Singapore River is the cradle of the city's history as a trading post. Photos by Li Jing / China Daily

Strolling through Singapore's Civic District shows how the tides of change have washed over the island state. Li Jing puts her feet to the pavement.

An hourlong tour of Singapore's Civic District reveals the history of the city's transformation from a sleepy island to a manic metropolis over the centuries. There's good reason the district is known as modern Singapore's birthplace. My starting point is Swissotel The Stamford, one of the city's highest hotels, rising 226 meters high, across Stamford Road from St. Andrew's Cathedral.

The church area's green lawns and trees punctuate the forest of skyscrapers.

The commanding cathedral glitters in the tropical sunshine under blue skies. It radiates sun beams across the bustling traffic surrounding the holy site.

I walk in and find myself muttering a prayer before entering the church's gate.

The structure is coated in white chunam plaster fashioned from shell lime, egg white, coarse sugar, water and coconut husks.

The neo-Gothic building constructed in 1856 is Singapore's oldest Anglican church.