Chinatown is a staple all over the world, even in Singapore, where most of the population and culture is at least part Chinese. And if Singapore is already pretty China-esque to begin with, you can probably guess that it’s like any other Chinatown – on steroids.
Singapore’s Chinatown is a rich cultural area full of hawker centers (food court-like areas with all different types of food; reportedly some of the best bang for your buck in Singapore – see pics below), shops with everything you can imagine from souveniers to the best quality teas, weird toys (check out my Gadling article Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys – Chinatown, Singapore), tons of people and the landmark above: Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.
My tour guide Danny told me that long, long ago, a tooth believed to have belonged to Buddha was found, and Buddhist Singaporeans swore to build a whole temple around it if they could have it. True to their promise, the erected the beautiful structure above and worshipped there for many years. The tooth was kept locked away in the temple and only seen twice per year. Eventually, a doctor of some kind was granted access to study it, discovering that not only was it not the Buddha’s, it wasn’t even human! So, what did the Singaporeans do?
They kept on worshipping it anyway. And they still do. It’s tradition – according to Danny.
And now for some exciting photos of Chinatown! I happened to visit at the end of the Hungry Ghost Festival (all the ghosts are now back in Hell), which is also the first day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. There were mooncakes in abundance and lots of celebrating all over the bazaars and squares.
Happy Fried Banana Man at the hawker center
His fried bananas
A hawker center
Chinatown
Preparations for a Hungry Ghost Festival celebration
Poker face
Man in crocs
Obama! And palmistry.