Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Singapore's C stands for Chinatown Heritage Centre

initially wanted to treat Angela to the high tea on Cheng Ho Chinese junk boat as her birthday treat but as there were less than the minimum of 15 people who had signed up for it, the trip was cancelled and all the other confirmed trip options thus far weren't suitable....  =S .... but if any of you are interested to make a reservation, you can do it through the watertours website or at 65339811




so decided to explore Chinatown instead, the alternative letter 'C' of Singapore.... which i thought was not too bad too as i could 顺便 exchange for NT$ for the trip to taiwan next week (yippy ya yo).... according to travel forums, the exchange rate at chinatown 可是顶呱呱的哦... =D... 

realised that the money changers at chinatown do not display their rates so i just queued at the one with the longest queue.... 


~Crante exchange~

and got the rate to be NT$23.2 for S$1... slightly better than the previous trip in  june 2012 at NT$23.1 but was much much lower than 2-3 weeks ago at 23.7.... =S


lala and I lunched at The Loft Cafe, a cafe off Smith street, 5 minutes walk from Chinatown train station 







 The birthday girl had rosemary chicken





while i had beer batter fish & chips 



wanted to visit the sri mariamman templethe oldest hindu temple in Singapore and a Singapore monument, which was nearby but it would only be opened to visitors after 530pm... =( 

so we visited the Chinatown Heritage Centre instead... entrance free of $10 each...  it showcases the living condition of the original tenants in Chinatown of long long ago....

our luck must had been pretty "awesome" to visit the place on a day that the air-con system was down.... =S .... could truly experience even the temperature that the tenants felt in their teeny weeny cubicle bedrooms...  



I am indeed unique.... why leh???? cos both 蔡 and 洪 are not within the common surnames..... wahahahaha..... =D



 woah... new business idea for next year new year... =P 




room of a family who was preparing for the baby's first month 


the shared kitchen


the shared toilet with the hole that one squats over and the poo bucket next to it



 room of a samsui woman


familiar sight..... the baby hammock (yao lan) which alfred, angela and alvin slept in when they were minis..... heee..... and the baby chair cum adult stool which i used to sit in to have my meals when i was puny too.... 

din take much photos as it was my second trip here....wasn't feeling woah enough to be snapping at every corner .... 

 the first visit was back in 2002/3 with vivian, xinying and a yantao ang mo guy who was on exchange at ntu and who did an assignment with us..... 

a little disappointing for a second trip because there aren't any/much changes since 10 years ago ... =S 

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ending my style of celebration, as she coined it, with a box of macaroons from Canele for her


Happi Hatchday to 我的小妹... =) 




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other posts in the Singapore's A to Z blog challenge series:

X stands for ?????

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