Yesterday we visited Chinatown, which is only a short walk from our hotel. However we still managed to stop, half way along, at a cafe in Clark Quay. We thought Chinatown would look much better after a dose of caffeine.
The entry to Chinatown. A giant rooster. The Year of the Rooster, for sure.
We visited Chinatown a few years ago so were prepared for a spruced up looking place. Some of the streets were paved, buildings renovated and repaired and painted bright colours, and roofs over some streets. Plus shop after shop selling tourist tat. Of course we could not resist and bought some of it too.
I look happy after I made my purchases, which are weighing heavily in my bag.
Thank goodness that the powers to be here decided in the early 1980s to save the shops, as most of them were very run down and dilapidated by then. A restoration programme was put into place and most of the area was saved.
We walked past the Hindu temple.
There were also plenty of small restaurants, and food stalls. The streets had clear roofs, which makes eating possible during a monsoon downpour.
The old meeting place was still the same, with clusters of older men playing Mahjong and Draughts. Nothing has changed there.
The Buddhist Temple. We arrived just in time for the daily service. There were queues of people waiting to receive a blessing from one of the monks, and more monks were chanting, with the assistance of a large choir of ordinary people. It was such a privilege to watch the service. And the similarities with a Catholic Mass were quite remarkable.
We remember Chinatown, in the early 1970s, when it was a bustling place, full of small stores selling dried fish, meat hanging from hooks, fruit and vegetables and various other goods, plus small food stalls. And the washing hanging between the upper stories of the buildings. It was crowded with people, a bit grubby but so interesting. We loved visiting Chinatown.
Walter walking along the street, reminicsing, no doubt.
The old flats bave been spruced up too, and painted in pastel colours.
A Chinese medicine shop. Plenty of dried fish there, plus dried lizards.
I was amazed at the number of coaches parked on the edge of Chinatown.
Another temple.
As we walked away from Chinatown we noticed a very smart hotel, the Park Royal, with its shrubs, small trees and flowers decorating the balconies.
We ate lunch in a quiet foodhall, in a small shopping centre which had not opened yet. We both ate a small plate of fried mee, and felt very pleased with our fairly healthy choice. Then we went directly to the cafe, where drank our morning coffee, and ordered an Affogato each. It was so delicious.
A view of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, as we crossed over the Singapore River.
We are definitely going on a diet soon. No ice creams or cakes.
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