EmmaGoodEgg

Yoga Mascot

I have been mulling about the kind of 'experimental travel' to undertake when on Yoga Retreat holiday with 2 girlie friends in Chiang Mai. Most of the Lonely Planet's (LP) index of experimental travel (ET) involves friends who want to partake in your warped sense of travelling, or best-done solo. But on Page 170 of the LP's ET Book, there is an experiment called "Mascot Travels". This is what it says:

Hypothesis: See the world through the eyes of a mascot
Apparatus: A mascot of your choice and a camera
Method: Pick a personal mascot and take it on your travels with you. Take its picture outside famous landmarks and record its other experiences with a camera.

Now THIS is do-able, as I don't foresee dragging Diva D and Melee (who would rather mong, spa, shop and I don't blame them), to experiment "Alternating Travel" (where you just keep on taking left and then right turns and see where you turn up) with me. Although I did not bring my own mascot from home, I have borrowed one from Diva D. I chose a stuffed toy in the shape of a kitten for various reasons:

1) As my mascot will be in all of the pictures, my lovely travelling mates will not be happy to pose with say, a garden gnome or a pet rock.

2) An ode to the Kittens I have left behind, both in human and animal form.

3) The stuffed toy kitten has diamante eyes.

In a previous life her name was TokyoKitty. But from now until we return from Thailand, she will be known as SiriKitty. Let's hope SiriKitty can take my place in the ungodly hour yoga classes, especially when I've hit the snooze button twice.

* Related Posts: First Foray, Emma The Yoga Bhani

Zimmie In Singapore With Diamonds

One of the perks of working where I do is that I was able to bring beloved son for a day trip to Singapore on Sunday on the pretext to stock up on Bengawan Solo and he can get 'Raya shoes'. When I told him that we were going, Zimmie was ecstatic, presumably at the thought of having approximately 7 hours to zip around shopping complexes that are full of people (its Sunday, the entire Flipina community out on their well-deserved break) you have to plough through in order to buy those Pumas. He had a long ambitious shopping list so I jokingly suggested that he bring along a trolley-dolly bag like girlies should do when they are speed-shopping because it is not easy to carry 11 carrier bags in 2 hands while trying to find a size 10 on the racks, and upon finding such size, stand in the queue at the dressing room. Not to mention releasing from your gnarled, aching fingers the aforementioned 11 big plastic/paper bags around your legs at the Cashier in order to get your wallet out. I think speed-shopping should be considered an Extreme Sport. Ask your wife/girlfriend/sister/mom.

I was told by beloved son not to dilly-dally (apparently as I am proned to) when we arrive in Singapore. We should be first out of the gate and speed walk to the immigration counters. But sometimes life is cruel, so when there are very very important people onboard, like there was yesterday morning, the aircraft would head towards the furthest Bay to the Private Gates, where Jinn buang anak (where the Jinn throws away naughty children) as my grandmother would say, because it is a hell of a trek. Normally the aircraft will park at Gate 32, and thus a further gate means a longer trek to the Immigration counters at Arrivals, that was my point in case you missed it. But Zimmie took it in his stride and we walked extremely briskly to immigration.

Beloved Son: Errr...Ma? Where are we going?

Me: To the Musuem my son! To visit the CARTIER exhibition!
Beloved Son: Cartier?? Isn't that like, OLD?
Me: Yes.

Me: Ahhh, the Museum.
Beloved Son: Do you realise that we are like, rushing and we don't have like, TIME?

Me: Oh for heaven's sake, it's only for a few hours and you know that all the girls in school would be most impressed that you visited a bling exhibition *wink.
Beloved Son: Will you push around my trolley-dolly bag?
Me: Yes.


Beloved Son: Ma, take a picture of me in front of these cool fonts since we can't take any pictures inside.

Me: Look out for the security guards.
Beloved Son: Ma. DON'T. We don't have time to spend in jail.
Me: *click

The picture taken on the sly above is part of Cartier's early years. Clockwise from the top: Scarab Brooch (1925), Vanity Case (1925) and Vanity Case shaped like a sarcophagus (1927). These gorgeous pieces are made from gold, platinum, round old and single cut diamonds, rubies, emeralds, citrine, onyx cabochons (shaped and polished as opposed to facetted) and blue antique Egyptian faience (finely glazed ceramic beads). Because of the eagle-eyed security guard hovering around, I was only able to take one picture out of the many pieces that were displayed at the Art de Cartier exhibition, and fortunately, it was my favourite.

Jean Louis Cartier started his jewelry business way back in 1847 and over the years the company has become one of the world's greatest designer and manufacturer of jewely and objets d'art (which are then supplied to royalty, nobility and billioniares). The exhibition at the Singapore National Museum was fortunate to have 150 of pieces which are displayed to illustrate the historical development of technique and design styles of Cartier.

It was fairly crowded inside the hall, especially in a smaller room within the hall. This room contained the exhibition's star pieces. One of them was the Patiala Necklace. The other was a sword. Who knew Cartier did swords? But apparently they do. French poet and designer, Jean Cocteau, designed (and Cartier made) the sword in 1955 to showcase the emerald that Coco Chanel had given to him as a present. The sword is breathtaking up close and is beloved son's favourite piece. It was begging for a picture but the security guards hovered everywhere in this room, so I decided not to push our luck, especially since I almost tripped the alarm sensors breathing too close on the display glass. Revolution-Press.Com thus provides for this picture (and facts) of the Academician Sword, for which I am grateful.

The Patiala Necklace is without doubt the flashiest piece in the room. It contains 5 rows of substantial diamonds and the biggest and yellowest of them all in the center. The De Beers Yellow Diamond, at 234.65 carats, is the 7th largest diamond in the world. The Maharaja of Patiala bought the yellow diamond and in 1928 commissioned Cartier to design a ceremonial necklace using the diamond as a centerpiece. The necklace was lost after the Raj, but pieces of it were found (with the main diamonds missing) in London in 1998. Cartier bought and restored the necklace as best they could. Currently, the main diamonds, including the De Beers in the necklace on display are cubic zirconias. So we stood there and gawked for a few minutes at the Palatia Necklace when suddenly beloved son goes, "Now. THAT'S bling." And I gave myself a pat on the back.

The De Beers

After bonding over the blings at the Cartier Exhibition (we both didn't like the art-deco animal jewelry like the diamond encrusted snake choker, or crocodiles), we headed over to Orchard Road to imbibe another kind of culture, that of shopping.

Despite the odd look, the trolley-dolly was truly a blessing.

Bling Culture

I have been mulling about bringing beloved son to imbibe some culture at the National Museum of Singapore this weekend. More specifically, at the Art de Cartier exhibition.

Zimmie is a member of the MTV generation and to him a bling is what a big black african American rapper called Exhibit! would wear in a stud in one nostril. It would be nice, I think, that he also knows that the Nawanagar State Treasure, commissioned by the Maharaja Digvijaysinhji of Nawanagar, India from Cartier in 1937, contains 116 rubies from the Mogok Mines in Burma. And should most definitely be considered as bling.

An opportunity to bridge the generation divide, like the Cartier Exhibition a two-hour plane ride away in Singapore, does not come along very often. So I purchased our tickets for this Sunday morning flight and beloved son made a shopping list. I'm sure he wouldn't mind that we stop by the Museum enroute to Orchard Road.