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Published: December 26th 2014
I always get lost in Singapore. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I once worked with a guy who said I must have a magnetic nose, because I always knew the direction of north. That talent fails me here, maybe due to Singapore’s location near the equator, or the different view of the stars. Regardless, I was annoyed that I had forgotten my compass, and immediately set out to buy another one.
And anyone who thinks you don’t need a compass to navigate Singapore’s busy and well-mapped streets has never been in a Singaporean shopping mall. Orchard Road – the main shopping district – is about two miles of solid shopping malls. You can start in one mall, and exit two blocks later from an entirely different mall without every coming outside. In some places there is an underground link that will link malls on different side of the street with – what else – another underground mall.
But just the fact that these are big malls isn't the issue. There are no straight lines in a Singaporean shopping mall, and, unless you are right in front of it, you can’t see an exit.
The thought is that if money can travel in a straight line to the exit, it will flow right out the door.
And just because you can see where you want to go doesn’t mean you can get there. Some escalators go from the first floor to the third floor, skipping the second floor entirely. Some escalators go from the third floor to the second floor, but don’t continue to the first floor. Some escalators only go in one direction. To add to the confusion, the floor layouts in the mall directories are shown from a different angle at each kiosk. A compass comes in handy.
So, armed with my trusty compass and a bottle of water, I set off to explore the wilds of Orchard Road. My original thought was just to take pictures of the unique architecture to be found here, and then I realized that all the coolest buildings were shopping malls. And even though it was the day before Christmas, I didn’t think that it would be overly crowded since less than 20% of the population identifies as Christian. Boy was I wrong. Religion is irrelevant when it comes to retail excess.
The crowds were enough to make it necessary to watch your step. Now I make no secret of the fact that I hate cell phones. Unless you are a priest or a doctor on call, put the damn phone down and pay attention to your surroundings. However, the vast majority of Singaporeans have a cell phone permanently embedded in their hand, and that can cause some problems navigating. Now these folks aren’t just checking Facebook, or sending tweeties and twitters, they are watching full-fledged movies while they are walking around. It is so bad that there are public service announcements warning people to look up and watch where they walking.
In addition to the very high end shopping – think Rolex and Prada – there are other stores that are just downright quirky. Some items for sale seemed to be rather pointless, like the teeny blank flashcards on a key ring, and some things filled a need that you didn’t know you had, like the special cloth for cleaning around the faucet.
But after a while the sensory overload got to be a bit much. I decided to retreat to a cold beer and
a quiet room, the better to continue another day.
So, why is Singapore called the Lion City? Well, the story goes like this…
The Legend of the Lion City Sang Nila Utama was a prince of Sumatra in the late 13th century. He decided to visit some of the islands off the coast of south Sumatra, looking for a suitable place to build a new city. He saw the island of Temesek from a distance, and decided to visit there.
He landed at the mouth of the present-day Singapore River and went inland to hunt wild animals. Suddenly, he saw a strange animal with an orange body, black head and a white chest. It was a fine-looking animal and moved with great speed as it disappeared into the jungle.
He asked his chief minister what animal it was, and was told that it was a lion. He was pleased with this as he believed it to be a good omen—a sign of good fortune coming his way.
Thus, he decided to build his new city in Temasek. He and his men stayed on the island and founded a
cell phones
Every person in this picture - except the lady in red - is playing with their phonecity in 1324. He named this city Singapura from “Singa” the Malay word for lion, and “Pura” the Malay word for town.
It has been noted that what he probably saw was a tiger, since tigers are known to have lived here, and nobody has ever seen an actual lion outside of a zoo. (Well, nobody sober, that is.) But no matter, the name lives on, and Singapore is ever known as the Lion City.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
I'm with you
No reason needed! Thanks for sharing.