Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Outside in the cour tyard ar e statues of the w edding of Lor d M uruga; his br other,
Ganesh; another brother, Vishnu; and their father, Shiva; along with Brahma, the creator
of all.
Used daily for worship , the temple is also the culmination point of Thaipusam, a
celebration of thanks (see chapter 3). You may also hear this temple called Chettiar
's
Hindu Temple or the Tank Road Temple.
15 Tank Rd., close to the intersection of Clemenceau Ave. and River Valley Rd.
&
65/6737-9393.
Daily
8am-noon and 5:30-8pm. Free admission. 20-min. walk from Clarke Quay MRT.
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CHINATOWN & TANJONG PAGAR
When the first Chinese junk landed in S ingapore sometime ar ound 1821, the sailors
aboard rushed to the shor e and prayed to Ma Cho Po, the Goddess of Heavenly Sages,
for bringing them safely to their destination. Small shrines were built on the shore, which
became the first stops for all Chinese sailors as they landed—many of these shrines still
exist today.
The Chinese and other mer chants set up war ehouses along the w estern bank of the
Singapore Riv er, and business offices, r esidences, clan associations, and coolie houses
filled the ar ea behind Boat Q uay. In 1822, when Raffles dev eloped his Town Plan, he
reserved this area for the Chinese to liv e.
As y ou tour Chinato wn, y ou may be surprised to see a H indu Temple and ev en a
couple of Indian mosques. Although the area was predominantly Chinese, many Hindus
and Muslims settled here, drawn by commerce.
For a long time, Chinatown remained basically as it always had, but the past 15 y ears
have seen major changes by the Urban Redevelopment Authority, with schemes to reno-
vate and pr eserve historic buildings and to clean up the str eets. U nfortunately after
shophouses were lovingly restored, the old calligraphers, cobblers, kite-makers, for tune-
tellers, and other craftspeople who 'd inhabited them could no longer affor d the r ents.
Sadly, many of these beautiful str eets are now lined with souvenir shops.
Al-Abrar Mosque
This mosque, also called M asjid Chulia after the Chulias, the
group of Indian moneylender immigrants who funded its constr uction (
masjid
is Malay
for mosque), was originally er ected as a thatched building in 1827, thus its Tamil name
Kuchu Palli, which means “hut mosque.” The building that stands today was built in the
1850s, and ev en though it faces M ecca, the complex conforms with the grid of the
neighborhood's city streets. It was designated a national monument in 1974, and in the
late 1980s, the mosque under went major r enovations that enlarged the mihrab and
stripped away some of the ornamental qualities of the columns in the building. The one-
story prayer hall was extended up ward into a two-stor y galler y. Little touches like the
timber window panels and fanlight windows have been carried over into the new renova-
tions.
192 Telok A yer St., near the c orner of Telok A yer St. and Amo y St., near Thian Hock Keng Temple.
&
65/6220-6306.
Free admission. 15-min. walk from either Raffles Place or Tanjong Pagar MRT.
Chinatown Heritage Centre
This block of three old shophouses in the center
of the Chinatown heritage district has been conv erted into a display that tells the stor y
of the Chinese immigrants who came to S ingapore to find work in the early days of the
colony. Walk through rooms filled with period antiques replicating coolie living quarters,
shops, clan association houses, and other places that w
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ere pr ominent in daily life. I t
