Finally, mention must be made of flea markets ... the true antithesis of the air-conditioned mall. The oldest and best-loved is the Sungei Road Thieves’ Market—four roads of kerbside stalls with old men selling anything from chipped crockery to old currency, broken radios to used clothing. The market takes its name from its 1930s’ heyday when it was a mecca for stolen goods; today, the stuff is bona fide, but whether you actually want to purchase any of it is another matter. Collectors would be better off at the Clarke Quay sunday market or the Temple Street bazaar: both have stalls selling old memorabilia from China and Singapore, including Chairman Mao mementoes, antique bronze wares, hand-embroidered bead handbags and the like. Again, the atmosphere is part of the attraction at both these bustling venues.
South East Asian art on display at Aryaseni Art Gallery.
Antique religious statuary, such as Buddhas, Taoist deities, monk statues and more are easily available at specialist art and antique shops in Singapore.
GREEN SINGAPORE
ASIA'S PREMIER GARDEN CITY
The tiger may be extinct, but Singapore is home to a rich selection of animal and bird life: Large monitor lizard, stork (three species are resident in Singapore), green tree snake, long-tailed macaque.
Surprisingly, about half of Singapore’s 700 square kilometres of land is reserved for parks, reservoirs, a few small farms, military training grounds and some remaining areas of untouched primary forest. For such a built-up conurbation, it is encouraging that there is so much green.
Being just north of the equator, Singapore is hot, wet, and steamy pretty much year round. As such, it contains an enormous variety of flora—in fact, Dr David Bellamy, a renowned English botanist, once estimated that Singapore contained more plant species than are found in the whole of North America! The island used to be totally covered with dense lowland tropical rain forest, with mangroves along the coasts and tidal creeks and freshwater swamp forests in its interior. As settlement increased from the 1840s onwards, much of the forest was cut down to make way for nutmeg, gambier, clove, pepper and cocoa plantations. As a result, many plant species, including 60 species of mangrove orchids, disappeared—and great tracts of jungle were cleared.
Thankfully, at the turn of the century, forest reserves were set up and, today, the National Parks Board protects about 3,000 hectares of natural reserves. These include the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, the Labrador Nature Reserve, as well as the Central Catchment Nature Reserve that contains most of the country’s fresh water.
A serene view of one of the disused granite quarries on rural Pulau Ubin that has been cleverly transformed into a picturesque lake and now attracts a wide variety of bio-diversity.
A flight of steps along one of the many peaceful paths that traverse through the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. As this forest was never extensively cleared for cultivation, it is home to a vast variety of plants. In fact, Alfred Russel Wallace declared it to be "exceedingly productive".
Designed to evoke inner peace and meditation, the Japanese Garden in Jurong contains many elements from traditional Japanese garden design—arched bridges, stone lanterns, rest houses, ponds and gravel chip paved areas.
A stand of nibong palm trees graces the shore of one of the lakes in the Botanic Gardens. Founded in 1859, it has recently been suggested that the gardens deserve UNESCO World Heritage status.
The Botanic Gardens has 6.2 hectares of one of the oldest remnants of primary rainforest in Singapore. Only a few minutes’ walk from the downtown area, it is home to 314 species of flora. There are three layers of trees—the emergents (45 m), the canopy tree layer (35 m) and the lower tree layer (25 m)—as well as an understorey, all full of rich plant life. A walk here is truly a jungle walk.
These areas are home to more than 840 flowering plants and over 500 species of animals—including towering tropical trees, palms, rattans, ferns, orchids, gingers and many more. In addition, rich bio-diversity is to be found in a multitude of parks and gardens, in plantings along many highways and roads, in collections of heritage trees, and along an extensive network of "park connectors". These comprise cycling, rollerblading, jogging and walking tracks that link certain parks within the city.
As a result, Singapore justifiably markets itself as Asia’s "Garden City". With strong conservation policies and active promotion of green recreation, it seeks to promote its natural resources for residents and tourists alike. Few urban areas contain so many pockets of green—from tiny city parks and park connectors to the massive Botanic Gardens and various nature reserves. In addition, there is on-going research and development into urban bio-diversity on a wider scale.
Visitors should not miss the world-famous Botanic Gardens and the newer Gardens by the Bay, not to mention a trip to the nearby island of Pulau Ubin or a hike in the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. The latter is home to numerous long-tailed macaques, monitor lizards, squirrels, as well as a wide variety of snakes, while wild boar are abundant on Ubin. Orchid lovers will not be disappointed by a trip to the Mandai Orchid Garden or the National Orchid Gardens within the Botanic Gardens, while birders are advised to head to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, a major stopover for migratory birds, that also contains otters, monitor lizards and a few saltwater crocodiles. In addition, many man-made attractions, such as the zoo, Jurong Bird Park and East Coast Park are veritable oases of green in themselves—it isn’t a coincidence that the zoo’s true name is the Singapore Zoological Gardens.
THE NATIONAL PARKS BOARD
Responsible for providing and enhancing the greenery in Singapore, NParks (as the organization is known) manages Singapore’s four nature reserves and over 300 parks. It is also the impetus behind the extensive streetscape plantings and the grid of park connectors that display a huge variety of flowering tropical plants. In addition, it actively engages the community in its green infrastructure projects, with the aim of improving residents’ lifestyles.
NParks’ history is closely intertwined with the history of tree planting in Singapore. This began with Lee Kuan Yew’s vision to create a city-state within a garden environment consisting of parks, gardens and open spaces linked by a matrix of tree-lined roads and park connectors. He believed that not only would such an environment benefit its inhabitants, it would attract foreign investors to the country. The specialist Parks and Trees Unit that oversaw this work was the forerunner of the National Parks Board (which was eventually formed in 1996).
The Mission Statement of NParks—"to create the best living environment through excellent greenery and recreation, in partnership with the community"—sums up its overall aim, but doesn’t really do justice to the hordes of gardeners, horticulturalists, educators and more that passionately tend to the city-state’s green areas. Without them, Singapore would be a very different city indeed.