If you love observing street architecture, quaint art & all sorts of chinese things from sling bags to ancient statues, then you absolutely must visit Chinatown in Singapore!
Chinatown is on the MRT and I was immediately hit by the profusion of bright color - a true delight to the eye!
Visit the Chinatown Heritage Center, a beautiful museum “chronicling how Chinatown came to be and the privation suffered by early migrants”.
We mainly walked the streets, taking in all the sights, sounds & smells (yes, there were tons of eateries all along the streets) of Chinatown.
We also saw the Sri Mariamman Temple, “Singapore’s oldest and most important Hindu temple and worth a visit for the intricately carved gopuram (statuary above the entrance), which gave adjacent “Pagoda Street” its name”
Lunch was an excellent local meal…lovely!
From Chinatown we headed to Dhoby Ghaut - which wikipedia informs us is a name “reminiscent of the famous Dhobi Ghat of Mumbai, India”. Yes, we know!
Dhoby Ghaut in Singapore actually is a very fancy place that is home to some of the bigger shopping malls like The Atrium and Plaza Singapura (technically both malls are on Orchard Road but are more easily accessed from Dhoby Ghaut MRT than MRT station marked Orchard).
Plaza Singapura is one of the more popular malls in Singapore (though really everywhere there are huge malls) and has retail outlets over seven floors and two basements.
From there it was over to Orchard Road for some more shopping (does it EVER end??!) & a quick bite
And then to Raffles Place and enjoyed the fabulous view that the Singapore River has to offer (see Clarke Quay in the background):
Especially the beautiful Cavenagh Bridge, one of the oldest bridges that spans the Singapore River.
Raffles Place, besides housing the enormous and absolutely breathtaking The Fullerton Hotel (this from someone who practically lives in 5 Star hotels) is the financial heart of Singapore.
Most of the buildings in Raffles Place are so high that even if you tilt your head to the maximum degree you can, you still won’t see the top of it - see my last pic if you don’t believe me!
By the time we got back, it was late and had started raining quite heavily - I didn’t know that it rained so much in Singapore in March but I soon find out that this is common for a tropic like Singapore.
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