Kallang Riverside Park, Singapore

Singapore River and Environs 1819.

(Topographical details for this early map of Singapore and descriptions from various sources.)

Please take a look at the archived photos of Kampong Kallang in the Past with courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore.

Daily dredging at the Kallang River to remove debris from the river to keep it clean.

Please help to keep the Kallang Riverside Park clean and safe responsibly for everyone to enjoy.

Experience Singapore’s rivers in a way you’ve never imagined it to be in this Mandarin documentary as it illustrates the importance to care for our environment and keep it clean. Find out how Singapore’s rivers were cleaned up during the 1970s, and the effort put in to achieve the clean rivers we have today. Through an interviewee who was involved in the cleanup project, the future of Singapore’s water sources is presented in an awe-inspiring finale at the Marina Barrage. YouTube video uploaded by John Li.

At the opening of “Gardens by the Bay” by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in June 2014:

From the beginning, even before Singapore became independent, we sought to build a world-class living environment here through greenery. At first we aimed to be a “Garden City” – parks, reservoirs, Kallang River cleaned up, Singapore River, later cleaned up. Today, more than half of Singapore Island is covered in green; and we have more than 3,000 hectares of nature reserves, which is equal to six and a half Toa Payoh towns. So if you look at Singapore from the air, you do not see a concrete jungle. You see tropical forests, greenery, and you have to identify the roads by where the green trees are, not by where the tarmac can be seen. If you go on a Google or Flickr search and you type in “Singapore Parks”, you get hundreds of thousands of beautiful pictures. Singaporeans enjoy it, and visitors are also unfailingly impressed by how clean and green Singapore is. So Singaporeans, to the best of our ability, and I think we have not done badly, are able to enjoy high-quality living, with many places to enjoy nature.

Singapore: Venice of the East, the Little Red Dot video narrated by Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew the very architect who drafted the blueprint for Singapore’s unique brand of sustainable development.

Direction Signboard near the Kallang Riverside Park

Romantic Quiet Spots at Kallang Riverside Park

Pioneer Generation (PG) Singaporeans would tell our young Singaporeans how lucky they are to have so many “paktor” (courting in Hokkien) places like the Kallang Riverside Park in Singapore today.

Over 50 years ago, the grandparents and parents would reminisce and share their nostalgic memories in their young days when there were very few public places to find some quiet corners or dark spots for their “heart to heart talk” (谈情说爱) in privacy to whisper to their ears only. There were cheeky “peeping Toms” to disturb the “paktor” couples.

PG friends would remember the early days when their “paktor” common places in Singapore were the Queen Elizabeth Park (now the Esplanade), Fort Canning Park (now Central Park), MacRitchie Reservoir, Changi Point, Labrador Park and the few places.

It would be fun for our Pioneer Generation Singaporeans to share their first-hand stories for family bonding at SG50 Facebook to tell their children and grandchildren their courtship places in Singapore long time ago.