Nov
30
2009
Walking Chinatown in Singapore
Author: SamAfter you’ve checked into at a Singapore hotel resort, the first thing you might look to do is step out and take a walk; if you find yourself in Chinatown, you’ll come across a number of small, interesting sights.
Let’s start out at Cross and Club Streets. Walking up, you’ll find yourself at Club. This area was home at one point to Chinese social clubs, shops, and brothels, which have all given way to boutiques and clubs and bars. You’ll still find Chinese clubs here, but you might find more in the way of Italian restaurants and sneaker shops. If you walk to the end of Club, turn left on Ann Siang Road, turn right at the hilltop, then right on Erskine Road, down the street, and then left onto South Bridge Road. Cross the street and walk left to find Neil Road. Here, at the corner of Tanjong Pagar and Neil, you’ll find brick building, two stories, that once was the center for the city’s rickshaws, a place filled with activity — craftsmen, rickshaw pullers, port walkers, and, on the darker side, opium smokers and ladies of the evening. Across the street, you’ll find the Maxwell Road Food Center, famous for it hawkers and often packed on any given evening. It’s neoclassical facade was relatively recently renovated, in 2001. Walking down Maxwell until it turns left around Telok Ayer Park, you’ll eventually find the Telok Ayer Chinese Methodist Church. This building was constructed in 1924 and it’s notable as one of the more unsual churches in Singapore, owing to its large Byzantine windows and traditional Chinese roof.
Keep walking along Telok Ayer, and you’ll cross McCallum Street. Here, on the left corner, you’ll find the Al-Abrar Mosque. It’s a small building, constructed about 1850 and contains both Islamic and Indian touches. This humble place may have had an even more humble beginning, starting out as a small, thatched hut. Farther up the street, you’ll reach the Thian Hock Keng Temple. This is perhaps the oldest temple in Singapore and important for Hokkien Chinese Buddhists. There’s also a statue of Ma Zu Po here, goddess of seafarers. In 1840, the statue was imported from China. Up the road and on the corner at Boon Tat Street is a one hundred and eighty-one year old shrine, the Nagore Durgha Shrine. If you turn right here and walk to the end of Boon Tat Street, you’ll see Lau Pa Sat (also known as the Telok Ayer Market). It has an 1894 ornate cast-iron facade made by a Scottish architect firm. In the early parts of the 20th century, this was a place for fishmongers; today, it’s a festival market for hawkers — excellent for dining after a long walk around Chinatown!