Culture and History in Singapore

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Overview

Victoria Street Hawker Centre Photo - Singapore City, Singapore

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Singapore has enormous potential to be one of the most interesting countries in the world. It has an interesting history, an incredibly rich and diverse culture, a populace that cares deeply about its motherland.But from its independence in the 1960s, the country had to squarely face two serious threats: the threat of racial/religious tensions, and, for a tiny island nation with barely any natural resources, the threat of obliteration. And so, Singapore had to rise up to meet these threats. And rise up they did. Singapore's miraculous transformation from third-world to first-world in just two generations is one for the books. And although the different ethnicities that compri...Read More

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Kampong Glam and Sultan Mosque

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Attraction

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Kampong Glam is a Malay Muslim neighborhood in Singapore. Despite the frenetic pace of development along Singapore's main roads, the government has made some effort to retain a lot of the old ethnic flavor of this area. The shophouses--shops above which shop owners used to live--no longer have many residents, but the shophouse structures themselves are still there, in their colorful colors.I found Kampong Glam to be a little more touristy than Little India, but not as bad (in terms of touristy-ness) as Chinatown, and nowhere near as bad as the rest of central Singapore. Looking around, I noticed that this was becoming a haven for bohos, hippies and the indie artistic crowd. One street was li...Read More

Kampong Glam is a Malay Muslim neighborhood in Singapore. Despite the frenetic pace of development along Singapore's main roads, the government has made some effort to retain a lot of the old ethnic flavor of this area. The shophouses--shops above which shop owners used to live--no longer have many residents, but the shophouse structures themselves are still there, in their colorful colors.

I found Kampong Glam to be a little more touristy than Little India, but not as bad (in terms of touristy-ness) as Chinatown, and nowhere near as bad as the rest of central Singapore. Looking around, I noticed that this was becoming a haven for bohos, hippies and the indie artistic crowd. One street was lined by small shops owned by local designers of clothes and furniture, and there was even an indie art studio. (I went in to one of them, meaning to look at whatever was on exhibit, but no one was around in the studio so I stepped out again.)

I headed to the mosque and decided to go in. It was my first time inside a working mosque. I left my shoes at the door and was given a long-sleeved robe to cover myself (arms and legs shouldn't be showing inside mosques). Two college-aged guys at the entrance acted as my tour guides. One of them began with a brief historical background of the mosque (it's the oldest in Singapore, and its architect was a Christian, believe it or not!). He then proceeded to tell me about the 5 pillars of Islam, at which point I said he didn't need to explain all that because I'd learned about Islam in school. He then let me go walk around the mosque (visitors are forbidden from entering the main prayer hall: the carpeted part of the mosque where you'll see faithful devotees praying) and take pictures.

After awhile, the second guy came up with a Q'uran in his hand, and asked me if I wanted to see it. I said, "Sure!" and he opened it up and showed me a few Arabic lines. I asked him some questions about being Muslim in Singapore -- about how, for example, a Muslim gets his religious education if he goes to public school. (His answer: "We have something like Sunday school." Of course I knew that already, but I was just trying to start a conversation.) He in turn asked me where I was from, and when I said I was Filipino, he asked me a few questions about Catholicism. (The Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country.) He said that he'd noticed that Catholic nuns wore veils, just like Muslim women do, and he wanted to know why. I was suddenly embarrassed when I realized I didn't have a quick answer for him, but an ecumenical conversation about different kinds of religious dress ensued.

Sultan Mosque (Masjid Sultan in Malay) is on Muscat Street in Kampong Glam. There is no entrance fee, but there are boxes near the entrance for you to drop your donations into. The mosque is closed to visitors during regular services.

A visit to the Kampong Glam and the Sultan Mosque is a must-do for anyone who, like me, travels in order to experience different cultures.

Note that many Kampong Glam shops are closed Fridays at around lunch time, which is prayer time for Muslims.

The phone number of Sultan Mosque is (65) 6293 4405. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on July 1, 2008

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Fort Siloso

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Attraction

The Surrender Chambers Photo - Fort Siloso , Sentosa, Singapore

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The bus tour I'd taken the day before included a free bus ride to Sentosa, so I decided to do the touristy thing and visit the island. I'd been to Sentosa as a child, before it became the Disneyland of resort islands, and I was curious to see how much it had changed.Of course, there isn't much for a pregnant woman traveling alone to do in Sentosa, so I decided to limit my itinerary to just one thing: scratching my WW2 itch.See, I've always been really interested in WW2. I've been reading WW2-related books since childhood. Both my grandfathers as well as my grandfather-in-law fought in that war, and my grandmother was a war nurse of sorts.So being in Singapore, such an imp...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 1, 2008

Fort Siloso

Sentosa

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Malay Heritage Center

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Attraction | "Malay Heritage Centre"

At the Malayan Heritage Centre Photo - Malay Heritage Center, Singapore City, Singapore

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The Malay Heritage Centre is a small museum dedicated to Malay culture in the old Muslim Malay neighborhood of Kampong Glam.Singapore used to be part of the Malaysian federation before it became independent in the 1960s. Malays continue to comprise Singapore's second-largest ethnic group (next to the dominant Chinese), and even though the language of business, commerce and law is English, Malay is still considered the national language on paper. (The national anthem of Singapore is in Malay.)The Malay Heritage Center was my last stop in Kampong Glam. There was an exhibit about the Malay people in general, including their traditional culture and art forms. What I personally...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on July 1, 2008

Malay Heritage Center
85, Sultan Gate
Singapore 198501
+65 63910450

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Little India/Tekka

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Attraction | "Little India and Thieves' Market"

Thieves' Market Photo - Little India/Tekka, Singapore City, Singapore

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South Asians (people who trace their roots to the Indian subcontinent) comprise the third largest ethnic group in Singapore (after Chinese and Malays). Most of these Indians (as they're officially called) in Singapore are Tamil, and Tamil is one of the three "mother tongue" languages students may choose from in government schools (the others being Mandarin Chinese and Bahasa Melayu).Of the three ethnic neighborhoods I visited in Singapore--Chinatown, the Muslim Quarters, and Little India--I found Little India to be the most interesting.To begin with, it was in Little India that I found -- finally! -- the Singapore of my childhood!!! Shophouses, "coffee shops" (Singaporean slan...Read More

South Asians (people who trace their roots to the Indian subcontinent) comprise the third largest ethnic group in Singapore (after Chinese and Malays). Most of these Indians (as they're officially called) in Singapore are Tamil, and Tamil is one of the three "mother tongue" languages students may choose from in government schools (the others being Mandarin Chinese and Bahasa Melayu).

Of the three ethnic neighborhoods I visited in Singapore--Chinatown, the Muslim Quarters, and Little India--I found Little India to be the most interesting.

To begin with, it was in Little India that I found -- finally! -- the Singapore of my childhood!!! Shophouses, "coffee shops" (Singaporean slang for outdoor hole-in-the-wall eateries), the strange smell of Indian spices, men sitting on the sidewalks watching the world pass by .... This was Singapore as I remembered it. The only things that were missing were the streetfood vendors (outlawed in the 80s) ... and the crowds. The crowds, the crowds -- where were the crowds???? (There hadn't been any crowds in Chinatown either.) I figured it may have been because I was in Little India on a weekday afternoon, before anyone had gotten off from work.

Most of the shops in Little India were in traditional shophouse structures, which the government had preserved in their vibrant colors. Beautiful Indian fabric and interesting bric-a-bracs were being sold at incredibly cheap prices, and if I didn't have a lot of self-discipline I would've easily fallen into a shopping frenzy.

But I was here to sightsee, not to shop, and so I pressed on.

At the edge of Little India, I arrived at the "Thieves' Market" (between Jalan Basar and Sungei Road), a makeshift flea market. It was mid-afternoon when I arrived, and streetside peddlers had set up their wares on blankets on the ground.

My guidebook described it as old "uncles" (Singaporean slang for old man) peddling their old wares. I wasn't so sure. While a few of them did look like tradesmen doing small-time retail, it looked more to me like many of the old men and women had picked many of these second-hand items out of garbage cans or dumpsters, had had them fixed, and had now hauled them using their bicycle sidecars to this park to sell them to make a little extra cash.

At any rate, it again felt a little more like the Singapore I'd known as a child. Even the way the place sounded--people were actually speaking in Hokkien (unlike the Singlish/Mandarin that I'd mostly been hearing along the more "modernized" roads in Singapore)! Thieves' Market was also a sobering reminder that despite the amazing pace at which Singapore had moved from third-world to first-world status, not everyone had benefited from the progress in the same way.

According to my research, vendors sell their goods at the Thieves' Market from around 11 AM to 7 PM everyday, and there are more vendors on weekends.

Little India is roughly the area bounded by Jalan Besar, Sungei Road, Race Course Road, and Rowell Road. There is an MRT stop called "Little India" off Bukit Timah Road. Read Less

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on July 1, 2008

Little India/Tekka
North of Kampong Glam
Singapore

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Changi's Budget Terminal - A Disappointment

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Story/Tip

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Changi's Budget Terminal was, to be quite frank, a huge disappointment.Arriving in the Changi Budget Terminal wasn't much of a problem. You deplane onto a tarmac, walk through an unairconditioned but covered walk to the immigration area, and the immigration area itself is nice, clean, and relatively modern.But the departure area was a different story. The entryway to the departure area of the terminal is misleading. Everything looks clean and new. The staff is courteous. But then, things slowly change.When we entered the immigration area, we found that suddenly the consuls weren't anywhere near as friendly as the staff members outside ... but maybe ...Read More

Changi's Budget Terminal was, to be quite frank, a huge disappointment.

Arriving in the Changi Budget Terminal wasn't much of a problem. You deplane onto a tarmac, walk through an unairconditioned but covered walk to the immigration area, and the immigration area itself is nice, clean, and relatively modern.

But the departure area was a different story.

The entryway to the departure area of the terminal is misleading. Everything looks clean and new. The staff is courteous. But then, things slowly change.

When we entered the immigration area, we found that suddenly the consuls weren't anywhere near as friendly as the staff members outside ... but maybe that had something to do with having to work the night shift, we thought. There was enough of a duty free area to keep us distracted for a bit, and free Internet access as well.

But then ... but then .... The terminal had only one waiting area with seats for the entire departure area. When it was time to go to the gate, everyone had to file into a narrow corridor and stay standing for the next half an hour (or so) before boarding. There was no organization to the boarding procedure either. We weren't asked to line up by row, pregnant women, senior citizens, and children weren't invited to enter the plane first. The actual boarding was thus rather chaotic.

As a pregnant woman, I was rather miffed about being made to stand for so long. There were actually four available seats near the exit to the tarmac, but it was cordoned off, and not a single staff member asked if I would like to sit there. Finally, I defiantly decided to sit on the floor.

For a country that has so much money, I felt like they could, if they wanted to, make a budget terminal that is simpler than Changi's main terminals, but with all the minimum amenities people expect in an airport (such as seats for people to sit on!).

Instead, my husband and I honestly felt that budget fliers were being discriminated against. "It's like they purposely made it inconvenient, to dissuade people from flying budget," my husband said. I agreed. Our last experience of Singapore was, sadly, not a nice one. Read Less

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