Free tours into the city of Singapore were offered to passengers who were in transit for at least 5.5 hours but fewer than 24 hours between flights at Changi Airport — not that there was not already enough to do in what many people consider to be the best airport in the world — but those free tours were suspended effective as of Saturday, March 21, 2020 due to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic…
Sunday Morning Photograph October 9 2022: Street Scenes in Singapore.
…and each tour is different depending on what time passengers were able to embark on the free tour, through which passengers were not considered leaving the airport and therefore did not have to be processed through the security checkpoint upon return to the airport.
During my second time at the airport, I decided to take one of those tours, which took me to the Kampong Gelam district — kampong meaning compound in Malay and gelam referring to the paperbark tree with long leaves which is commonly found in the area.
Although a number of sights were shown during the tour — and I took photographs of them — I was equally interested in what everyday life looked like in Singapore. The photograph shown above was taken facing southwest on North Bridge Road near Aliwal Street in the district that is significantly influenced by Arabic and Malaysian cultures.
Final Boarding Call
I hope to one day spend more time in Singapore and explore the city-state and island country more in depth. In the meantime, hopefully the free tours during transit at the airport will return as soon as possible.
Please click here for a complete list of the Sunday Morning Photograph series of articles at The Gate, which include photographs taken of nature and sights of interest in many countries and territories around the world — including but not limited to:
- Andorra
- Argentina
- Bahamas
- Brazil
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Colombia
- Czechia or Czech Republic
- Dominican Republic
- England in Great Britain in the United Kingdom
- Estonia
- Finland
- Germany
- Iceland
- Kenya
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Panama
- Poland
- Romania
- Singapore
- Slovenia
- South Korea
- Spain
- Swaziland or Eswatini
- Sweden
- Thailand
- United Arab Emirates
- United States
- Uruguay
All photographs ©2009 by Brian Cohen.
