Ian On The Red Dot

Walked around Sengkang today and took some photos of the people flying kite near the Sengkang Riverside park.

Some thoughts after the photos below:

Some thoughts:

1. This part of Sengkang is really beautiful. I know some people say that Singapore doesn’t have any scenery, and if we’re talking about picturesque views of mountains with clouds cascading off the peaks, then, yeah, they do have a point. Nonetheless there is beauty in the nature in Singapore albeit good parts of it are artificial due to landscaping efforts.

2. The concept of just leaving a space empty and letting people decide what they want to do with it should be an integral part of urban design. I shudder at the thought of the distinct possibility that when planning the Sengkang Riverside park, some government official was planning on how to allocate the land use, creating a campaign to encourage residents to engage in the single activity and spending money on a naming competition for the new XXX-Hypothetical-Activity park.

I’m not sure how the kite-flying community around Sengkang park grew but it does seem like an organic thing. I’m guessing most of the people flying kites there are just like me – someone who walked pass a group of people having fun and deciding to do the same thing next week. At this point, the question of who was the first one who was so boh-liao to just walk onto a piece of land and fly kite on a lazy Sunday afternoon is rather moot. The more interesting question would be how to create more of such spaces. I think for creativity and fun to happen we need more spaces like the ones in Sengkang.

Spaces without a plan.

3. One of the criticisms leveled at Singapore by foreigners who I have met is that Singapore is a boring place. That was something I used to believe too.

“Singapore has nothing to do.”

The above line used to be said so much in secondary school and JC that it kind of stuck in my head. I’m beginning to think that line is only surviving because of habit of thought and Singapore’s now undeserving reputation of being boring. There really is a lot of activities to do in Singapore and it’s really up to one to seek out the fun he or she desires.

I also started to realize that a lot of these foreigners are the kind that:

1. Will see a beautiful rose and complain about the thorns just because they only have tulips back home.
2. Will not be able to find fun even if it was the only item in an empty room.

So, if you think Singapore is boring, you can go fly kite lah.