SINGAPORE
Unrecognisable was how the venerated travel writer Paul Theroux described Singapore during a visit in 2006. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the one-time resident taught English at a local university there and his novel Saint Jack (1973) is about an American pimp in the Lion City.
Theroux is not alone in this conundrum; overseas Singaporeans returning to their homeland for a visit or for good often find that their favourite landmarks have disappeared – to make way for an expressway tunnel or some posh housing project – if not experience difficulties assimilating to the rat race.
Even those historically significant buildings lucky enough to escape the bulldozers are often reduced to yet another lifestyle hub (read: shopping mall) or chic restaurant. Others become the exclusive clubhouses of the upper classes, enclosed in their own gated communities, away from the envious eye of the outside ordinary world.
Perhaps, this is what Theroux meant when he told the local media, “It’s why Singapore is interesting because you can see its rampant materialism – it’s all about buying.”
Still, there is no denying that there are locals – and visitors – who believe there is more to Singapore than eating, shopping and catching (mostly Hollywood) movies. But their savouring of a moment in timelessness – be it in some isolated grasslands or the back lane of a pre-war shophouse – is tempered by a reminder: enjoy it while it lasts.
05 MEMORIES AT OLD FORD FACTORY __ When a museum is located in a heritage building, it should ideally maintain a link with the building’s past. Unfortunately, for most museums in Singapore, despite being housed in former colonial government offices and missionary schools, such links are typically and merely narrated in commemorative plaques.
The Memories At Old Ford Factory hence stands out for presenting Singapore’s war history with a tangible touch. The first Ford vehicle assembly plant in Southeast Asia, it started operations in October 1941. With the advent of World War II, the factory was used by the Royal Air Force to manufacture fighter jets. It is however most famous for being the site where the Allied Forces formally gave up Malaya. Shortly after, the factory became a designated butai or Japanese facility, employed by Nissan to assemble military trucks and vehicles.
Today, visitors can still witness the actual boardroom where on 15 February 1942, Lt-Gen Arthur Ernest Percival and the British troops surrendered to General Yamashita Tomoyuki, the Japanese Commander of the 25th Army, and his men. (Although its table and chairs are faithful replications, the spartan boardroom aptly captures the often ravaging realities of war.)
The boardroom’s powering presence also means that the other exhibits documenting the commoners’ onerous lives during the Japanese Occupation somehow come across as less fascinating. One of the few exceptions is a diary belonging to the late war hero Lim Bo Seng, its pages filled with thoughts conflicted between protecting his family and saving his country.
04 HAW PAR VILLA __ For many grown-up Singaporeans, a trip to Haw Par Villa is a walk down memory lane. It is after all their childhood haunt, often with their parents who relished introducing them to the park’s infamous Ten Courts of Hell. Dimly lit to terrifying effect, the man-made cave features garishly painted figurines undergoing torture for their sins – a foolproof teaching tool on life’s morals.
Near the Ten Courts of Hell is the original garage of the already demolished villa built by Aw Boon Haw in 1937 for his brother Aw Boon Par, both of the Tiger Balm ointment fame. What also remains is their garden of statues, opened to the public to promote Chinese folklore and culture.
While statues like the Goddess of Mercy and the Monkey King from Journey to the West are the usual suspects, the collection is more cosmopolitan than imagined. Famous icons like King Kong and the Statue of Liberty are permanent residents too, erected by the Aw brothers for their countrymen who could ill afford to travel and see the actual landmarks.
As for the rest of the statues, perhaps “out-of-this-world” is the most appropriate description: there is a deer in man’s clothing enjoying a drink with his tortoise friend while a debonair wolf (decked in tie and suit) chats on the phone!
Admittedly, some of the figurines are in need of a fresh coat of paint and Haw Par Villa does look quite downtrodden with fallen leaves littering its pavement. The park too is a pale shadow of its heyday in the 1970s when it was a popular destination for tourists and families on outings. Nonetheless, it retains an old world innocence sorely missed in Singapore.
03 LITTLE INDIA __ Arguably the most authentic of the colonial British-demarcated ethnic enclaves in Singapore (the others being the soulless Chinatown and the increasingly touristy Kampong Glam), Little India is not for the faint-hearted. During weekends, it gets overwhelmingly crowded with gatherings of workers from the South Indian continent but the raw energy and chaos are all part of its charm.
Once a warren of lime kilns, cattle sheds and slaughter houses circa the 1820s, Little India bustles with business especially at the unassuming Tekka Market, itself a perfect anthropological setting for studying the cultural meanings embedded in the consumption of food. Its labyrinth of stalls selling fresh fruits, vegetables and meat, others serving up piping hot roti prata and frothy teh tarik, is also full of local colour – and therefore a dream subject for many a photographer.
And contrary to its name, Little India is not a culturally homogenous entity, so visitors should not restrict themselves to the ubiquitous flower garland stalls, goldsmith shops and the temples along Serangoon Road (namely Sri Veeramakaliamman, Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman and Sri Srinivasa Perumal).
Tucked away in its lanes are an ornate Chinese villa (the House of Tan Teng Niah), the eclectic Masjid Abdul Gaffoor Mosque and the Kampong Kapor Methodist Church, the latter’s Art Deco style lending the area with a strange feel of old Batavia.
02 SUNGEI BULOH WETLAND RESERVE __ It is widely acknowledged that the tropical intertidal plants better known as mangroves may be useful in protecting the shoreline from powerful winds and waves. But in the case of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, it was the birds that saved the mangroves.
In the 1980s, the area was filled with ponds for prawn farming, an activity that had annexed much of the indigenous mangrove swamplands. Around the same time as the land there was earmarked for development, a group of ardent bird watchers discovered that it was a sanctuary to myriad species of birds, from kingfishers to bulbuls to herons. This eventually led to the preservation of the area and the opening of Singapore’s first wetland nature park in 1993.
The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve remains an important site for migratory shorebirds seeking refuge from the winter in northern Asia. Its understated allure though stems from its regenerated mangroves. During high tide, the symmetrical reflections of the mangrove branches evoke an elegance that is synonymous with Chinese paintings. Low tide however exposes a sea of spikes on a muddy swamp, baked under a scorching sun, turning the area into a rather elegiac sight.
While the wetland’s forested canopy and out-of-the-way location create a sensation of being out of Singapore (in fact, the only city skyline in sight belongs to neighbouring Johor’s), it can get crowded during weekend mornings.
Still, it is possible to find your own haven within this 130-hectare paradise, not to mention an up close and personal encounter with a family of wild otters or a Malayan monitor lizard.
01 PULAU UBIN __ For those who find Singapore too urbanised, too organised and too sanitised, the island of Pulau Ubin should be a refreshing change of scenery – and pace. The journey begins at Changi Point Ferry Terminal where the mode of transport – the humble but dependable bumboats – offers the first hint that the island is gladly not playing catching up with the rest of Singapore. In fact, getting there entails a test of one’s patience. (Bumboats depart only when there are enough passengers to fill one, usually 12.)
Thankfully, Pulau Ubin is worth the wait, for instead of steel and concrete skyscrapers, vernacular kampung houses – built of wood and zinc (for the roof) – stand on stilts by the sea while others are dwarfed by slender coconut trees. Further afield is an open-air museum of sorts, with abandoned granite quarries, rubber plantations and duck ponds recalling the vanished trades of the island’s forebears.
The island is also home to several historical structures. At the town centre is a Chinese opera stage, one of the two remaining in Singapore. On the northern tip stands the House No. 1, a Hansel and Greta-looking Tudor cottage built in the 1930s and boasting an authentic fireplace. The cottage has since been conserved and now functions as a visitors’ centre for Chek Jawa, a biodiversity gem consisting of various habitats like mangroves, coral rubble and a sea grass lagoon.
And while the world-famous Singapore Zoo and Night Safari offer a wider smorgasbord of (imported) wildlife, Pulau Ubin impresses with its element of unpredictability. During your trek on the island’s muddy terrain, you don’t know when you might spot the local red jungle fowls, oriental whip snakes or even better, wild boars foraging the vegetation for food.
Ironically, the island’s wildlife seems to be flourishing better than its village life. In fact, parts of the main town feel like a ghost town, with stray dogs lounging in front of shuttered shops. For now, Pulau Ubin’s greying and dwindling population survives on visitors patronising their grocery and bicycle rental shops, and eateries. Peace does come at a price at times.Pulau Ubin | Bumboats ferrying passengers to the island depart from the Changi Point Ferry Terminal daily.
Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve | Board bus 925 from Kranji MRT Station and alight at the Kranji Reservoir Carpark, which is a 15-minute walk to the Reserve. The bus stops at the Reserve’s entrance on weekends.
Little India | Start your exploration at the Tekka Market (near the Little India MRT Station) before venturing into lanes like Kerbau Road (for the House of Tan Teng Niah), Campbell Lane, Dunlop Street (for the Masjid Abdul Gaffoor Mosque) and Veeraswamy Road.
Haw Par Villa | Board bus 200 from the bus stop near the Buona Vista MRT Station.
Memories at Old Ford Factory | The museum is located at 351 Upper Bukit Timah Road and buses plying the road include 170 and 171.