Charm of Chinatown

I went down with Dad and Mum to Chinatown today. I used to think that it was tacky to be going to such a place as it is THE place for old foggies. Throughout the years though, I somehow had a pretty regular 'relationship' with this place. Dad would bring me to the Chinatown Food Centre every Sunday for porridge and then he discovered the other porridge stall (Ho Kai Kee/ He Qi Ji) and we went to that other coffee shop for porridge.

After my schooling days, I went down to Chinatown less and I did not eat porridge so regularly but about four, five years ago, Dad introduced me to the porridge stall at Maxwell Road and we started going to Chinatown again. Until we sold the car, that is. Dad was not deterred though. He had all the time in the world and would take a bus down to Chinatown to look for his favourite food stalls.

Today, with public transport so well connected, I am visiting the place again. I witnessed the Chinatown Food Centre being built when all the roadside hawkers were asked to move into hawker centres like these. It was for public health reasons that they shooed them into buildings. It has undergone at least 2 major renovations since.

Today, the Chinatown Food Centre is still a very crowded place. The old and/or mature like my Dad, go there to seek solace in comfort food and reminisce in familiar surroundings; the young go there in search of famous food stalls told to them through websites/blogs/forums/their own parents/their friends; some old bring their young to 'pass down' the tradition in terms of the type of food and the stalls they frequent; the foreigners are also there perhaps due to good marketing by our tourism board.

Sitting there on a rainy Saturday afternoon, near where the escalators are, I could see all these people coming and going. There was a very heartwarming sort of feeling and there is a charm about the whole place that drew me in and made me want to stay there for longer. Alas! The lack of air conditioning also makes me want to up and go, to somewhere more airy.

There is always the first level, where the sundry stalls are located. I used to find the clothes there tacky, but now, it a nice place to find nice clothes at reasonably good prices. There is also the CD store which I used to suspect that it was selling pirated CDs. Turns out that they are parallel imports from China and therefore much cheaper that way.

Till next week, I would just have to be contented with the food and happenings around my area.