Life in the Garden City
Home » Magazine » Good, issue 19 » Life in the Garden CityThe shimmering path to eco-dom might be a little more tricky to follow in Singapore than back in New Zealand, but it’s not stopping Rebecca Lewis from looking
As I write this, I am sitting on my sofa in my Chinatown apartment, ten floors up from the mayhem of one of the city's busiest hubs. The view outside is typical of Singapore – dozens of buildings layered on top of one another, spread across a spectacular skyline that looks as though it has been traced onto the night sky. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty nice. But the best part about this view out the window is what I can see directly beneath me – a big, lush public park.
This is my second time living in Singapore, and as anyone who has ever lived in a cramped, urban setting will tell you, parks are really something to be treasured. We know in New Zealand that we’re lucky to have our wide open spaces, and yet I probably walked up Auckland’s Mount Eden only a dozen times in the year I lived in the area. To be honest, I didn't stretch my green fingers much back then – I drove when I could have taken the bus and ignored my veggie garden until it was a wilted mess.
Now my home is in a city roughly the same size as Lake Taupo – but with about one million more people than in all of New Zealand – so I’m on the lookout for any eco-relief from the concrete jungle and am determined to make more of an effort.
First, there's the train. Called the MRT, the system here is so easy to use that most people wouldn't consider buying a car. For around $2 a day I can get to work and back, and I’ve almost never had to wait more than three minutes for a ride – bar one day when the station timer informed me I had to wait five minutes.
I almost didn't know what to do with myself. If I don't want to take the train, the bus system is also efficient, reliable and cheap. One of the benefits of a large population, I guess.
But while public transport is easy and accessible, there are a few other things that are not. During my first supermarket shop I must have scanned the aisle at least half a dozen times for free-range eggs. When I asked the staff where they were, I was met with confused looks. You can get free-range products in Singapore, but there's just not the same demand for them as in New Zealand. It's the same with cruelty-free meat – and it's difficult to eat meat when your conscience is being pricked. Thankfully, one of my favourite local dishes is Hot Plate Tofu – tofu and veggies on a sizzling plate. Some days it definitely beats the meat options.
There are other ways to be a bit green in the city. I've been told that many high-rise dwellers construct elaborate veggie gardens in small spaces, using tyres filled with soil stacked on top of each other. Call me green – but before I heard of this, I didn't even know what a tyre garden was. My boyfriend, a veggie-patch pro, has since informed me that not only are these the 'in thing' for those sans regular gardens, but that he also has grand plans for our tiny balcony. Now I’m looking forward to the day when there’s a tomato plant at the forefront of my view across Singapore's skyline.
Rebecca Lewis is the editor of an expatriate magazine in Singapore and former reporter with the Herald on Sunday in Auckland. After growing up in Singapore – then shifting back to New Zealand for eight years – she decided to head back to equatorial life with her Kiwi journalist boyfriend.
