Fort Canning - one of the best places to relax in. It was actually a last minute decision to go to Fort Canning, but nevertheless, it was a good trip. And I actually did a mini-photoshoot - will post more pictures in part 2 of this series.
Fort Canning's located in the city, so it's easy to get to. It was initially known as the Forbidden Hill before Sir Stamford Raffles arrived in 1819, as it was believed to be the resting place of the last Malay king of the island, and it was also believed to be the site where palaces were previously built. Later on, Fort Canning was a key area where government officials lived, and increasingly became a military base during the later 1800s and early 1900s. Now Fort Canning has been converted into a park, but it still retains many artefacts and archaeological findings.
Now, back to the trip.
We entered Fort Canning from one of the entrances in the CBD, and when we finally got to the top of the hill (it was about 60 metres), we had a good view of old-fashioned windows on one of the buildings:
I actually like the colour contrast of the windows, especially the blue and purple hues. I can't remember what this building was for though, but I believe it's mainly for the arts or something.
At that time, many people were bringing their pet dogs out for walks, so we did manage to take some pictures...
The dogs were really active though, but some of them were just so adorable and fluffy...!!
Wall sculpture, with some plants growing strategically on a guy's head...
And greenery surrounding the main entrance of the park.
We walked down the Spice Garden route, and the path smelled of pandan (yummy!!!)...
And had fences with carvings along the way.
The spice garden walk was pretty short, and we covered it pretty quickly and headed towards the Fort Canning visitor centre.
Mini-cupolas (dome-shaped rest areas) near the centre. These cupolas were designed by George Drumgoole Coleman, an architect who designed many buildings in Singapore, and was in charge of many architectural projects when Singapore was under the British.
We were also pretty near the Registry of Marriages, which was located in the Fort Canning area itself, which also happened to be near the visitor's centre.
And here's the visitor's centre:
We also spotted these massive leaves growing near the visitor's centre - can't remember what species they are, but there were ants crawling all over its undersides.
Oh yes, and one of the main attractions in Fort Canning - the Fort Wall and Gate. I think the walls were previously built around a civilisation, then demolished later on when the Fort was developed. According to the British, the walls provided a good view of the settlement and was essential in defence and emergency accomodation.
We then walked back to the city for dinner...where I took my last few shots as my camera battery was running pretty low.
And that concludes part 1 of our Fort Canning trip. In the next part, I'll post pictures of a family of cats. :)