30 June was the last day of operations in Tanjong Pagar Railway Station. Huge crowds gathered throughout the day to document the moment.
I reached at 6:05pm, and hundreds of people were already inside. The striking similarity between everyone was whatever was in their hands: a camera.
Of the times I came here, this was the most crowded I had ever seen. People from all races, all walks of life, Singaporeans and Malaysians and foreigners.
A little area was gazetted for the screening of a documentary.
The food operators had vacated the station.
This is what was left in the canteen.
Green flag raised--the clear signal that the train could leave.
The reporter was doing a Live Update for the 6:30pm Mandarin news.
Inside, media from local and overseas were present. This was for a Malaysian news programme.
The media was everywhere. In every corner, you would see a team of camera crew doing filming for all kinds of programmes in many languages.
They had installed lights at the pillars, to present a better sight of the exterior that it well-deserved.
Train officials (those in blue) were frequently asked to be models.
And this guy enjoyed some attention. People even requested for his autograph. He's probably some station master.
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People seem to only cherish things when they're gone.
When I was young, I've heard people complaining that the Malaysian government was 'spoiling' our image by letting old trains ply the railway tracks into downtown Singapore and not upgrading the trains nor the fading train station. Now that the last of the trains would leave the station and never travel past Woodlands from 1st July, hordes of people became nostalgic and lamented at the loss of a valuable piece of memory. That's life.
Being in existence for close to 80 years, the railway station must have seen through generations of people and have countless stories that had happened in every inch and corner. Yes, the building must be preserved and remembered.
But I'm hoping the government would keep the 26km-long corridor too. Yes, you can remove the railway tracks, but please don't be too hasty to drive the bulldozers into the stretch of green belt. In a totally matured and built-up downtown, a long preserved green corridor is hard to come by. I like the suggestion by the Nature Society to keep it, say, as a cycling corridor that connects the Northern areas right to the heart of the city. I'd be happy as long as the rustic feel is kept.
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Anyway, I've completed the video of the KTM train trip up to Johor Bahru Sentral. I decided to share it only now, to coincide with the actual closing of Tanjong Pagar Railway Station.
Watch it HERE
人生是黑白的.
11:48 PM <3
>>>
Hong Kong was fun! I beg to differ when people said that 6 days in Hong Kong would be boring and dull. Well, probably so if you're not there for the first time.
I spent a day each at (chronological order):
-Tsim Sha Tsui/Avenue of Stars
-Causeway Bay/The Peak/Madame Tussaud's
-Disneyland
-Lantau Island/Tung Chung Citygate/Mongkok
-Ocean Park/Mongkok
-Mongkok
And so 6 days were barely enough. Prior to the trip, we even armed ourselves with a food list, which we tried to patronise selected restaurants from. They were all great recommendations! One of my best experiences was the Michelin One-star restaurant, Tim Ho Wan--cheap and best Dim Sum ever.
Eating in HK, however, can be a stressful affair. As land space is a luxury, restaurants are all tiny. This means that eateries with some level of fame, will perpetually have a queue outside. The wait staff will tend to clear up your table once you finish your last strand of noodles, and you know what you should do.
It's also an interesting habit of the restaurants to serve a cup of tea once you're seated. And it's not for drinking. I've tasted a sip though, and realised it was for rinsing your cutlery. The sights and sounds of HK 茶餐厅 are always interesting. Loud, busy staff whizzing past everywhere. Loud customers chatting away. Quite different from the food court culture here.
HK, is surprisingly very similar to Singapore nevertheless. To me, the buses are identical. Traffic lights and road signs too. The people eat similar food as us here, just BETTER. Just like us, the people there do not speak English and Mandarin well. Land is scarce. Foreign talents are everywhere. Their MTR is very similar to our MRT too. Even the electrical plugs are the same. Blah Blah. But their people are more trendy and take pride in dressing up, especially among the young.
Interestingly, whenever I speak Mandarin to them, they would ask if I come from Taiwan. When I said no, they would always guess correctly that I'm a Singaporean. And they would ALWAYS say that alot of Singaporeans visit HK. This is so true. I have at least 20 other facebook contacts who went/are going HK over these 2 months. But still, it's nothing compared to the huge influx of Mainland Chinese at every attraction. Conflicts of some sort are bound to happen--at a street market, one stall owner was seen scolding a Mainland Chinese (in Cantonese) for bargaining and yet decided not buying in the end.
On attractions, those I went to, are really worth visiting. Disneyland was supposedly the smallest in the world, but guess what, we only finished 65% of the attractions inside. The shows were superb. I loved The Lion King musical to bits, and all other shows too actually! HK Disneyland was the 3rd Disneyland I've been to, but the magical feeling will never fail to overwhelm me. To top it off, the Disney parades and nightly fireworks show were unforgettable.
Ocean Park was another worthy mention. The rides were all Genting standard, but that's not all. It's a place where you get to see animals too. Pandas were one of the main draws, alongside sea creatures. There's an aquarium that we didnt have time to enter. Animal shows should not be missed too. We were very lucky that the 3rd-level Typhoon was downgraded to 1st-level when we were in the park, and hence the rides were reopened. The best part was, the lack of queues!
I guess I can rattle on with other highlights, like the Giant Buddha on Lantau Island, the nightly Symphony of Lights show, the Wax Museum at The Peak, the famous roasted goose dinner..
I'm gonna leave all that to the videos that I'm currently uploading. Will update here once they're done, and they speak a million more words themselves.
人生是黑白的.
12:14 AM <3
>>>
Of the times I came here, this was the most crowded I had ever seen. People from all races, all walks of life, Singaporeans and Malaysians and foreigners. 
A little area was gazetted for the screening of a documentary.
The food operators had vacated the station.
This is what was left in the canteen. 
Green flag raised--the clear signal that the train could leave.
The reporter was doing a Live Update for the 6:30pm Mandarin news.
Inside, media from local and overseas were present. This was for a Malaysian news programme.
The media was everywhere. In every corner, you would see a team of camera crew doing filming for all kinds of programmes in many languages.
They had installed lights at the pillars, to present a better sight of the exterior that it well-deserved.
Train officials (those in blue) were frequently asked to be models.
And this guy enjoyed some attention. People even requested for his autograph. He's probably some station master.