Tricks Galore at the Trick Eye Museum Singapore

After three weeks of blissful relaxation back home in India (the dratted scale reprimanded me with a 4kg spike in weight 😆), I got back to the grind in mid-January. And I’ve been desperately trying to get back into the groove of blogging ever since. I realized that I have enough material for three restaurant reviews but since my last post was a restaurant review, I didn’t want to be repetitive. I have one recipe draft post ready but I’m strategically saving that for Valentine’s Day. I know that I need to post a salad recipe (or two) but it’s just not happening so I’m going to abandon that pursuit for the time being. I’m neck-deep into Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon spy thriller series but it’s hard to pick just one book to review so I thought I’d do an overall series review. That will take time though - I am 7 books down, 12 more to go.

I really wasn’t sure what I was going to blog about until I started scrolling through the approximately 7000 photos on my phone (yes I have THAT many). And then it hit me. This is a post that I wanted to do a while back but had somehow sunk into the perpetually foggy depths of my brain.

But, first of course, a little bit of background….

Singapore is a really small country. It isn’t called “The Little Red Dot” for nothing. I have called Singapore home for the past 14 years and unsurprisingly, have been to almost every nook and cranny of this island nation.

Last year in October, my sister and her family visited us. My sister has been to Singapore several times over the years so she had already seen all of the “touristy” places there is to see. I was scratching my head thinking about where to take her. Since there were three kids in the picture (one hers, two mine), I wanted to go somewhere that would be fun for the kids and preferably indoors so we can escape from the persistent heat and humidity or the inclement weather. It was then that I realized that of the few places in Singapore that we miraculously hadn’t visited yet, one happened the Trick Eye Museum at Sentosa. I had seen pictures on a friend’s Facebook wall around the time the museum opened and had made a mental note to check it out but never got around to doing so.

Trick Eye Museum, the internationally renowned optical art museum from Korea is a unique museum with a large array of 3-dimensional artwork for interactive optical illusions. Trick Eye Museum Singapore has introduced Augmented Reality (AR) features to its exhibits. The AR features bring its art installations and paintings to life thus providing visitors with an immersive experience of thrilling sound, lights and other effects that create realistic illusions. 

The whole intent of the museum is to trick the viewer's eye and stimulate creativity and imagination techniques through one's vision through through the exhibits that are specially designed for photo opportunities. Visitors are recommended to use the ART Mobile app to take video and pictures. 

I generally refrain from posting a lot of my children’s pictures on my blog (mainly for privacy and safety concerns) but I figured, I simply wouldn’t be able do a blog post on this museum without any pictures and since my children happen to be in most of them, I have no choice. I’ve covered almost all the major sightseeing spots in Singapore on my blog and I didn't want to miss out on the Trick Eye Museum....hence, the exception.

If you love taking or being in pictures, this is a good place to visit. The picture taking experience begins even before you enter the museum.

Trick Eye Museum is fun not only for the young but even the young at heart. Once you enter the vividly colourful and eye-catching space, there are more than 80 optical illusion paintings and installations which will boggle your mind and make you do a double take. Be sure your camera is fully charged with plenty of memory space before your visit.

We visited on a weekday morning just around the time the museum opened which turned out to be a blessing because there was hardly any crowd and we didn't feel like we were monopolizing  any of the exhibits, especially the more popular ones. 

You won’t find signs such as ‘Don’t Touch’ or ‘No Flash’. Nobody walking around checking to see what you are up to. The museum encourages visitors to touch and take photos of all displayed works. You can step inside or crawl into the exhibits. Interact with the characters and become the subject of the artwork on display.

The kids went quite mad with excitement (so did I....a wee bit 😆). They were dashing from illusion to illusion not knowing which one to spend more time checking out. 

It was during our time here that I truly discovered that my twin A is a natural poser and revels in being the subject of a photograph whereas twin N is camera-conscious, detests posing and is not remotely interested in getting her picture taken (her daddy’s daughter by all accounts). 

Unsurprisingly, my husband volunteered to be the photographer whilst me, my sister and the camera-friendly kids had a great time pulling silly poses, exaggerated facial expressions and funny gestures. 

Remember to be patient, try to be a good sport and unleash your inner performer – the better your alignment and melodramatic expressions, the more interesting your photos will turn out. You may need to crop the pictures so you get rid of any unwanted background.

We re-took several pictures because we realized that we weren't standing in the right place or we weren't looking in the right direction or else our expressions could use more work. Though I will admit, among us all, my sister wins hands down 😀

The museum is divided into different zones:

Restaurant Review: Burma Burma Restaurant & Tea Room, Bangalore (India)

Bringing you my first post of 2020 😊 Happy New Year folks. Hope this year brings you good health and happiness.....and in all seriousness, world peace would be great too.

So, I've been annoying my husband with repetitive chants of Burma Burma for a year now 😀 It so happened that last year, during the Christmas holidays, when me and my kids were in my hometown of Mysore, my husband and in-laws just happened to drop by Burma Burma in Bangalore for lunch. Not knowing much about the restaurant, they weren't expecting anything out of the ordinary and so they came back with positively glowing reviews. Turns out, that this award-winning restaurant frequently finds a spot on Bangalore's top restaurants listings. Not one to miss out on a good thing, especially when it comes to food, I  obviously wanted in on the experience too! Unfortunately for me, getting to Indiranagar from my place isn't exactly quick or convenient (is anything in Bangalore? *sigh*) and so I wasn't able to make it last year. 

No prizes for guessing where I dragged everyone to celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary this year 😁

We made it a family affair, booked two cabs and put in the ~1 hour tedious commute to reach the restaurant located in a posh by-lane of Indiranagar on a weekday afternoon. We hadn't made any reservation but since it was a non-peak time, we assumed we would be okay. 

From the outside, the restaurant looks quite modest. You don't really know what to expect.

But once you enter the capacious space, the earthy-wooden toned room highlighting a rustic grey weathered stone wall, patterned tapestries, cultural decor elements and pops of vibrant color from the upholstery immediately catch your eye.

I loved the large lantern-style of light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, the painted wooden dolls, the lacquerware plates and the woven cane wooden furniture. The walls are adorned with photos of Burmese street life and Burmese bamboo hats.

Burma Burma Bangalore, tells the story of an evolving Burma (Myanmar), where the people are rooted to their traditions but keeping up with the world at the same time. I love a food establishment with its roots steeped in culture and heritage.

Burma Burma is an amalgamation of an all-inclusive nouvelle Asian cuisine that deserves the popularity that has been eluded so far. The restaurant takes much pride in bringing patrons the culture, authentic taste and cooking from Burma lovingly prepared from treasured family recipes. They serve authentic Burmese Cuisine complemented by hand-picked teas from around the world.