Rendezvous with Raffles

With one night and one day to go, I decided to visit my old haunts. Never mind that I still have a mild fever and flu since yesterday. After a quick dinner at Lucky Plaza, where I met a couple of former colleagues from Manila, I proceeded to Raffles Place. Once you get out of the station, you're surrounded by some of Singapore's tallest buildings. Somewhere near the UOB Plaza is a sculpture by Salvador Dali called Homage to Newton. Go through the buildings and you end up at the mouth of Singapore River. This spot affords a great view of the restaurants along Boat Quay, the Asian Civilizations Museum, Sir Raffles' Landing Site, and Fullerton Hotel. To your right, you'll see Botero's Bird - so round and plump.

Continue to your right and you'll pass by Cavenaugh Bridge. My cabbie tells me that Cavenaugh Bridge is originally patterned after London Bridge, which can be raised an lowered to allow tall ships to pass through. (Or was he referring to Tower Bridge?) Anyway, the bridge was named after Orfeur Cavenaugh, who was appointed as Governor of the Straits Settlements by the East India Company in 1859. The bridge was built in 1867 to commemorate the establishment of the Straits Settlement as a crown colony. To your right is the magnificent Fullerton Hotel, which used to be the General Post Office building. Further down is Anderson Bridge, constructed between 1908-1910 and named after Sir John Anderson, Governor of the Straits Settlements (1904-11) and High Commissioner for the Federated Malay States. It was built because Cavenaugh Bridge can't handle the increasing traffic. If you go back to Cavenaugh, there's a notice which states: "The use of this bridge is prohibited to any vehicle of which the laden weight exceeds 3cwt. and to all cattle and horse."

From Anderson Bridge, cross the road, go down a flight of stairs, and you'll end up in Merlion Park. There's a mini-Merlion facing inland, and behind it is the real Merlion facing out to the bay with a stream of water gushing out of its mouth. From here, you can see the whole of Esplanade quite nicely.