Tuesday 3 February 2015

Trail to Chinatown Singapore

Hello everyone! Today, we are going to tell you some fun facts about Chinatown Singapore. We are Cherie, Liza, Manita and Sophie.
 


             Here is a map of Chinatown Singapore




Station 1: Duxton Hill


Duxton Road was also popularly known by the Cantonese Jinrickshaw Place (and sometimes Kampong Ah Lai) as there were many rickshaw pullers who parked their vehicles there at the close of day due to the road's proximity to the Jinrickshaw Station. They were once gambling dens, as well as cheap brothels, used to flourish on Duxton Road, and one writer described it as a slum area and a notoriously vice-ridden environment. These places were filled with rickshaw coolies who lived in Duxton Road and Duxton Hill. Such fights made Duxton Hill and Duxton Road a dreaded area. To make matters worse, the slums were home to criminal elements.

Fact: In those days, Duxton Hill was a district infamous for its "vice" activities







Station 2: Maxwell Food Centre

Experience an authentically Singaporean dining experience by having a meal at a food centre here. Located in the heart of Chinatown, Maxwell Road Hawker Centre has over 100 stalls, providing one of the biggest varieties of local food in Singapore. The stalls’ offerings are very varied and you will easily spoilt for choice here.

Some must-try items here at Maxwell Road Hawker Market include the famous Tian Tian Chicken Rice, the traditional congee with pork and century egg from Zhen Zhen Porridge stall and the popular char kway teow from the Marina South Delicious Food stall.

Fun Fact: Maxwell food centre started out as a wet market in the 1950s,then became a food centre in the 1980s.


                      


Station 3: Outside the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980.

Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted.


                    



Station 4: Sri Mariamman Temple

The Sri Mariamman Temple is Singapore's oldest Hindu Temple. Located at 244 South Bridge Road, in the downtown Chinatown district, the temple serves the majority Hindu Singaporeans, Tamilians, in the city. Due to its architectural and historical significance, the temple has been published at National Monument and is a major tourist attraction.





Station 5: Masjid Jamae


This mosque is also known as Chulia Mosque, Maideen Mosque and the Big Mosque among the Tamil Muslim community in Singapore. Together with its neighbour, Sri Mariamman Temple, the mosque stands out in its predominantly Chinese location. Its presence might well have been the inspiration for the name of the street that runs beside it — Mosque Street.



Station 6: Chin Chew Street

At Chin Chew Street, we sat down and took a break before walking back to our bus. Here is some information about Chin Chew Street!


Chin Chew Street is thought to be a loose transliteration or a form of slang referring to the city of Ch'uan-chou in Fujian province. However, it is unknown when and why Chin Chew Street was named so. Being in the vicinity of Cross Street, an Indian enclave, Chin Chew Street began as an Indian residential area in the early 19th century. The road originally consisted of another portion named Upper Chin Chew Street, which extended from South Bridge Road to New Bridge Road.



These are the things to do in Chinatown Singapore in case you would like to visit...




Here is a website which you can check out to find out more about Chinatown!

http://www.chinatown.sg/



Group Reflection: We enjoyed ourselves at this learning journey. We learnt about other races and that even though we were in Chinatown, we realized that we also learned about other cultures other than the Chinese culture. We would like to thank the teachers who organized this learning journey. We would also like to thank our facilitators for teaching us more about Chinatown. We hope to have more of such learning journeys in the future.
Credits to:
  • http://www.thesmartlocal.com/
  • http://www.yoursingapore.com/
  • http://f.tqn.com/
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/
  • https://www.youtube.com/
  • http://p.hb-assets.com/
  • http://24.media.tumblr.com/


Thank you for reading!