Sauntering through Singapore (Part 1)

29th of November, 2012

I'm sure I've mentioned before, this English Bridging course me and my friends are taking in preparation for school next year. What I didn't realize, coming into it, were the regular outings we would take, getting out of the classroom and sauntering through Singapore and seeing it in all its splendor. 

Our first stop was a bit familiar: Chinatown.

Beforehand though, we stopped by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) building on Maxwell Road.

The name plaque of the URA building
Here we saw how the city of Singapore, at first a humble village housing fisherman, turned into a lavishing port and not long after, an attractive cornucopia of all things urban.
The section of an illustrated timeline of Singapore, showing its humble
beginnings as a fishing village called Temasek.
The first floor holds a display of a wooden miniature of Singapore. Designs for a Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City Center -- slated to be built in China by 2020 -- which were submitted for a Conceptual Design held by the Eco-City Administrative Committee, were also exhibited. It was so fascinating to see all of the different designs from different countries. There was China's own nature-inspired details, US's colorful theme based on geological mineral stones, and the German's clean-cut artistic blocks. 
A wooden miniature model of Singapore
A snapshot of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City concepts
On the second floor of the URA building lies the Singapore City Gallery. 

Here you can learn all about the development process of Singapore, what it takes to make sure a city can blossom, what development techniques can be applied. The Gallery also features a wide range of not informative media, but interactive media as well. There are touch screens which move and illustrate the population comparison between Singapore and other countries, a screen that can show you various places of interest, a set of animations that show intensification and collocation (look it up), a more detailed scale model that boasts a lights show, even a small space where you can a play a multi-player city building simulator game. 
One of the interactive touch screens at the City Gallery
A skyline shot of more detailed scale model of the city,
equipped with a light show that plays every hour
The final result of the city-building simulator game
It's nice to see how well-organized and ingenious people can be. Singapore has done a good job in planning ahead, seen by there use of The Concept Plan and The Master Plan which is meant to map out the country's development for the next 40-50 years. Walking through the Gallery is like walking through an art museum -- there's a certain sort of aesthetics behind the numbers and logistics that goes into building a city, a type of artistic skill that makes Singapore the beautiful place that it is.
The 2008 Singapore City Master Plan, put up for display
Our visit to the Gallery soon drew a close, but the day itself was far from over. We walked quite a bit from the URA building and planned on getting lunch at the nearby Maxwell Food Center. Unfortunately, it was currently undergoing renovations and our lunch had to be postponed for while.

We made our way to South Bridge road, passing by an ornate, oriental building: The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It's quite a well-preserved establishment, with its red Chinese-style rooftops, green-painted window grilles towering a good four-storeys high.  I heard it has a splendid altar with a golden statue inside, but I've yet to see it with me own eyes since I was unable to enter. 
Snapshots of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple exterior
We walked a little further until we met Temple Street. We saw the Sri Mariamman Temple which flaunted this massive and ornate gopuram (something like a pagoda) placed above its entrance. We also passed the local mosque, situated at an angle a bit different from the surrounding buildings, following the Muslim custom of pointing it towards kiblat, the direction of Mecca. 
The Sri Marriaman Temple on Temple Street
The local Mosque
We soon dispersed from the tour group and set off on our own to find something to eat for lunch. Me and my friends found a small hawker's centre that sold all kinds of food, mostly Chinese noodles. Besides that, we shared a plate of chicken martabak, which we disappointingly found out was a bit different from the ones usually sold in Indonesia. Nevertheless, it was still quite delicious. We had some free time to look around, observing the unique architecture and wares the district had to offer.
A snapshot of one of the Chinatown stalls selling a
variety of products from clothes, accessories, toys
 The colorful and well-preserved buildings, showing their Chinese 
influence and architectural details stemming from its colonial past

Another wonderful thing about Singapore, is the importance they place upon preserving their historical and cultural heritage. As we walked we could see statues and landmarks that might seem insignificant at first, but in truth embodies a period of Singapore's rapid development.  

There was a statue in front of URA building that depicted a woman, carrying something on her shoulders. This is one of Samsui women who came from Cantonese. They wore red head-dresses and loose black samfoos, those Chinese-style jacket and trousers. They seldom married and usually did heavy labour, which was inspiring, seeing the way women back in those days could be just as hard-working as men, doing work outside the home. 

Another of the statues were brass ones, depicting coolies who did heavy labour such as construction work, farmers and even little children surrounding a nearby pond.
A stone statue of a Samsui woman 
Statues of children from China, playing near
a man-made pond in the middle of Chinatown
The last stop was Ann Siang Hill, name after its previous owner, Chia Ann Siang. It used to a plantation farm, a place where they grew spices such as cengkeh and pala. This well was once the only place that supplied clean water for the area.
The humble well that sits atop Ann Siang Hill
I found myself sore and tired at the end of the day. But today has shown how much I can learn and experience in Singapore, and I can't wait for our next learning journey next week: Little India.

I'll tell you all about it soon enough. 

--Karin Novelia, Enjoying the Sights

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