Chinatown

After visiting Kampong Glam, I went to Chinatown which was short a short ride away.  Like Little India and Kampong Glam, Chinatown is filled with restored shop houses comprising of shops and eateries which are bustling with activity – though slightly less when I went due to Spring Festival.  This was my final sightseeing day in Singapore and I had already been too Little India and Kampong Glam and I still had more to see in different areas of Singapore, so I really wanted to see two things in Chinatown and be on my way and both of them were temples located fairly close to one another on the same street.

The first temple I spent a few minutes visiting was Sri Mariamman Temple which I read is Singapore’s oldest and most important Hindu temple and worth a visit for the intricately carved gopuram (statuary above the entrance).  The Temple was built in 1827.

As some of the pics below suggest, just down the road is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.  Also as you can see, this temple slightly towers above the shop houses of southern Chinatown.  This five-story temple was completed only in 2007.  The main hall hosts a 27-foot statue of Maitreya Buddha, and the scared relic itself, reputedly one of Buddha Shakyamuni's teeth, can be found on the fourth floor – which I did not see; wasn’t sure I was allowed to go to multiple floors.  This is a Tang Dynasty-inspired temple complex.  I read – afterwards, of course – that vegetarian fare is served in the basement but I didn’t know that at the time.  I bought two small gifts for M & J (myself as well – didn’t think D would care at all) at this temple which I hope you will like when I get home.  Both temples were free.

 

Now that I had seen Chinatown, Kampong Glam, and Little India; I had visited all three of Singapore’s ethnic enclaves.  Next, I waited for about 25 minutes in the heat (it was around 90 degrees) for the next open-top tourist bus and headed back to the area where River Hongbao (a previous post) was to take some pics high above the city…