Dali in Spain

Our recent brush with Dali gave me the perfect excuse to blog about our trip last summer to the Dali Museum in his home town Figueres. It was on the drive home from Barcelona & I could not pass on the opportunity to visit.

The surrealistic building embodies what Dali is all about - whimsical, funny & unpredictable.

The courtyard

& what do the statues remind you of ?

The dome within the museum

Can we tell what is this a painting of ?

Now can you ?

Funnily enough, with the naked eye, from afar you couldn't make out the image but when I took the picture with the camera, the image stood out very clearly

HIs fascination with drawers

I'm addicted to Bak Chor Mee

I've talked often about my love for noodles. Char Kway Teow, Mee Siam, Soba, Pho, Ramen, Wanton Mee but strangely enough for the first 20 something years of my life, that list didn't include Bak Chor Mee.

But since I moved back, I cannot seem to get enough of them. By far, one of my favorite is located in Hong Lim Food Centre # 02-16 rated 3 chopsticks - a die die must try stall by Makansutra. Thankfully this is near my office so I go there at least once a week.

The line at lunch time is always very long but it is well worth the wait.

So what is it so special about this bowl of Bak Chor Mee ? It's the vinegar. The perfectly cooked noodles. The slivers of liver & meat. The wontons & meat balls. My personal favorite, the piece of dried fish.

The most expensive museum in Singapore

I've put off going to the Arts Science Museum not only because of it's prohibitive entry fee of S$30 for adults & *gasp* $17 for children (to put this in perspective, the fees for the National Museum is $10/5) but because the idea of a museum that unites arts & science does not exactly fill me with excitement.

Right now, there are 3 three reasons to go 1. Van Gogh Alive 2. Dali 3. 20% OCBC card promotion.

You can't miss it, it's located inside the iconic Lotus Bud / Palm structure in front of Marina Bay Sands which apparently collects rain water to be recycled in the restrooms.

Dali is in town

Do you agree ?

The Van Gogh Alive does not actually show any of his paintings per se. Instead, it's a multimedia projection of his paintings within the gallery. The images juxtaposed with one another & seem to take on a life of their own. The best way to enjoy this is to sit back, relax & immerse yourself in the music & the art of Van Gogh. Highly recommended.

The museum is extremely kids friendly. Interactive games like *Spot the difference* or *Re-arrange the picture*. The activity area had paper crafts for us to take home - all related to the current exhibition.

Then of course there was Dali with his unmistakable moustache, clocks & drawers.

Madman or Genius ?

Finally something to leave you with.

Where we are most weekends

We go cycling almost every weekend. The Girl has her bike & earlier this year, I bought myself a foldable bike too (already looking to upgrade but that's another post). Both our bikes fit easily into the boot of a car, so only X has to rent his bike.

I discovered Lifestyle Bike & Skates that has pitstops along the PCN (Park Connector Networks that goes around the island). The parks are connected & you can rent a bike from one of their 6 stops & then return it at any of the other stops (no need to backtrack). Depending on the bike, they charge $6-$8 for two hours.

Bistro @ Changi Beach Park

For that much needed beer after our ride

If you start from Changi Beach Park & do the route the other way

Then there is always East Coast Lagoon Food Centre

Singapore Biennale 2011

Going to the Singapore Biennale was a no brainer for many reasons, amongst them to check out the old Kallang Airport (I love the building), family day sundays (free entry & activities for the kids) & of course to check out the artists....

Gosia Wlodarczark - frost drawings on glass

One of my favorites

Elmgreen & Dragset Full size German barn

complete with Singaporean farm boys

installed in one of the old hangers

Michael Lin's "what a difference a day makes"

whereby he purchased the entire contents from a shop in Shanghai, shipped to Singapore & redisplaying all the items & the cartons used in the shipment

Thai artist Arin Rungjang "Unequal Exchange"

Creates a living space using Ikea furniture & then inviting Thai migrant workers to exchange one of their existing pieces of furniture with one of his

Another of our favorites

Rafael Lozano-Hammer "Frequency & Volume"

Based on the size of our shadows on the wall, a frequency is detected

A beautiful Sunday.

We finished the day by flying the kite she made

I found a Kacang Puteh man

Don't know about you guys but I grew up with this.

So imagine my delight when I found the kacang puteh man. It is obviously no longer 10 cents (yup those were the days !) but $1 now. He has all the old favorites plus newer varieties like rice craker types (he is keeping up with the trend).

Do say hi if you do run into him.