The Raffles Trail....

After getting back from Neeti's institute, I had to impress her and show-off my new-found knowledge of Singapore!

After relaxing for 2 hours in the hotel, we headed out again to Chinatown from where we were booked on a group that was to head out on the Raffles Trail of Singapore's downtown.

Being a Saturday afternoon, Chinatown was less crowded...

As we waited for the group to assemble behind the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, I treated Neeti to a scoop of durian ice cream from Sweet Musings... I am still wondering whether she liked it or not....

From Chinatown, we headed with a group of Australians on a trail of Singapore's colonial district...

In the early days, life in Singapore was along the Singapore River...

We started off at of the earliest colonial administrative buildings in Singapore, the Empress Place Building, which now houses the Asian Civllisation Museum - a place I had visted on my first day here... 

I had the pleasure of showing the River Gallery to Neeti....

Right opposite Empress Place is the Cavenagh Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in the island city. It is the only suspension bridge. 

Opened in 1870, to commemorate Singapore's new Crown colony of the Straits Settlements status in 1867, it was intially called Edinburgh Bridge to commemorate the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh. 

The name was changed to Cavenagh Bridge in honour of Major General William Orfeur Cavenagh, the last India-appointed Governor of the Straits Settlements, who governed from 1859 to 1867.

The coat of arms of the Cavenagh family can still be seen atop the signage at both ends of the bridge.

Today, it is a pedestrian bridge....

Right across, you can see the high-rises of the business district...

People were having along the riverside...

I am told that the Singapore River was polluted and was much like a drain, but painstaking restoration over the years resulted in what we see today, a clean river....

A magnificent tree at Empress Place...

Between the Empress Place and the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall stands an obelisk called the Dalhousie Obelisk.

The obelisk was built to commemorate the second visit of the Marquis of Dalhousie, who was the Governor-General of India to Singapore, in February 1850. The objective of the visit was to consider the reduction of administrative expenditure. 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.

In 1891, it was moved here, after land reclamation at Dalhousie Ghaut was undertaken.

Our next halt was at the Raffles Hotel for its famed high tea.... more on that in the next edition of Singapore Culinary Chronicles...

We moved next to take a boat raide along the Singapore River...

The warehouses along the quayside have been restored into boutiques and high-end shops...

Like the famed pewter shop, the Royal Selangor...

Ecouraging courtesy to raging drivers at Chinatown Point....

After the boat ride, we walked down to Chinatown....

I was keen to show Neet around....

We asked a lady for directions, and she gleefully told was she was headed to Chinatown and we could join her...

A landmark in Chinatown, Hotel 81

Yue Hwa building.... this building was once home to the Grand Southern Hotel...

Chinatown was decked up for the mid-Autumn Moon festival....

As we roamed the streets of Chinatown, we came across a live promo for Nippon Paints... led by a dragon and Indian men (Tamils) playing musical instruments...

That's what Singapore is today - a microcosm of cultures, evolving into something unique, something distinct...