Singapore Revisited

Grabe this week has been turning out to be a long one. I've had a few blogs in mind the past few weeks, just haven't gotten around to making them. Here's one...

3 weeks ago I went to Singapore to attend a conference for work. I've been to singapore thrice, around 2 to 3 years apart and everytime I went there I didnt enjoy it. Dont get me wrong, its a great city, probably one of the best in Asia..super clean, very safe, very disciplined, great workplace, great transpo. But for me not much fun.

I agree with my friend Don who I visited there, its a great place to raise a family, but the last 2 times I went there, I saw Singapore as a place like a big mall, everything manufactured or imported, like a big plot of land then you suddenly put a brand spanking new mall. I dont find this bad, its a show of how rich the country is, its a good thing, a very good thing. Just not fun for my personal taste. I like places that are deep rooted , I find places like that more fun. Like a restaurant that started from a grandmothers kitchen, made the worlds best cookie then started feeding the neighborhood kids then starts get more customers well thats the picture and you would go to places like this and once in a while grandma herself would be serving you the cookies.

The first 2 times I went to Singapore I usually went to the tourist areas, thats probably why the city didn't endear to me. My idea then of a normal night out or a normal family day was going to the mall or going to a night club which was built a few months ago and would probably be closed a year after. For my taste, that wasn't much fun, then it all changed during my last trip. Syet ang haba ng prologue ko sorry.


Everytime I went abroad I like to walk around the city I'm in, I finally did that in Singapore and found a lot of good things to like. I was wrong about the city. I started walking from my hotel and brought precious my camera along. First thing I noticed was the colorful houses, probably old chinese houses or new ones made to look like old ones, like something out of the 20's and 30's. Like the Victorian houses of Sanfo.


I then walked a bit farther and found myself in a peculiar place, a flea market of old stuff. I never imagined a place like that in Singapore where nice and shiny malls are like basketballs are to the Philippines. Locals would bring there old or collector stuff, family computers, old appliances, old records and other some bordering on junk to treasures for collectors. I guess you can bargain for them. All walks of people where there , people who lived nearby to people arriving in cars ... and cars are expensive in singapore.

Walked a little further and found myself in little india, shops and small cafes on alleys . places where you can drink beer with your neighbors and watch TV. There where a lot of small shops as well selling curious items just like the market area I saw in Bangalore.

Thinking about it I probably missed all this things on my first few trips because I was riding the train or cab all the while. I didn't bother to checkout the places where the locals go, I was in a hurry and didnt take the time to slow down and get to know the place a bit more. I would have walked a lot longer kaso age factor.. had to walk back again to the hotel pero it was definitely enough to change my view . Its not that a flea market is the coolest thing in the world or an unairconditioned beer joint is the place to be pero places like that where the owners or waiters know you by your name are places on my opinion that gives a place ...character.

more photos of Singapore at http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidmakulit