a day at the museum

it has been awhile since I last went out and walk around in Singapore. After yesterday short walk around Bugis area, I have another trip but this time is at Raffles Place. (ya, I am walking around alone again)

actually, I have planned for this trip for quite some times but finally I have time to do so. For the sake of showing you guys my life in Singapore is not that boring after all, if only when I go out and walk around.

what is there to see at Raffles Place??

office people having lunch surrounding by buildings??

I think most of Singapore's tall buildings locate over here because even at 1pm, not much sun light can get through these buildings.

The Fullerton Hotel Singapore, the used to be General Post Office Building has become one of the finest hotels in Singapore.

The Cavenagh Bridge for crossing the Singapore River

Singapore River view from the bridge

bronze sculptures on kids having fun by the river bank

about 5 minutes walk from Raffles Place's MRT station and after seeing all those things above and cross the bridge, you will see the Asian Civilisations Museum.

and yes, my main purpose is to see The Kangxi Emperor Exhibition

it started before I went back to KL on my first term break and now it is about 1 week left before the exhibition ends. It is a rare chance to see what one of the famous emperors in Chinese history have during his time.

SGD 8 for adult and have a free tour around the museum before the tour for Kangxi exhibition starts. Quite lucky for me as I reach the place, a group just about to start their tour. So I just follow them and see the Asian cultures.

First, we start off with South East Asia as this is where Singapore is locate at. The tour guide explain little history about Singapore which I already learn in Sejarah classes. Still fun to recap back what I have learn.

Been told that in this museum, they use BCE (before common era) instead of BC which what they call more accurate term but it is still the same.

note: no flash allowed in photo taking, so quality bit sucks

Pejeng-style Bronze Drum, 600 BCE from East Java, Indonesia.

After comparing few instruments that believe cross cultural took place around SEA as most of the symbols, carving and style are similar. Next we move on to see Buddha figures.

the tour guide teaches us how to differentiate Buddha from different country based on the top part of his hair which is called Ushnisha and earlobes.

sandstone figure of Buddha protected by Naga Muchalinda, Cambodia.

Cambodian's Buddha have a pyramid shape Ushnisha and tight curl hair. This 1 is sitting on asnake which happened said that the Naga is protecting Buddha from storm so he can continue his meditation. He split himself into 7 heads which also represent 7 Chakras.

Seated Buddha, Burma.

Buddha from Burma has earlopbes that touching his shoulders and the Ushnisha is like an onion. He also sitting on a lotus instead of snake and 1 hand touching the ground which said the Buddha is connecting to earth.

Bronze Buddha, Thailand

Usually standing and the Ushnisha is a shape of fire. His both palms facing front as been told it means no evil spirits can come near to Buddha.

Bronze Buddha Pada, Thailand.

It shows that Buddha's feet has straight toes instead of uneven one like us. The reason why is because Buddha has reached another level or something which I dont really remember.

traditional clothes from Northern Thailand which made by marijuana

the ladies actually have to prove themselves ready to married from planting the marijuana until using it to make this dress. 'X' can be found everywhere in their life where they believe no evil spirit will come near them.

a Chinese scholar's room

the four treasures of the study include; the writing brush, ink stick, paper and ink stone

next we move to the West Asia part which is where the Islamic influences came from

wooden panel which written "there is no God but Allah and Muhamad is his Prophet"

we can see this in front of every Muslim's house and now I know what does it mean.

embroiled fragment from the Ka'bah, Makkah.

they have to change the Ka'bah once a year and this is just 1 small part of the entire cloth, then the old one will cut into small pieces like this and give to museums and others.

Al- Quran written on paper as been told they captured the Chinese paper maker and start making their own papers. The Muslims also invented colors to decorate the Al-Quran. As can see from above, the tiny square box is the Al-Quran and other than that are decorations. Al-Quran will never been place on the floor and that is why they have the stand to place it.

another cool one is this scroll Al-Quran. It is only 1 full sentence of the Al-Quran but inside of it is the entire Al-Quran.

They also have a replica mosque in the museum and Muslim can actually do their prayers there. Besides that, Al-Quran can be seen as part of furnitures, bowls and intruments.

Next we move on to South Asia which is where Hinduism came from. But we are short of time, because the Kangxi tour will start on 3pm so we only have 1 hour to tour around the museum.

the Coins from Chand Collections that tells the ancient South Asian history.

Granite Brahma

red beige sandstone Vishnu as Trivikrama

in Brahmanial Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva represent the trinity responsible for maintaining the balance in Creation, Preservation and Disolution of the Universe.

Ganesha, been told one of the most prayed God because he is a good listener, a good obstacles remover and he is intelligent. So, prayer who got problems in work, life or study will often pray to Ganesha.

stone relief with scenes from the life of Buddha.
from bottom is the Great Departure, followed by his earth witnessing gesture during meditation and the First Serman where Buddha teaching his middle path to his followers

Nandi, the Bull that Lord Shiva rides on

then we rush to The Kangxi Emperor exhibition and the tour took over by a lady close to her 70's or more. How nice can it be to have a tour on one of the most famous emporors in the Chinese history by an old lady with her voice and her experiences. The entire tour is very interesting as we follow Kangxi's path of becoming an emporor.

unfortunately, no phototaking are allowed in the exhibition because most of the things in there are original and they have been kept in a very good condition with assistants from technology. So, no photos from the main purpose of my trip to this museum. The best I can offer is what I got from the brochures.

The Kangxi Emperor was the third Emporor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His original name is Aisin-Gioro Xuanye. He became emporor when he was 7 to 8 years old when his father past away in a young age. (others just click the link)

Kangxi's socks..

in the exhibition, I saw Kangxi's clothes that really wore by him before. Other that this there is also the 9th scroll of his 12 hand scrolls which documents his 2nd of his 6 Southern tours. One scroll is 22metres long and took 6 years to complete the entire drawing. It is just pure amazing as every figure inside the scroll can be seen clearly and Kangxi is under a big yellow umbrealla and is slightly bigger size than others. (part of the scroll shown)

also have the replica of the document he wrote in Chinese and Manchurian where he decided to rule the entire China on his own.

another will be one of his major projects to win over the Chinese heart as a Manchurian such as the Kangxi dictionary. He learnt Chinese caligrafi at the age of 5 and learn about Confucianism when he was 15 - 16 year old in order to understand the majority minds.

Kangxi's ceremonial armour and helmet

besides that also saw the rifles and bow he used for hunting. With these 2 weapons, he killed 135 tigers, 20 bears, 25 leopards, 96 wolves, 132 wild boars and hundreds deers at Mulan over the years. His best personal record is 318 rabbits in a day.

Kangxi's 60th birthday celebration scroll

other than these, also have another hand scroll about his 60th birthday celebration which is 80metres long. (only part of it was shown)

Seal of Kangxi emperor and twelve digit calculator

Others like calculator the Westerners brought to him, the measurement instruments and new technologies can be seen in the exhibition.

what I got from this exhibition is a sticker with Kangxi's face and also..

brochures about the exhibition...

I am really satisfied with the tour and exhibition as everything has been well explained by the tour guide. I also been told that they have a major exhibition in London before which includes Kangxi's son Yongzheng and grandson Qianlong. It will be more complete if all these are available here. But unfortunately not at this moment.

after the tour, I spent another 2 hours walking around the museums and take photos on others exhibition about Asian cultural. So I literally spent 4 hours plus in the museum which is kind of fun.

photos will be uploaded in facebook soon...

as I on my way home, I saw the moon. Felt more complete after went to the exhibition as I know more about Chinese history as well as Asian cultural now.