Singapore - Seen and Unseen (Part 3): Downtown Singapore, "Little Burma," and the Ignored Parts of Sentosa

- July 25-26, 2016, Monday-Tuesday.

- My agenda for my fifth day in Singapore was a trip to the downtown, a compact area in Singapore that has some of the most historically-important or the most iconic landmarks. A preview of Singapore's downtown was seen in Part 2 (click here) when I saw it from Marina Bay Sands, and passed by it after I crossed the helix footbridge from Marina Bay Sands to the downtown area to ride my train back to my hostel. I also realized that the downtown area was walkable from Chinatown, so I decided to walk the whole day.

- At mid-morning I arrived at Merlion Park, and it surprised me to see that there was a ton of tourists there. It took me a while to take a decent photo of the Merlion. The Merlion, as can be inferred from the name, is a mythological creature that combines the head of the lion and the body of a fish. The head symbolizes the alleged first animal that greeted the Srivijaya ruler Sang Nila Utama when he "discovered" the island around the 1200s; he then decided to name the city "Singapura" after the Sanskrit word for lion ("Singha,") and the Sanskrit word for city ("pura.") The fish body was later added to show the strong affiliation of the state to the sea, as Singapore culturally and historically a part of maritime Southeast Asia.

A very typical Singaporean photo.

Singapore, past and present.

I really like how the merlion looks.

The Esplanade; by the way, the stage version of  Les Miserables was showing in Singapore when I was there. 

Merlion Park: perfect view of Marina Bay sands.

Saw this unicorn-elephant (uniphant?) in front of one of the restaurants.

Don't forget to say hello to the mini-merlion behind the big one!!

See the big merlion behind me?

- Behind the Merlion Park, one can cross the road to see the other colonial buildings that are still used today, either as their original purpose or for a different purpose. The theater, which is still in use today, was built in the mid 1800s. The iconic clock tower (built in 1906,) not only added to the overall aesthetics of the structure, but it also marked Singapore as a British territory. Speaking of British colonization, the original Sir Stamfod Raffles can be found in front of the statue; Raffles founded British-colonial Singapore.

A very beautiful building. More importantly, it's air-conditioned inside. It also had really clean toilets. (Had to use the toilet inside heehee.)

Sir Stamford Raffled, the original statue.

- Beside the Victoria Theatre, and in front of the Cavenagh Bridge (opened 1870 and the oldest and only suspension bridge in Singapore) is the Asian Civilisations Museum. The Asian Civilisations Museum used to be in the Old Tao Nan School along Armenian Street that currently houses the Peranakan Museum (click here to see.) The current building that houses the museum was called the Empress Place Building, which was used as a government office during the British Occupation. The Asian Civilisations Museum in the Empress Place Building opened in 2003, and is one of the first museums in Southeast Asia to showcase different pan-Asian artifacts. Thinking back, I remembered wanting to visit this museum in 2005 when I first went to Singapore, but I think I had a better appreciation of the exhibited pieces with my knowledge of all-things-Asian now. Still, I think it is an impressive museum to visit even for those who would like to learn more about Asia and its rich heritage.

Cavenagh Bridge.

Finally, after 11 years, I got to visit this awesome museum.

European-Chinese fan.

The porcelain pig's head is actually a container for soup!!

Yab-yum from the Himalayas.

Qur'an.

One of my favorite forms of art - Indo-Greek Gandhara art.

Mother-goddess, probably from Harappa.

European influence in India - this Mother Mary and Infant Jesus statue was made in the Indian style during the Mughal Era.

Mughal-style Catholic painting.

Matteo Ricci.

Of course it ain't an Asian museum without the Philippines.

Mother Mary and Infant Jesus in the Chinese-Javanese batik style.

Scene from the Ramayana.

Earth spirits.

Qing-dynasty flag.

Qing-dynasty golden robe.

Photo of old-and-new Singapore from the museum.

- Near the museum and behind the Victoria Theatre is the Old Parliament Building, and is near the landing site of Sir Stamford Raffles. The white statue of Raffles by Boat Quay has an identical design as the original one in front of Victoria Theatre.

Old Parliament Building.

Landing Site of Sir Stamford Raffles (Boat Quay at the back.)

A monument behind the Old Parliament to honor the state visit of Thailand's former King Chulalongkorn.

It's not the same Robinsons as the one in the Philippines, but really, even here??

- From Boat Quay, I walked all the way to the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (more popularly known as "CHIJMES," read as "chimes.") This Gothic-style convent along Victoria Street and North Bridge Road was built in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. The main hall and the Caldwell House (the original building of the convent) were being renovated so I wasn't able to see much apart from the facade of the CHIJMES hall. Other than these European-style structures, some fine-dining restaurants can be found within the compound. CHIJMES is near the City Hall MRT.

The CHIJMES chapel from the back.

Feels like Europe.

Please read.

I took this photo from the glass door.; couldn't go in as it was being renovated. I love the details on the stained-glass windows.

Stained glass from outside the main hall.

- I noticed the time and I was way behind my lunch schedule. I briskly walked along North Bridge Road to Peninsula Plaza. Peninsula Plaza was built in 1980 and served as a commercial space (first few floors) and as office spaces at the top floors. Eventually, the commercial levels of the building evolved to become Singapore's Little Burma or Little Myanmar; most stores are owned and targeted to the Burmese, and on Sundays, it is packed with Burmese people living in Singapore. This is similar to the case of the Filipinos and Lucky Plaza along Orchard Road (see in Part 4, click here) or the South Asians and Chungking Mansions Hong Kong. Peninsula Plaza is also near the City Hall MRT.

80s aesthetics. Hello Peninsula Plaza!!

Mall entrance.

- The ground floor of the mall has more non-Burmese stores, but as one goes up the upper floors (until the 6th,) more and more Burmese businesses can be found. Groceries, cafes/restaurants, travel agencies specializing in travels to Myanmar, clothes stores, and other services targeted to the Burmese can be seen. Stores may or may not have English names, and it is no surprise to hear Burmese being spoken all around the mall. Since it was a Monday, not a lot of people were there; I intentionally avoided going on a Sunday as it would be jam packed with Burmese, and I don't think I would be able to observe look around with ease.

Burmese stores, Burmese stores everywhere.

Burmese traditional clothes. I bought myself a Burmese traditional clothing set from another store.

- I had lunch at Ye Yint Cafe at the third floor, and I chose that cafe/restaurant because it had the most customers. Most who were eating there were Burmese workers in Singapore, and so it was a good sign. I was initially hesitant since the menu was all in Burmese, and I do not know Burmese. Thank goodness the person manning the cash register knew English, and I was able to place my order. I did some research beforehand, and consulted some friends from Myanmar about the regular must-eats. They recommended that I have mohinga (noodles in chickpea soup) and tea-leaf salad or laphet thoke (read as "la-pay-toh;" it's nutty and tangy and has a marriage of textures and flavors.) For dessert, I had Burmese yogurt in sugar syrup (not too special but it's a good way to cool off.)  The best part about my meal was that it wasn't expensive at all!!

Ye Yint Cafe in Peninsula Plaza.

Mohinga (left,) tea-leaf salad (right,) and a glass of green tea. 

Yogurt, syrup, and ice. I wished they did not put the ice. It was making my yogurt watery. It still tasted good though.

- I walked back to the central core of the downtown area to spend some time at the giant National Gallery. This humongous museum is relatively new, opened in 2015, but the buildings that house this museum used to be the City Hall and Supreme Court. Both buildings were in use in the 1800s onwards. Because the area of this museum is so huge, it is easy to get lost inside even with a map. The hallways look similar too, so it seemed like a maze at some point. Apart from the art exhibits from highly-honored Asian artists (some of Juan Luna's works were there by the way,) old memorabilia from the old City Hall and the Supreme Court were still there, and the rooms were kept to look like their original appearances as much as possible.

Another building that reminds me of Bangkok's Anantha Sakahom Thron Hall in Bangkok (click here to see.)

OH NO UFO AAAHHHH. OK, it's really the current Supreme Court of Singapore.

Inside the main hall of the old city hall.

Dome of the old city hall; a new roof was built above it as can be seen here too.

Contemporary wayang kulit.

Old court room, which now houses plenty of colonial documents about the inhabitants of Southeast Asia.

British paintings.

Philippines represent.

Luna's. (Description above.)

Philippine represent again.

Description above.

Old library.

For Mortal Kombat fans, there was an artist name Liu Kang, and there was a gallery in his honor. 

- After roughly an hour and a half of getting lost inside the museum, I walked to Clarke Quay. The Clarke Quay used to be a central port along the Singaopre River, but now the riverside has plenty of casual-dining and fine-dining restaurants and some malls too. The Clarke Quay MRT is close by, though it was just a few blocks away from Chinatown. Needless to say I chose to walk back to Chinatown and rest in my hostel before my last-minute dinner catch-up with my Singaporean friend Kelvin in Chinatown Point. (I wasn't supposed to meet him, but because my schedule had some minor changes, I was able to meet him upon his insistence.)

Passed by the current Parliament Building.

Clarke Quay.

It looks better at night, but sadly I couldn't stay until all the lights are up.

Hi Kelvin!! I met him in India in 2012 during our youth exchange program. Haven't seen him in 4 years!!

- The following day, a gloomy one to be exact, I was scheduled to go to Sentosa Island to explore. Sentosa can be reached by cable car or by bux/taxi, but I went to Sentosa with the cheapest way: walking. I took the train to Harbour Front MRT Station, and above the station is an enormous mall called VivoCity. There are arrows that point to the Boardwalk, which is a bridge the connects the main island of Singapore to Sentosa. There are walkalators installed in the bridge so people can go from one side to the other in a shorter time (around 10 minutes.) "Sentosa" is a Malay word for "tranquility" and is from the Sanskrit word "santosha." In contemporary times, Sentosa is a well-loved destination by tourists because of several attractions. However, it's a common joke among Singaporeans that Sentosa is actually an acronym for "So Expensive, Nothing TO See Actually.) True enough, Sentosa was still expensive when I went there, but there was a definitely a lot more to see after Resorts World added more attractions to the island (Universal Studios anyone?) in the 2010s.

- My first destination in Sentosa was Fort Siloso, in the far western part of the island. I went there by the intra-island bus; buses that go around the island are free by the way. From the Resorts World Station, I went to Siloso Beach, and the fort is just a short walk from there. The ticket booth of Siloso Beach is located across the recently-closed Underwater World (closed in June 2015; more about this later.) At the ticket booth of the fort, I was able to buy a promo 3-in-1 ticket for other attractions of my choice around the island, and I got to save myself around 10 SGD; fortunately some items of my list were part of this promotion.

Just outside the ticket booth before the elevators.

- After buying a ticket I rode the elevator up the glass bridge/walkway to the fort and the barracks. The fort area is a bit slopey though there are stairs and proper paths. Since it was raining that morning, I still had to be careful or else I might have slipped.

Map of the fort.

- Fort Siloso was a coastal fort used by the British during the Second World War. According to the explanation in one of the exhibit halls in the fort, the name "Siloso" came from the Filipino word "seloso" or "a jealous person" (which was taken from the Spanish word with the same meaning, "celoso.") It had no further explanation why. However, other sources state that "Siloso" came from the Sanskrit word "shila" which means "rock" or "rock formation." 

Artillery people.

On the lookout.

One giant cannon.

- Since not a lot of people know about Fort Siloso or are interested in going to Fort Siloso, I found it quite freaky going inside the barracks and the (well-lit but maze-like) tunnels because of the realistic mannequins (they looked so real that they looked like embalmed people) that can unintentionally scare people in random corners. It honestly wasn't that scary, but because I was alone, I felt as if the mannequins might come alive any minute and eat me (the things an imaginative mind can do.) The voice overs of the supposed generals and the background sound of airplanes and helicopters made the experience of being in the tunnels "realer." By the way, unlike the Battle Box in Fort Canning (see in Part 2, click here,) photography is allowed in the tunnels.

In the barracks, showing the soldiers' and officers' lives. Here a high-ranking general is having new clothes made by a Chinese tailor.

In the bedrooms.

This is one long cannon. It's height of the base was almost as tall as me.

Firing a large cannon. All these people are fake by the way.

In the main office.

A depiction of the British surrender (after the events that happened in Fort Canning.)

Yamashita.

Oh General Gordon Bennett, your sad eyes are on Lieutenant General Arthur Percival.

Yo, here are my islands, yo.

- The highlight of the fort was the surrender chamber. The surrender chamber is a room in the fort that is a replica of the room in the City Hall (if you scroll up, it's now the National Gallery) where the signing of the Japanese surrender was done. It had wax figures of the heads of the Allied Forces and the Japanese forces facing each other, and a supplementary video of the actual signing of the surrender papers. The victory story here was the continuation and the turning of tables of the story in Fort Canning (see in Part 2, click here.)

Replica of Emperor Hirohito's message to the Japanese about the Japanese surrender in WWII.

The "surrender chamber." The screen at the back (left side of the pole) shows a video of the actual signing of the surrender papers in the City Hall.

Lord Louis Mountbatten.

Another nice cannon.

From a Japanese plane.

Aid in learning Japanese; the Japanese at some point wanted to teach Japanese to the Singaporeans, though they were not successful.

Syonan (Japanese-Occupation name of Singapore) Sinbun, the Japanese newspaper in Singapore during WWII.

A high-grade Japanese sword unearthed in the City Hall.

More mannequins and cannons.

Here it is. No further explanations.

Took this inside the elevator down. That's the bridge/walkway from the elevator to the fort proper.

Wild peacock and peahen still roam around the grounds of the Fort Siloso ticket booth and the Underwater World, just like always. I remember seeing a wild peacock after my visit to the Underwater World 11 years ago.

- After going around Fort Siloso I took the intra-island cable car (as part of my 3-in-1 ticket promotion) to the tallest Merlion statue in Singapore. The 37-meter tall Merlion, completed in 1996, is currently the only Merlion in Singapore which people can enter and learn more about the Merlion's significance in Singapore. Visitors can also get a gold coin as a "gift" from the Merlion, and as a symbol of luck and fortune.

Riding the cable car on my own. While it's raining outside.

At least the cable cars' colors weren't as gloomy as the sky.

The giant merlion. Ah, we meet again after 11 years.

Hello Sentosa.

I like the detail on this statue.

After entering the merlion.

Got my golden coin!!

Inside the mouth of the merlion. Was tempted to sing the Broadway version of the Lion King's "Circle of Life."

- I had lunch at KFC near the Merlion since it was the nearest restaurant (and one of the more reasonably-priced options) I could find. I ate quickly and instead of heading to the Resorts World area, I decided to go way out of my way to see the southern-most point of continental Asia. Even though it was at the far south-eastern end of the island (by that time I was at the central part of the Sentosa Island,) I still decided to walk all the way there to see the other things in between. The southernmost point is in Palawan Beach, and is actually just two watchtowers. Still, there was an ecstatic feeling being at the southernmost point of the rest of continental/mainland Asia (the whole chunk of the Asian land mass, not including the archipelagic countries of the Philippines, Indonesia, and the island of Borneo.)

See those two watchtowers at the back?? That's the southernmost point. People need to cross a very low rope bridge from the beach going there.

Palawan Beach, NOT Palawan Island in the Philippines.

- For the rest of my afternoon, I had a leisurely stroll inside the new S.E.A. Aquarium (Southeast Asia Aquarium) in the Resorts World Marine Life Park. The S.E.A. Aquarium opened its doors in 2010, and was a big competitor with the recently-closed Underwater World. Underwater World had been Singapore's oceanarium for the past 25 years. Because of competitions (like the S.E.A. Aquarium) and other complications, it decided to close down in June 2016 after finding new homes for the creatures in Underwater World. Today, Resorts World's S.E.A. World is one of the largest and most diverse oceanariums in the world, mostly with marine creatures from Southeast Asia seas.

- Before the aquarium proper, S.E.A. World has a small exhibit on the different cultures and peoples that contributed to the "Maritime Silk Road' of South and Southeast Asia. I liked this part because it added some geographic and cultural dimension to the concept of the oceanarium.

Rekindling a part of my childhood -- marine life.

Giant ship.

Chinese culture from the Chinese people who traded with the Southeast Asians.

Indonesians.

You body-bender.

Silk Road - land and sea.

Giant camel (not real.)

Um, some kind of Noah's Ark.

- As expected, a ton of people were inside this giant oceanarium, mostly foreign tourists. I had fun looking at all the creatures there, mostly the stingrays and manta rays, the sharks, the jellyfish, and of course, the peculiar octopus. My love for looking at and learning about marine life is a remnant of my childhood interests, which also include dinosaurs, arthropods, land animals, and super sentai (known in the western world as "Power Rangers.") Also, the oceanarium looked a lot like the one in Finding Dory. Speaking of which, I did find Dory (blue tang) and Nemo (clownfish) in a single aquarium.  

"Sunken ship."

A weird fish.

Yay for sharks!!

Hammerhead shark.

Moray eel.

Try having a date with this one.

Yes, the dolphin was swimming upside down, no it wasn't dead.

Giant Japanese spider crab.

Nautilus, another favorite of mine.

My favorite sea creature EVER (no wasn't referring to me.)

Look at the details of the octopus' magnificent tentacle.

Moon jellies.

Again, it wasn't dead, it was just swimming upside down.

Those tentacles are hypnotic.

Dory and Nemo.

Shovelnose shark.

This was one GIANT ray. 

Spider crab up close.

Sea dragon.

- After looking at all the wonderfully weird marine creatures, I headed back to my hostel to have a bit of rest before meeting my friend Mitzie for dinner in Lau Pa Sat. Lau Pa Sat is located near Raffles Place MRT or Downtown MRT, and is, as expected, in the heart of downtown Singapore; the Merlion Park was walkable from Lau Pa Sat. La Pa Sat, also known as Telok Ayer Market, used to be a community market in the 1800s, but later became the hawker center that many people love today. La Pa Sat has a distinct steel building with a clock tower that strikes every hour. This clock tower is the reason why I initially thought it was an old church at some point in time, but I was wrong.

It kinda looks like a church, but it never was.

See the clock tower above?

- Mitzie and I had a special stingray dinner (to think I just visited the oceanarium earlier) with tons of satay and cereal prawn. I loved the stingray and it tasted like regular fish with a slightly different texture. I would love to have more stingray!!

Stingray. It's good by itself, no need for the sauce!!

Yay for high school.

Satay, satay everywhere (chicken, beef, mutton, and duck.)

- Mitzie and I went opposite ways after having dinner. I arrived at my hostel quite tired from walking the whole day. Still, I had to prepare myself for more strange and hidden things in Singapore!! (Don't forget to read Part 1here, Part 2 here. and Part 4 here!!)