There is as you would expect a large population of Chinese living in Singapore and like most countries they tend to congregate in small areas where you can find all sorts of things from the Middle Kingdom, like artwork and furniture, to temples and meeting halls, which have a Chinese flare to them. What most people seek is the authentic Chinese food, in Singapore you will be rewarded with a cornucopia of tastes and your nose will lead you in all sorts of different directions here. They have an interesting mall that has a lot of shop houses but I found the best food was in the little carts that lined the street, careful if you have a hard time with hot stuff, as some this food will light you up like a Christmas tree, if you order it hot.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the Singapore China Town; it was a lot smaller than I thought that it would be, maybe 6 blocks square in total. Singapore sounds like it is a Chinese city much like Hong Kong, what a surprise to find out that it is not. Of all the China Towns that I have been in this was the most antiseptic, which you would kind of expect from Singapore where everything is made nice and orderly all the time. The pleasure of China Towns for most is the riot of colors, smells and maze like quality of the architecture that they all take on, Raffles obviously didn’t want that sort of thing in his city, so it is what it is, small and neat with enough Chinese character to make it stand out a bit from the rest of Singapore. What you still have that are a pleasure to dig around in are the Chinese versions of a pharmacy and the small food stalls, and the curious little shops that sell all sorts of bizarre things that you always wondered where they came from. I suspect that as a Westerner I didn’t get to see all of the interesting places that must lie under the surface, which means that I will need to go back again for more research. I hope to see you there!