Singapore Street Art

One of the things I would often stop to admire in my travels is the street art and wall murals in various towns/cities around the world. In particular, I was so impressed with Rio de Janeiro's street art that I made a specific post about it. Of course, there are alot of others, like Valpairiso, Buenos Aires etc, that has wonderful street art culture.

Closer to home, Penang's Georgetown have its wall mural very well publicised here, thanks to its easy access from Singapore and the various media. In fact, Singapore also have the same street artist's art gracing our walls. But wouldn't it be better if we have our very own local artists' creations? Well, recently we do, thanks to the efforts of a Yip Yew Chong.

Yip Yew Chong is a self-taught artist who is actually in the accounting profession. On a career break, he started painting several wall murals that garnered plenty of attention and praise. The thing that set his murals apart is his theme - his murals all depict scenes of Singapore from a bygone era. It is no wonder that it struck a chord with many locals passing by who saw the artwork. I'm sure he had made many new friends while working on set. Many who particularly appreciated his work were of a certain age group (including me), and I had a good time reminiscing the "good old days" with him, discussing brands of milk cans and biscuit tins and details on grating coconut etc.

Of course, the murals can be appreciated by any as the quality of work is top notch, with many works showing an almost 3D nature in the appropriate light. His murals is currently being featured in the various local media and personally, I'm very proud that now, we have our own local street art, by our local artist, about our local culture. Tourists can now see some of old Singapore through these murals!

You can go to Yew Chong's website to find out the details on how to reach the various murals. Go check it out! (Check out his incredible travel map too!!)

Yip Yew Chong's website

Artist painting his latest mural

Bukit Brown, Singapore

Looking for alternate green spots in Singapore? Looking for historic spots in Singapore? Look no further. Check out both Bukit Brown Cemetery.

Sprawled across 200+ hectares of wooded land, the cemetery is scattered over several hills, and is the largest Chinese cemetery in Singapore. However, it is so much more. As mentioned, the area is an excellent green venue for outdoor activities. These include hiking, cycling, birding and even horse-riding. The lush green is wild and natural, surely the draw for many an outdoor enthusiast.

But when I said it's so much more, I was not particularly referring to the greenery. I was thinking more about our heritage and culture. For in Bukit Brown cemetery lies many of Singapore's founding fathers and pioneers, and with them, a whole slew of historic and cultural insights. Sikh statue guards guarding Chinese tombs, mosaic patterns, engravings and reliefs, and many stories on the inscriptions and epitaphs that to this day, is still being uncovered.

Shockingly though, the government of Singapore had deemed it necessary to build a four-lane road cutting across it, and as a result, 4000+ graves had to be exhumed. Over 4000 slices of our history may be lost. And to make things worse, exhumation works are to begin in the fourth quarter of this year (2013), which leaves little time for people to uncover these histories. And little time for Singaporeans and tourists alike to enjoy the beauty and serenity of the place, for surely the outlook and ambience of the place would be compromised.

For all things on Bukit Brown, check out the aptly named website All Things Bukit Brown. There are free guided walks led by passionate volunteers almost every weekend, and I have to say, these guides will make your walk through the cemetery an especially educational one. The information and histories dished out by these guides are just amazing! It was doubly amazing when at the grave of Chew Boon Lay, whose name is now on our roads and a MRT station, his great grandson was around to recount the history!

One of the volunteer guides, Peter, telling a story

Grave of Chew Boon Lay, with his great grandon telling his history

 These group of people are still petitioning to stop the road development. For those who are going for the guided walks (and you should), please provide your support if needed. I feel a sense of loss and indignation for those people in the affected graves. It is especially poignant to think that in life, they had toiled for the development of Singapore, and in death, they would be ousted from their final resting place in the name of the development of Singapore!

The many histories of Bukit Brown

Remembering Tanjong Pagar Railway Station

Tanjong Pagar Railway Station, at Keppel Road, has been Singapore's train station since the early 1900s (1932 I believe). However, the station is owned and operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM), Malaysia's main railway operator. And so is the land the station sits on!


On May 24 2010, a landmark agreement is reached, whereby KTM and its train services will be relocated to Woodlands by Jul 2011. The land will be returned to Singapore, in exchange with some Singapore-Malaysia joint venture collaboration on some other pieces of land.






While the station building is supposed to be conserved, life at the station itself will be just remembered as memories. I may have only taken the train once, but I would still want to capture what I can of this piece of history of Singapore.

More pictures are also available in my website gallery.

Memories of Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall

The Victoria Theatre and Memorial Hall is one of the oldest buildings in Singapore. As far as I can remember, I have only been in the theatre once in my life, so when I heard there was an open house, I signed up for it immediately.


Dating as far back as the mid 1800s, where the Theatre was originally built as a Town Hall, the present architecture consists of 2 buildings joined by a clock tower in-between. The Memorial Hall was built only in the early 1900s (in memory of Queen Victoria), and now renamed as the Victoria Concert Hall, where the Singapore Symphony Orchestra plays regularly now.
For a little more history, check out this article.



Gazetted as a National Monument of Singapore, it is one of Singapore's well recognised landmarks, together with the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles in front of the clock tower. It is also featured in The Amazing Race 16, as one of the locations to get the next clue! :)



The Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall is scheduled for upgrading works, and hence the open house was organised for photography enthusiasts to capture some scenes before works begin. A small gallery of what I have taken is here. For visitors to Singapore, drop by this historical landmark if you can!

A piece of history

After 31 Mar 2006, a landmark in Singapore was closed for reurbanisation. I had rarely visited that place, although I had passed by its surrounding area plenty of times. Often times, we will only start to appreciate something when we know it's going to be gone soon...


Clifford Pier, along Collyer Quay, was a well known landmark. It was officially opened in 1933, and in those olden days, it was a busy landing and departing point - commuting people between ships at sea or the outshore islands and Singapore. Many locals refer to it as 红灯码头 , (loosely translated as Red Lantern Pier) and its origins, it seems, comes from the fact that in those times, a red lamp/lantern was hung at the pier to warn ships coming into the harbour. It became a beacon of sorts. Ask any of the older folks where ang teng (Hokkien) or lampu merah (Malay) is, and they'll point you here.

Strangely, there was a time where prostitution was rampart here, although whether it's because of its name or not, I've no clue (Red Light District refers to an area where there's prostitution).

Clifford Pier afforded splendid views of the Marina Bayfront. And as part of a redevelopment effort to make Marina a new modern upmarket area (like all parts of Singapore), it was thus slated to be torn down and rebuilt.



As I took a last look (and some last pictures) on the evening of 31 Mar 2006, the skies showed some spectacular display as a tribute to the pier's 73 years of service.