Hi everyone,
Today we caught a train to Lavender MRT station to begin a 2.5 hour walking
tour of Kampong Glam. This is Singapore’s Muslim quarter, and ‘Kampong’ means
‘compound’ in Malay while ‘Glam’ comes from ‘gelam’, a type of tree in the area
which was used for boat making, food and medicine.
It’s been a long time since I have last done a walking tour overseas. My last
one was in New Orleans in January 2020. I really enjoy the perspective a local
guide brings on a walking tour, pointing out things you never would have
noticed or known to visit. Our guide for our tour today was Grace. She had a
little device with headphones for us all so that she could use a microphone, as
she (like all of us) had to wear a mask the whole tour. We expected to be in a
group of five as everything is limited to groups of five here, but we were five
groups of five. Everyone on the tour was local except us, and we were placed in
a group of five with a German couple who are living and working here. They had
to do three weeks of hotel quarantine when they arrived, in a balcony-less and
window-less hotel. Yuck!
The MRT station our tour began at was called Lavender for ironic reasons. This
area used to be made up of plantations, and the fertiliser at the time was what
was easiest to find - human waste. As a result, when Singapore was modernised
and the plantation was no longer there, someone put forward the name Lavender
for the metro station as a joke, and it stuck!
Grace explained to us that back in the day, living in a kampong was like living
in a little village. No one locked their doors, everyone knew one another and
it was a very community vibe. In the 1960, the Housing Development Board
knocked down and demolished the kampongs. This was sad for those who had grown
up in such communities, but Grace said over time, people adjusted and were
happy to have more modern amenities at their disposal. High rise apartment
buildings replaced the kampongs, and people had easy access to fresh waster,
waste disposal (no flush toilets until 1987 here!) and shops etc nearby. In the
beginning, the lower floors were more popular as the lifts only stopped on
floors 1, 5 and 11. However, today’s lifts stop on all floors so the top floors
are the most popular.
Due to the overpopulation of Singapore, they don’t really have any agriculture
or any industries or exports like that. Instead, in 1966 they took a risk just
one year into independence and borrowed $45 million from the world bank. This
was used to build their container port, which is now the world’s leading hub.
Along our tour, we saw people playing croquet, people drawing and some silky
bantams. We stopped outside the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, which was unusually
named after a woman. Hajjah Fatimah was a wealthy lady married to a Bugis
prince. The Bugis people were originally from Sulawesi but were driven out of
there by the Dutch and settled all over the place including Singapore. They
were very good traders, map drawers and ship builders. Hajjah Fatimah lost her husband
at a young age, and afterwards built the mosque and houses for the poor.
We had a quick rest stop at the Malaysian Heritage Centre which was one of the
former royal palaces here for Sultan Hussein (the one who came to an agreement
with Stamford Raffles in 1819). We then hit what is really the centre of
Kampong Glam these days. Originally, this area stretched all the way to Lavender
which was why we had started there, but today it is much smaller. We could see
the beautiful Sultan Mosque. We could visit inside in 2012, but not these days
due to disinfection occurring between prayer sessions. Something of note about
its appearance is the fact that bottle ends make up the black band around its
onion dome. Wouldn’t have noticed if not for Grace!!
Our tour ended at a local restaurant where we had an included lunch. Dad had
beef, Mum and I had chicken. It came with tofu, yummy sauces and rice. We also
enjoyed some Singaporean desserts too, which were strange consistencies and
very bright colours! It was really interesting spending some time in the Muslim quarter. It felt like I was in Turkey or Egypt at some points. What was also interesting was being on a walking tour where the majority were locals and not tourists. It was nice hearing people on the tour's added perspectives during the tour. I believe the reason so many locals were on the tour is that there is a 'Singapore Resdiscover' voucher scheme for locals that ends soon. People are using up their vouchers on tours, attractions etc. on the weekend.
Afterwards, Mum, Dad and I walked back to Haji Lane that we had visited on the
tour. It was full of cute little shops and impressive murals on the walls and
shops. Sadly, there were also a lot of empty shops, I assume due to the pandemic.
We headed back for a quick rest in the room, before joining a riverboat cruise
from Clarke Quay. It was lovely sitting with the open window feeling the breeze
on our faces. We sailed all the way up the river seeing the buildings that have
become so familiar over the last few days. It was lovely and sunny so we were
happy we were undercover in the shade! On the boat we learned that the super
trees at the gardens we visited on Thursday are not only pretty, they absorb
solar energy, collect rain water and excrete humidity and moisture from the
domes we went into. Funnily, someone had added a mask to one of the children on the sculpture we liked along the river on Tuesday. Couldn't resist taking a photo!
Finally, we enjoyed an ice cream by the river. We are having a rest for a few hours
now, I might go for a swim soon. Tonight we are off to the Night Safari Zoo
which will be cool.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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