When Sir Stamford Raffles signed the treaty on Temasek, under Raffles Plan of 1822, the settlement was divided into different ethnic groups, which includes European Town, Chinese, Chulia, Arab and Bugis Kampong. Kampong Glam was designated for the Sultan and his household, as well as the Malay and Arab communities, many of whom were merchants. It was situated east of what was then the European Town.
I always wondered, isn't palace a hugh house? Well it should be at least the size of the Istana.
It is situated at her former house at Java Road, and her house was broken twice and, on the second occasion it was set on fire.
Just imagine the sight I can get from balloon ride; bird eye view of CBD of Singapore. I looked through the website, and found that it cost S$23 to get onto the balloon for approximately 10 minutes.
Started out as 10-room colonial bungalow, the original location was by the seaside, although continued reclamation means that the site is presently some 500 m away from the shore. No asians were permitted until 1930s.
During the Japanese Occupation, many ethnic chinese were massacred in Siglap, Changi and Bukit Timah. The remains were unearthed and set to be put into the memorial in February 1962.
On April 23, 1966, construction of the memorial began. The memorial was completed in January 1967, at a total construction cost of about S$500,000
How embarrassing.
Can you imagine this very cathedral you see today is the third building? The first church was design by George Drumgoole Coleman and the second was designed by John Turnbull Thomson. This is the second time I am mentioning John Turnbull Thomson. Remembering from my previous post, he was the architect of Cavenagh Bridge in Singapore River.
ake a look at the nave and the interior of the cathedral.
A bit of history, again.However, prominent merchants and traders, who felt that Singapore's infrastructure was not keeping pace with its economic development, wanted Dalhousie to exert his influence in their favour. To win over Dalhousie, they renamed the pier by which he came ashore Dalhousie Ghaut and marked it with a commemorative obelisk. The memorial was also built to remind succeeding merchants of the benefits of free trade.
Victorial Memorial Hall
In 1906, a signature clock was added and it stood in between the two building connecting them as a common corridoor. It stands a height of 54 metres and is topped by a timepiece donated by the Strait Trading Company.
Of course, the addition of the statue of our founder was moved from the Padang to the current location in 1919.
Central Business District
Originally known as the Edinburgh Bridge to commemorate the visit of Duke of Edinburgh, its name was changed to the current Cavenagh Bridge in honour of Major General William Orfeur Cavenagh, the last India-appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements. It was constucted in 1869 to ease the inconvenience of crossing the river .
The bridge was designed by the colonial Public Works Department's John Turnbull Thomson and constructed by P&W Maclellan, Glasgow Engineers at a cost of $80,000. Built and tested in Glasgow, the bridge can withstand four times its own weight.
With the backing of our CBD area, I just love this photo. So majestic!
A typical look of a chinese town hall.
Fuk Tai Chi is not exactly a clan association, but more like museum. Best thing is this museum is right infront of Far East Square. It has plentiful of artifacts from the past.
Some artifacts of the museum.
The last clan I went was of my own dialact group: The Hainan Hwee Guan. It is not exactly near the previous two places I went, but I thought I should just lump them together. I searched through the internet to find some information about my own dialact group.
Before the Han Dynasty, Hainan Island was known to be only fit for exiles. The actual first migrates are the Li People from Guang Xi came in and displace the Austronesian-Speaking people. But these are still considered minority.
It was only until the Song Dynasty when large numbers of Han Chinese settle at the northern part of the island.
I also remember that the reason for the little wooden plank was to prevent floods from coming in and that when people enter the temple have to look down first. This would means bowing your head before coming in! How innovative can the older generation get.
There is actually a website for Thian Hock Keng. This is the story of Ma Zu's origin quoted from the website.
Rest assure that your teeth will be taken care of! We have Toof Doctor in Tanjong Pagar, less that 100m walk from the MRT. They even have a chinese character that say tooth. Just imagine how dedicated are their dental surgeons.
