Tourist Attractions in the Singapore Chinatown

Singapore is an exciting travel destination at the crossroad of Asia packed with lots of tourist attractions. Located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, Singapore is the smallest country in Southeast Asia. The name Singapore means Lion City. It is a derivation of its Malay name Singapura, which itself is derived from the Sanskrit words simha meaning lion, and pura meaning city. According to folklore, the name came about when the person who first landed on the island, a prince from Sumatra by the name of Sang Nila Utama, saw a beast which he took to be a lion, and hence gave the name Singapura to the island. Sang Nila Utama ruled over Singapura for 48 years, and was buried at Bukit Larangan in present-day Fort Canning Hill.

Today Singapore is a cosmopolitan metropolis where people of different cultures live together. In a country where the population is predominantly Chinese, Singapore nonetheless still have a section called Chinatown. It has been preserved and restored as a tourist attraction, and draws visitors from far and wide looking to experience instant Asia. Yet even in Chinatown, one can still find mosques and Hindu temples as well as churches.

There are many Chinese temples within the Singapore Chinatown. The biggest and one of the oldest is Thian Hock Keng Temple. It was dedicated to the Taoist goddess Ma Cho Po, also called Matsu, the Mother of the Heavenly Sages. Matsu is the patron goddess of sailors, and temples dedicated to her is commonly found where there are new Chinese settlements. Followers pray to her for safe passages across the turbulent waters. This is especially relevant for the early settlers to Singapore, having newly arrived after charting the choppy South China Sea.

The doors into the Thian Hock Keng Temple are embellished with ornate paintings of door gods, the sentinels into Taoist temples. Also seen are tigers and lions. The door gods and beasts are intended to keep evil spirits at bay. The main shrine is dedicated to Matsu, while secondary shrines and pagodas on both sides are dedicated to various immortalized personalities, including Confucious, the Bodhisattva Sangharama, Governor Kai Zheng, Great Generals Da Er Ye Bai, and City Gods. The Thian Hock Keng Temple, like so many architectural masterpieces, are built without a single nail used. The entire structure is supported on iron and wooden posts.

Along the same road as Thian Hock Keng Temple is the Al-Abrar Mosque. Also known as Masjid Al-Abrar, Kuchu Palli and Masjid Chulia, the Al-Abrar Mosque is an Indian Muslim mosque, and one of the oldest mosques in Singapore. The name Kuchu Palli means "hut mosque", due to the mosque's rather modest structure.

Al-Abrar Mosque has been at Telok Ayer Street for a long while, even before the land on the opposite side of Telok Ayer Street was reclaimed. It was here that the Chulias who arrived from the Coromandel coast of South India settled.

There was already a makeshift mosque on the site of the Al-Abrar Mosque as early as 1827. A brick structure was built to replace the hut mosque in around 1850-1855. In 1890, the trustee was granted a 999-year lease on the land. In 1910, five trustees were appointed to the board of the Al-Abrar Mosque. They are the same trustees for the Jamae Mosque and the Nagore Durgha Shrine.

The Al-Abrar Mosque occupies an area equal to the width of three shophouse. Although it follows the alignment of the street, it also manages to face Mecca.

The architecture is Indian-Islamic, reflecting its original owners. There was little change to the appearance of the mosque, with only minor repairs done in the 1950's and mid-1980's. However, in 1986 and 1989, major renovations were carried out that changed the appearance of the mosque as we see it today. Nevertheless, the changes were sensitive to the original style.

Going to the other end of the road from Al-Abrar Mosque, passing the Thian Hock Keng Temple again, we arrive at the Nagore Durgha Shrine. The Nagore Durgha is a shrine to a Muslim saint from southern India, particularly the Chulia people, which are Muslim merchants and moneylenders from South India's Coromandel Coast. It is similar to the Nagore Durgha Shrine in Penang and is also dedicated to the Muslim Saint, Shahul Hamid Durgha. The Nagore Durgha Shrine in Singapore was built around 1828-1830, likely later than the Penang shrine. The architecture blends Classical and Indian Muslim motifs. The Nagore Durgha was built to commemorate the visit of a Muslim holy man.

The land on which the shrine was built was donated by a man by the name of Kaderpillai in 1827, with a rather curious condition attached: that it should not to be used for a building of wood or attap. Hence, the structure was of bricks. The facade consists of two arched windows flank an arched doorway, with columns in between. At the corners are 14-tier minarets. At the time of writing, the Nagore Durgha Shrine is fenced up and awaiting a proper restoration work to be carried out on it.

One of the biggest Hindu temples in Singapore is located in Chinatown. Sri Mariamman Temple at South Bridge Road was founded by Narayana Pillay in 1827, a government clerk who arrived in Singapore from Penang aboard the same ship carried Stamford Raffles. Initially, the Sri Mariamman Temple was only a small attap hut with the small statue of the deity in the main sanctum. Later on, the temple was expanded when an Indian landowner Seshasalam Pillay donated some land to it.

The present temple building was constructed in 1843 by ex-convicts from Madras who happened to be skilled craftsmen. It was dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, who has power to protect against disease and death. The Singapore Sri Mariamman Temple was a place for immigrants from South India to find shelter before they could get permanent living quarters. Being a temple built by the South Indians, the Sri Mariamman Temple was built in the South Indian Dravidian style. The most outstanding feature of the Singapore Sri Mariamman Temple is its ornately decorated tower, or gopuram. Incidentally, Pagoda Street, the road just beside the Sri Mariamman Temple, was erroneously named because the authorities mistook the gopuram for a pagoda!

As we walk through Chinatown, admire the well-preserved shophouses. Note the corridors called Five-Foot Ways. These were created to keep pedestrians out of the elements. According to popular belief, Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore provided the idea to create such corridors. Today they are enjoyed by tourists and locals as another element that makes Singapore a fascinating destination.

Timothy Tye explores and documents the tourist attractions of the world in EarthDocumentary, http://www.earthdocumentary.com. To know more about Singapore, go to: http://www.earthdocumentary.com/singapore_travel_guide.htm