🌏Singapore🇸🇬 Travelogue | Urban Duet: Orchard Road | The Cultural Mosaic of Peranakan Style | Christmas

Happy 60th Birthday, Singapore!

Celebrating its 60th anniversary, Singapore has absorbed diverse cultures to become a representative presence in the lush forests of Southeast Asia. The fruits of "wisdom and wealth" ripen on its branches, to be passed on to the next generation. Orchard Road runs through the heart of this city, which will surely continue to evolve. What a fitting name for Singapore's main thoroughfare!

1. The Origin of Orchard

The English word "orchard" refers to a place where fruit trees like apples or citrus are planted in an orderly fashion. Singapore's Orchard Road is said to have been named this because it was a road leading to an area where orchards actually spread out in the early 19th century. At the time, it was a farming zone filled with plantations of nutmeg, pepper, and fruits. While the orchards have disappeared, the name "Orchard" remains, and in their place, high-rise buildings have sprung up, transforming it into a major metropolis.

2. Christmas Celebrations

I tried walking down Orchard Road at night after work. I was determined to go see the Merlion, but even in December, wrapped in Christmas illuminations, it was a tropical night. I headed southeast, drenched in sweat, but gave up at the block lined with Isetan and Takashimaya and turned back to the Shangri-La.

With luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada lining the streets, the scenery reminds one of Ginza or Omotesando. No, because the roads are wider and the blocks are larger, it is actually more gorgeous than in Japan. As I pass people, I hear the rhythm of English, the intonation of Chinese, and the softness of Malay. Added to this is the engine sound of Ferraris speeding by, creating the diversity and richness of Singapore.

Hawaii is the same, but Christmas in this city does not push commerce to the forefront like in Japan. It is a contrast to Tokyo, where background music plays incessantly and the streets are bustling with calls for Christmas sales. Behind the splendor of the illuminations, I feel a "sense of prayer."

3. The Commoner's Taste: Laksa

The hotel breakfast buffet was lined with dishes from all over the world. While hesitating, I suddenly stopped at a laksa stall.
When I ordered from the chef, they dipped the noodles in hot water right in front of me and poured in the rich soup. With a final sprinkle of toppings, a bowl of laksa was finished in an instant.
The creamy coconut-based soup had a subtle spiciness that spread through it; it was milder than it looked and gentle on my morning stomach.

4. A Comparison of Spices

India’s spices are painfully hot, like surging magma. With chili, cumin, coriander, and cardamom, you end up struggling while being blown by hot winds. You can feel the profound weight of thousands of years since the Indus Valley Civilization.

On the other hand, Singapore's spices—curry leaves from India, coconut milk from Malay, and star anise and ginger from China—each assert themselves while remaining in harmony. It is a flavor unique to Singapore, a maritime city that expresses encounters and coexistence across borders.

5. Back-Alley Townhouses

The streetscape of Orchard Road is "superficially" no different from Ginza, Omotesando, or Roppongi in Japan. It would be boring to visit a foreign land only to see sights that feel like déjà vu.

When you leave the bustle of Orchard and enter a back street, you find rows of houses that remind you of Japanese townhouses (machiya). Narrow frontages, low eaves facing the street, business on the first floor, and living quarters on the second. The structure is exactly the same as a "Japanese townhouse."

Instead of lattices, colorful tiles cover the walls, and Western-style cornices are carved into the pillars. Above the doors are Chinese floral patterns, and the window frames feature Malay geometric patterns. It creates new value as the "Peranakan style," where three cultures have fused.

From "Chikyu no Arukikata" (Globe-Trotter Travel Guide)

If Japanese townhouses create a cityscape with the colors of wood and earth, a "beauty of shadow," then Singapore colors its streets with a "beauty of color." While the townhouse is a space of wabi-sabi, this could be called a space of celebration.

It is fascinating how the same way of life can take on such different forms depending on the place and culture. The history of people layering 'commerce' and 'living' into a single building seems to be a common thread that transcends East and West.

Thank you for reading until the end.
Thank you very much m(_ _)m