We chased off after her, leaving the curator behind sighing...

When we finally caught up with her, we sat her down and explained everything to her. We tried to convince her that what the curator said was a lie. She did exist; otherwise, she wouldn't be sitting in front of us. That calmed her down a little. However, we owned up and said that we did made use of her.

That was all we could think of when Rella finally ended her bridge stories!

We all felt that we were simply too lucky! To the extent that it was too good to be true!

And we were right...

The curator appeared on the bridge suddenly and exclaimed, "Why are you girls still with her? I had been trying so hard to separate her from all of you!"

"So he was the one who tried to sabotage us?"

"Why?"

As if he could read our minds, he told us the reason.

"Read the instructions behind."

"If the trail is followed faithfully, thou shall be unharmed. But if thou shall choose the easy way out, the consequences shall be faced".

Those were the words in fine print written at the back of the activity list. We did not notice it at first, but it was obviously there. We realised now why he kept urging us to read the instructions carefully when we had gotten the list from him.

The curator then explained, "Back then, when i too had to undertake this heritage trail, my group saw the fine print, and we were spared as we did everything ourselves. Unfortunately, other group was not so lucky. They ignored the instructions despite multiple warnings from us."

"So what happened?"

"That I do not know. I did not hear from them after that. Nobody knew where they went, what had happened. It was like... They vanished! All I know is that the mastermind is your teacher. What a poor soul this lady is... She's being used and she does not even know... She's not supposed to exist..."

"This can't be true! How can it be?"

"But how can we explain the existence of Rella then?"

"How is it that she so happened to walk into our shot?"

At this point of time, Rella could not take it any further. She tried to make sense of what's going on, but... She could not! Someone said that she did not exist. But how could it be? When she's obviously standing here! ALIVE!

While we were taking pictures and fooling around at the bridges, some of us couldn't help but notice that Rella always seemed emotional and upset at these bridges.

"Bridges connect lives", these were the wise words of Rella's Dad and she couldn’t help but find it so true, as these bridges were literally going to connect her life to Raffles. All of us felt rather guilty at this point of time and so we listened as she shared the stories of these bridges to us...

Elgin Bridge was built in 1862 and was named after Lord James Bruce Elgin. He was the eighth Earl of Elgin, and served as the Governor-General of India from 1862 to 1863. The iron Elgin Bridge had to be dismantled in 1925 in order to be widened. But the name remained and the new concrete Elgin Bridge was reopened in 1929.

A signature had been inscribed on the Singapore Municipality plaque, and it could be found beneath the cast-iron lamps. This signature belongs to a famous Italian sculptor, Cavalari Rudolfo Nolli, who was the designer of the lamps.

It turns out that the Read Bridge was named after William Henry Read, a Scottish businessman who came to Singapore in 1841. Read was the first non-government Member of Parliament in colonial Singapore and he had contributed prominently to public service.

“Did you know that Read Bridge has another name too? It is also called the Malacca Bridge because of the nearby Kampong Melaka. It was where the Malays from Malacca first settled upon the founding of Singapore and was also the collection point of fuel and other imports from Malacca.” Rella whispered in a tone of awe. “The bridge also used to be where the Chinese migrant workers, especially the Teochews, gathered at the end of a long day of work to listen to storytellers reading legends and the news as the audience was largely illiterate. Just like I used to listen to dear Raffles telling me about his awesome conquests!” At this point, a dreamy look came over Rella as she started reminiscing.

“Look, you can see the Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka there! It is the oldest mosque in Singapore, standing since 1820, as a remembrance of the first Malay Kampong Melaka! Do you know who founded it?” Rella pointed at the mosque in the near distance excitedly. “Hmm... Omar...” We hazarded a guess. Rella laughed, “It’s Syed Omar bin Ali Aljunied! He was an Arab merchant from Palembang.”

“Oh... What about the Ord Bridge, Rella? Tell us more about it!”

According to Rella, Ord Bridge was built in 1886 and was named after Colonel Sir Harry George Ord, who was the first Governor of the Straits Settlements after it achieved its status as a Crown Colony and was entitled the right to make its own laws. There was previously a foot bridge at this site called ABC Bridge or Ordnance Bridge, as it was the landing point for weapons and ammunition which were stored at Magazine Road.

One of the oldest Chinese temples in Singapore, the Tan Si Chong Su Temple, stands across the bridge. The temple is a National Monument.

As usual, in order to "save" Raffles, she simply told us what she knew.

Clarke Quay was named after Singapore’s second governor, Sir Andrew Clarke. It lies near the mouth of the Singapore River, and was the hub of commerce in the late 19th century.

“Back then, it was filled with Samsui women, hawkers, fishermen, traders and Asian and European workers. Then, it transformed into a bustling seaport as trade between the East and West thrived!” Listening, we were as impressed as Rella sounded.

That’s cool! It seems like the Chinese and European merchants have contributed much to our growth as a country by bringing along their experience and expertise, and also their own architectural styles. Nevertheless, we still prefer the modern skyscrapers we have today!

And we’d never imagine that the exciting place where we go clubbing at night would boast such a rich historical significance! Where the fishermen and traders built their business more than a hundred years ago, is now where The Cannery is one of the anchor tenants, providing today’s urbanites with a variety of entertainment while the night is still young.

By then, we were getting hungry and wanted desperately to have lunch! We walked past a really cool-looking restaurant with a really cool name – IndoChine The Forbidden City. When we went in and sat down to place our orders, Rella got really excited. Apparently, that was the oldest building at Clarke Quay and was called the River House, built in the 1880s as a mansion for a Chinese pepper and gambier trader called Tan Yeok Nee. To date, it is one of the few Southern-Chinese-style residential buildings still standing in Singapore!

And so both groups gathered at the colouful building, which we later realised that it was actually the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), which was one of our stations.

As Rella was still shocked from what has happened, and this building was relatively new as compared to her, we decided to do our own research instead.

And this was what we found...

The Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA) Building was built in 1934. Then, it was the largest government building and was considered a contemporary skyscraper (although now it’s more like a funny colourful building!)

It previously housed the Hill Street Police Station and Barracks. In 1998, it became known as a national monument. MICA moved from the PSA Building to the MICA Building in 2000, and the building now also accommodates the National Arts Council, Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore and Singapore Kindness Movement.

Before it became the Old Hill Street Police Station, between 1845 and 1856, the building was originally known as the Assembly Rooms, which was used for conducting public functions and also housed a theatre and a school.

"Yea that's true... Since there's "Raffles" written on it?"

So we were walking along Boat Quay, trying to find signs of Rella. However, we were more concerned over our assignment hence we continued with the trail.

Boat Quay was previously known as Public Quay. The two-storey shophouses used to be a hub of commerce and trade in the 19th century. The ground floors were used for business while the upper floors were residential quarters. In 1989, Boat Quay had undergone restoration as a conservation area. It has now transformed into a thriving entertainment and leisure hub. While their functions have changed, the shophouses and warehouses in Boat Quay have retained their beautiful façades and rich history.

The Raffles Town Plan was drawn up by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1822. Different segments of the society was marked out and allocated to different parts of the island with the Singapore River acting as a natural boundary. The north and south bank was reserved for government use and finance and commercial use respectively. The Kampong Glam area was allocated to the Malays, the Telok Ayer district for the Chinese, and Chuliah Kampong (opposite today’s Clarke Quay) for the Indians. The various areas were later expanded to accommodate a bigger population of each race.

At present, Singapore does not adhere to the Raffles Town Plan anymore. In fact, there are policies in place to ensure that there is a fair amount of each race in each neighbourhood. This shows us how, at different stages of development in a nation, different policies need to be in place. However, there are still residual practices from the Raffles Town Plan. The central district is still the commercial business area and the various ethnic groups still retain strong cultural preservations and purpose in their respective landmarks. Decisions made in the past may not continue to affect the lives of those living today, but will definitely leave behind a legacy.

"Ok... So she's not here... How now?"

"Let's just walk on then... "

"OMG! That ang moh is so hot!"

"Eh stop looking at guys la... Rella... Remember?"

"Sorry."

"Number 31? We got one station here right?"

"Oh ya! Still have 45C! Why not check it out too?"

Some of the shop houses at Boat Quay, like No. 31 and No. 45C, have interesting and rich histories. No. 31 was once the society's headquarters for Gambier and Pepper, and No. 45C was the headquarters of the Rubber Trade Association. Gambier and rubber were once important cash crops for the export market in Singapore at that time. The Teochews had monopolized the gambier trade. One of the “Gambier Kings” – Tan Yeok Nee’s home has become a national monument today, located at 207 Clemenceau Avenue. The rubber trade was dominated by Hokkiens; amongst them was Tan Kah Kee, an influential Chinese leader.

"Rubber becomes Aluminium... Evolution!"

"Lame... -.-""

"The boat is so cute! There are eyes on it!"

"Do you know they have a significance to them? They actually represent something..."

Small boats known as lighters were used to ferry goods between the ships docked at the harbour and the quay because Singapore River was too shallow for ships to sail through. At first, the lighter trade was dominated by the Chuliahs (Indian Muslims) and their large wooden crafts called tongkangs. Then, the Chinese boatmen (mostly Teochews and Hokkiens) started changing to smaller and faster boats known as the twakows. It was common to see the Chinese lightermen and their twakows on the river until the River Clean-up Project in 1977. The twakows, with their distinctive ‘eyes’ painted at the bow (red for Teochew-owned twakows and green for Hokkien-owned twakows), are on the river again today, ferrying tourists instead of cargo.

After all the distractions, we carried on with our search...

We walked past the Elgin Bridge...

And then the Coleman Bridge...

Coleman Bridge, constructed in 1840, was the second bridge along the Singapore River after Elgin Bridge. This brick bridge was designed by and named after George Drumgold Coleman. G.D. Coleman was Singapore’s first architect and superintendent of Public Works. He was the advisor for the draft layout of Singapore in 1822. He planned the centre of the town, created roads and constructed many of Singapore's historic buildings. A few of his works are conserved today within the Civic District, like the Old Parliament House and the Armenian Church. The iron suspension bridge across the Kallang River was also one of his works.

The Coleman Bridge was the first bridge in Singapore to be built with stone and was referred to as the New Bridge, as the road on its southern end is New Bridge Road. The bridge was reconstructed several times, first into a wooden one in 1865 then, into an iron structure in 1886. This iron bridge was one of the most attractive bridges across the Singapore River. But due to the increasingly heavy traffic flow between New Bridge Road and Hill Street, the iron bridge was demolished in 1986 and replaced with the present bridge, built in May 1900. However, the eight iron lampposts of the old bridge were incorporated into the current structure. Other features of the iron bridge such as the iron railings have also been preserved in recognition of their historical significance.

We went to her and realised that she did not know who we were! It was as if she had lost her memory overnight!

Thankfully, due to it being the CNY period, there were random lion dance groups travelling on the roads with loud cymbals and drumming. This loud music snapped her out of her trance and she returned back to normal. She then told us what had happened...

That was scary! Apparently, someone knew that Rella was helping us and was trying to sabotage our group! But who could it be?

So we searched along the Promenade, towards the Parliament House. There, we spotted the elephant statue.

"This bronze elephant statue is a gift from King Chulalongkorn of Siam in 1871." One of our more well-read group mates said.

We then remembered that the Old Parliament House was one of the stations and hence, in case we could not find Rella, we decided to check out the information for the Old Parliament House.

The site of the Old Parliament House used to be the home of the former Temenggong (local chief) in 1827. In 1954, the Legislative Assembly moved to the house originally built for the merchant John Argyle Maxwell by George Drumgold Coleman. Enlarged and renovated several times, this house was entirely remade for the use of the Legislative Assembly. Governor, Sir John Nicoll had commissioned the restoration work. And upon its completion, Nicoll opened the Legislative Assembly House on 9 July 1954. In 1965, the Legislative Assembly of Singapore was renamed the Parliament of Singapore, and the State of Singapore became the Republic of Singapore.

The Old Parliament House is the oldest surviving government building in Singapore. There is a photo gallery, named “Corridors of Time” along the corridors on level 2 in The Arts House. It shows the building’s conversion from a courthouse to the parliament House by featuring 33 personalities who worked in the House. These individuals played significant roles in the changes and progress of Singapore’s independent legislative system and Constitution.

And there she was! We spotted Rella at the Old Parliament House! But before we could get to her, a flash mob appeared out of nowhere!

"Oh no! Where did she go?"

"Our dear source of information?!"

"We can't be doing all the searching of information ourselves."

"Ya lor! Our assignment how?!"

"Let's split up and look for her!"

From there, we split into two groups, hoping to find our source of information faster!

That was when she met this tall orange-hooded figure who passed her a vase of water.

"This rose has a magical thirst relieving power. Drink this and you will never feel thirsty again! Think about the time that you can save..."said the orange-hooded figure.

Rella, being half awake, and thinking that this might let her reunite with Raffles sooner, did not hesitate and gulped down the water!

And so, we were walking aimlessly around Fullerton until VOILA! We saw nice looking couches! What happened next... Do I even need to say?

Contrary to popular beliefs, the Merlion was designed to be used as a crest for the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) back in 1964 and was inaugurated on 15 September, 1972. The designer was Mr Fraser Brunner and it was built by the late Singapore craftsman, Mr Lim Nang Seng, who had won several prizes in the Singapore Handicraft and Design Competition.

The Merlion is now located at the Merlion Park, beside One Fullerton. This mythical icon has been used over the years to attract tourists and has come to identify Singapore. It was used to market Singapore by integrating history and legend to introduce the founding of the island.

Now, Merlion Park is often one of the ‘must-go’ places of attraction in the country. This probably explains the crowd we spotted when we were there even though it was a weekday afternoon!

Right across Merlion Park is the Esplanade. The Esplanade was officially opened in 2002 and is commonly referred to as "The durian" by Singaporeans. By having the Esplanade, Singapore provides a world class location to host world class acts in the arts scene. With the Esplanade in place, many local artist are more encouraged to pursue arts and will one day, make Singapore's arts culture richer.

Rella exclaimed, "Has this also been turned into stone?"

*-.-"*

NO! This was sealed in 1990 to commemorate Singapore’s 25th year of independence. In 2015, the capsule will be opened, marking Singapore’s 50th year of independence.

When we reached the Fullerton Waterboat House, we found it to be a restaurant! With our stomachs protesting, we decided to give in and stopped over for an early dinner. The food was simply DELICIEUX! I guess some French cuisine always hits the right spot when you have 7 hungry people!

While eating, we also found out some history about the place through the waiters that we tried to strike up a conversation with... X)

“This is believed to be the site of the Master Attendant’s Office in the late 19th Century. The first official Master Attendant was Captain William Lawrence Flint, brother-in-law of Sir Stamford Raffles.

The Master Attendant supervised all harbour activities, including registration of vessels and their cargoes, collection of anchorage and port clearance fees and supply of fresh water and firewood. The Office also served as the post office for the early settlement.

The introduction of steam ships in the 1840s made it necessary to establish a deep-water harbour. In 1852, the New Harbour, now Keppel Harbour was established. The harbour at the Singapore River continued to function and specialised in regional trade.

In 1919, a Water Office owned by Hammer & Company was built here to supply fresh water to incoming ships. The Port of Singapore Authority took over the building in 1960 and continued to provide fresh water to incoming ships till 1990. The building is now under the Fullerton Hotel management.”

We were thrilled at how easily we could exploit her knowledge. Thinking that we might just ace our project with this person, the grins on our faces could not be wiped off the entire time we were walking towards the bridge.

At the bridge, we told her, "Ok Rella, this is the first station that you will have to clear to get one step closer to meeting your dear Raffles. This should be easy for you. We need you to tell us who this bridge is named after and the secret behind this bridge."

Rella quickly shared the information we needed for the bridge.

"Oh... This bridge was named after Major-General William Orfeur Cavenagh, who was the Governer of the Straits Settlements from 1859 to 1867. The bridge was built in 1869, and is the oldest bridge along the Singapore River in its original form.

Cavenagh Bridge was initially designed to act as a drawbridge, which could be raised to allow barges to pass through the river. However, the idea was removed eventually due to some technical difficulties. Thus, Cavenagh Bridge became a fixed suspension bridge. The bridge then went on to serve as a pedestrian thoroughfare, allowing people to cross the Singapore River without having to rely on boats to get from one side to the other."

As we walked over the other side of the bridge, Rella couldn't help but sigh as she saw the statues of the Kucinta Cats and the First Generation.

Despite the carefree depiction of the first generation, she lamented their hard life and how they had to make a living being hawkers or taking on odd-jobs. For them, having a roof over their heads was considered a luxury...

"Oh God! Even the cats were not spared from the curse! These were my favourite cats!" Rella sighed with teary eyes.

These were the Singapura cats which were very prevalent in Singapore! Their small size, large ears, and strikingly beautiful eyes made them very distinctive.