The trailblazer of the Singapore entertainment
scene, Boat Quay is arguably Singapore's best place to 'chill
out'. With a good mix of high end restaurants and alfresco
dining and lively bars and pubs, Boat Quay is the hangout
for most professionals and expatriates.
Imagine that only a century ago, sun-tanned coolies and
swaylos (water-hands) balanced heavy gunny-sacks of rice
on their shoulders, with springy gangplanks under their
feet, loading and unloading a bewildering plethora of produce.
When Raffles signed the agreement securing the auspicious
title of free port for Singapore, this instantly opened
the floodgates of immigrants from neighbouring countries.
Within six months, Boat Quay had become a hothouse for trading,
and by the 1860's, three-quarters of all shipping business
was done at Boat Quay. Here was the starting point of all
that is Singapore today: affluent, hardworking and adamant
on success.
Immigrants were keen to erect their shophouses on the already
crammed south side of the River, because it resembled the
concaved belly of a carp, which according to Chinese belief,
was where prosperity and wealth lay. Notice how the row
of shophouses, which have been carefully conserved, vary
in height. This was a sign of each man's wealth - the higher
the shophouse, the wealthier the owner.
Check Out: Harry's Quayside (jazz bar)
Getting There: Head towards the Singapore River from Raffles
Place MRT (EW14/NS26).
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