Singapore's Other Ethnic Areas.
Little India and Little China Join Arab Street and Gaylang.
An hour or two to spare? The ethnic neighbourhoods of Singapore will make a change from Mall shopping. Little India and Little China offer colour and smells to delight.
In a former article, mention was made of Arab Street and Geylang as ethnic places of interest in Singapore. Here are two more.
Over 75% of Singapore’s population is Chineseand this is, by default, the largest ethnic neighbourhood and the place where you’ll get the best Chinese food in the world!
The area, west of the looming skyscrapers of the Financial District was established by Sir Stamford Raffles (after whom Raffles Hotel is named). who encouraged segregated settlements.
The area, unfortunately, was “developed” in a rush to modernise Singapore some 30 years ago and sadly, the picturesque old neighbourhood was replaced by ugly shopping centres and grim office blocks. However, a recent burst of restoration has re-instated some 19th-century shophouses, although these two-storey buildings, which traditionally had a shop on the ground floor and lodgings upstairs, now house trendy bars and restaurants. Nevertheless, it is keeping the area alive.
Take a stroll down Mosque Street to get a glimpse of Sri Mariamman, Singapore’s oldest Hindu Temple. The huge Thian Hock Keng Temple, between Telok Ayer and Amoy Streets, is also spectacular. Don’t be afraid to venture into the side-streets to see the open-air barbershops, hotels of dubious repute and coffeehouses that have been serving Singaporeans for generations. It’s a fun place to spend an hour or two.
Although Indians make up less than 10% of the population of the Lion City, they have been in Singapore for 150 years, since the days when the British East India Company managed the Island. They came to farm the fertile land along the Rochor Canal, as administrators, teachers and manual labourers. Now their ancestors run this Indian enclave which today is brimming with restaurants, goldsmith shops, tailors and spice stores.
It could only be Indian. The incense, saris, Indian pop music and curry houses make this stretch between Rochor Canal and Lavender Street (north of the Colonial District) a remarkable reproduction of street life in Chennai.
Serangoon Road should be your starting point on a walking tour, from where you head north. At the corner with Buffalo Road stands the Zhujiao Centre, home of an interesting market where fresh meat (containing an alarming number of goat heads), produce, seafood is on display. Continue up to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali.
If you don’t like noise, it may be advisable to avoid the weekends, as this is the time when Indians working and living in Singapore – and Indian visitors to the island – come to unwind. It could be considered rowdy, but it is also generally safe to wander around.
