Chinatown Lights up with a Bang!

Chinese New Year must be accompanied with lots of noise and certainly, there must be lions and dragons. And so, Chinatown continues with this tradition.

Chinatown with a light touch

Now, if only Chinatown will have such light show on a daily basis. It would add lights, colour and certainly crowd. It was a great idea to show Hotel 81 in a different light. This grand old building was once a school, and then, it was a home to many residents, and now a hotel.

The long queue

Preparing for Chinese Lunar New Year could well mean queues these days. In Chinatown, there is one notable queue that has been going on for years. Established since 1938, the Lim Chee Guan Bak-kwa (BBQ dried meat in Hokkien/Teochew) shop has been the target of the Lunar New Year shoppers.

This morning, barely past 8.30am, and the queues of both side of the two streets were forming, one at the old shop along South Bridge Road, and the other in People's Park Complex. Barely a stone's throw away, the other Bak-kwa shops were still waiting for customers.

According to what I heard from the Bak-kwa lovers, they said that on the survey on the taste of Bak-kwa, Lim Chee Guan's Bak-kwa did not rank amongst the top, but from the queue, it looks like it does. Reminds me of the blind tasting of the caviar, where the reputed to be best and most expensive ones did not come up top. Ah, the taste of people.

I guess, for many, Chinese New Year will not be the same without some Lim Chee Guan Bak-kwa. (^^) And certainly, many would have made their parents-in-law, or potential ones very happy.

Ang Ku Kueh

Ask someone who knows about Ang Ku Kueh (literally translated from Hokkien as Red Tortoise Cake), and what is conjured in his/her mind could be someone's baby has reached one-month old (that's the month old celebrations, and angkukueh is one of the spread of goodies given to relatives and friends who have given gifts - jo gueh lai in Hokkien, meaning, giving something within the one month of the baby's birth), or there's a temple celebrations, where angkukueh is a must, or some celebrations in the home, especially for prayers to the Deities.

Ang means red, Ku means tortoise, and these two are important ingredients of the Chinese tradition, red meaning prosperity and tortoise meaning long life.

Angkukeuh is a rice-flour cake (I think) typically filled with bean paste or chunky groundnuts. They are covered with cooking oil and steamed. The taste would be in the bean paste or the groundnuts. But the texture of the fillings and the flour is important.

In Everton Park, Ji Xiang is probably one of the best, if not the best Angkukueh in town. To me, this is the best angkukueh what I would go all the way to buy. For my two kids' month old celebrations, I buy them to give to relatives and wellwishers.

The way they make the angkukueh in Ji Xiang is still very traditional and laborious. And so when you eat, you are also enjoying the patience and love put in by the an-ums (old aunties). There are other fillings available, such as corn and coconut.

Chinese New Year Rush

If there is anything to look for (or dread), it's the two weeks before the Chinese Lunar New Year. This is the time when most Chinese, and visitors (many Malaysians are also flocking in) would come to Chinatown, to shop, eat or just enjoy the gaiety of the atmosphere.

In the old days, the number of stalls must have exceeded more than the 500 stalls said to be set up this year. In those days, they are in all shapes and sizes, noises and all, and during those days, there were more stalls selling clothes (especially for children) and shoes. Yes, in those days, for most of us, this was the time when we would get to have a new set of clothings, complete with shoes. Our parents would try their best to buy them. We never asked how they got the money, probably through sheer savings or loan. No 13th month then, and bonuses weren't much.

At the risk of being trampled on, we kids would hold our hands tight, one sibling to the other, and the youngest probably with Mum. And we waded through the crowd to get what we wanted and could afford. These days, one does not need Chinese New Year to get new clothes .. and so the thrill is gone.

While the contents might have changed, the atmosphere was still there today. Many traditional things such as red packets, decorations in bright red, kuachi (melon seeds), groundnuts, sweets, pussy willows, kamquats, nian-gao (sweet cake) and mandarin oranges are there. Traditional dried food used for cooking for Chinese New Year, or as gifts for the in-laws and potential ones, such as Chinese sausages, waxed duck, and yunnan ham are on grand display. This year, there are even waxed piglets!

The shopping frenzy will continue unabated right till the Chinese New Year Eve (17 Feb this year), certainly much to the delight of the stall holders of Chinatown. With the various groups in Chinatown organising events, despite many satellite towns having their own Chinese New Year bazaars, Chinatown will still attract.

My only hope is that Niu Che Sui (Bullockcartwater or what we all call Chinatown) will continue to hold dear to the hearts of the Singapore Chinese. Many who have their parents or grandparents who grew up in Chinatown will treasure the memories here, no matter how dirty, crowded or poor it was then. It must strive to stay as it is, was, so as to serve as a living museum for future Singaporeans.

Chinatown Lights up for Chinese New Year of the Pig

Undaunted by the threatening sky and light drizzle, the performers started arriving at Chinatown at 5.30pm today (27 Jan 07). A small crowd had already started to form along the barricades placed along Eu Tong Sen St and New Bridge Rd.

The host of the evening was MP, Dr. Neo, who came dressed in a bright red pant suit, which certainly brightened up the gloomy skies. (^^) It was quite a crowded affair with some 280 lions peforming on the stilts and roads. A special see-through dragon complete with twinkling lights (powered by a mobile generator) was there to greet the VIPs, amongst whom include ambassadors from countries like USA.

The biggest cheer giver must be the Cai Shen (God of Wealth). He (she) was there to give away chocolate gold nuggets and angpows (red packets) much to the delight of the crowd. The crowd also wanted to touch his (her) hand in the hope of getting some wealth rubbed onto them.

At 7pm, the Prime Minister and his wife arrived, to the cheers of the crowd from both sides of the streets. Dressed in a traditional Chinese shirt, he looked relaxed, ready to absorb in the cheers of the evening. A spread of many interesting performances were put up for the VIPs and guests as well as the visitors to Chinatown, including its dwindling residents. Most had to content with the live-broadcast on the screens placed on both sides of the road as the stage was too far away for many.

When PM and Dr. Neo turned the gold coin placed on the stage, it signalled the beginning of the night's show with a dragon fireball the rolled in the air from the former Police Station right through to People's Park Complex. Just as it passed the complex, a big explosion of fire crackers took off .. darkening the entire place, bringing us back to the days of familiar firecrackers smokes and fumes. What nostalgia.

From the word go, it was a one and a half hour of no stop action, dances and performances. If they could make the performance ala Ching Gay, it would be great as the crowd that lined the streets would be able to get a better glimpse. What they could see was the lions and dragons and the float put up by the Tooth Relic Temple. But the performance was great .. the dances of our young people and those from China, all dazzled.

The Zhong Kui dance was great but alas too short and restricted on the stage. The whole entourage going on the streets would have met with great response.

Ah, the "huat ah" shout has taken on from the Chinese temple events to this event. Instead of the long words to greet Chinese New Year, the comperes decided "Huat Ah" - prosperity in Hokkien/Teochew - was easy enough to coax the crowd. And so, it was a tremendous three "Huat Ah" shouts from the crowd. The Cai Shen must be the one as he was the one asking the crowd to shout "Huat Ah" before they could get their gold nuggets.

The grand finale, with PM, Dr. Neo, VIPs and organisers getting on stage to sing the Chinese New Year song, ended with another blast of fire crackers and fireworks. The short but powerful event had the crowd wanting more. Even when the event ended, the crowd was still standing by the barricade, hoping for more.

The next three weeks will be hectic weeks as the Chinese prepare for Chinese New Year. There are some 500 stalls in Chinatown set up to see all the goodies that one needs for the Chinese New Year celebrations, from ingredients for reunion dinner to Chinese New Year gifts (for parents and parents-in-laws, and potential ones) to sweets to entertain Chinese New Year visitors.

Like the fat pig, one hopes for a "fat" new year.

Busking at the "People's" Square

On a typical weekends, the open space surrounded by OG, old People's Park (as we call them), People's Park Complex and Majestic Building, is often filled full of human traffic. Older folks would sit on the concrete surrounding the trees and listen to the other older folks busking. What a wonderful afternoon to while the time away, listening to songs of yesteryears, something the grandchildren or even the children might not enjoy.

On some days, there could be two to three groups of buskers, some accompanied by musicians as in this case, where they play a assortment of musical instruments. Now, if only the story tellers, like those of yesteryears - the famous Cantonese Lei Dai Soh or Hokkien Ong Toh - were there too.

The cobblers carried on their work at the fringe, with their share of audience, some customers and some probably members of their respective chatgroups. To those diners along the row of Toh Kee, it was added entertainment. To the oldies, they might remember the old days when there were singers who would go from table to table to sing. That was in the very old open air People's Park.

If Republic Food Court would create their foodcourts with a touch of the old, maybe, such nostalgic times could be re-created for People's Park and Chinatown. We certainly can enjoy some operas being sung too.

Thong Chai Medical Institution 同济医院

Each time, as I drive past this unique building, a beauty amongst the beasts, I could not help thinking back of the days when its front could not even be seen from the road. In the old days, my young days, there was a big colony of food stalls just in front of the Tong Chek Yi Yii (as spoken in Hokkien, and often, we just called it Tong Chek Yi), selling all the delicious food. At my time, when one mentioned Tong Chek Yi, food came to my mind. Not the free TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) that it was offering to the locals.

From what I heard, the Tong Chek Yi of yesteryears was also a refuge for the dying. Till this day, Tong Chek Yi Yii is still doing a wonderful community service, in a much bigger building, a short distance away, where the kaling (mynah) flies. But this beauty, deserted and left to fan for herself, has lost her soul. She is still crying out for the right one to give her back her soul.

It was in 1978 or thereabout when I brought this German couple, their first trip to Singapore - and we, chik jia kuey chik jia ark (one chicken and one duck), to this place to try local hawker food. I was naive then to believe that because I did not get food poisoning, they would not. Luckily, they did not. We had sugar cane juice freshly crushed but their favourite was pineapple juice. Lo-meh (the Cantonese spread of a wide variety of different food eaten after dipping in sauce, like the Hokkien Gor Hiang Hay Piah) was probably the attraction there with their bright lights, and well, sometimes, colourful speeches from the stallholders.

Tong Chek Yi 'Square' was the "opening" to an interesting part of Singapore, known to the Teochews (this place is the Teochew part of Chinatown) as Cha Chun Tao (the wooden boat quay in Teochew). I remember the wonderful Teochew Raw Fish, a different and lesser known version of Chinese raw fish, being sold at his old kopitiam (coffeeshop). Those interesting scenes of ancient Singapore are but memories. Thanks to this wonderful Singapore watcher, Ronni Pinsler, you can get to see many pictures of this part in the National Heritage Board Archive website.

Electric Trolley Bus

In a recent trip to Shanghai, looking at the electric trolley bus, I couldn't help but reminsced my young days (as a kid) when the STC (Singapore Traction Company) used to run the electric trolley buses in town. It was a noiseless bus that was slow and sometimes caused traffic jams because of problems with the bus. It ran on fixed routes dictated by the overhead electric wires. It had an interesting jerk as it picked up speed. I could only remember the route at Tanjong Pagar Road near to the Craig Road junction, where there was a big mess of wires being stretched across the street.

While Singapore did away with the electric trolley buses, many countries did not. When we looked back, we realised that the electric trolley bus was indeed ahead of time! At least from the pollution point of view. Of course, the messy overhead wires and constant arcing of the wires with the trolleys seemed to cause concern. To my children, it was the first time they were looking at the electric trolley buses and had not ideas that they were once upon a time, a mode of transport in Singapore!

The only regret was we did not get a chance to try the electric trolley bus in Shanghai.

[Pictures of electric trolley bus and overhead wires taken in Shanghai, December, 2006]

WiFi in Chinatown

Come December 1, 2006, we can expect some of our lifestyles to be changed. At least for some. In Chinatown, there could be changes in ways businesses are being conducted. Bloggers could do on-site reporting, complete with cameras, recorders and wifi enabled notebooks. It might not just be kopi with roti-kahwin (Malay of Married Bread, meaning bread with butter and kaya, an egg jam), but with notebook (laptop). Just make sure you don't mix kopi with the keyboard.

Anyone wants to rent our wifi-enabled notebooks to tourists? (^^)

Choose your favourite kopi-tiam, seat under the tree, or in the airy Chinatown Square.

http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/doc/download/I3929/Chinatown.pdf

But of course, you will have to register with wireless@SG first. You can get more details from the IDA website at:

http://www.ida.gov.sg/idaweb/marketing/infopage.jsp?infopagecategory=factsheet:wireless&versionid=2&infopageid=I3928

Thanks to the farsightedness of IDA, somethings very exciting could well be happening.