Merlion Park

One of the very popular tourist places in Singapore is the Merlion Park. This statue was created in 1972, and since then has been the "face" of Singapore.

When I first visited Singapore 20+ years ago, we did not go close to the Merlion, but were shown the Merlion from the bumboat on which we toured the bay. At that time the area was very much in the early stages of development as much of the area was being reclaimed and the land was being prepared to build the new financial district of the city.

So it was a dramatic difference to what we saw then.

One of the stops when we did our full day city tour, was the Merlion Park, now on the edge of an amazing Marina Bay. On one side of the bay is the new open air performance stadium, which would be a spectacular venue for major concerts and events.

The area immediately around the Merlion was all high rise buildings - the new financial district is spectacular.

There are two Merlions in the park, and our bus stopped at the end of the new bridge, and the main one was being refurbished as we visited.

Still it was good to see and relive the story of the Merlion and the creation of Singapore, the city.