Singapore - Clarke Quay

Clarke Quay used to be the centre of commerce in Singapore. Lying at the mouth of Singapore River,the shophouses and godowns served the shipping trade between Asia and Europe. You can imagine that Sir Stamford Raffles and his officers once roamed these streets to keep things in order. 

Today, Clarke Quay has been transformed into a tourist magnet, with dining, shopping and entertainment venues fitted into the converted warehouses and shophouses. A street canopy designed by London Architect Will Alsop provides shelter from the tropical sun and rain. Specially designed low speed fans in the shape of  "Whale-tails" introduce artificial breeze into the covered streets. The canopies are called "Angels" - the umbrella-like structures are constructed out of steel frame and covered with high-tech plastic ETFE. 

Some of the most interesting dining establishments in Singapore can be found here - e.g.  The Clinic - a fine-dining restaurant and pub fitted out as an operating theatre, Restaurant Madame - part of the IndoChine group of restaurants, Coriander Leaf - a Pan-Asian fusion food hub, and Tomo Izakaya where the seafood is flown in straight from Tokyo's Tsukiji Market.

The canopies do function as intended, and walking in the streets even under the hot tropical heat is quite pleasant.

There are more covered terraces next to the River. The circular sun-tents are supposed to evoke Chinese lanterns, but to me they look more like those huge magnets they use in a scrap-metal yard. A bit scary to sit under these !