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Published: October 7th 2011
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Singapore is the perfect city for people such as myself interested in urban geography and city planning. It has been argued by many urbanists that a nation's success or failure depends heavily on the viability of their cities. Yet many countries, including my own, often ignore the needs of cities to their own peril. Well Singapore doesn't have that option. As a city-nation, if it fails as a city it fails also as a country, so they seem to have invested heavily in making sure their city works.
That means transit is not underfunded. In fact, Singapore's is the most ridiculously clean and efficient transit system I have ever experienced (Hong Kong's ranks number 2.) It also means streets have been built to prevent traffic congestion. The main thoroughfares are many lanes wide and often one-direction. This does not make a pleasant streetscape from the perspective of a pedestrian, and I found it frustrating trying to use these streets to walk between parts of the city. So instead of walking what looked like a short distance on a map, we would opt instead to take the subway to avoid walking along these massive thoroughfares. But I'm glad I gave myself
a week to explore the city, because near the end I started to discover more of the pedestrian-only streets that connected neighbourhoods. And of course, the massive malls can also be used to traverse the city; but while they provide a wonderful escape from the heat, I often disliked going in them if I was trying to get somewhere specific because they are easy to get lost and disoriented in. When you finally do find another exit, you no longer have any idea whereabouts you are.
The point though is that Singapore tries very hard to balance the needs of traffic and pedestrians, and for the most part it works. I didn't notice any bike lanes though...I thought maybe it's too hot here and everyone prefers to take transit, but as I was leaving the city core and heading out to the airport, I did notice a number of bicycles locked up to fences and whatnot. So maybe people just avoid riding in the centre of the city, and maybe the government doesn't encourage it because it would hinder traffic.
We stayed at the Hotel 81 in Chinatown. There are several pedestrian streets in Chinatown, and lots of
stalls and food centres. Apparently all the food stalls were forced inside these big, concrete (thought usually at least partially open concept) food centres a while back due to hygiene concerns. The food is cheap, varied, and delicious, and there's always beer stalls, yeah!
Two attractions in Chinatown that were very good was the Chinatown Heritage Centre, which has restored the shophouse in which it is located so you can see how Singaporeans lived back in the day, and the Buddha Tooth Relic Museum. Sri Mariamman Temple is also not to be missed (pretty hard to miss if you pass by it. But don't just pass by, take your shoes off and go inside!)
For a bit of a break from the city, we went to the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to hike around some native rainforest. I had also read that the MacRitchie Reservoir was good (they have treetop trekking there!) but we didn't have time. One thing about the Bukit Timah peak, apparently the highest point in the city: there are no good views, so the only thing you get out of a steep 20 minute climb is exercise and a picture of a big rock
with the elevation engraved into it.
The beach along East Coast Park is really nice, you can rent bicycles and ride along the coast. And there the food centre is not stuck inside a massive concrete building. The beaches on Sentosa Island are also very beautiful, you feel far away from the city while there, especially Palawan Beach (it started raining before we could make it to Tanjong Beach.) At Palawan Beach there is a suspension bridge that leads to what is billed as the southern most point of Asia. But it's a man-made island for one, and for another i'm pretty sure it's not true. There are a bunch of other islands you can see from there, so why would they not be considered part of Asia? Anyway, it's nice; there are two look-out towers on it.
Whatever you do, don't go looking for a laundry! You will likely only be frustrated, and by the time you finally do find a place that will clean your clothes, you will be dismayed when they tell you they won't be ready for 4 days. That's right - it's because they don't actually clean your clothes on site, they have
to ship them some place outside the city core. We kept asking the locals why we couldn't find a laundry and where the hell do Singaporeans clean their clothes? Apparently, everyone has the means to wash their clothes inside their own homes, or they go out to the 'burbs to do their laundry. Whatever it is, the idea of laundrymats, even in Chinatown, is completely foriegn to them, it's really weird! We should have just done our laundry in Kuala Lumpur.
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