Singapore Sports Hub, view from the Benjamin Sheares Bridge

Many of my fellow nostalgia blogger friends wouldn’t believe that I walk the blog today to live dangerously at risk to capture the photos at the Benjamin Sheares bridge.

Before I tell the stories on two parts of this blog, please let me share my personal experience to gather the information and capture the moments of my thoughts with the “memory aids” with photos I took.

My blog topic is to juxtapose the current photos of a little known place in Singapore: Tanjong Rhu (Tg Rhu).

I could just be contented to “blog in the mind” safely from the research from sources found on the Internet at home for new photos and the archived photos with the courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore for reliable material from NewspaperSG or Infopedia of the National Library Board, Singapore.

It took me several weeks in my mind to prepare this blog.  So I thought it would be a good idea to take a walk to Tanjong Rhu this morning for the new blog topic assignment.

It was a sunny morning and I went on the trip alone to post on the blog.

I know Tanjong Rhu well in my young days over 40 years ago and have travelled in public buses and cars to pass the place through the Benjamin Sheares Bridge.

However, I did not realize that certain parts of the bridge are not accessible to pedestrians along the East  Coast Parkway and strictly for vehicular traffic only. I am not a jaywalker and vehicles have the right of way on the expressway.

Fortunately, the vehicular traffic this morning was quite light and I walked carefully to be seen by the drivers.  As there were no traffic lights for the entire stretch of the expressway, the drivers were speeding as fast as they could.

As I am no longer young, active and agile as a pioneer generation guy, I could not walk too fast.  I walked slowly to watch out for speeding vehicles and kept to the edge of the road in the direction against the traffic.  Thank goodness I completed the walk to blog  safely  without incidents.  I wouldn’t dare to do the same thing at night or when it rains or heavy thunderstorm.

A photo journal on this blog to highlight as a guidance to take a safer route along the pedestrian bridge.

Please note that it is a traffic offence to walk along the expressway and ignorance of traffic laws in Singapore or anywhere else is no excuse.

Cautiously, I headed forward in the direction of Fort Road next to Tanjong Rhu Road.  A photo to show the direction signboard of the Singapore Swimming Club and Dunman High School, where my daughter studied in the old school and transferred to the new one several years ago.

The only people I met at the ECP expressway were the 2 gardeners working there. They smiled and greeted me when I told them that I was taking some photos.

Safe & Recommended Route to the Bridge

After climbing up the staircase from the mud path and reached the pedestrian section of the bridge safely, I had a sigh of relief.

Wow … the beautiful scene of Singapore from the Benjamin Sheares Bridge was
breath-taking on a bright sunny day.

Please share these scenic photos of Singapore on this blog with me. This was the first time I did it on an adventurous journey to experience, to absorb the unforgettable spectacular scenes at some spots. As I stood there for some moments to watch at the sky, the sea, the ships in the harbour and breathe in the fresh air and the sight. It was a hazeless day when I visited the place.

I wondered how wonderful this unusual spot on the bridge was the view the scenes and to photograph.  The thought moments indeed.

Decades ago before the Benjamin Sheares bridge, the ECP express, the Marina Bay, the Singapore Flyer, the Garden of the Bay and other surrounding building and high-rise modern-designed condominiums without the east coast reclamation, this place was just a flat land at the mouth of the Singapore River to the sea.

Today is the tomorrow of yesterday.  The present is the future of the past.   Our founding forefathers who developed and built independent Singapore 50 years ago in the past,  they were speaking about the “future” today. They are the visionaries of Singapore, the “action” people who changed and remake Singapore.

Over 100 years ago, this was a mud flat swamp.

Today, this is a modern city.

Ten years from now, this will be a metropolis.  Never fear.

–  PM Lee Kuan Yew,  12 September, 1965