SINGAPORE - Under the moonlight, two friends perched atop a "super tree", fell in love. The lovebirds, then-university undergraduates Elena Ng and Jason Lee, had been working at the newly-opened Gardens By the Bay during their summer break in June 2012.
It was at the OCBC Skyway, an aerial walkway linking a cluster of the plant-covered concrete "trees" towering at 22m each, that their relationship blossomed.
Ms Ng, now 24, and an engineer said: "The skyway was our favourite station among the attractions. At the end of the night, when the crowds had left, we would linger for another 15 minutes chatting as we took in the view the glittering skyline before us."
Ms Ng's story is one of 80,000 submissions that detail personal memories of places and spaces to the SG Heart Map. The project aims to piece together 50 special areas that "define Singapore as home" to mark Singapore's 50th birthday this year.
They shared their stories through the website of the SG50 project (https://www.heartmap.sg/), contribution booths and roving vans since its launch last November.
These stories will be woven into a map that highlights 50 such spots.
Organisers said that about 25 per cent of contributions centred on the lives and memories of people in HDB towns. Of the lot, the first HDB satellite town, Toa Payoh, was mentioned the most frequently.
The other places include Little India, Orchard Road, Singapore Changi Airport, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park and Gardens by the Bay.
Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Environment and Water Resources Grace Fu, who is the co-chair of the SG50 Environment and Infrastructure Committee overseeing the project, unveiled the 50 locations this morning at Sentosa. The completed map will be showcased at the project's finale in November this year.
Noting the mix of older areas such as Little India and new sites such as Gardens By the Bay and Singapore Sports Hub, Ms Fu, who is the co-chair of the SG50 Environment and Infrastructure Committee overseeing the project, said: "It shows that we have some acknowledgement of the past development and appreciation of newer developments.
"By going through this SG Heart Map exercise, we realise that Singaporeans are building new and common memories together in new places."
Her contribution to the map was Singapore Botanic Gardens, for which Singapore is submitting an application to be named a Unesco World Heritage Site.
She said: "This is the place that I have very fond memories, even as a child, and even till now. I used to go there with my family... and I still go there to jog regularly now from my office. So indeed, it is a place that meant a lot to me, and still I'm interacting with it every day."
The 50 "special places in Singaporeans' hearts" are:
1) Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park
2) Bugis
3) Bukit Timah
4) Changi Village
5) Chinatown
6) Chinese Garden
7) Chong Pang Market and Food Centre
8) Downtown East
9) East Coast Park
10) Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
11) Gardens by the Bay
12) Haw Par Villa
13) Holland Village
14) Jurong Bird Park
15) Kampong Glam
16) Katong/Joo Chiat
17) Little India
18) MacRitchie Reservoir
19) Marina Barrage
20) Marina Bay
21) Marina Bay Sands
22) Merlion Park
23) Mount Faber
24) National Library, Singapore
25) National Museum of Singapore
26) National University of Singapore
27) Orchard Road
28) Pasir Ris Town Park
29) Pulau Tekong
30) Pulau Ubin
31) Punggol Waterway Park
32) Raffles Place
33) Resorts World Sentosa
35) River Safari
36) SAFTI Military Institute
37) Sentosa
38) Singapore Botanic Gardens
39) Singapore Changi Airport
40) Singapore Flyer
41) Singapore River
42) Singapore Sports Hub
43) Singapore Zoo
44) Singapore Discovery Centre
45) Suntec City
46) Tanjong Pagar
47) Tiong Bahru
48) Toa Payoh
49) Vivocity/HarbourFront
50) West Coast Park
