This heritage trail really opened up my eyes and made me realise that Singapore, albeit a small country, has a very rich history and heritage which is rarely explored by own local people. When we were looking for the streets and trying to understand the history behind it, it made me realise that every little part and space has its own history and its all these histories and stories that made up the past of Singapore and the lives of our ancestors. I enjoyed the trip to the Chinatown heritage center because it showed me many parts of our ancestors' lives and how Singaporeans lived in the past which i am unaware of. It also became clear to me what Straits Settlement actually meant. The way people from different background and countries came to seek for a better life, and the way the British use to rule them. I am actually pretty impressed by the Raffles Town development plan because I can still see the influence of the plan in Singapore today. Although the plan largely demarcate different racial groups into different regions, I was able to see places of worship like Temple and Mosque co-existing in the same region. Even though lives were hard, and tensions broke out occasionally, people generally enjoyed communal activities and various forms of simple pleasures like watching a street wayang show together. I walked through the second floor of the heritage center where replica of the interior of the shophouses where people used to stay together was enacted. Although conditions were tough, but i felt that people were actually living together and they were actual real neighbors who interacted with each other and endured hardships or shared joys together. This communal spirit was so alive in the past yet lost today.
My favourite visits were to the different places of worships of different religion. I felt that these places of worship were not just places where people seek solace and blessings from the harshness of life, it was places where people came together and bonded. Especially for people who all came from diversified background, different places catered to different needs. Its because of all these places still here today that allowed us to explore different cultures and religion. Singapore is not just cosmopolitan now, it was so many years back.
Although such heritage trails are provided, most of the consumers were tourists. Many Singaporeans are so caught up with life that they rarely come and explore their own roots. This trail really made me re-think my own national identity and it actually made me feel Singaporean. The many heritage sites preserved also showed the government's effort in nation building and helping Singaporeans get in touch with their roots.
