34. A Singapore without skyscrapers

By Filipe Morato Gomes	Where is Singapore?
I arrived in Singapore, the most organized, efficient and clean big city of the world, but I found a Singapore miles away from the preconceived idea of a consumer's paradise and a business centre, with huge skyscrapers and nothing else to see. Cosy streets with beautiful little houses - that's where I got lost in Singapore, a country where nothing happens by chance.

State-of-the-art technology, huge commercial paradises for compulsive consumers, impressive skyscrapers, luxurious hotels and a world of financial opportunities are parts of the image most people has about Singapore. Everybody pictures Singapore as an extremely efficient, modern, clean and organized city. And, in fact, it is. Yet, this is not the whole truth. Singapore has areas with an architecture which has remained nearly untouched for decades. It has areas where business happens far from the rules of a city which is famous for being absolutely strict about the application of the law. It has neighbourhoods where you can find no skyscrapers at all. I immersed myself in this “other” Singapore.

Beautiful window in a Singaporean street

Everything happened unpredictably. Florence, a Singaporean girl was expecting me when I arrived at the city. A phone-call afterwards, Florence turned up in the bus station where coaches coming from Malacca finish their journeys. She was in a hurry and had to go to a hostel in the eastern side of the city to design a henna tattoo to a customer. We took a taxi and half an hour later we stopped at Joo Chiat Street.

While Florence did her job, I walked randomly along the area, amazed by observing a very different Singapore from the one I had in my mind. The houses were made of stone, ornamented with carvings and other artworks, beautiful and colourful. Wooden doors covered the windows and occasional balconies presented an additional beauty to the houses. Here and there, files of multi-coloured tiles surrounded the windows. Delighted after a couple of hours strolling along Joo Chiat Street, the perpendicular Katong Street and other roads in the area, it was time to take advantage on the ultra efficient public local transport system of Singapore and head for enchanting Little India and chaotic Chinatown.

When I stepped onto soil from Indian influence, I had just entered a totally distinct part of the city. Besides the architectural details of the extremely coloured façades, the people themselves made the greatest difference. A strong Indian community was settled in the city.. And just as in India it was possible to meet any enigmatic characters. An Indian man completely dressed in white, with white turban and equally white beards, greeted me in the middle of a small street. After asking me where I was from and saying "oh, long life, happy journeys, good luck", I was asked to write my name on a piece of paper. Then, he scribbled something on another sheet of paper, crumpled it and handed it to me. "It's to give you good luck", he said. He asked me then to choose a number till five and a flower I was fond of. I answered. He asked me to open the paper he had previously written and there I could see, without any doubt, the number and the flower I had chosen. It was a strange moment.

A man is having his afternoon tea at a small café in Little India, Singapore

Back to rationality, travel guidebooks declare there are a few things one should never miss while visiting Singapore. Tasting the famous Singapore Sling and have an afternoon tea in the magnificent Raffles hotel. Visiting the zoo or going on a night safari in the surroundings. And heading for the artificial Sentosa Island, main week-end escapade for local inhabitants and an attraction for tourists from all over the world. Yet, apart from an outdoor view of the historical Raffles, none of those activities attracted me. On the contrary, after Joo Chiat, Little India and Chinatown, I was curious to know how the urban planning of a small country can be handled. It was time to visit an exhibition and verify that nothing in Singapore happens by chance.

In the building of the Urban Redevelopment Authority, a permanent exhibition showed the visitors the evolution of Singapore since a few decades ago. Surprisingly, they also presented what is supposed to happen in Singapore the next thirty years concerning development, infrastructures and the quality of life in the country.

A street without skyscrapers, Singapore

A business man sat next to me while we watched a film about a new commercial area to be built in Singapore. "Everything is planned. It will take twenty years to build", he said. Every detail was, in fact, completely planned, from new green areas to huge residential and business buildings. In Singapore, progress doesn't mean to destroy architecture pearls from the past. They know these pearls work as tourist magnets for visitors.

I left Singapore feeling that I was leaving a nation that is a model of balanced development. Clean as no other metropolis of comparable dimension, safer than most big cities and with a public transport system that would make green with envy any European capital, Singapore is a real case study for council representatives and those who have to decide about public affairs. Because nothing happens by chance.

(originally written in Portuguese)

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