The other day during my french lesson, we were learning about giving advice, and my professor decided to bring us on to a french travel forum website and said, "Let's give some advice to travellers who want to come to Singapore!" Before we began choosing which questions to reply to, my professor asked the class, "If someone was to come to Singapore, how long would you recommend them to stay?" Considering Singapore is such a small city-state, country the size of a city, the answers ranged from 3, to 5 days, and he laughed and shook his head.
And then he said, "At least 2 weeks."
TWO WEEKS - "What do you even do for SO LONG?! 2 WEEKS?" That was our reply.
I know, if you're from Singapore, Malaysia or anywhere in South East Asia, you'll probably be sharing our thoughts! But let me explain.
When he saw our shocked faces, he asked us "Where do you guys go when you travel to European cities?" We replied with the usual, churches, cathedrals, see the temples, museums etc. and he went "That's what tourists do when they come to Singapore too!"
Basically, what I concluded was:
1) He's french, so he probably did not have any experience with food, or culture, prior to coming to Asia, and so would a lot of non-asian tourists. According to him, the french LOVE to experience a country's CULTURE when they are travelling.
2) Singapore is a melting port. We have 4 different main races in the country, and since it's a secular society, we have many MANY places of worships. From churches (nope not as impressive as the european ones), to hindu temples, bhuddist temples, and muslim mosques, because of the fact that we are so multi-racial, and people have many different religious believes, tourist have a plethora of cultural sites to choose from. Apparently there are over 200+ museums in Singapore too.
Remember when I talked about the unusual Outdoor Park, Haw Paw Villa? Yeah tourists come to Singapore to experience all that, and visit the multitude of cultural temples and mosques that somehow can be found all in one city!
When my UK roommate came to Singapore for the first time, I took her to see one of the famous hindu temples in Singapore. That tall tower structure is known as the gopuram and the details and architecture of it is amazing! Growing up in Singapore, I never thought that it was anything uncommon to have Hindu temples, christian churches, and Muslim mosques all located so near to each other. My dad has driven by Sri Mariamman Temple countless of times, and I remember looking out to see the individual statues of the temple every single time. Yet, i've never really visited it, because it was just something so common, and like... it was just there. But when you go up close to the temple and see the intricate details of the carving on the walls, the individual statues, the colours of the temple, you can't help but be in awe.
One interesting thing we saw when we were there was people practicing traditional indian dance inside the temple. I didn't want to take a photo of them, as it felt kind of intrusive, so we just stood at the side and watched for a little bit.
It is no wonder tourists want to visit places like this.
Not just Hindu temples, but there are other temples located just opposite a road or down the road. This one above is called the Central Sikh Temple. I never knew just how many different types and sites of worship there are in Singapore. I never even knew about the Central Sikh Temple, shame on me, I thought it was a mosque (which of course it isn't, just judging by its architecture).
I guess i never really thought of my hometown as anything more than a tiny island, that happened to be economically strong, independent and free. I always thought Singapore was characterised by its greenery, shopping, and MARINA BAY SANDS. But I my french teacher has thought me, that there is more to that in terms of tourism in Singapore. I've been to bhuddist temples and churches since I was really young, so I never expected it to be something fascinating, but now that I take a step back, and actually LOOK at them (or maybe its because i've stayed in Europe for a whole year) I feel like there is so much to appreciate.
Time for me to be a tourist in my own country, and discover all these unusual sites!
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