A short walk from the National Museum is a small hill called Fort Canning with a sweeping view of the channel and the nearby islands. For some reason, it reminded me of Copp’s Hill in Boston. But far more tropical and militarized.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles was the British statesmen who founded Her Majesty’s colony in Singapore. (Lots of places and streets are named after him. Despite the fact that “Raffles” sounds like the name of a hobo’s dog.) When he was ailing, Raffles had a smallish home built on the top of the hill, saying in a letter to a friend that “though the height is inconsiderable, we find a great difference in climate.”
I can’t begin to imagine trying to live in this tropical climate without air conditioning. It sounds like my own personal vision of Hell. (A lot like other people’s vision of Hell, just more humid.)