Tuesday, February 08, 2011

A new look at Chinatown

If you are not aware, go take a look at Chinatown before you reach there physically. Whether you are in Singapore or far away from Singapore, this website is certainly a must to visit when you are planning to visit the Chinatown in Singapore. The Chinatown in Singapore has a more colourful name but I will leave it to you to browse through the website to view and read. And yes, plan your trip too!

Screen captured from the site: http://www.chinatown.sg

Some few years ago, IDA (Infocomm Development Authority) and STB (Singapore Tourism Board) were looking for state-of-the-art ideas and solutions to offer tourists and Singaporeans alike a more fun and handy way of discovering Singapore and bringing back memories. It was more of a proof of concept then, as gadgets were still very much in their infancy stage. PDA with bluetooth to handphones through GPRS to the mobile phone network was the idea. Today, iphone (with its 3G mobile data access and GPS) has taken the world by storm and so, for tourists, it would be fun to plan, record and even look for interesting places to see or eat.

Oh, am I talking about Chinatown and heritage? Yes, today, chinatown.sg has the ideas and services in place. I am sure in the months ahead, more gadgets could be added, be it physical or electronic. Thanks to internet and the repositories like youtube.com, many trigger-happy Singaporeans and tourists have recorded vast footage of Singapore, including Chinatown. And some even converted their 8mm movies into video clips. And so, today, we have Chinatown, yesterday, today, and perhaps, even a glimpse of tomorrow.

Like chinatown.sg be the centre of the (spider) web spinning and connecting all things Chinatown so that what you need you can get here. Just don't go astray. And yes, do leave some of your memories behind, I mean, sharing with us, perhaps, via youtube? or provide the links to your blog or photo repository.

Do I sound like I run the chinatown.sg web? Some friends thought so. (^^). No, I am just a fan. After all, this is my home ... (look for one of the popular songs that you will find sung, especially when Singapore's National Day (quiz - when is it?) is around.