Sentosa to spot its shore-dwellers - I mean the marine kind not the ones that hang out at KM8.

Save these dates:

- 6 June (Friday)
- 9 June (Monday)
- 6 July (Sunday)

Heritage Marathon - 19 July

 Sign up for the treasure-hunt style race Fun on Foot here.

Anyone for a trek up Gunung Lambak?

Just saw an email from the homeschooling group about a trek up Gunung Lambak, a 510m high hillock near the town of Kluang, Johor. Apparently a popular day trip for families, the trail apparently is clearly marked, has large steps and rope bridges on the way and is said to be suitable for 5 year-olds and above. You can book the trail here through a local agent. Other Malaysian outdoors options here. Also stumbled up on a Youtube video taken by a Malaysian family going up. Cute!