Secret Singapore

A lighthouse on the top of a 25-storey apartment block, a unique rocky area that looks like Guilin in China, the remains of a Shinto shrine built in the jungle by prisoners of war, houses from the Ming and Qing periods donated by Jackie Chan, the bottoms of soy sauce bottles used to decorate the Sultan Mosque, the “leaning tower” of Singapore, the last remaining stretch of natural beach, a forgotten bomb shelter under a national monument, the beautiful modernist door of a former biscuit factory, a hidden kampong (rural village) dwarfed by residential towers, the splendidly preserved old Changi prison gates, the stately Masons Hall inside the Freemasons' headquarters … Far from the crowds and the usual clichés, Singapore still has a number of hidden treasures for people who know how to wander off the beaten track. This is an indispensable guide for those who think they know Singapore … or who want to discover another side to the city.