The first major bank in the Singapore Settlement was the Union Bank of Calcutta, which was set up in 1846. In the early days, moneylending was carried out by the Chettiars, who originated from South India.

Sir Stamford Raffles wrote in 1819 that Singapore’s main objective was trade, to be a “great commercial emporium”. Thus, the main site for trading was the Singapore River, where trading of goods such as cotton, spices, tin and rubber took place. The people that profited the most from the trading business were the Chinese traders.

Anyway, Rella ran and eventually, she stood before the statue of Stamford Raffles...

"What happened to my Raffles?!" She asked with an anxious expression.

Suddenly, a thought struck us!

"Since she knows so much, why not get her to do the work for us?"

Upon that idea, we decided to have a short discussion...

"How about a curse? Such that it will fade as every station of the trail is uncovered?"
"A curse? At this century? Oh please! Spare me!"
"Well, she might just fall for it?"
"Try it then."

And to our utmost surprise, Rella did fall for it! MUAHAHAHAHA!

However, one of our group mates was particularly in love with Singapore's history, and couldn't help but think that this open adulation of our colonizer was weird, since most colonized countries actually dislike the fact that they have been previously colonized.

At the landing site of Raffles, we saw a plaque stating that “with genius and perception”, Raffles “changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a great seaport and modern metropolis”.

"That’s so weird... Isn't it our Minister Mentor who made Singapore what it is today?"

Upon that remark, we felt that this open exaltation actually suggests that we owe our success to our colonizer. But this is not true! Singapore stood by herself, making herself prosperous, along with the guidance of a great man, who is however, not eternally celebrated as a statue!

We did not know that we were actually so patriotic as our hearts started burning with fury but eventually, we realised that nothing could be done anyway...

And so, we continued with our trail...