RadioRoryImmaculate Singapore can feel like a theme park, but it isn’t all shiny and new.
During my second swing through the country I stayed near Chinatown and had a completely different experience. Not only did I avoid the insane border crossing, I was in the city just as Chinese New Year celebrations were getting started. And it was the year of the rooster, my sign!
The Chinese traditions still thrive in street markets, small shops, and the just plain weird culinary delicacies.
Downtown areas are filled with high-end stores, international brands, and corporate logos, yet scenes like this unfold just a few blocks away.
The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum looks like it could be centuries old, but it opened in 2007.
There are so many statues inside the temple, it’s overwhelming.
The focus, however is on the shrine to the Buddha relics on the upper floor. Discovered in Myanmar in 1980, the tooth of the Buddha was found in a stupa made of pure gold and kept hidden from the public until 2002. The temple draws large crowds daily and, as is tradition, offers free vegetarian meals from its basement.
Most of Singapore’s population has Chinese heritage, but England’s 150-year rule of the small island means most people speak English. The architecture and street names (namely, Stamford Raffles) reflect old colonial rule, but the new unifying language here is money.
Singapore is expensive. From food and drinks, to hotels and housing (oy!) it’s among the most expensive places to live in the world and usually ranked as among the best places (except for that whole democracy thing).
Fort Canning is a spectacular park in the heart of the city with amazing old banyan trees.
It is also home to one of the most important military command centers of World War II. Inside the underground Battlebox, British military leaders decided to surrender the tiny island to the Japanese in 1942. It was a harsh defeat and, in many ways, the beginning of the end for the British empire. Friends recommended I check this place out, and it didn’t disappoint. There are wax figures that recreate events as they unfolded 75-years ago and the museum does a great job of explaining what led the British to surrender the island that was critical to their supremacy at sea. Sadly, no photos allowed.
The Battlebox was only recently rediscovered and many people don’t even know it’s a museum. It can also be hard to find in Fort Canning Park, so use the information on their official website to find the bunker and buy your ticket for a tour.