More walking about Chinatown area

Manna Korean Restaurant
at 101 Telok Ayer Street
Tel: 62277 425

After the Red Clogs Down the Five-Foot-Way ™ tour, I have the pleasure to meet my friend, Mystic, for lunch. She has been telling me about a Korean restaurant in Chinatown area, and it was only on 27 Nov 2007 that I have the opportunity to check it out. Mystic brought me to 101 Telok Ayer Street, which was pretty nearby the Thian Hock Kheng Temple that I visited earlier that day.

It is fairly value-for-money to have lunch at this Manna Korean Restaurant. For about $10 (inclusive of GST and service charge), one could have a barbeque-chicken set that comes with side-dishes, soup and rice. The side-dishes were quite interesting, there was choice of tofu, kimchi, pickles, beansprouts and more. Of course, food is secondary. Being able to have the lunch-time free to have lunch with a friend is a greater pleasure.

After the lunch, Mystic headed for work. I continued walking about Chinatown. Admittedly, by the late afternoon, my feet were urging me to stop. However, my mind was set to explore Chinatown. Little wonder that my feet protested by aching quite a bit that day.

Anyway, I recommend that anyone who is interested to tour Chinatown could visit the Singapore City Gallery which is just within Chinatown area, nearby the Maxwell Food Centre.

At the Singapore City Gallery, I could find a large architectural model that gives visitor a bird eye view of Singapore's city centre. There are touchscreen interactives at the gallery for visitors to learn more about various parts of the city centre. I took time to learn more about Kampong Glam and Chinatown. It was enriching.

I took a photo of part of the Central Area Model that was exhibited in the Singapore City Gallery. The models showed part of the places that I had been to earlier that day during the Red Clogs Down the Five-Foot-Way ™ tour.



Visitor's information to the Singapore City Gallery can be found here: http://www.museums.com.sg/MRM_sgcity.asp

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After visiting the Singapore City Gallery, I went on to walk about various other parts of Chinatown. Do you happen to know what the building below is known as?




Yes, if you have spotted the clue, the building above is known as the Former Jinricksha Station. At the time when it was completed, its exposed brickwork facade was considered an unusual feature at that time. Originally invented in Japan, jinricksha (also known as rickshaw) was introduced to Singapore from Shanghai around 1880s.

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Here are more of what I saw on my journey about Chinatown.

Smith Street.

The backlanes.

Sri Mariamman Temple.
Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, founded by Naraina Pillai.

South Bridge Road.

Jamae Mosque.
This building is an eclectic mix of Chinese, Anglo-Indian and Malay architecture.

36 Smith Street. Former Lai Chun Yuen.

70 Amoy Street.
This shophouse previously housed the Anglo-Chinese School, which was established in 1886.

Nagore Durgha Shrine. 140 Telok Ayer Street.

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Smith Street at night.

It seemed like meeting up with good friends was one of the greatest blessings of that day. In the afternoon, I had met up with Mystic for a lovely lunch. That evening, I met up with XS for dinner, a few days before she left for overseas. Many thanks to XS for her treat to satays.

Last but not the least, if you have enjoyed the photos of Chinatown that I have posted on this post, you may wish to consider making some time to tour Chinatown too.

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References:

- Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore. (2001). URA Gallery City Walk: Chinatown Historic District.
- G. Byrne Bracken. (2004).A Walking Tour: Singapore. Singapore: Times Editions.
- National Heritage Board. (Oct 2006). Discover Singapore: Heritage Trails.