Years ago, I used to stay regularly in the Clarke Quay area of Singapore.
That was before the development of Marina Bay; before landmarks such as the three-columned Marina Bay Sands hotel, the Singapore Flyer, and the lotus-like ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands; before the development of Sentosa Island; before the F1 night grand prix; before the dramatic changes to Singapore in the last two or three years.
But today I am staying at the Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, and I just walk outside with a small tourist map in my pocket and turn towards the Singapore River.
From a high floor in the hotel, I have already looked down the river, past colonial heritage buildings and across the water to the dramatic Marina Bay Sands, and I roughly want to follow that path. That valley.
But I like days of serendipity – the joy of just wandering a place. Of seeing at walking pace; from ground level.
The plan is generally pretty much the same – get as far as I like, then get the easiest form of transport back to the hotel (usually a taxi).
And today I start by stopping. I just pull in somewhere for breakfast, knowing that nothing much opens before 10am in Singapore, and then head on past the Singapore Philatelic Museum, threading towards the Peranakan Museum, which is near the corner of Armenian and Coleman streets. Its collections include Singaporean stamps from the 1830s to the present day. But a little further on, in Armenian Street, is my first real target.
Peranakans were wealthy and cultured Straits Chinese families, famous particularly for exquisite beadwork, and the beadwork in the Peranakan Museum is among my personal Seven Minute Wonders of the World.
At the end of the street is Singapore’s oldest Christian church, the Armenian Apostolic Church of Gregory the Illuminator, which was completed in 1836 (though the date on the front says 1835).
Set behind frangipanis, the old trees in the grassed gardens have been infiltrated by ferns and mosses (the planet’s first plants, as you will read in a moment).
I have recently been to Armenia, the world’s first Christian country, and in this beautiful white building, I can hear the echoes of polychromatic chanting.
And by now things are well and truly open, and I cross Hill Street to Funan DigitaLife Mall. Over several floors, this is the place to come for electronic goods, from cameras to phones to . . . well, just about everything.
Other electronic centres are sometimes suggested in Singapore, but on this trip I redoubled my efforts to check out Funan, where I have shopped for years, and locals assure me that Funan is the most reliable, with the best prices, and it’s where they shop.
I have bought camera equipment from Joy’s over many years, and it’s still there.
It’s also a good place for quick iPhone and iPad repairs – dare I say that the cheap cost of that, added to the savings on camera gear, might just cover a Scoot $169 each-way airfare.
It’s a bit hot and humid, but I walk on towards the big durian fruit-like Esplanade on the Bay Theatre, then cross the bridge towards the Merlion.
This 70-tonne cement statue is part of the “old Singapore” that I remember – before all the flash stuff – but it still draws the crowds.
There are crowds of people, cameras everywhere, people posing, camera crews. A lion’s head on the body of a fish, the Merlion still attracts many more than a million visitors a year.
The tail symbolises Singapore’s beginnings as a fishing village and the lion’s head is for the big cat spotted by Prince Sang Nila Utama when he re-discovered Singapura in AD11.
Around Marina Bay itself, there are walkways, sights, nooks and crannies. And I stroll past the Fullerton Bay Hotel, and the little row of quality restaurants next to it – past joggers on the decking, and the bubbling water walls of an outdoor bar area, and the little yachts of Singapore’s young sailing program on the water.
With 2561 rooms, an infinity pool overlooking the city from the 57th floor SkyPark, more than 60 dining outlets, and more than 300 shops in the Shoppes mall, the trio-towered, Marina Bay Sands hotel dominates the view.
But I walk past it and across the high walkway over the busy East Coast Parkway road and into Gardens by the Bay.
Covering a little more than 100ha, most of the gardens are free, and open from 5-2am (there’s a free light and sound show at 7.45pm and 8.45pm).
The big eye-catchers are the Supertrees – giant, tree-like structures between 25m and 50m tall which mimic big rainforest trees (which wouldn’t grow in this urban environment) and do some of what the real things do, absorbing heat, collecting and storing rainwater, but also harvesting enough solar electricity to run the nightly sound and light shows.
The 20-minute audio tour, in a buggy with a commentary in English, is worth the $S5 ($4.45).
Visitors have to buy tickets to enter the cooled and moisturised Flower Dome, which has the cool-dry climate of Mediterranean regions such as WA, South Africa, California and parts of Spain and Italy, and Cloud Forest, replicating a 35m-tall mountain covered in vegetation and shrouded in squirted mist, and with the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. ($S28 gets an adult into both).
And the gift shop is good.
After that, I walk the gardens a little, then cross the bridge back to Marina Bay Sands and delve down into the mall for lunch. And that’s it. I’m done.
It’s mid-afternoon and I am ready to head back to Clarke Quay, and my very comfortable temporary home at the Novotel.
I consider the MRT underground train, but though its easy, cheap and clean, it’s still more effort than I fancy.
I consider a taxi. They are plentiful, the drivers speak English, and getting around the city is invariably just a few dollars.
But then a sign presents itself before me, and I follow it, wandering down to the quay and, for $S7, I can catch the River Explorer ferry back to Clarke Quay. I’m happy to be on the Singapore River, seeing the canyons of the city from water level.
When Sir Stamford Raffles arrived here from England, it was a fishing village of 500 people camped around this river. But it was in the middle of the world – between East and West- and its geography made it a perfect trading post.
It is still the world’s biggest shipping container hub and usually there are more than 200 commercial ships moored in the straits.
Raffles peacefully founded Singapore in 1819, in this crossroads with easy access to the spices that preserved food before refrigeration; in this place where nations mixed.
And Wee Toon Hee, who’s showing me round, hears the echoes of that in the modern city, on an island just 42km by 24km, but where there are four official languages (English being the first), with 77 per cent of the population being of Chinese descent, 14 per cent Malay, 7 per cent Indian and one per cent Eurasian.
He recalls his own childhood, before sanitation, before the transport systems, before Singapore’s modern wealth. “In one generation,” he says. “It has changed like this in one generation.”
And then he thinks about it. “And it has changed so much even in the last five years.”
But there are still some old- fashioned values.
It’s safe to walk alone and at night, even for women. Cabs are safe. It’s safe to use a credit card. Food is safe – it’s even safe to eat at local markets, where you can happily have things such as the chicken rice dinner we share at Maxwell’s hawkers market. Toon Hee points out the green card with an A, B or C awarded by authorities for cleanliness. (Ds are shut down, he tells me.)
“Yes,” he says, “some things are totally changed – from a sleepy fishing village to a world-class metropolis.”
Clarke Quay by day is a peaceful place to wander round. Coffee and snacks, colourful and cleaned-up shophouses, bum boats coming and going, taking tours as they have since 1987 – from four boats then to 24 now, taking tourists on a 40-minute Tale of Two Quays tour between Clarke Quay and Marina Bay for $S20 for adults, $S10 for children.
By night it comes alive, with restaurants and lights and bars that stay open to the small hours – some even later. Their signs tell their story: “Nights of Liquid Madness – Free Flow – $40 for Three Hours”. “Stay Calm and Drink Up.”
And so, like the rest of Singapore, it’s what you want it to be. Mild or wild. Heritage or high-rise.
fact file
Singapore Philatelic Museum: spm.org.sg.
Peranakan Museum: peranakanmuseum.org.sg.
Armenian church: armeniansinasia.org.
Funan DigitaLife Mall: funan.com.sg.
Marina Bay Sands: marinabaysands.com.
Gardens by the Bay: gardensbythebay.com.sg.
Singapore River Explorer: riverexplorer.sg.
Bum boat tours: rivercruise.com.sg.
More about Singapore, from Singapore Tourism Board: yoursingapore.com.
Scoot: Perth is now linked to Singapore by low-cost Scoot airline. It’s a flight of less than five hours and on the same time as WA. Economy tickets are from $169 each way. flyscoot.com.
Quay to success
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