Chinatown

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

We will be touring Chinatown this afternoon, but we had free time in the morning, so we went to a mall nearby to buy some toiletries. On the way back we decided to look for a Geocache. We had planned to go yesterday, but it was raining too hard. The cache was located in the vicinity of a Cenotaph commemorating WWI soldiers from Singapore.

The site was blocked off by a construction fence, but we walked around the large tract that was fenced off and saw traffic passing through on the far side, so we went all the way around and were able to access the cenotaph. Unfortunately, I hadn’t taken my phone with me, so I was not able to find the actual cache. Too bad. It was an Earth Cache and it required answers to certain geology questions. I wanted to find it. I even brought a geologist with me. However, the rain and the fence and the other circumstances wore me down. But I was able to find a cache at a nearby church, so I found my first cache after an 11-year caching hiatus.

On the way back to our hotel we passed the historic Raffles hotel, where the cocktail called the Singapore Sling was invented - and where you can have one today for a mere S$37.

Chinatown

Our final Free Walking Tour was with Pamela and her super-friendly smile. She is knowledgable and energetic, and we enjoyed touring with her again.

Singapore’s large Chinatown has its roots in the 1822 decision of Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of modern Singapore, to create different neighborhoods for various ethnic groups. While Raffles’ plan was probably motivated by racism, it was helpful for recent migrants to be able to live near their own markets and temples and their landsmen (people from the same region).

Within three decades of its founding, Chinatown became known for opium dens, brothels, and gambling. “Coolie houses, ” packed with unskilled laborers newly arrived from other lands, were overcrowded and substandard. 

Today Chinatown is a diverse, somewhat touristy neighborhood with a number of bars and eateries. Let’s take a look.

Thian Hock Keng Temple

Thian Hock Keng, completed in 1842, is the oldest and most important temple of the Hokkien people of Singapore, a subgroup of Chinese people. The shrines and temples of the Hokkien are notable for their tilted sharp eaves, high and slanted top roofs, and finely detailed decorative inlays. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

Ann Siang Hill

Ann Siang Hill is a small neighborhood in Chinatown where Chinese immigrants once came to send money home to their families in China. Letter writers and calligraphers once had businesses in front of the shophouses here. This area was once the home of clan associations and exclusive social clubs. (No photos)

Maxwell Food Center

One of the most popular hawker centers is the Maxwell Food Center. The “must try” dishes here are chicken rice and dim sum.

This is the most famous spot to buy chicken rice

Sri Mariamman Temple

This is the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. It serves the Tamil population, who immigrated to SIngapore from South India.

Smith Street

This small street was once packed with hawker stalls. It was also the red-light district. Now it contains cute shops and restaurants and is enclosed in an arcade.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

We did not go inside this Buddhist temple, which is said to house a relic of the historical Buddha.

Concluding Thoughts:

• Chinatown turned out to be rather multicultural, much like Singapore itself. I was also surprised to learn how much diversity existed within the term “Chinese” - for example, the Hainanese and Hokkienese.
• A series of outdoor murals located throughout Chinatown illustrated various aspects of life during the colonial period and added  depth to the visit because there doesn’t seem to be a museum where you can learn about what daily life was like for the early Chinese immigrants.
• Chinatown reminded me of the original Jewish ghettos in Italy. It was a very small area which was specifically designated for a great number of desperately poor immigrants. It served to keep the newly arrived Chinese laborers away from the neighborhoods of the ruling classes. I wonder if other Chinatowns have a similar origin.

In honor of our guide, Pamela, today’s fabric is Pamela, by serendipity_textiles for Spoonflower.