Kampong Glam: My First Times...

Almost everything about Singapore's Kampong Glam has been hashed and rehashed in travel guidebooks. They do a better job at explaining the history behind each monument.

But I thought I'd show you a personal side to the area.

View Kampong Glam: My First Times... in a larger map

Namely, my first times in Kampong Glam -- from when I first inhaled the flavoured Shisha tobacco to spa pamperings and a case of dark Bak Kut Teh (Klang style obviously).

Whenever possible I tried to recreate the same situations in my photos, but time has bulldozed and changed many places and memories. But the facts still remain: these are my first times, and no one can take them away from me.

Feel free to use the photos, but please give me credit (Edwin Tam) and link back to my Twitter account @skybe077.

Notes: Crank Arm Steady and Klang-styled Bak Kut Teh belong to their owners: Crank Arm Steady & Justeatla.blogspot.com. This map and longer writeups appeared in CNNGo's article on Kampong Glam.

福: A Chinatown Walking Tour

Chinese New Year -- three days of food, drink, gambling, relatives, and ang paos (red packets filled with money) for luck, fortune, and good health. All the good stuff that we’ll ever need to tide us over the next 365 days.

Chinatown during Chinese New Year (src: Chinatown Album on Imageshack)

In recognition of its significance to ethnic Chinese, I’ve created a walking tour for Chinatown based on the Chinese character 福, which means fortune, to bring prosperity to the walker.

It’s kitschy, a little silly, and a little hard to get around. But I think it’s a tour that’s that out of the norm and shows another side of Chinatown that you might not have seen at all.

As usual it’s free to use the map. If you do use or embed it elsewhere, please leave a comment on my blog and link back to this post. I’ll also be very happy if you could link to my Twitter account @ http://twitter.com/skybe077 as well. :D 

Street scenes from up high (src: Chinatown Album on Imageshack)

Oh yes, the how-to part of the walking tour.

Caveat: I drew the character through buildings and blithely disregarded how I’d follow the lines. So if you’re following the walking tour, try to walk through stone. Failing so, I’d recommend going around the buildings.

Start point: Outram Park MRT, Tat Hong Exit
Exit point: Chang Jiang Porridge
Instructions: Follow the blue line whenever possible. I’ve marked out detour routes in red. You can follow the tour in sequential order from 1 to 13, or just make up your own sequence.

View Chinatown - A Walking Tour in a larger map

Little India: Turn right, turn left

It's not your standard walking tour for Singapore's Little India -- that area of unmitigated mess of spices, Bollywood music, liquor shops, jaywalking Indians and Briyani.

I took a page from The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel by Rachael Antony and Joël Henry, and alternated between left and right turns at every junction.

My journey is documented in my walking guide to Little India for CNNGo. At the same time, I did up a Google Map of Little India walking trail that was used in the article.

I’ve embedded the map below. Please feel free to use it. Just remember to link back to my blog. Thanks!

See Little India - A walking tour in a larger map

Instructions

1. Pick a start point
2. Walk straight until you come to a junction
3. Turn left or right
4. Take a photo & note what’s happening
5. Walk until you come to another junction
6. Turn in the opposite direction of the previous turn
7. Take a photo & note what’s happening
8. Repeat 2. to 7. until you reach a dead end