I first visited Asian Civilisations Museum early last year and this particular museum is one of my most favourites in Singapore due to its fascinating and vast collection of artefacts (many of the artefacts here do gave me wow factor when I first saw them). Today, I returned to this museum to bring a friend of mine (it’s his first visit to this museum) and to also check out the special exhibition titled ‘Pagoda Odyssey 1915: From Shanghai to San Francisco’ that isn’t here during my previous visit.
This special exhibition which runs for a year from 31st May 2024 to 1st June 2025 reunites a set of 84 hand-carved model pagodas for the first time in over a century. These impressive model pagodas were originally made in Shanghai before they travelled all the way to San Francisco for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition of 1915. The models are based on real structures and embody the diversity of iconic pagodas from different regions and historical periods.
The display of various pagodas, each different with another in this exhibition was quite an enchanting sight. I was particularly fascinated by an exhibit of about a hundred of miniature human figures, each going about their daily life back in the past; performing various recognizable activities. They looked so cool! Would be awesome if we are able to get a few of them home on my table for decorative display (but nope…only for display, not for sale!). Here are some of the shots I took of this particular exhibition and also of some other permanent exhibits in the museum (my photographs this time focused more on the intricate blow-up details);
We ended the tour of the museum in two hours. By the way, it has been a crazily wet weather these couple of days over here in Singapore and parts of Malaysia due to the monsoon surge (no idea what that means) as reported by news. Rain started early in the morning on last Friday (when I was going to work) and only stopped on the next day (Saturday’s afternoon). The non-stop rain lasted for about 30 hours and that is very rare. It was also a rainy day today and this wet weather is expected to go on for a couple more days. It will be very difficult for my clothes to dry in recent days.
While it is all wet and cold over here, Los Angeles recently experienced the most destructive wildfire in the history of the region. The disaster which started on 7th January 2025 spread quickly due to severe drought in Southern California, low humidity and a worsening wind event. The fire which is still on-going has killed over 16 people and has destroyed many houses including those of several famous Hollywood celebrities. Hoping that this will end very soon with no more casualties and damages.