Shereen's reflections

Comparing this trip to Kampong Glam to the one I had when I was in primary school... It was... Wait, actually I can't remember the previous trip at all. This trip's actually pretty interesting as I got to find out new things and explore places I previously would never have bothered going.

The obsidian layer beneath the dome at the Sultan Mosque is an example. I never knew that it comprises of bottles.


One thing which really made an impression is how the area had become a tourist attraction. Kampong Glam, despite the government's efforts of preserving the area as it is originally, inevitably had changes. Gone are the traditional shops and in its place, modern shops selling trinkets and souvenirs to tourists at inflated prices. It's kind of sad seeing the traditional shops gone and have shops which try to appear traditional instead. I almost got fooled by one particular shop along Bussorah Street that appeared to be traditional until See Ming and Hema went to talk to the shop owners and well, the seemingly authentic traditional shop has been there for a grand total of... four months!

All these are unavoidable I suppose, seeing how it's the tourists who are keeping the place alive.

Think field trips and it's usually boring which comes to my mind but this trip was very different. We were on our own and had to look for places by ourselves, which became an adventure... somewhat. Especially while looking for the Lee Loy Hin blacksmith shop, I was wondering if Dr Lim had put that location in as a joke since no matter how many time we walked past the area indicated in the map, we couldn't find the blacksmith shop!

Behind the Lee Loy Hin blacksmith shop

We finally found the shop which was burnt down and it's definitely one of the highlights of the trail. I doubt we'd have visited this if it were a primary school field trip especially since a group of primary school students on a field trip walked past this area without a second glance at the shop (other than staring and probably wondering why we were taking pictures in that manner).

Of course, we had our own fun during the trip too! We made detours and went to places which were not on the planned list. Some of us went shopping at second-hand shops and of course, a place for the child in us...

Costume shop!

We spent quite a while in the costume shop. It's huge and the costumes they have are amazing. We had fun exploring the place and trying on some of the less suspicious items. Interesting how one little area can have such a wide variety of shops!

Overall, I'm really glad that we went on this trail where we discovered much more than just history. (: