A wander through Singapore's Chinatown
On a recent trip to Singapore the missus and I decided we needed to explore Chinatown. I've been before but it was 25 years ago and I can promise you I don't remember much of it now. So I was pretty happy to go, its one of the places that Singapore is famous for.
We arrived at the end of the day but that didn't matter. Chinatown is a busy place and there was still plenty of time to see it all.
The buildings in the area are still the old style colonial buildings that have been around for a long time.
The place is covered in red lanterns and other red decorations. This is because its Chinese new year (the year of the dog).
Chinatown is mostly streets and streets of stalls selling trinkets, and different foods.. including the dreaded durian. They say you either love it or hate it .. I am certainly in the 'hate it' camp. I tried it before and it tastes even worse than it smells. Try it for yourself though, you never know.. you might be depriving yourself of your greatest pleasure..
At the end of the road is the Sri Mariamman Temple. Its a little weird to find a hindu temple in the middle of Chinatown.
To go inside you need to take your shoes off and leave them on the street... and the cool thing is, no one will steal them. Leave your shoes in the street in Scotland and you'd be lucky to see them again! Oh and all those little carvings and figures on the roof... those are all different Hindu gods... they have a lot of them.
The inside is awesome but they're not keen on photography so I decided to soak up the atmosphere instead. For reference though you can photograph the place if you purchase a permit at the entrance. Personally I didn't think it was worthwhile to do. Sometimes things need to be enjoyed with your own eye, not through a viewfinder.
When we got out of the temple it started to get dark, so we did some shopping before everything closed and walked around enjoying the different atmosphere in the dark.
Lots of lanterns everywhere.. its new years after all!
All the streets in chinatown run parallel to each other and down one if them you will find all the restaurants and food stalls. Its a good place to know because its a little cheaper to eat there (the food is also delicious) and its the cheapest beer I have found so far. $5 for a can of tiger at one of the stalls.. you're damn right I had a few!
The whole area is covered in a canopy too which is nice, it means you can still sit out and eat even if its raining .. and those pillars also support fans to get the air moving .. which you really need with all those kitchens! Its a hot place.
Shoplifting is a big deal in Singapore.. well pretty much any crime is a big deal in Singapore.. so much so that its a running joke. You can buy T-shirts with crimes and punishments printed on them and almost every shop in the city has an amusing sign about shoplifters like hits:
By now most shops were closing and it was getting darker. We hadn’t had anything to eat yet and were super hungry. We had walked through the food area earlier but didn’t get anything. We decided to quickly pop by the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum before heading back to the street with all the food.
The outside of the temple alone is amazing. Unfortunately it was already closed for the evening and we never made it back to check out the inside .. but I see that as just another excuse to visit Singapore again!
I suspect the temple isn't decorated like this year round. It must be part of the Chinese new year celebrations.
The statues by the door are pretty awesome.. look at the dude's arm.. he even has veins showing.
Nothing but lanterns... all the lanterns.
You shall not pass! ... or something..
So that's Chinatown. I didn't photograph us going for dinner because really, no one needs (or wants) to see that. Anyway Chinatown is awesome 10/10, I recommend it .. and not just for the cheap beers!
!steemitworldmap 1.283695 lat 103.843844 long A wander through Singapore's Chinatown D3SCR
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I wanna be there, yeah, really may be this vacation fall. :-D
Do it! You won't regret it, its a great place to visit :)
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Thanks @pixresteemer :) x
Thanks for the memories this post generated I loved visiting china town when I lived there it has changed a lot but I was there thirty odd years ago
Happy to be of service mate :) It was nearly unrecognisable to me as well.
Thinking how long ago it was makes me feel old
Hahaha! I know what you mean :)
Lol 😂
LOL, those signs are funny!
How did you like Singapore? I've heard many people not liking it (too much of an expat city?!) but the food apparently is amazing :D
Thanks for taking me on a tour!
I loved it! I used to leave not to far away form Singapore when I was growing up so going back was almost like going home. I might have a biased view ;) But Singapore is wonderful and there is a lot to do. I can imagine some people might not like it because its probably more modern and metropolitan than maybe they imagined.
The food is very good, and alcohol is very expensive. In general the place is expensive, I would say a little bit more expensive than London. Thanks for commenting, I'm glad you enjoyed my post :)
Amazing shots my friend, you must have had tons of nice experiences :) Chinatowns are always so vibrant and full of hidden gems :)
Thanks, yea we had an awesome time and saw some great things. My GF has never been to Asia so it was especially exciting for her. Chinatowns are the best, the ones in San Francisco and New York are pretty awesome too :)
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in today's Travel Digest!
Awesome thank you! :)
Amazing architecture and beautiful photos . I think it was unusual or unexpected to find an hindu temple in a Chinatown. But also I heard that both a large Indian and Chinese comunity were living in Singapore.
Thanks! Yes it's true, there's a place called little India in Singapore as well :) I went there too and will ave a post about it soon. I do believe that the Indian and Chinese communities are the largest (next to the native Singaporeans). But really Singapore is a huge mix of different nationalities.
Yes it is a kind of "melting pot" :) :)
exactly! I love it :) I feel so at home there.
I've been to Singapore twice and I went to Chinatown only once. We did not even get to see a lot of things there. We just basically passed by. LOL
Anyway, I just wanted to say that your photos are great and I agree with what you said
Have a nice day. 😊
Then you need to go back! There really is much to see and do, you should go and dedicate some time to exploring the place. It's worth it I think :)
And thank you! :D
Yeah! I definitely will. I also haven't been to little india so maybe on my next travel there I'll dedicate a tour to both places. :)
Yeah you should, its worth seeing. They're both lovely places and I do recommend Chinatown for food. :)
Great shots and story! Proves you don't have to have dive gear on to entertain me! Hope to be there for almost a week next year so this was a fascinating prelude.
PS - you should post the shoplifting sign to my #distinctivesigns - it's not getting much use these days!
Safe travels.
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it, I have way more content from my trip there which I am posting over the course of the next week or so. I'm sure you'll really enjoy you trip, Singapore is lovely!
I will look into the #distinctivesigns tag, I am sure I have more pictures of weird signs that could go in there..
Also, where have you been? You've been missed on steemit! :)