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Indie Singapore, Free Walking Tours

What is a better way to feel welcomed in a new city? Free walking tours from passionate locals who just wish to share pieces of their motherland. Such as the Indie Singapore Tours, it is a pleasant way to discover the many stories of Singapore. 

Just two weeks shy of our third month in the city, I have strolled around capturing the many facets of this country from Kampong Glam, Little India and Chinatown to name a few. But sites and places just change and have a new meaning when snippets of history are sprinkled from the lips of a local. Visiting sites are more fun while listening to the stories behind them in a casual dose that you wouldn't usually get from just reading plaques on the wall.

Our guide, Wei

Bugis and Kampong Glam is wednesday's tour. From skyscrapers to the early 19th century colorful shophouses, we ventured into the interesting evidence of the past. The tour does not only bring you back in time, but likewise lets you in on some of the curiously many new concepts of places to hangout. Who would have known that inside one of the traditional shophouses has coffees with your selfie on the foam? Or inside a skyscraper there is a wine fairy, in a tutu with wings hovering around a 12m wine rack to get your bottle?


Beautiful shophouse windows by Kampong Glam

Old buildings by the river beside the skyscrapers
My second walk with Wei is thursday's tour of the Singapore River and through the Civic District, delving more into the bits of Singapore's history. Walking around the tallest buildings while passing through wonderful art sculptures from Dali, Botero, and local artists.  A tale of the river before reaching The Arts House at the Old Parliament where we have learned more on Singapore's history dating back to 1819 with Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. To the Civilian War Memorial of the Second World War, ending at St. Andrew's Cathedral looking over where the Japanese marched its retreat, now a circuit for the F1 Race.


     
 
Wei at the War Memorial Park

After a brief glimpse of the country’s history, we come back to the present-day city of Singapore. Its superstructures with manicured gardens. Expressions of any form of art dotting the city. The modernity. To think that Majulah Singapura, the national anthem is only 50 years old.   

I have never joined any tour groups in any of the countries we've visited. In a city that is so intricate as Singapore, the what & the where is not so evident. At times it is more interesting to be guided, to share the awe with people from around the world. The 3H walk is worth it and worthwhile to visit this city by foot, sharing the tales behind the buildings. Under the scorching sun, or the pouring rain. Sunblocks and umbrellas. You can always get a refreshing drink on the way. 



The Downtown Core from the Esplanade

Join Indie Singapore and be guided by foot, 3 tours a week to experience Singapore, more about them and their tours at Indie Singapore, Home of the Free Walking Tours.

Makis

From Manila to Paris, then to Marseille & to the Côte d'Azur, now in Singapore, clinging to a map of three worlds, where everything becomes all relative.

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Chesca, what a wonderful surprise to see you here! Will be back to blogging, albeit the slowless in between posts :) And I see you're still blogging too! Yay!

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