« October 2006 | Main | December 2006 »
November 27, 2006
The Amnesiac City
I've always had great respect for the famed local architect, reading about his thoughts on Singapore's amnesia make me respect him all the more. I don't know how much impact such voicing out has on the policy-makers in Singapore (having met some of them made me lose faith and utter confidence in whatever they can come up with) but I do hope voices get heard.
Lately, I've been having conversations (or are they rants?) to the Boy about what a whore Singapore seems to be. And I guess Mr Lim voiced it out in a more civilised manner.
"I'm not sure they [preserving areas like Tanglin Camp and Changi Village] add up to anything. Because heritage memories are for your own people, not for tourists.
If you focus on what interests tourists and you package it as such, it is fine, but it's not heritage.
It is tokenism. Nothing wrong with the Singapore Tourism Board promoting this. But in terms of heritage for the own people, it can't be like the National Library or the Bidari Cemetery.
In Singapore, the tourist board has a key role of deciding what should be preserved. But heritage is a building up of collective visual memories of the community.
Take the Newton Hawker Centre for example. Is this makeover necessary? Why not just patch up the leaks rather than tear down the old structure, as there are certain collective memories people have of that place?"
Posted by lainey at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2006
Scandinavia 06 Travelogue: Estonia
I made the Boy walk far and wide to get to a truly authentic Estonian restaurant the moment we disembarked to be extremely disappointed. Estonian food doesn't quite cut our tastebuds but oh well..
Can't remember the names of the dishes unfortunately.
Tallin, Estonia feels like a bigass medieval amusement park. I understand that they try very hard to dissociate themselves from their Russian past but I just get the feeling that everything is so contrived. It is beautiful, but I don't feel like it's real.
Posted by lainey at 06:08 PM | Comments (0)
Missing Melbourne Again
And this was the reason why my heart was so achey-breaky in Helsinki, the trams kept reminding me of Melbourne and look, Tram #6 - just like the one we used to board to the City all the time.
I don't know why I do, but I do miss Melbourne.
Posted by lainey at 05:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 03, 2006
Scandinavia 06 Travelogue: Suomenlinna
A day trip to the island, Suomenlinna, to see Finland's oldest fort. It was....snaking across the entire island, so massive and grand.
Suomenlinna, not from the day trip, but from the cruise as we departed from Helsinki to Stockholm some days later.
But there were almost nobody on the island except the Boy and I, some ducks and a couple other tourists. Amazing non-use of land, the kind of place I would love to be trapped in.
Here, I saw the sea and was so excited I started running down the stairs towards it without waiting for the Boy.
I love my sea.
Posted by lainey at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)