Despite the light rain, many braved the erratic weather and turned up for Explore Singapore! 2009‘s closing event – Flea & Music Alley @ Peranakan Museum, Timbre and the Substation. And what a fun day it was! It didn’t hurt when free ice-cream, nonya kuehs, pizza and beer was served too!

The Peranakan Museum was packed with families who were awed by the glittery Baba Bling exhibition and live demonstrations of the intricate art of jewellery making and batik painting.

While the crowd in the museum was kept occupied with Peranakan dances and special choir performances, bargain hunters instinctively swarmed the flea markets for quirky steals at cheap prices as early as 2pm. As the hip youngsters snagged their goods in the afternoon, the Timbre bands did their sound checks much to the crowd’s approval.

The slight drizzle did nothing to dampen the spirit as many turned up for the live bands performing that night. From favourites Jack & Rai, the soulful Alicia Pan, Reverie and Giants Must Fall, the crowd grooved to the music while they enjoyed free booze and the cool evening breeze.

Explore Singapore aims to inculcate a greater museum-going culture amongst Singaporeans. With new programmes such as War on Wheels, we wanted to show that discovering your heritage, culture or identity, need not be restricted to just museum visits. Though Explore Singapore! 2009 has ended, this year’s message I LOVE MUSEUMS carries on through 2010. I LOVE MUSEUMS day on 27 November was just the start of many ILM days to come! More details will be released on Yesterday.sg and www.museums.com.sg in the coming weeks!