Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve [sbwr.org.sg] is one of the few truly wild places left in Singapore. You can see quite a lot of wildlife there; monitor lizards, tree frogs, resident and migrant water birds and, I’m told, even small saltwater crocs on occasion. Unfortunately, I didn’t see a croc, but I did see lots of crabs and even a tree frog or two. Click the image for the full set on Flickr [flickr.com]

I’ve been to OCH before [confusion.cc] to take photos but I think I’ve got a better eye and better equipment now. The end results don’t necessary justify that statement. I like the photos, but they don’t have that creepy feeling I would want. Partly I think it’s due to not post-processing the images very much. No major dodge and burn or change in the hues. Partly the images don’t tell any story. Maybe I need a model. Anyway, click on the photo to see the rest of the set.

As an afterthought to our visit to Haw Par Villa [confusion.cc] recently a mate and I visited the former Mitre Hotel to take some abandoned places photos. Didn’t get as much as I wanted out of it. I know from a Flickr search [flickr.com] that many have taken very cool photos of the inside of the hotel. Unfortunately the place was locked down well and I could not get in to shoot the interesting stuff. Seems there are a couple of squatters that have taken to cleaning the place up quite a bit, and they have locked it down fairly well. Being that they were ‘home’ when we were there, we did not get to the interesting stuff. So only a few photos and not that exciting. But here they are. Click the image above to see the full set.

I went to Haw Par Villa with a mate to shot photos for my “Abandoned Places” [flickr.com] collection and because I think abandoned places are cool. I don’t have a great eye to get the feeling across but I try. Haw Par villa is not actually abandoned, but it’s as close to it as you can come. I can’t imagine the government will keep it open too much longer. Click the image for the full set of photos. See Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] for more info on Haw Par Villa..

Happy birthday Tori.  It will be years before you can even read this, and you won’t remember the party but I know the happiness you show — at the party and always — continues.  If, and when, you look back I hope you will be able to understand that the past 12 months has been the best, the most rewarding, year of my life.  There are so many to look forward to, I can’t imagine how it can feel any better but I’m excited to find out.  I love you.