One of the characteristics of cities located at tropical islands is that the people come out on to the streets after the sun comes down.
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| SINGAPORE |
The streets of Orchard Road, the main shopping district, teem with crowds. Stand at any of the major traffic crossings and you will experience the rush of people clashing from opposite directions at the zebra crossing, on their way to their next stop on the shopping strip. On any given night, you might find: a street performer or an entire performance troupe with a music or acrobatic act, workmen setting up a large tent for a major product launch, or the ice cream man whose specialty is a cut out of a block of local ice-cream filling a wafer or bread sandwich.
Farther down the road you will come to CHIJMES — the former Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. Previously a combined orphanage and school for girls run by Catholic Nuns, the complex was restored and today serves as a mixed use complex with retail, restaurant and watering hole outlets. The impressive chapel is the centerpiece of the complex, and now serves as a multi-purpose hall. Music performances and sporting events are celebrated here, while artists’ works are often on exhibition around the compound.
On warm nights near the waterfront, the row of preserved shophouses around the three quays — Boat, Clarke and Robertson — come alive with the bar-hopping crowd. Most of the bars and dance clubs have a theme — Latin music, pool table, sports, refined wine appreciation. Take your pick. One of the (harmlessly) naughty attractions at Clarke Quay is the local outlet of Hooters Restaurant. With a service staff made up exclusively of comely young ladies dressed in singlets and running shorts, they serve up fried chicken and burgers with a little hula hoop dance now and then.
Well, there is more than one way to appreciate the tropical nights. If you are game for wild animals, you can take a trip to the Zoological Gardens for a Night Safari. Located in the Northern part of Singapore, the Zoo sits by the shore of a reservoir lake, which forms part of the backdrop. Visitors can take an open tractor-bus into the park, and get off at stop points to walk around and observe the animals in the park.
The animals are clustered by region of origin. Various sections are designed to re-create the Burmese hillside, the Himalayan Foothills, a Nepalese River Valley, India, equatorial Africa, an Indo-Malayan forest, an Asian Riverine environment and the South American Pampas. If the animals cooperate, you might catch a glimpse of mountain goats and sheep from the Himalayas, the familiar Tiger, rare Rhinoceros from Nepal-Assam and giant rodents from South America.
For a little of the local flavour, you can make a visit to the East Coast Park, where several seafood restaurants serve local style crabs, prawns fishes and other sea delicacies. The atmosphere is just right, with a mild sea breeze and open air dining when the weather is good. After dinner, you can take a stroll along the many walking paths criss-crossing the park. Joggers, inline skaters and cyclists zoom along the wider roads, and anglers park themselves along Bedok Jetty or outcroppings of sand and stones. In the near distance, you will see the international fleet of merchant ships waiting their turn to dock in Singapore’s bustling harbour.
