Kampung Gelam exploration

This is a really late entry. Had wanted to do this during the week, but the week was really madness..

I always found Arab Street area a fascinating place. I remembered that there was once I ventured to the area to find some trinkets for some presents..Cos the concourse area and Textile Center were perfect pleasure for handicraft gems (that felt like eons ago when I still had the energy to be creative :/)

Anyway, the facination with the area was rekindled when I read a feature about the place - food, indie shops in some articles some months back. But never had the opportunity to explore (no time..sigh).

阴差阳错，landed in the area cos some work related stuff. And that was I found myself spending one whole day at the Malay Heritage Center.

Used to be sultan's residence during the British Colonial times, it stands to be an iconic place in the area which was teeming with rich Malay influence and culture.




It looks nice at night..but the purpose of going at night wasn't that pleasureable :(







And its splendour in the glorious morning sun
- although the purpose of catching it so early in the morning wasn't something that I would want to do as well :((






So it was to work.

In the afternoon, it seemed that I had a chance to run out and explore a bit..which was what I did :p


Of course, closeby is the Masjid Sultan, just beside the Malay Heritage Center.

It really looks very majestic and grand.

The area, known as Kampung Gelam in the olden days was designed area for the Malay community then, but it was supposedly an area flourished with traders from different continents (which reminded me of the history lessons I took in sec sch..). I can only imagine the Chinese,Javanese, Arabs, Indians and all other early pioneers mingling in the bustling area amongst the shophouses.

And also imagine how the skyline has changed since then.

I actually also explored other small streets, including those eateries along Kandanhar Road and others, but realised the photos I took didn;t do them justice..darn. But I would really like to pop by one of the cafe that I saw one of these days, cos it struck me as a good enclave from the city buzz.

So that ended my short exploration.

And rewarded myself with M&Ms for the rest of the afternoon :)