Chinatown (Pagoda Street, Sri Mariamman Temple), Little India, Raffles Hotel (Raffles The Bar), Arab Street, Buggis Street, Swissstel the Stanford (the highest building in the middle of the city where you can see the night view of Singapore), Boat Quay, Timbre.
In the United States, almost every major city has Chinatown. LA has one, NY has one, DC has one, and even Boston has one. Actually, even in Korea there is a small Chinatown at Incheon, one of the closest city from China. And even in Montreal, Canada too! Chinatown is something symbolic that seems to be in every country. Still, Chinatown in Singapore is in a way same and yet different. First, though you see many of the familiar red decorations and messy scattered stores, this one is very very big. I remember going to the DC one. The big Chinese traditional entrance door already excited me that I might be able to see something big. It was less than twenty minutes that I learned that the big door was all that this Chinatown could show. However, this one was different. Although Singapore has four different ethnic group mixed together, the largest percent is Chinese Singaporeans. That is why there part of Chinatown has evolved out to such a big place. Still there seemed to be mostly food places or shops. Would have been nicer to see some historical places explaining this place. Maybe history hasn't been that long to share that bit.
Ok, I said I went to Little India this very same day. And I think this was in Little India. But there is a reason why I am pondering. Because I saw a huge Hinduist temple at both Chinatown and Little India! No Kidding. The only difference was that in Chinatown there were more Chinese people outside, and a bit smaller temple. Also more people were dressed up in traditional clothes in the Little India one. Standing there, I felt like I was in India. (If you haven't realized, one of the third largest ethnic population in Singapore are Indians. Its not a rare fact.)
Due to the limited land space in Singapore, most of the traditional sites are quickly taken down and often replaced with new towering buildings. Even though their history itself is not the longest in the world, it is still important to preserve some places. Well, if you would want to taste the old colonial atmosphere of Singapore, this is one place you can check out: Raffles Hotel. Established as an hotel since 1887, it carries a bit of history. The white coloum building is easily distinguishable for it catches most foreigners eye with gleam. Our taxi driver, however, criticized that it has now become too touristy, but I still have to agree to most foreign tour books that this is a must visit spot. Even if your not going to eat or shop, just walking along the corners and observing... I think I could understand a bit how these wealthy British people lived during the colonial age.
Ever since I got here, everyone has mentioned about this night view of Singapore. As if you would go to Prudential tower in Boston, in Singapore you go to the Swissstel the Stanford Hotel. This is only a glimpse, but "wow" was all I could say as I stared in front of those tall tall window. I couldn't be more dazzled, as I quietly listened to my favorite song played at the restaurant. Pretty night light.
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