Otherwise known as: Quays, Forts, and Museums!
Singapore has been a trading city for basically forever, partly because of it’s geographical location at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula (and therefore smack dab between China and India, route-wise), and partly because of it’s own features – a calm river that empties into a protected marina, with a nice large hill overlooking it all. This central area is, I guess naturally, where Sir Stamford Raffles – a British officer and father of colonial Singapore – decided to put the city into order when he “acquired use” of the city from the current Sultan back in the early 1800’s. (He eventually purchased it outright, but more on the Sultan’s story in a future neighborhood.) I got my first real look at this part of town when my friends & I decided to take one of the river boat rides down the river, from the now touristy Clarke Quay (pronounced “key”) down to the Marina. The boat ride was pleasant enough (even with a thunderstorm looming in the distance), and did give a decent sort of overview of this most central part of Singapore… but if you’re an active person you could also just walk this area. Clarke Quay is sort of funky and dated – like you could imagine it being an evening hot spot for tourists in the ’90’s… but around the corner in the river is Boat Quay, which is far more interesting. I loved that it retains an entire row of the old-school shophouses, a type of architecture found all over this region which was used by Chinese immigrants as shops in the lower level, and their lodging on the upper. (Much more on shophouses to come). Behind this river-front row of shophouses are the towers of modern Singapore’s business district. Across the river from Boat Quay is what you could call the Museum district – with large colonial-era buildings housing art and treasures from the region. Then you pop under a historic bridge or two and BOOM – you see the wide open Marina being guarded by Singapore’s symbol, the Merlion, with the ultra modern Marina Bay Sands building on the far end of the lagoon. Like I said- it’s a neat little boat ride, especially if you’ve got sore feet or want to get out of the sweltering sun for a moment or three.
Like I said before, though, you have to get out on your feet. Besides the adorable “jumping boys” statue we saw from the river, there were cool statues all over this part of town. All the office buildings of the CBD are right next to the Merlion, so there are also lots of great places for lunch dotted all through there. However- we’re heading back across the river towards the museum section. Now, I was in Singapore for a pretty good amount of time, and even I didn’t make it to all the major museums. For example, I missed the Asian Civilisations museum entirely (located right on the river across Cavenagh Bridge), and somehow mis-judged time and arrived at the gorgeous National Gallery of Singapore way too close to closing time to even attempt a run through. Both are supposed to be excellent. The National Gallery is gorgeous just even from the outside, and it’s also right across from the lovely St. Andrew’s cathedral. I feel like you can almost picture colonials promenading from the old City Hall – now the National Gallery – over to church on Sunday… if you could ignore all the crazy modern buildings that have popped up all around them! Now just beyond the cathedral is the famous Raffles hotel, where you could stop in for an original “Singapore Sling”, but it’s honestly about $30, which for a cocktail isn’t really worth it – but the new “original” long bar is a lovely bar if you needed to escape the heat for some sort of refreshment. Otherwise, if you hang a left from the cathedral, in a few short blocks you’ll hit the Peranakan museum, which I found really interesting. “Peranakan” is the term for someone descended from mixed heritage… i.e. any immigrant who married a local malay person – their children would be Peranakan. I know some people consider peranakan to be the “local” singaporean culture, but what I found most interesting is that it is specifically *not* just the local, but specifically when the different cultures mixed, and what comes from that. However, I will also say that to me, a total outsider, peranakan seemed to be heavily influenced by chinese more than any other culture – but again, what do I know? It’s housed in a former school, and isn’t so huge that you can’t gain some understanding of what Peranakan culture means. Plus some of the costumes & crafts they have are just simply gorgeous. Here are a few shots from the museum & this part of town:
Just a few minutes past the Peranakan museum you have two options – you can either go left up the hill to Fort Canning park, or you can continue right around the hill to the National Museum of Singapore. That museum is about half way between the big shopping district of Orchard Road and all the central sights mentioned above, just to give you an idea – probably a twenty minute walk to either Orchard Road or the National Gallery. It is basically the history of Singapore, from way back through colonialism to independence and the modern era. I found the more modern exhibits (from WWII through to now) the most interesting, because how does this big city just decide one day to become independent (they were briefly a part of Malaysia after WWII), and then become wildly successful, without even having a singular national identity? One charismatic and extremely diplomatic and forward-thinking leader it seems! The museum has lots of video from that time period, including excerpts from meetings and speeches by Lee Kuan Yew, who was the first prime minister and considered the father of modern Singapore (though his name still doesn’t have the recognition as the colonial father, Sir Raffles!). I have to say – it was quite inspiring and interesting, as was learning how they took the city from what sounded like a lot of squalor & poverty post war to the modern metropolis we see today. Of course, there is no mention of any controversy here, so I’m sure the transition hasn’t been as smooth as they make it seem, but learning all about the transition was interesting. They also have this random, but cool, avatar-style “interactive” room, a digital art installation called “The art of the forest” – my friends’ kid loved it, so there is that too!
Now- the National Museum does go into all kinds of detail about the Japanese assault on Malaysia and the subsequent fall of Singapore (and then touches on the brief but horrible occupation that was so devastating to the people, that Japanese companies still provide sensitivity training to their employees who move to Singapore). HOWEVER – nothing about all of those exhibits gave me nearly as clear of a picture of what really happened as I got when I took my very last tour with the Original Walks of Singapore in Fort Canning park. Now- I’d been passing around this massive hill in the city for my entire visit and finally gave into curiosity about what exactly what up there in those thick trees on my last day in town. It honestly ended up being one of my favorite places in the city. First of all, there is all sorts of layers of history up there. There is the shrine to one of the original sultans of the area, which is a modern structure, but his burial place is extremely sacred to a lot of people (the reasons of which I forget now). Then there are headstones from burials from all kinds of colonials, many of which are children or young men which goes to show how hard it was for these pampered British aristocrats to actually deal with the climate & such outside of merry old England. You can see remnants of the old British fort up at the very top of the hill, including a token cannon or two, which helps remind you of why it was such a strategic spot. There is also the more modern “spice garden” and lawn where concerts are held, that are just nice urban park features… but the piece de resistance is, by far, the Battle Box Museum. These are the actual bunkers that the British military used, and then retreated into, during WWII. That in itself doesn’t sound so interesting, but having an expert guide go with you and explain exactly how big of a disaster the fall of Saigon was, and to think about the actual men who were stuffed into these bunkers, made it unbelievably fascinating. Now- some of the more important rooms/meetings have been recreated with wax figures, and some of them have slight signs of affects from the heat (which kind of just adds to the creepiness of the atmosphere), but our guide did such a good job of explaining who each person was, what they were responsible for, and who wanted to take what strategy during the war, that we all just got completely wrapped up in the story. The National Museum gave me all the numbers about tanks & aircraft and that sort of thing, but this guide and these bunkers made me understand what was actually going on. The British completely underestimated Japan (they did have a few other concerns what with the blitz blasting them to pieces at home), and the Japanese were absolutely brilliant strategists. I mean – the bombs landed in Pearl Harbor about an hour & a half after bombs started landing in Malaysia (to cut Singapore off & make way for an invasion by foot b/c they knew sea would be difficult). SIMULTANEOUS attacks on opposite sides of the pacific, and only because of the international date line was Pearl Harbor on December 7th, and the Singapore offensive started on December 8th. It only took two months for the Japanese to work their way down the peninsula to Singapore, and then two weeks to force the surrender. Two weeks they spent inside that bunker! The guide also helped lend a more sympathetic view on the British general in charge at that time, whereas I think in general it is considered the worst failure in history for them, and he’s given a lot of that blame perhaps unfairly. The museum even has some photo & video of the surrender (the largest in British history, and really – the beginning of the end for the Empire). You can’t really visit the BattleBox without doing a tour at all, and no photos are allowed inside, but I do think that the full walking tour of the park (not just the BattleBox tour itself) helps to get a great understanding of Singapore’s history, in a much more interactive way than just wandering through the National Museum!
For a quick visit to Singapore, these sights in the center of town would be easy to check off your list, but would in NO WAY provide a complete picture of the city. Follow along for more neighborhoods of Singapore you should check out!