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Who’s the Murderer?
A social activity that has become quite a huge craze amongst the youth in China is jubensha (剧本杀). Interest in the game, which started off as a type of board game, or one played using a mobile app,...
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Parting Glances: Old Police Academy
The old Police Academy (OPA) off Thomson Road has a place in the hearts of many. This will include those from the police force who trained on its grounds, members of the National Police Cadet Corps...
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What makes Chinatown Chinatown in Chinese majority Singapore?
That there is a place known as “Chinatown” in Singapore seems quite odd, with Chinese settlers and their descendants having been in the majority from the mid-1800s. The origins of the name lie...
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From “Chinatown” to “China Town”
The development of Singapore’s Chinatown, its reason for being, and how it does not quite fit into the same mould as the Chinatowns found across the non-Chinese world, was the topic of my previous...
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The ghosts of Christmases past
First turned-on 37 years ago today on 13th December 1984, Orchard Road’s annual Christmas Light-up is now in its 38th edition. Bringing cheer especially in the last two years with the uncertainty of...
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The soon to be lost post office of old along Alexandra Road
I have always enjoyed a visit to one of the few remaining standalone post offices of old, and make it a point to use one whenever I am able to. Quite unlike those of the new age, which tend to be...
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Yishun and its links to a 1847 secret society attack off Batam
Yishun is a satellite town in modern Singapore with a reputation for being in the news for the wrong reasons. It does seem that this may also have been the case in its earliest days — at least as the...
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Old Changi Hospital — a chance to visit for the 80th Anniversary of the Fall...
The three blocks that make up the former Changi Hospital are probably some of the most misunderstood buildings in Singapore. Much has been speculated about them and how they were used during the...
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Singapore Airshow 2022
The Singapore Airshow, probably the last large-scale trade event that was held in Singapore before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in early 2020, makes a return this year to position Singapore to tap...
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A delightful song and dance about Katong
Betel Box Tours must be applauded for its most recent effort at bringing out the wonderful tales that are connect with the especially colourful district of Katong. Titled Katong Dreaming: A Musical...
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The last memories of Chia Chwee Kang
The stretch of Upper Thomson Road between Yio Chu Kang and Mandai Roads is one that has was filled with sights that held a fascination for me as a child. The two large carved wooden elephants that...
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The first overseas Royal Sailors’ Rest House
Perched on an elevation right across from the dockyard gates, the attractive building that housed Aggie Weston’s Royal Sailors’ Rest stood as out as one of the more noticeable structures in the huge...
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A lost world
Photographs of a lost world that exists in a part of Singapore that has been reclaimed by nature.
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Breaking KD Malaya’s last ship up
For those whose connection with Singapore’s far north go back to the 20th century, the road to the causeway was one littered with an interesting range of sights. One such sight that would certainly...
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The haunted spiral staircase
A tale most of us in Singapore would have heard, is that of the spiral staircase found in the National Museum of Singapore being haunted. Cohorts of visiting school children seem to have heard it,...
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An enlightened space
Voluminous spaces amply illuminated by natural light are often a visually treat. We have quite a number of these spaces in Singapore, including several that go back to a time when harnessing natural...
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Merchants of misery
The import, sale and distribution of opium contributed to a rather shameful episode in the history of modern Singapore. Cultivated in India by the (dis)Honourable East India Company to address the...
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The joy of light
If you are looking for something to light up the long long weekend, why not take in the sights of the last few days of the Ramadan bazaar to soak in the atmosphere of Kampung Gelam. The bazaar does...
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The Singapore debut of The Capitol of Singapore
Anyone stepping into Capitol Theatre will get an immediate sense of a grace and elegance that is a reflection of the age that the theatre was built in and that and the building’s evolution over the...
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Glamour and scandal in the skies
The 1920s in Singapore were exciting times for aviation. Late in 1919, Singapore witnessed its very first inbound flight, a Vickers Vimy which carried four men and which landed at the racecourse (now...
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