Singapore: Part III

Summary

Airport Rating *****
Reception of locals *****
Cost: £££££

• My third trip to Singapore, almost 6 years after my second, and a decade after my first
• There has been a little bit of change in the city, but it largely feels the same and remains expensive - but safe
• This trip I focused on the Sikh history in the country
• Main Sights: Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, Chinatown, Little India, Raffles, Little Korea, Haji Lane, Jewel

Part three on Singapore

I've written extensively about Singapore, and this is my third article on the city. I still don't quite understand how this council estate boy growing up under the poverty line has managed to spend so much time on the other side of the world in a city known for its riches and pretentiousness - but here we are.

I won't cover the places I've already written about in depth, so if you want to read about Chinatown, Little India, the Arab Quarter, Geylang, and parts of Gardens by the Bay, please check out my first article on Singapore here, and my second (more in depth article) here.

This article will be relatively short and sweet and focus mostly on the Sikh history in the country.

Raffles

Sikhs have played a disproportionately large role in the history of Singapore although this is not always appreciated or made visible. When the British, under Stamford Raffles, began populating Singapore in large numbers, some of the earliest, most prominent, most visible, and most productive groups were the Sikhs of Panjab that largely came in a military or police capacity. Their fingerprints can be found all over the city, although it is surprisingly understated.

One place where this visibility really comes to the surface is the Raffles Hotel, the premier 5-star hotel in Singapore. Established in 1887, it was named after Stamford Raffles, the guy who basically set out the blueprint for modern day Singapore. So, what's this 5-start hotel set up by the Americans, named after the British, managed by the French and owned by the Qataris have to do with Sikhs?  

Well, since it first opened its doors, its doormen, the gateway and guards to the hotel, have always been Sikhs - always with white turbans, and commonly with full beards. Even to this day, the doormen - themselves now a tourist attraction - are turbaned Sikhs, it's pretty incredible to see. 

I can't afford to stay there, but I paid the hotel a visit, and the guardsmen were there looking incredible in all white. Their turbans beautifully tied, speaking theth Panjabi. I spoke to them for a few minutes and took photos with them. They were brilliant. They explained, that with crime so low in Singapore, their job is now mainly to welcome guests, make conversation with them, and regularly take photos. I know it's tribalistic, but just seeing these Singhs there really warmed my heart.

Inside there is a bar (and I don't often like to talk about bars in this blog because of the alcohol issues affecting our community) called the Long Room, and it is supposed to be the most famous bar in the whole city, home of the Singapore Sling cocktail. You don't have to drink alcohol to visit the bar, but it's worth seeing. The entire floor is covered in peanut shells. Patrons are supposed to eat peanuts with their drinks (and you get a big full bag of them) and discard the shells on the floor - these soak up spilled drinks. It's a pretty insane experience - although quite expensive. Around the Long Room, and throughout the hotel I saw small teddy bears in the shape of the Sikh guards, something I found genuinely really cool.

The Gurdwaras of Singapore and Bhai Maharaj Singh

But that's perhaps the side of Sikhs most visible to non-Sikhs - for Sikhs there is another more visible (and important) way to see the impact Sikhs have made in the city, and that is through the many Gurdwaras dotted around the city. There are around 10 Gurdwaras in the city, but 6 right in the city centre, a short taxi ride or walking distance from neighbourhoods like Little India.

During one Sunday I decided to visit all six Gurdwaras in the vicinity, and I had a fantastic time doing so. 

I took a taxi from my hotel to the first Gurdwara - Gurdwara Sahib Katong. The Gurdwara, dating back to the 1950s, is located in a very residential area and is a decent size, massively standing out in a street that contains just housing. The exterior facade blends traditional Sikh architecture, with modern styles, like a glass frontage. Inside, there is a beautiful darbar hall, while downstairs there is a very large langar hall and kitchen that straddles inside and outside the main building. In a quiet place, at the side of the kitchen, there were several kids playing football and it completely took me back to my childhood when we would do the same in my local Gurdwara in England. I loved the energy, the Gurdwara was quite full, lots of youngsters, and it was a brilliant experience.

I walked to the second Gurdwara, Pardesi Khalsa Dharmak Diwan. This was the smallest Gurdwara that I visited during my trip, located on the second floor of a large apartment building. However, what it lacked in size, it made up in its beauty. The takht where Guru Granth Sahib Ji resides was one of the most understated but beautiful that I have seen on my travels and was a huge highlight for me. It was very quiet, there were only two others during my trip and one of those was the sevadaar (volunteer). The Gurdwara also had quite a unique layout in that the darbar all was wider than it was long. A beautiful, understated Gurdwara that is well worth seeing.

I needed a taxi to get to the third Gurdwara (largely because the heavens opened up and it started raining heavily). The Central Sikh Gurdwara, also known as the Baddha Gurdwara (big Gurdwara) is arguably the most influential in the country. Outside, the Gurdwara lives up to its name, dominating the cross junction that it stands on with a huge footprint that seems to cover most of the block. On the street there are signs with descriptions about the history of Sikhs in Singapore as well as the building of the Gurdwara - which has been in one form or another since 1912. Hanging from the walls of the Gurdwara on the exterior facade was a very large banner with a quote from Guru Gobind Singh from Bachittar Natak, and it is something everyone passing by can see. Inside, the Gurdwara is about as unique as they come. The description also shared how at one point they had to ban western tourists as the Gurdwara was being filled with drugged up hippies. The Gurdwara - as with a few others - also had guidelines on what men and women should (and shouldn't) do and wear when visiting, which makes me think this has been a problem over the years.

​There is a decent sized langar hall downstairs, but as you go upstairs, the first thing you see is a large water pool and you need to walk past it in order the get into the darbar hall. The pool is large, relaxing, and I've never seen anything like this in any other Gurdwara before. Inside, the darbar hall is very large, again, wider than it is long - and rather than walking directly through the centre of the hall, in order to get darshan (blessings) from Guru Granth Sahib, you first walk around the edge of the hall near the wall - a very unique way of entering the darbar sahib. It also means the genders can mix together as they used to in Panjab before the British influenced protestant beliefs led to a separation of men and women into different sides. Again, the takht is absolutely stunning, its more covered than the one at Pardesi Khalsa Darmik Diwan, and is a beautiful white with a lattice pattern.

Fourth was the Khalsa Dharmak Sabha, a huge Gurdwara on the other end of Serangoon Road, the main throughway in Little India (which you can read about in my second article on Singapore). The Gurdwara once again is located in a largely residential area, but the size means it stands out of its surrounding perhaps even more so than Gurdwara Sahib Katong. This was the busiest of the Gurdwaras during my visit. The langar hall is located on the first floor and was incredibly busy, while the main darbar hall is located a floor above. The stairs are quite steep, so by the time you reach the darbar hall, it is a decent climb - I saw a few aunties taking a rest on the stairs (there is also a lift you can use). 

The darbar hall is a more traditional layout, and during my visit was relatively busy, but there were only women. I had begun to think perhaps I had stumbled across a women's paath class as many were reading gutkas, but after some minutes, a few brothers and uncles also appeared. It was a really nice, but very busy and intense experience.

I walked again to the fifth Gurdwara, Sri Guru Singh Sabha, which is literally about 5 minutes. It must really be a commentary on the size of the sangat, because this was another extremely large Gurdwara, and again was relatively busy during my visit. Much like many of the other Gurdwaras on the list, this one also dates back to the very early decades of the 20th century, and like others, is over 100 years old (but has obviously been rebuilt, refurbished, and extended several times). Again, this Gurdwara had elements of uniqueness that gave it a character completely different from the ones before it - which in turn were also very different from each other.

This Gurdwara has two entrances. One is through a car park passageway where you then walk up a large staircase to climb to the main building - while the other is at a higher street level. In any instance, as soon as you enter the main building, you are in a very large darbar sahib, perhaps the largest (certainly the longest) of any of the Gurdwaras on this list. The darbar hall is very modern, completely white, with digital screens laid out throughout the hall that provide English translations to Gurbani as it is being sung or spoken. During my visit there was beautiful kirtan being sung, and I sat and listened for a long time. It was also in this Gurdwara where I had langar. The langar hall again was a decent size (somewhat smaller than a couple of others on the list) but on the perimeter were paintings showing Sikh history - from Gurus to Shaheeds (martyrs). ​

The sixth Gurdwara that I visited was Silat Road Sikh Temple, which I needed a taxi to reach as it was closer to harbourside area south-west of Chinatown. I was pretty exhausted at this point - but of all the Gurdwaras on the list - this, to me, told the story of Sikhs in Singapore the best. The original Gurdwara was built by the Sikh police contingent in Singapore in 1924 and today's Gurdwara stands on the side of an incredibly busy dual carriageway on the perimeter of the city centre.

But wow, what a sight!

A small bridge crosses the main road a short distance from the Gurdwara, and from here you can really see the Gurdwara, built in traditional Sikh architecture with a large bunga (tower), stand next to more modern or western style buildings which show an incredible contrast. The main entrance is large and well signposted, and directly inside is a well-proportioned langar hall. More difficult to find (surprisingly) is the main darbar hall, which is located upstairs via a small staircase. The langar hall was busy, but the darbar hall was completely quiet during my visit - another one that is wider than it is long (something in common with many other Singaporean Gurdwaras, but very different to those in the UK). Again, the takht, in white, looked beautiful, and there were also screens to translate Gurbani.

Downstairs, and to the side of the main Gurdwara side, is one of the most important Sikh sites in Singapore. The Bhai Maharaj Singh Memorial is a small memorial dedicated to a Sikh freedom fighter who led one of the first ever independence movements against British rule in the subcontinent. After the First Anglo Sikh War, Bhai Maharaj Singh, born Nihal Singh, was a key player in Sikh revolutionary activities.

Bhai Maharaj Singh spent most of his youth under Bhai Bir Singh at Naurangabad, a giant of Sikh history who provided leadership to two prominent Sikh revolutionaries (the other being Bhai Ram Singh). Bhai Maharaj Singh spent most of his youth purely focusing on the saintly side of Sikhi, although he didn't neglect the martial aspects. He got his name "Maharaj" by calling everyone that he served Maharaj (or King) as a form of humility which, ironically, led to others calling him Maharaj instead.

In 1844, Bir Singh was killed by an attack by the Dogras, the Hindu rulers of Kashmir (a tributary of the Lahore Darbar) that had designs on the throne of the Lahore rulers. This transformative event bought about a change in Maharaj Singh. But, while others were fighting among themselves, Maharaj Singh was the one of the first Sikh leaders to understand the danger of the British in nearby territories, asking the Sikhs to unite against a powerful entity. His pleas basically fell on deaf ears, and although he was respected by the ruling elites, their greed blinded them to his foresight. Within several years, the Sikhs, through treachery, had lost large parts of Panjab, just as Maharaj Singh had predicted. Within a year, Diwan Mulraj rebelled, and Maharaj Singh joined the rebellion. He fought in several battles against the British, but when the independence fight was over (erroneously called the Second Anglo Sikh War), the Panjab fell under British rule. 

Maharaj Singh retreated to the hills of Panjab and developed a manifesto to rid the Panjab of British rule using guerilla tactics that Sikhs had used so well against the Mughals, Afghans, and Iranians a century earlier. While he managed to get several thousand fighters, he could not win the Sikh political leaders over. While some had pro-Sikh independence views, the majority were perfectly happy keeping their lands and pensions under British rule and were pro-Unionist (and indeed provided the British with considerable logistical and military support several years later during the "mutiny"). While this may seem odd to some readers, there were also Sikhs during the time of the Mughal period that were pro-Unionists and those who wanted freedom from the Mughals, and there are also a mix of Sikhs now in the 21st century where some are pro-Unionist and others pro-Independence from Indian rule. In 1850, Panjab was similarly divided in views between those wanting independence from Britain and those that were comfortable with the status quo. 

Maharaj Singh was the most wanted man in Panjab for several years, conducting raids on British territory, and countering British divide and rule tactics by trying to bring together Panjabi Muslims (within British territory) with Pathans (outside of British territory) and combining them with his own Sikh and Hindu force. While his armed forces (and fame) were increasing (including daring raids trying to assassinate the Governor of Panjab, as well as trying to free Dalip Singh, the last ruler of the Lahore Dubar), his ultimately futile efforts to get the Sikh and Hindu chiefs to rebel finally led to the British capturing him after a tip-off. After initially jailing him in Panjab, he was moved to Varanasi, then Calcutta (away from the Panjabi population) and finally shipped to Singapore. When he disembarked, he became the first Sikh in Singapore.

For the rest of his life, he was jailed in solitary confinement and passed away several years later of oral cancer, never seeing again the country he spent so long serving.

Today, the Bhai Maharaj Singh Memorial stands beside the Silat Road Gurdwara, having been moved several times throughout Singapore's history. There is a small darbar hall which is perhaps the most perfect darbar hall I have ever visited. The darbar hall is circular in shape and worshippers sit all around the Guru Granth Sahib. During my visit, the small darbar hall was fairly busy and people were just sitting there quietly, some reading Gutkas. It's an experience I won't soon forget, and certainly something I would recommend strongly.

National Museum of Singapore

Given the role the Sikhs played in early Singaporean history, it was perhaps surprising to see very little (if any) mention of Sikhs in the National Museum of Singapore. Don't get me wrong, the museum is still very good, but it reinforced my belief that Sikhs need to invest more money into sharing our own story in countries around the world.

The museum is a decent size, and unlike the British Museum or the Louvre, it's something you can very much do in one day - after all, most of the history captured in artifacts is only around 200 years old - there are very few artefacts from before this time. The museum, oddly, begins with an immersive experience of lights that illustrates (in cartoon form) the prehistory of Singapore. It finally winds around into a short exhibition about Singapore's recorded history before the British, but certainly the focus is on the British period with further exhibitions on Singapore under Japanese rule, and eventually their independence (as well as their short period of federation with Malaysia). and life in modern day Singapore.

I liked it. It's not the biggest or best museum in the world, but it is very manageable, linear, and clear to follow. There are fragments of interesting insights throughout and it's well worth a visit.

Gardens by the Bay

I revisited Gardens by the Bay and retraced many of the steps I did during my first two visits, although I went a little further this time.

Like my second trip, I went to SuperTree Grove and did the skywalk again. I get it, it's a tourist trap, but it still remains very cool. Walking on a high platform, between these weird tree-like structures, having a direct view of Marina Bay Sands, and particularly seeing everything lit up during the evening is spectacular, no matter how touristy it is. 

During this trip, I also visited the Cloud Forest, and I liked it... I think. On the surface, it's again an absolute spectacle. You've got this large glass building designed in a futurist way, and as soon as you walk in, you're met with this giant wall of green and a tall waterfall. The walkways zig zag around this central wall of greenery, and you get to walk around and through this central structure at different levels.

But it also becomes quickly apparent that this is just a manmade structure, covered with some plants, which is then housed in a building (a nice one) that you're charged to see. I don't know. I still liked it, but once you scratch beneath the surface, it's easy to find things that are slightly strange.

Nearby is the Flower Dome, and to me, this was a level below the Cloud Forest. Housed in a similar structure, the building is probably my favourite thing. Inside, rather than a large structure covered in greenery, you have various sections full of different types of flowers and plants. I love the focus on greenery and the aim for visitors to think more deeply about the environment, and it's a fairly large building which means you can spend a decent amount of time indoors, but you have to balance this with the fact that it isn't cheap.

Across the gardens, I once again visited Marina Bay Sands, and again went upstairs to the rooftop, although this time I went to a rooftop bar that is free to visit (as long as you buy a drink - which of course doesn't have to be alcoholic). The views were great, although not to the extent the paid rooftop is (which you can read in my second article on Singapore). It's a reminder of just how spectacular the skyline and landscape of this small city state is, and the level of development that has occurred over the years.

So many other things...

I won't write too much about the other activities I did, because they overlap so much with the first two articles that I've done on Singapore (particularly the second one). However, there are some parts of the city that particularly stood out.

Revisiting Chinatown and Little India, the hawker centres were just as good as I remember. During the evenings, these busy centres of food where there is good quality food at reasonable prices, transform into areas of social gathering where everyone seems to come together. Not all of them are great, and some of the food quality is questionable, but on the whole hawker centres are one thing I really like about Singapore.

Sticking on the food theme, Chijmes remains a favourite of mine. A former church that is now filled with food stalls, there is no shortage of places to eat and the whole vibe is pretty laid back, and seeing this beautiful church-like building in the background is pretty nice. 

I also went back to the Arab Quarter and visited Haji Lane which is an artistic street full of bars and restaurants. I'd missed this during my previous visit to the area, and although it's a very small area of several streets, it is visually striking with murals painted along the walls. Certainly, worth a visit if you're in the neighbourhoood.

I didn't visit as many Buddhist or Taoist temples during this trip, but I did go to Thian Hock Keng, a Chinese temple dedicated to a sea goddess. The temple is one of the earliest built by the Chinese communities, dating back to the first decades of the 19th century, and it's a beautiful temple (although not quite to the scale of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple I visited last time out).

Finally, I visited Jewel at Changi Airport. I've previously written about how wonderful Singapore's Changi Airport is, and Jewel is a (relatively) new terminal building that didn't exist on my last visit but today is the airport's defining feature. The complex extends the footprint of the airport allowing passengers to self check-in hours before their flight departs (although the system failed miserably for me). It also has a huge free-standing waterfall which is shown all over social media. It's genuinely insane to see and well designed. It's at least as good as what I saw on photos and videos, and probably better in real life. It's another part of the city that focuses on nature with more trees and shrubs in different part of the terminal.

And that is probably my takeaway from this third trip to Singapore. If you read my first article, you'll know I disliked Singapore as a sterile millionaire's playground. I warmed to it a little more during my second visit but still felt it was overhyped.

​I still think it is overhyped, but there is more I like about Singapore, particularly that focus on nature. The entire city is greening rapidly, with loads of buildings (including many skyscrapers) either covered in green or hosting roof gardens or other nature friendly ideas. I like that a city is taking such a strong approach to bringing humanity's modern living more in line with the natural world, although - like with much of the city, there are many contradictions and paradoxes with this approach. 

​But it's a step in the right direction.

Would I recommend visiting Singapore?

It's still not at the top of any of my lists, but Singapore is beginning to create a unique vibe for itself. It's still authoritarian, remains quite sterile, is uncomfortably humid, but its focus on nature, and the Sikh footprint visible across the city are factors that means - if you can afford it - Singapore is not a bad place at all to visit.