Singapore has one of the oldest Chinatowns in the world.
The area around Pagoda Street has been a hub for the Chinese immigrants in Singapore since 1330.
To this day it has traditional shophouses, but also modern stores and busy street markets.
I sipped my coffee outside the Starbucks on Smith Street, while listening to a beautiful song in a language I will never understand or learn 😢, as the smell of freshly cut durian from a nearby vendor wafted through the air.
The mosque is Masjid Jamae (built in 1820), and the Hindu temple is Sri Mariamman. These are the sources of strange sounds—very, very strange to the Western ear— the calls to prayer from the mosque, and clanging and chants from the inside the Hindu temple.
The last two pictures are is of the main plaza in Chinatown.
I love the public space with the old-timers that are there just to shoot the breeze, or to play a game of checkers.
