Bob Travel

The Singapore International Cantonese Opera Festival takes place every September and October. It is organized by the Chinese Theatre Circle, which was established in 1981 with the intention of promoting Chinese Opera. It was awarded its non-profit status in 1995. The CTC does a great deal more than organizing this major event, it is the busiest Opera Company in Singapore. Attending the opera can be an extravagant event, and is often accompanied by shopping in the boutique hotel Singapore.

Chinese Opera involves more than the music, it is a beautiful display of colorful and dynamic costumes as well as graceful and harmonious movement. The opera stories most often relate to Chinese tradition and history, based on ancient classics. There is a lot of symbolism in the performances, through the costumes, setting and also in the movement. They are stylized and incorporate an economy of gesture. Most often the operas involve a moral lesson or and promote traditional values. They usually include themes of patriotism, honor and loyalty.

The Scholar and the Maid is a popular opera and was produced by the Chinese Theatre Circle in 2007. The script was originally written by Hong Kong playwright Mr. Tang Di Sheng and was condensed by Mr. Leslie Wong into a two-hour production for the CTC. The opera tells the story of a well known academic, Tang Bo Hu from the Ming Dynasty who disguised himself as a servant in the home of the Prime Minister in order to win the love of a young woman, Jui Xiang, whom he met at court. The opera is a comedy, and Tang Bo Hu’s plans eventually succeed, though he encounters many hilarious circumstances and obstacles on his way to win Xiang’s heart. The theme song is a love duet called “Meeting at the Temple” and remains a popular favorite among Cantonese Opera lovers.

Next time you are asked at the market, “Paper or Plastic”, or next time you buy a bottle of Evian, consider this.  Seventy five percent of the trash in the oceans and seas of our planet comes from trash, and ninety eight percent of that rubbish, is composed of plastic.  This is a result in part, of a floating island of trash as big as the United States twice over.  What began as a seemingly good idea, has turned into a nightmare.  For one thing, the world’s largest dump is moving on its own accord, depositing waste and filth along its path.  Starting in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California, the trash heap is making its way to Japan via Hawaii, and via the rest of the waters as well.  As far away as the Atlantic Ocean, the Gibraltar Strait and the Mediterranean Sea, the plastic has been mucking it up.  Coastal communities known for the beautiful havens of tourists throughout the world, pristine islands off the coasts of Spain and France are affected by this filth.  In an area known for the pristine nature such as Ibiza boutique hotels are concerned with the consequences to their booming industry of tourism.  When one walks on the beach at sunset, with a margarita in one hand and a lovers hand in the other, the last thing one expects are dead fish and lawn chairs.

Much of the debris is tossed off of boats, ships and tankers, but most of it is land based and human discard.  Sea turtles, so vital to the marine environment, often eat the plastic bags as they are mistaken for their diet of jellyfish.  The plastic fills the bellies of these endangered beasts and they starve to death.  With bellies full.  Over 250 marine species have been negatively affected according to the Greenpeace research and reports.  In cities such as San Francisco, plastic bags are now outlawed, but it is just one city in an enormous world ofpossibilities .  People are taking notice and care, but governments, not so much so.  As nothing financial is to be gained, there is no one nor anything that can be taxed.  Except the earth and the survival of her inhabitants of course.  But what profit is to be gained with ‘that’?  Meanwhile the succotash of tires and disposable diapers and medical supplies and, plastic shopping bags, continues to simmer and expand.   And oh the representatives for plastics companies world wide protest and lobby against any kind of ban.  Meanwhile the birds will dive for shards of hardened plastic, and the whales and turtles will suck down Safeway bags, and we will just pretend that what we can not see, will not affect us.  Step up and get some canvas, for next time a person walks to their car caring groceries in plastic bags, I challenge then to not think of it all.