As you may (or may not) have noticed, the Editorial Team here at Sgcarmart has started a new series, titled Sgcarmart Explores, where we look and recommend some of the more interesting spots across the various districts of Singapore.

And save for the Christmas special of the series we did last December (please do catch it here, the whole team spent an entire day out driving and shooting to craft this one), we have always started each iteration of the series questioning the assumption that Singapore is a boring place.

Thank God we have yet to incur the public ire that one Malaysian actor-host Hero Tai took after making remarks to the same effect on a Taiwanese show.

But the sheer amount of backlash Mr. Tai received does beg the question: Is Singapore really boring to begin with?

I mean, if you've been living here for some time, I'm sure you're also finding it difficult to find new activities to join every weekend (after attending to all those spill-overs from work aside that is).

Take this video for a case in point, which explores a little more about why our island’s shopping malls (the typical retreat for many of us I reckon), are so boring.

I don't see many comments disagreeing with the assumption that our shopping malls here are boring.

Of course, there's more to do than just shopping here in Singapore, but I think Mothership's point about how high land rents drive all malls to simply house the most economically viable tenants and thus leads to most malls sharing the same popular chains is rather important.

Surely some economic forces must be at play to explain why there's so much renovation and bubble tea stores around central Toa Payoh, unless the buildings here are especially dilapidated and somehow manage to attract only contractors that must have the very best refreshments?

Perhaps we simply don't have the spare space here for less economically profitable activities.

So let us take the assumption that Singapore is a touch boring. Well, what now? What can we do next as a nation to bring back a bit more interest to our sunny island? Do we, perhaps, need a bit of the grime that is commonplace in other cities?

I personally reckon a little bit could be the answer here.

I mean, there's plenty of people out there that bemoan the loss of Hong Kong's infamous walled city. Look at this video, and the comments to it for example:

I promise if you're into architecture and urban theory this channel is a treasure trove. And on a side note, why are architects so attractive?

But back to the topic at hand.

I'm sure many are just looking back at Kowloon's Walled City with rose-tinted glasses. After all, as the video points out, unsavoury crime, drug use, and I'm sure all manner of abuse and exploitation were also ongoing before the city was demolished.

But grit, after all, is forged by enduring difficult times.

Would Van Gogh have painted The Potato Eaters were it not for his witnessing of the poverty that plagued the rural peasantry of the 19th century? Or would Francisco Goya have painted the Black Paintings if he had not lived through the depravity of post-Napoleonic Spain? 

And to steer back to the topic at hand once again, some of Singapore's more interesting areas (by my reckoning, that is) including Chinatown, Katong, Geylang, or Tiong Bahru, to name a few, are the products of a history that has seen a fair bit of lawlessness. Perhaps some tough neighbourhoods also spawn more interesting urban landscapes.

Will time alone eventually carve Sengkang a character that is entirely different from the one that is present in Punggol? I like to think not.

Join us as we share more about our other interests and bring you new places to visit!

So instead of always looking out for the next hot new location to visit, perhaps we ought to put in a bit of thought into preserving what we have, to ensure that our existing neighbourhoods have the time to develop a character all on their own.

The recent proposal of the preservation of People's Park Complex is a move in the right direction by the authorities, but we too can show our support for the preservation of our neighbourhoods by visiting the retailers within them, and participating in activities such as this series of Heritage Trails proposed by the National Heritage Board here to send a clear message to the powers that be that these spaces are still utilised and beloved.

In the same spirit, the Editorial Team is going to put in the effort and take time out of our busy schedules to populate this space with some new and alternative content (just like our new Explores series) from fields that we already know and love beyond the various automotive material already available on Sgcarmart.

All we ask is that you look out for our quips about everyday life and the issues that we feel need to be more spoken for (as well as a touch of YouTube recommendations and even some photographic content), here on the blog in the coming weeks. And maybe join us in stepping out of your comfort zone, to stop simply heading to the nearest shopping centre, and support some of the alternative destinations that we highlight in our Explores series.

I hope you don't find any of it too boring.

-Clarence