Singapore - Seen and Unseen (Part 1): Chinatown, Little India, Bugis, and Arab Quarter

Prologue:

- I wasn't supposed to go out of the country during my short 2-week break before the next semester. However, my mom and one of our long-time employees were supposed to go to Singapore because of a certain winning raffle ticket, and I was asked to accompany them (i.e. I wasn't part of the trip to Singapore prize). To make the long story short, my mom and our employee didn't push through because of certain situations, and because I already filed my leave and booked my plane and hostel earlier, I was left to explore Singapore alone for 8 days.

- My last time (and my first time) in Singapore was 11 years ago. It was my second trip out of the country, and I went with my dad, uncle, and cousin. Back then, Marina Bay Sands was still a blueprint and still part of the sea, and so was Universal Studios Singapore (i.e. they were not yet reclaimed lands.) We had 4 days to explore the little island country, and needless to say I wasn't able to fully explore everything; I knew I had to go back. Through the years, I learned more about Singapore and realized that there was more to see in the country than the usual tourist photo staples that everyone has (ex. Universal Studios, Merlion Park, Night Safari, etc.) People have wondered what I'd do in Singapore in 8 days since it was an "unusually long time" to be in Singapore. For places I've visited more than once, as always, it was my mission to not only re-visit some usual tourist spots, but more importantly, to explore the lesser-visited and lesser-known spots in that place. This was my mission in Singapore.    



The trip:

- July 21-22, 2016, Thursday-Friday.

- I arrived mid-morning in Singapore, and found my way all the way to the Chinatown area. I stayed in Beary Best Hostel, located right across Chinatown MRT Station Exit F (also quite close to Exit E.) I chose this hostel as it was highly recommended by various reviews, and also by friends who have stayed there before. Since I booked quite late, I wasn't able to get a private room and got a bed in a six-bed mixed-sex dorm-style room. I am usually iffy with dorm-style rooms (usually for safety reasons,) but my stay in Beary Best was awesome, and I had nice (and quiet) roommates as well.

The EZ-Link Card I was given by the ticket vendor. I'm not the biggest fan of Star Wars, but I can think of a couple of people who'd be ecstatic to have a card with this design.

My adorable hostel in Upper Cross Street, Chinatown.

- My first agenda was to explore my own Singaporean backyard - Chinatown. Chinatown's main tourist spots and shopping places are located in a compact grid, which makes it easy to navigate. The four main streets, in order, are Mosque Street, Temple Street, Pagoda Street, and Smith Street. Smith Street is also known as "Chinatown Food Street" as it is lined with restaurants, food stalls, and even a hawker center at the far end of the street (at the second level of Chinatown Complex.

Mosque, temple, pagoda.

- I first visited Masjid Jamae, also known as Jamae Mosque or Chulia Mosque, located right beside Mosque Street. This pale green South-Indian mosque was built in the 1820s, and is one of the first mosques in Singapore. It did not take long for me to finish looking around the mosque as it was quite small and a prayer session was on-going.

Jamae Mosque from the inside. Look at those minarets.

From across the street.

With me, of course.

- Right beside Masjid Jamae, along Pagoda and Temple Street, is the Sri (Maha)Mariamman Temple. Both this Hindu temple and the Jamae Mosque were built by the Tamils; interestingly, both non-Chinese structures are located in Chinatown. The original temple built in the 1820s looked simpler, and had a simpler entrance tower (gopuram) as well. However, in the 1920s, the current 6-level vividly-colored gopuram was constructed. I don't know what it is with Sri-Mariamman Temples but even the Sri Mariamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is located in its own Chinatown (click here to see.) Personally, I found the one in Malaysia grander and more detailed than the smaller one in Singapore. The one in Singapore was still nice to look at nonetheless.

Dravidian-style gopuram.

- Before visiting the highlight of Chinatown, I had a good stroll along Pagoda Street, where plenty of souvenir shops line both sides of the street. For those not staying in Chinatown, there is an MRT exit that leads directly to Pagoda Street (Chinatown MRT Exit A.) Apart from shopping and some restaurants, a nice place to visit would be the Chinatown Heritage Centre. The center shows how the early Chinese lived in Singapore, and boy was it not a life of luxury! Despite that, the Chinese (mostly from the south like the Hokkiens, Teochews, Hakkas, and the Cantonese) community was able to make its mark in the Singaporean society.

The buildings of Chinatown. (Most of these structures can be found all over Singapore; they look peranakan or peranakan-influenced.)

A blast to the past!!

Yes, the "Good Morning" towels are a thing here too.

Shoemaker's studio/store.

A replica of a room that was supposed to be meant for a family OF EIGHT. I can barely fit in that room to be honest. 

One cultural contribution - Southern-Chinese opera.

- The most iconic structure of Chinatown is the Buddha Tooth-Relic Temple, located along Sago Lane, just past Smith Street. This Tang-style temple, fairly new compared to Masjid Jamae and Sri Mariamman Temple, was built in the mid-2000s. Apart from its interesting architecture, the museum halls inside show different Buddhist artifacts from all over Asia, The most important part of the whole museum/temple was the tooth-relic chamber at the fourth floor. The tooth relic was believed to be Siddhartha Gautama's canine tooth, and was retrieved after he passed on in Kushinagar, India a long time ago. Sadly, no photos are allowed inside the tooth relic chamber, and it was also hard to see it since it was located in a special room inside the chamber, and can only be seen from afar. Entrance to the museum is free, unlike more museums in Singapore.

Looks like a temple from China or Japan (but is actually Chinese.)

With nicer color.

There was a big prayer wheel at the top floor.

An Ayutthayan Buddha inside the museum.

Chang-e (moon goddess.)

Lion-turtle and money-tree.

A replica of the emerald Buddha in Wat Phra Kaew in Thailand (click here to see the actual.)

Details of the temple.

View from Sago Lane.

- To kill the latter part of the afternoon, I went to the Telok Ayer are of Chinatown, which was around a 5 minute walk from the main chunk of Chinatown. I visited the Thian Hock Keng Temple, which was the oldest Hokkien Temple, and was built in 1821.

A humble temple in Telok Ayer.

Inside.

Some kind of guardian creature I suppose.

- Beside the Thian Hock Keng Temple was the Nagore Durgah (or Nagore Dargah) Shrine. It was built in the mid 1820s to honor the visit of an Indian-Muslim holy man. It was then turned into an Indian-Muslim museum. Weird enough, it was supposed to be open during the time and day when I arrived, but it was locked up. I would have loved to see its mini-museum/exhibit about the Indian Muslims in Singapore. Too bad, I could only appreciate it from its mixed Classical and Indian-Muslim facade.

Nagore Dargah Shrine.

- Walking around Chinatown was a proper warm-up for my adventures in Singapore. However, the main cherry of my first day in Singapore was having dinner with my good old friend Marielle. We ate in an Italian restaurant in Mosque Street; the restaurant didn't have an a la carte menu and only served dishes by number of courses (ex. 5 course, 7 course, etc.) We both couldn't remember the name of the restaurant as we only chose it randomly; our original choice closed down so we had to quickly choose a new restaurant for dinner. Still, it was a cozy and quiet venue to catch up. The food was also perfectly prepared, and to make it more "authentic," the chef himself was Italian.

Yay to friendships since childhood!!

- The next day I started my day with a typical Singaporean breakfast - kaya toast in the original Ya Kun Kaya Toast along China Street in Telok Ayer. A kaya toast set breakfast seems nothing special: toasted bread with coco jam and butter, two poached eggs seasoned with soy sauce and white pepper, and probably a cup of hot/cold coffee. I don't know why, but the seemingly "small" breakfast was quite filling, and the mix of the sweet-and-salty, dry-and-watery components made eating "fun." I feel that the Philippines is fortunate since the Ya Kun Kaya Toast branches in Manila serve kaya toast sets quite close to the Singapoeran one; I was told that in some countries, the kaya toast meals do not taste quite similar to the original Singaporean recipe.

My simple kaya toast set. (Eggs without soy sauce yet.)

The original Ya Kun Kaya Toast.

Now, it's worlwide!!

- After breakfast, I continued my cultural adventures by visiting Little India, and later on, the Arab Quarter. Little India Singapore is centered on Serangoon Road, with some more establishments in the smaller streets nearby. To reach Little India, people can take the purple line to Little India MRT Station or Farrer Park MRT Station. In my case, I started with the farther establishments, so I got off at Farrer Park MRT Station. I first visited the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, one of the oldest Hindu temples in Singapore. It was built around the 1850s, and has since been known for being the starting point of the South-Indian Thaipusam Festival.

In Little India.

Don't forget to leave your shoes outside.

Lakshmi.

Sri Mariamman, most probably.

A "herd" of diyas (ghee lamps.)

Leaving flower offerings on the steps of the temple.

- Farther north along Race Course Road is the Thai-style Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple. The small temple houses a giant 15-meter seated Buddha with various relics and displays around the museum. This temple was built in 1927.

This looks bigger than it seems. I am almost as tall as the alter in front.

I like the stained-glass ceiling windows.

The description says it all.

Outside the temple.

A hansa on a tiger. Not surprised that the tiger looks like that. Haha.

The temple from outside.

- Across the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple is the Leong San See or Leong San Temple. built in 1917. This small Chinese temple was dedicated to Guan Yin, the goddess of mercy, also known as Avalokiteshvara. I found this temple fascinating as it had a good mix of Daoist and Buddhist influences.

Reminded me of Japan. (Although I know this is Chinese.)

Inside the main hall. I like the interiors.

From the outside. See the sky?? The rain just started.

- The rain started to pour right after my visit to the temple. While I normally hate the rain (because I do not like getting wet) what I like about Singaporean rain is that it goes away quickly, not like the usual rains in Manila. With my umbrella, I walked through Beatty Lane and reached the Thekchen Choling Tibetan Buddhist Temple. The temple was built in 2001, and although it is a Tibetan temple, most of its devotees are Chinese.

Thekchen Choling Tibetan Buddhist Temple.

I spun the prayer wheels.

A chinese man spinning a medium-sized golden prayer wheel.

Main hall.

Yes that is (a standie....sittie? of) the Dalai Lama. 

Tibetan rendition of Brahma.

Tibetan monks chanting.

- After visiting the Tibetan temple, I walked back to Serangoon Road and visited the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. This Bengali/Dravidian temple was built in 1881, and dedicated to the goddess Kali, or the ferocious aspect of the mother goddess. This is also one of the busiest temples in Little India. I remember coming to this temple 11 years ago, and an air of nostalgia swept through me; it was a hot summer day when I first visited that temple, and this time, it was raining.  

Daw this preserved house (which was a store below) on the way to the temple.

Flower offerings.

O Lord Shiva, how is this humanly possible??

Devotees praying and giving offerings to Durga.

Priest getting offerings. 

At the main hall.

Shiva in his Nataraja (Lord/King of Dance) form.

Mahakali.

Other priests getting offerings.

The temple from outside. I like how colorful and well-detailed Dravidian temple gopuras are.

- I walked to Campbell Lane after looking around the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple and observing the busy temple. In Campbell Lane, one can see the Indian Heritage Centre, which, like the Chinese Heritage Centre was to the Chinese community, presents the roots and the heritage of the Indians in Singapore. I also bought a couple of books from the heritage center.

It was free that day because they were celebrating Culturefest 2016. Normally there is a small entrance fee.

South -Indian traditional fashion.

Ancient doorway from Tamil Nadu.

Wooden dancers.

People can try on various turbans and headdresses.

Giant head!!

Persian-style facade.

Dancer in a dancer-style saree.

Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate and the writer of the lyrics of India's national anthem (Jana Gana Mana.)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (aka "Mahatma Gandhi,") peace advocate and well, we all know him.

Jawaharlala Nehru, India's first prime minister and Indira Gandhi's father.

- Right across and beside the Indian Heritage Centre is the Little India Arcade. It's not an actual "arcade" as most people picture it to be, but rather it's a small shopping place with (mostly pricey) Indian souvenirs.

Brings back memories too. Hehe.

- For Indian traditional clothes (like the ones I usually try to find,) better-priced ones can be found in Tekka Centre, just right across Little India Arcade and Tekka Mall (Tekka Mall is different from Tekka Centre.) Before browsing through the rows and rows of traditional Indian clothes, I had lunch at the Indian hawker centre at the basement level of Tekka Centre. Since there were too many hawker stalls to choose from, I just browsed through the ones closest to the exit since the area near the exit had more ventilation - after all, the rain had just stopped but there was still some cold wind. Among the variations of curry dishes available, the one that sparked my fancy was the sheep-innard curry with intestine slices and stomach slices. It was just like kare-kare but "more legit," since kare-kare is supposed to be a "curry" dish (hence the name "kare-kare") but it isn't a "real curry dish."

My sheep-innard curry with curry egg, cucumber salad with yogurt, a mountain of rice, and a glass of honeydew juice. 

- I went around the stalls at Tekka Centre after lunch and if only I had all the money in the world and all the closet space, I would've bought half the shopping centre. Some items were on sale, and while the items on sale were certainly priced higher than they would have been in India, they seemed reasonably priced to me. (No photos of Tekka Centre since I was too busy shopping.)

- The rain started to pour again after getting myself an apple green kurta and a Nehru vest. I brought out my umbrella and walked all the way to the Bugis area. Although the blue MRT line connects Little India and Bugis, walking from one to the other would only take around more or less 10 minutes. It took a longer time for me to walk there because it was raining and so I had to slow down by a lot; I normally walk fast.

- The Bugis area was so named because of the Indonesian Bugis people who frequently traded with the early inhabitants of this area. At some point, around the 50s to 80s, it was a sex bazaar full of transwomen, and due to further urban development of the late 80s, Bugis evolved to the shopping paradise it is today. In the Bugis area one can find malls like Bugis Junction, as well as old temples like Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho (built in 1884, dedicated to Guan Yin) and the Sri Krishnan Temple (built in 1870, dedicated to Krishna and Rukmini.) Because of the Sri Krishnan (Hindu) Temple's proximity to the Chinese Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho, many Chinese also drop by this Hindu temple to pay their respects. I find this interesting as I haven't encountered non-tourist Chinese people regularly paying respects to a local Hindu temple before seeing all these Chinese people in front and inside the Sri Krishnan Temple. Because of the temple's Chinese devotees, the Sri Krishnan Temple built a small Guan Yin altar for the Chinese.

Wasn't able to go inside the temple. See all those people?? I couldn't even go near the temple!!

Sri Krishnan Temple, beside the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple.

- After visiting both temples in Waterloo Street, I walked through the New Bugis Street, an indoor bazaar, and found my way to the Arab Quarter in Kampong Glam (less than 5 minutes by walking from Bugis.) I felt tired from all the walking in the rain so I took a rest and had a drink in Selfie Coffee along Haji Lane, just beside Arab Street. This coffee shop serves a lot of regular coffee-shop items (lattes, cappuccinos, etcs.) but its main selling point is its list of "selfie" drinks. This means that by ordering from this list, the customer can take a selfie with the store's camera and have that photo printed (with edible coloring) on the flattened whipped cream of the drink. I had a cold hazelnut selfie drink. It was fun to see my face on my drink, but it was more fun to see my face distorted in all sorts of ways while the whipped cream with my face on was being deformed as I was drinking my hazelnut drink. (Didn't take photos of the many variations of my distorted face; a lot of those variations could be worthy of being in horror movies.) After my drink I got to take some photos with the colorfully-painted buildings that Haji Lane is famous for.

- I later walked to the nearby Masjid Hajjah Fatimah (Hajjah Fatimah Mosque) to look at its architecture. It was built in 1846 by businesswoman Hajjah Fatimah and shows both Islamic and European architectural features; the location of the mosque was the location of the house before it was set on fire while Hajjah Fatimah was away. Non-Muslims were not allowed to enter the prayer hall, so I did not stay long. I just went to the Malay Heritage Centre a couple of streets from the mosque to understand the story and culture of the Malays in Singapore. Going around the center reminded me of my trip in Malaysia a few months ago (click here, here, here, and here for my adventures in Malaysia,) especially after hearing the museum staff speaking to each other in Bahasa Malaysia.

Typical Malay clothes.

Malay instruments.

Original documents/scores of Singapore's national anthem.

Here you go.

There was also a special exhibit about the Javanese in Singapore.

Javanese wayang kulit.

Javanese costumes.

- Right beside the Malay Heritage Centre is the Sultan Mosque. Visitors are allowed in the mosque at certain times of the day (when prayer sessions are not conducted.) Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky people who weren't able to have the opportunity to go inside and browse through the mini-exhibit. Still, the facade of this mosque from the 1820s was a marvel to behold.

I like how the mosque is surrounded by trees.

I really wished I was able to go inside.

- I went back to my hostel in Chinatown after my visit to Little India and the Arab Quarter, and did not have any other plans for the day. I was just resting in my hostel and thinking of a good nearby place to eat dinner when my friend Megan ringed me up and asked if we could have dinner together instead of our supposed meeting date a few days later. Since I had nothing else to do that day, I agreed. We had a piping hot bak kut teh dinner in the Geylang area.

Hi Megan!!

- After dinner I rode the train back to hostel and rested well to prepare myself for more cultural and historical adventures in the tiny island of surprises - Singapore!! (Read Part 2 here, Part 3 here and Part 4 here.)