2008-7-27 3:49pm
THE CITY
At its most elemenatal, Singapore is but a modest lump of rock and soil thrust up from tropical seas, not much larger than the city of Chicago. But overlaid on this geological foundation is a more dynamic topology, of which glass-and-steel towers are only the most visible and schematic signs. Behind the scenes, government and private enterprise conduct an orchestra of automation that makes Singapore one of the world’s most efficient societies.
But there is a third element that is even more complex, one which pervades this island, nation and city from its basalt heart to its chrome exterior – the people, their culture, their moods, their eccentricities and their charms. To wander around Singapore is to wander through a mosaic of cultures and histories and their respective artifacts. Sometimes a seemingly inconsequential decision – to turn down a Chinatown alley, for example – can quite dramatically plunge the visitor into another century or civilization.
It is these recurring apogees, this visual and visceral contrast, that makes Singapore such a treat. In this, the island epitomizes the modern Asia; despite the shade cast by 20th – century skyscrapers, Singapore’s ancient and venerable culture refuses to fade away.
The Colonial Heart: Directly at the center of action in Singapore is a huge. Flat green space called the Padang. The word means “plain” in Malay, which is exactly what this area was when the British first arrived. It was the only dry spot on what was then a swampy waterfront and it quickly became the fulcrum for European society.
Arranged around the Padang in the so-called “Historic District” are memories of the colonial era that so shaped this city-state. The steps leading up to the Greek columns of the neoclassical City Hall (1929) are where Lord Louis Mountbatten accepted the Japanese surrender in 1945. The magistrates still don powdered wigs for proceedings in the Supreme Court (1939) next door. On the green itself is the old but very active Singapore Cricket Club, at the other.
St Andrew’s Cathedral (1862) on Coleman Street sits in the middle of its own large green. Raffles himself designated this site for the original church, later replaced by the original church, later replaced by the early English Gothic structure still standing today. Inside the cathedral, sunlight pierces stained-glass windows, cascading hazy pastels over the dark wooden pews and hassocks. Church bells cast by the makers of Big Ben peal above a congregation of more than a thousand worshipers.
Just beyond are three other historic churches. The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (1846) at the intersection of Queen Street and Bras Basah Road is the oldest place of Roman Catholic worship in Singapore. Older still is the Armenian Church (1835) on Hill Street, funded by the once-thriving Armenian community.
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Two of those immigrants, the Sarkies brothers, built what is unquestionably Singapore’s most famous colonial building – Raffles Hotel – at the junction of Bras Basah and Beach roads. Established in 1887, the hotel quickly blossomed into the flower of Victorian society. Over the years it has played host to kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, and to literary giants like Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling.
Yet equally, the area around the Padang also reveal the glittering façade of modern Singapore. Dominating the district is massive Raffles City, which boasts the world’s highest hotel in the 70-story Westin Stamford. To the south is the stark brown profile of Marina City, the city’s largest shopping center and hotel complex. And rising between the two is Suntec City, which embraces the Singapore Convention and Exhibition Center.
Between the Padang and the Singapore River is a trio of superb colonial buildings. Parliament House (1827) started life as the mansion of a wealthy merchant, and later served as a courthouse before it became the seat of Singapore’s post-independence government in 1965.
The adjacent Victoria Concert Hall and Theater dates from the 1860s and is now the venue for drama, dance and music. Next to the river is Empress Place Museum, a former government office building converted into a cultural complex with restaurants, shops, art gallery and an upstairs hall that is hosting an ongoing series of art and history exhibits from the best museums in mainland China.
On the quay behind Empress Place is a monument to Sir Stamford Raffles, on the spot where he first set foot in Singapore in 1819. The view across the river from this spot is remarkable for its summation of old and new Singapore in a single glimpse.
Spanning the river is Cavenagh Bridge, now given over to pedestrians and bicycles. An elegant iron structure built in Scotland, it still has an old sign that forbids bullock carts from crossing.
On the western bank of the Singapore River is the bustling Financial District, Most of the colonial-ear buildings here have been replaced by the glass-and-steel hulks of modern banks and corporate headquarters. The largest collection of skyscrapers are along Shenton Way and around Raffles Place, which is an open-air plaza with an MRT station below. The triangular OUB Center and the UOB Plaza are the tallest at 918 feet (280 meters), the maximum allowable height of buildings in Singapore. But there are a number of distinctive buildings in the area. The round Treasury Building was designed to resemble a stack of coins.
Still history survives in nooks and crannies. The most distinctive structure of all is Lau Pa Sat, the old Telok Ayer Market at Shenton Way and Cross Street. This restored Victorian wronght-iron masterpiece, originally built in Scotland in the 1890s and shipped to Singapore in 1894 where it was reassembled on the waterfront, is now a place where people come to shop and eat. Lau Pa Sat now buzzes with activity from early in the morning till late at night. Two Art Deco structures that have survived the building boom are the Fullerton Building and the Bank of China Building on Boat Quay.
Farther along, Boat Quay is lined with restored old shophouses transformed into trendy bars and restaurants with outdoor seating. The area is especially lively at night, Boat Quay has lots to offer if action is what you are looking for entertainment-wise. Neon lights, jukebcxes, karaoke and live bands – you name it and Boat Quay has it.
You can still catch a cruise from Boat Quay on bumboats converted into tour boats. Upstream, beyond Coleman Bridge, Clarke Quay features Singapore’s first riverside festival village combining dining and shopping. On site are five buildings housing godowns and shophouses, restored to their original 19th century style.
At the confluence of the Singapore River and Marina Bay is the Merlion statue, a half-lion, half-fish that has become a symbol of modern Singapore. Nearby, Clifford Pier offers good views of the sleek craft heading to the Southern Islands. Change Alley behind with its money dealers was once an Asian institution, but now it is a depressing skeleton of its former self.
The large landfill area on the opposite side of the bay is Marina South, a multipurpose recreation area with bowling alleys, tennis and squash courts, driving range and yacht club, plus a bustling hawker center and a cluster of upmarket restaurants called Marina Village. But this entire area is earmarked for an expansion of the highrise profile of the central business district, once the land settles in about 20 years.
More reminders of the colonial past can be found in Tanjong Pager, a refurbished district of old buildings that lies in the triangle bounded by Neil, Craig and Tanjong Pagar roads.
The several hundred historic shop-houses in this area were completely gutted (except for their facades) and rebuilt from the ground up with modern fixtures. Since the first phase of renovation was completed in 1990, Tanjong Pagar has evolved into a district of trendy restaurants, bars and antique shops that is especially lively after dark.
The Port: Schooners and clipper ships used to pull right into Marina Bay. But that was in the days before mega-ships and steel containers. Nowadays the “big league” port activity is farther west along the waterfront at Tangong Pager Terminal. Most shipping activity goes on behind closed doors, so those interested in a firsthand look at the bustling harbor and the enormous stacks of colorful containers may want to take a harbor cruise form Clifford Pier.
Tanjong Pager is the largest and most active of Singapore’s port facilities. How appropriate that it should thrive on the site that Raffles handpicked for his new port when he claimed Singapore for the British Empire in 1819. It seemed the perfect place: quick access to the strategic Straits of Malacca, which connects the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean. Raffles decreed his port open to all maritime nations. More than 300 international shipping lines still take advantage of that decree.
At any one time, more than 400 ships weigh anchor in the harbor in a maritime panorama that stretches to the horizon. One arrives or departs roughly every 10 minutes. Four tons of cargo are hoisted onto or offloaded from a ship every second, every day of the year. Such is the frenzy of activity that Singapore surpassed Hong Kong and Rotter-dam as the world’s busiest container port in 1990. Singapore’s lead will increase with the opening of the Brani Island Container Terminal.
Besides its function as a container port, Singapore has also grown into the region’s largest shipbuilding and repair center, a major feeder port and a financial and insurance center for shipping.
The port is also a major staging post for oil exploration (in Sumatra and the South China Sea), the location of Southeast Asia’s largest collection of oil refineries and the home base for a large international merchant fleet.
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