Murals in Chinatown

Looking for activities to do this holiday or down for a trip to Chinatown to get some mooncakes? Probably you may want to take a ride down to these areas to look for murals. Other places that has interesting murals include Tiong Bahru, Queenstown, underpasses and some buildings along Singapore River.

Amoy Street- Chinese junk  remembering the Chinese pioneers who came all the way from China

Under the Chinese junks were murals of endless holes or doors in my opinion

I was passing Chinatown Square to meet my family for dinner and so these pretty murals. These are just some of them.
For more images, you can view here or go down personally yourself.

Murals at Kreta Ayer houses many of my favorites!

Practicing Taiji

Little Guilin leading all the way to the community centre

Little One wondering along

This has to be my favorite corner

These windows look real too!

A very Chinese looking house

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Blast from the Past #3 - The Forgotten Well of Chinatown

Do you know of a water well that is preserved in Chinatown? If you don't, probably it is truly forgotten. Well, I don't. This is at the foot of Ann Siang Hill Park. It is located pretty near to the backlane of a row of shophouses. It is believe to be a century old.

 

This scene was common during the olden days/

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Explore the Back Lane of Chinatown - Duxton Plain Park

We went exploring this part of the Duxton Plain Park because I learnt a keramat is located here. There are 2 parts of the park. This area is located between 2 rows of shop houses, further from the Pinnacle @ Duxton.

From the back view, this looked more residential than any thing else. Who would have guess this are shophouses if I don't say so

This set of houses looked almost the same as above. Wonder what is the use of  the "ladder- like" structure.

I particularly love this door for some reasons.

 As we were admiring the houses, we saw these...

CHICKENS!

This is the first time we saw a brood of family chicken, (The rooster is pretty "camera shy". I only managed to capture him in one shot.) We saw before roosters and hens in other areas of urban Singapore but it is the first time we saw chicks running around wild.

Probably, it is the hen who look after the chicks in this family.

Little One following the chickens around. She had been instructed not to chase them

As we walked further, we saw the keramat. It is said to be the keramat of Sharifah Rogayah (the grand-daughter of Habib Noh). The existence of her keramat was said to have been revealed to a young boy in his dream, where Habib Noh appeared and told him to look for his grand-daughter. The boy traced the dream to this location and has been looking after the shrine since then.

Love the winding stairs and the duo colours of the blocks

Backlane 

Lovely panels and a sculpture of a horse

A big piece of fungi too but I can't identify it.

The back of Kong Chow Association Singapore
I love the red windows against the white walls.

In the past, shophouses were built back to back, night soil buckets (there were no flush toilets then) had to be carried from the back of the house through the hall to the front of the shophouses. Imagine how unhygienic it was then, so under the back lane order, the back lanes were constructed so as to facilitate the collection of night soil as well as to create a more hygienic environment.

Now that we have flush toilets, it is even more hygienic. Although, we do not get to see the night soil man any more but walking in the backlane such as this has unexpected surprises as above. I wonder whether other back lanes are just as fun.

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Chinatown by Day

This year is the year of the Goat/ Sheep / Ram according to Lunar Calendar. This is taken in Asian Civilization Museum

Today's New Year Eve, if you were to go down to Chinatown today, it is very likely to be overwhelmingly crowded. Goodies are likely to be cheaper today as the vendors try to clear stock. There will also be a countdown celebration at Chinatown tonight. 

Below series of photo is taken in Chinatown last week during a weekday. As you can see, there was already quite a crowd forming.

Lanterns with wishes written in Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

Traditionally, Chinese love to hang lanterns at the door way. These red lanterns are so awesome!

Firecracker was used  to scare away the ferocious beast, Nian  Hence, the tradition of burning firecrackers during Chinese New Year. However, this practice is banned in Singapore. The firecracker you see here is for decorative purpose with the words 招财进宝 (used to wish for good luck in business) inscripted

Spot the rams!

The God of Fortune

Pussy willow is  one plant that Chinese like to buy during Chinese new year for decoration. It is decorated the same way as Christmas tree. Chinese ornaments will be hanged on the branches.

The other popular plant is Plum Blossom

Chinese ornaments such as these can be hang on the plants. 

Waxed Meat and Chinese sausages. Chinese Sausages only appear on our dining table during Chinese New Year although it is available all year round.

Chinese declaration and well-wishing banner are spotted outside Sri Mariamman Hindu Temple. Similarly, a banner is spotted outside Masjid Jamae Chulia, a Tamil Muslim Mosque. I simply love the racial harmony in Singapore

Light- Up of Chinese New Year Decoration @ Chinatown

We will be ushering in the Year of the Goat in less than a month! For those of you who may not know, the Chinese zodiac is a repeating cycle of 12 years. Each year is represented by an animal. The 12 zodiac animals are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. How's your New Year preparation? I still have loads to do!

Wishing tree

This year is the year of the Goat

Chinatown is always very crowded on its official Light-Up and Opening Ceremony and  Chinese New Year Eve. We spotted Lion Dance troupe. It seemed that they were waiting for their turn to perform. We left after waiting for a while.

I particularly love the neon lights of this building

Festive Street Bazaar. Basically, you can find Chinese goodies, plants and decorations in this place. 

Various ornamental plants that have auspicious meaning are being sold here

Notice it's RED, RED and more RED everywhere? This is Chinese auspicious colour.

After walking through the crowd for an hour, we decide to leave but not without my favorite almond biscuits from Koi Kei Bakery.

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