Our Reflections

When I first knew we were given ‘Fort Canning- Ancient Trail’ as our heritage trail assignment, I was quite intrigued, mainly because the ‘ancient’ conjured up some promise of exploration. Despite having made many school trips to the cultural and historical places in Singapore, surprisingly I have never actually been to Fort Canning.

Probably at first mention, I associate Fort Canning with the Registry of Marriage and some outdoor music concerts (that I’ve never been to). In terms of historical significance, I think Fort Canning had some role in the defence of Singapore during WWII? Not too sure about that; I was more familiar with the Labrador and Kent Ridge areas.

I like to think of myself as being quite proficient in ‘topo’ and map readings skills. So it was on to the nparks and gothere.sg websites to figure out a plan. Was a bit disappointed at the trail was listed as only 2.68km. Still, managed to find the very user-friendly walking guide from nparks. Reading it was interesting, since some of the new stuff I’ve learnt in the AAH lectures were mentioned, such as the 14th century happenings.

For our trail itself, we arrived at mid-morning. I would like to come by in the early morning or late evening, but that would make it rather difficult for taking photos! The thing about the ancient trail is that most of the structures are gone! What remained are mostly preserved/ conserved from the colonial past. There was a cooking school and ballet school at the Fort Canning Centre and some restaurants around the area.

The trail itself was a pleasant experience and the walking route was well shaded by the vegetation. However I do believe things were much different in the past; I would imagine it to be quite exciting to traipse through the jungle undergrowth amidst the flora and fauna. At the lookout point towards the Singapore River, I felt the new, somewhat gaudy looking high rise buildings marred the view. It just seemed quite out of place. Then again, I realised maybe Fort Canning was the one that did not belong – a little sanctuary in the midst of our concrete jungle.

From the trail I did learn a bit more about the historical facts of Fort Canning but more importantly, I had a deeper appreciation of our heritage. Cliché as it sounds; I left Fort Canning feeling a greater sense of rootedness to this land. So many unlikely, unfathomable and unimaginable events had to happen for Singapore to come into being today.

- Cheryl Tay