Before I abandoned this blog on the second week of December to the end of January to give way to my work and travel, I was documenting my return trip to Singapore. There are still so much to to share about that particular trip and since today is Thursday, I decided to do a “throwback” post.

My most recent post about Singapore is about Gardens by the Bay. It was mid-autumn when I went there and so when I arrived at the entrance, there were many people crowding over the fenced-off giant lanterns.

Based on a Chinese legend, the festival is celebrated yearly to commemorate Chang e’s sacrifice. The selfless wife of a merciless ruler, she drank the elixir of immortality to put an end to her husband’s evil deeds.

What caught my eye at the festival was this stunning giant lantern of a Chinese temple. It was floating above the water and its reflection was just as stunning to look at.

Isn’t the lantern so intricately made?  Just look at every colorful detail and the way each part was precisely lighted.

Here’s a close-up.

I was so amazed with the view I must have spent about 20 minutes here taking photos of the temple at different angles.

I so love the colors. The primarily red and yellow structure looked amazing against the dark.  Good thing I came here at night time.

Aside from the above, there was another Chinese temple depicting traditional Chinese scenes.

It’s amazing how they were able to create a lantern that looked so much like a dragon (right photo) for dragon dances.

Singapore’s culture is diverse and to give homage to their Indian heritage, there were giant lanterns depicting Indian culture.

Did you notice the replica of the Taj Mahal?  I must say the elephant was my favorite from the above scene since it was so colorful.

There was another scene too that paid homage to their Malay ethnicity.

My favorite here was the girl at the center since it looked human-like.  And I love the giant hibiscus flowers too.

There were giant lanterns too of trees, ants, and perhaps fairytale characters.

I found the frog so cute, but the two birds on top of the trees were just as eye-catching.

Amazingly, there were giant lanterns of dinosaur too.

I grew up watching Jurassic Park so I’m familiar with dinosaur species.  From the above, I recognized the Apatosaurus, which we used to call Brontosaurus (lower right), T-Rex (upper left), Triceratops, (the horned one), Pterodactyl (behind the Triceratops), and Velociraptor (bottom left).

Lastly, here’s a collage of my least favorite characters among the many giant lanterns I saw that night.

Don’t they look scary?  No wonder a toddler cried when she saw these.  Perhaps they were depictions of Chang e’s evil husband? Te he.

On my way home, I passed by this bridge, which was also decorated to go with the Mid-Autumn Festival theme.

I loved the colorful lights and the flowers, plus the series lights.

Walking under this bridge was like being close to the stars and I would have stayed longer except that the following morning, I have a seminar to attend.

I’ll end this post with another favorite:

See the full moon over the temple?