Looking With Your Feet
I'm convinced that the best way to really see a city is to walk through it. And it is even better if you're lost. I learned this a few years ago in Glasgow. On the way to a local museum I took a wrong turn and before I knew it I was at the entrance to an enormous park full of men and women in tartans. They were there for the World Highland Games. I spent the next couple of hours wandering through the grounds, between swirling bagpipers, twirling dancers, and enormous men practicing to throw large pine logs. Six years later I can remember the sights and the sounds as if I'd been there this morning.
Ever since then I've made a point of discovering cities on foot. It helps me see more, and it also helps me understand more. On one of my trips to Bangkok I decided to walk to where I was staying, instead of taking a taxi. On the way I spotted a gorgeous pagoda. It was a particularly fine monument, and I turned aside to take a closer look. When I got there, I realized that while it was grand enough to have been another imposing reminder of Thailand's golden age of empire, it was no ancient relic. On the contrary, it was a brand new temple that the current King had just finished building. Suddenly I had a new-found appreciation for the importance of Buddhism to everyday life in Thailand.
Occasionally you do get to see a holdover from an ancient time. For example, if you feel thirsty while walking down Stonegate in York, you can nip into the Punch Bowl for beer. And if one of your ancestors had been walking that same street three hundred years ago, he might have done the same. After all, the Punch Bowl has been dated back to 1675. On the other hand, going walkabout can also introduce you to more recent history. Like the time I stumbled across The Red Piano cafe in Siem Riep, where Angelina Jolie and her crew hung out while shooting for the first Tomb Raider movie.
The point of this reflection is that very soon I will move out of Singapore. I'm surprised and embarrassed to admit that I've lived in this city for seven years and made scant effort to see the city where I live. Very soon after moving here I fell into a comfortably familiar routine, the sort where you go from point A to point B without really seeing anything in between.
So now I've resolved to change that. For the next 2 or 3 months I'm going to act like a tourist. I'll see the sights and take the pictures and most importantly I'll walk the streets of the city I've taken for granted for so long.
Stay tuned, because I'm sure I will see something utterly unexpected.
6 comments:
interesting... lazy creatures like me should probably read this and be inspired to walk. hmm... i love driving around randomly in new cities... never tried walking! :D
waiting to know what u discover in ur touristy s'pore months... :)
I know eggzaktly what you mean!
Unfortunately, I have been living in Delhi for about three years now and know as little about the city as I do about Timbucktoo. But then that's to a large extent because this city is not kind to women looking around too much, let alone on foot. The couple of times I have ventured out, never alone, always with a friend, or music plugged into my ears just to make me more self occupied, has been small disasters. Nothing really traumatic, but the looks, the comments in Hindi, which I don't even understand sometimes but know is lewd, the cars which appear out of nowhere and start tailing you, maes me nervous and ruins the experience. Walking with a bag clutched, eyes down, careful not to go too close to a parked car, makes me think that perhaps while I am here i will never be able to walk around freely, though I would LOVE it so much.
Sorry for hogging your space, but your post made me a little sad about not being able to do those things here in this city.
sreetama - I know what you mean. It's a shame because Delhi is a fascinating city - but also a vicious, ugly zoo if you are a woman. I can never decide whether to be proud or ashamed of having grown up there.
mahogany - that's sounds fashionably ambivalent...but one doesn't have to decide between black and white. grey is the new black.
plus, in the same way as you can't choose your parents and relatives, you don't really have a choice on what city you grow up in....
i did it ! i did it!
last weekend when i was in KL, i explored KL by foot.. walking entire day, through masjids and minarets and towers.. and it was wonderful!
Sadly I can't do much of that in India, but there are a few heritage walks which I plan to do in bby/madras etc.
Vacillus, you're right. The real dilemma is whether I should feel fortunate or unfortunate.
Lucky - good on ya! Actually the Fort area is really interesting to walk through, especially late at night and early in the morning.
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