September 23, 2017, 05:18 PM 
The internet revolutionised tourism.
People can research a place and plan a visit with a click of a button.
Review sites are the go-to forums as people trade experiences.
So, we imagine how 1930s Singapore would have been reviewed on a travel website like TripAdvisor, given how Singapore was already a popular tourist destination then.
Hotel review
Famous hotels in 1930s Singapore included the Adelphi and Raffles Hotel.
Raffles Hotel, in particular, was a popular choice for many, and saw a good number of famous visitors such as Charlie Chaplin and Rudyard Kipling.
A TripAdvisor profile and review of Raffles Hotel in the 1930s would have looked like this:
The hotel's Long Bar was known for inventing the Singapore Sling, and it was a popular drink even in the 1930s.
Take this review from a hungover 1930s tourist who had one too many of them:
And here are some other reviews of the hotel by happy guests from the 1930s. It seems like they have read up on others' stories and experiences at the hotel before staying there.
Places of interest
As an exotic travel destination in the 1930s, Singapore had no lack of interesting places to visit.
There was a good number of attractions, such as the Botanical Gardens, Great World Amusement Park and a public zoo in Punggol run by a wealthy Indian man.
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Shopping
No trip to Singapore is complete without shopping.
Back then, tourists could find various modern goods available in Singapore, such as cameras and refrigerators.
Photo from Willis's Singapore Guide (1934), compiled and published by A.C. Willis.
Apart from the places marked out on the map, there are also two department stores located at Raffles Place (Robinsons and John Little), and one at D'Almeida Street (Whiteaway Laidlaw).
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John Little building (right) at Raffles Place. Photo from Pinterest[/caption]
These department stores stocked a vast range of items including fashion, household items, perfumes, stationery and alcohol.
Here's a review of a couple of them:
General queries
And for the kiasu tourists who need to know every detail before their visit:
This is what a trolley bus looks like:
Photo from NAS
If only the internet was available back then.
Some historical references in this article were shared with us by OH! Open House.
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