Up Your Alley: Geylang - supper central, buzzing with kampung spirit
SINGAPORE: Geylang - habitation to Singapore's red-light district, has much more to offering than nightlife, those who live and piece of work hither were quick to tell me.
"Geylang is a neighbourhood that is very misunderstood, but there'southward too a certain entreatment because of how information technology's shrouded in this deject of danger and mystery," said Cai Yinzhou, founder of Citizen Adventures, a small business concern that provides tours effectually the area.
The 31-year-old said Geylang wasn't condom back when he was growing up, recalling instances when he had to become to his sisters' aid or accompany them home from the train station if they were returning late.
Merely things take changed over time.
BACK ALLEY BARBERS: Cut Away BARRIERS
You might accept heard of the Geylang Adventures tours which Yinzhou runs, but did you know he is also the founder of a social initiative to assistance migrant workers get haircuts?
"At that place are so many people hither that are misunderstood (here) ... like migrant workers, sexual activity workers and these are the marginalised in society," he said.
"People are curious to know ... about their lives, but don't actually become a take chances to interact or understand them," he added.
He recounted how he used to play badminton with a group of migrant workers behind his house, for example. When he found out ane of the workers couldn't afford to pay for haircuts because of his father's increasing medical bills, Yinzhou decided to teach himself how to cut hair via YouTube tutorials.
This kickstarted the Dorsum Alley Barbers initiative, which started off at Lorong 24A about Yinzhou's home in 2014. With just chairs and clippers, Yinzhou and a team of volunteer barbers before long offered haircuts to those who needed them – from cardboard collectors to migrant workers.
It wasn't just nigh giving haircuts, though. Yinzhou described it as similar to a hospital triage zone where their chats would allow the volunteers to better direct those in need of aid to the right places.
For case, those in demand of legal help would be introduced to Transient Workers Count two while those in need of medical aid would be directed to HealthServe.
This item initiative might have been put on concur because of the COVID-xix pandemic, but Yinzhou and his team of about eighty volunteers are continuing to offer their grooming services to migrant workers at their dormitories and wherever there's a demand.
ENG TIANG HUAT: STEPPING INTO THE Past
A stone'southward throw away from the Back Alley Barbers is a store described past visitors as a "living museum" with its memorabilia dating dorsum a century.
Chinese cultural store Eng Tiang Huat sits serenely at Geylang Lorong 24A, removed from the din of the main thoroughfare, every bit part of a row of shophouses existence conserved past local authorities for its historical value.
Eng Tiang Huat, started by Jeffrey'south grandfather, used to sell items used in Chinese opera - besides known as wayang - such as hats, whiskers and other props.Today, the third-generation owner describes this every bit a "vanishing merchandise" but he's adamant to keep it, and his granddad'south proper noun, live.
The shop is filled with a myriad of curios and gems from the past such as a typewriter, an abacus, as well as Chinese string instruments like the guzheng and erhu. A trusty Singer sewing machine dating back to 1937 is yet whirring and sometimes used by Jeffrey to restore sometime tapestries.
And he thinks keeping shops like his is important for preserving a slice of Singapore'southward past.
"This (lorong) is very cornball … if all these are gone, then Geylang is non different anymore and it will be another Chinatown," said Jeffrey. "Chinatown is no more than - it'due south just a name. Information technology's no more that kind of quondam, traditional Chinatown. Information technology'southward a tourist theme park.
"But Geylang, no, here y'all still accept these pockets of (heritage)."
He is also corking on dispelling the notion that Geylang is known mostly for the red-lite-district.
"First thing when you mention Geylang, people volition say, 'Oh Geylang the ruddy-low-cal-district!' Simply no! The ruby-light commune is but but a small portion of it," he said.
Currently, the visitors to his store include interest groups, those passionate nearly arts and culture, researchers, students, professors, photographers and videographers. In that location have even been tourists who travelled to Singapore only to visit his store, he said.
"It becomes a happy feeling when people come up in – whether you are buying or non buying – but you lot (detect) something. Not necessarily through my products, but fifty-fifty through the onetime documents."
Asked about the oldest items he owns, Jeffrey drew out documents dating back to the 1930s. These include entry permits, title deeds of the store, and agreements etched on fragile pieces of rice newspaper - all lovingly preserved by him. And they aren't for sale.
"Some collectors, they know what I have and they come up back to me. They offer me a very good price (but) I yet hang on," he said. "All the documents, the messages, all these things. It'due south a family matter ... I just want to concur on to my grandfather'southward name."
He added: "Geylang is about memories … People like me who still retrieve things must come out and share and tell people these are the authentic things."
GEYLANG SERAI MARKET: NEW FACES, OLD KAMPUNG SPIRIT
Geylang Serai Market is not new to many Singaporeans, but have you wondered what it ways? Serai is actually the Malay give-and-take for lemongrass - a scent that was one time ubiquitous in the area in the 1840s because it was a greenbacks crop for the Malays who settled in that location. A lemongrass factory named Kilang Serai eventually gave rising to the proper noun Geylang Serai, according to Roots.gov.sg.
We braved the buzzing market days before the first of Ramadan, and amidthe bounding main of faces, a few stall owners stood out for their relative youth among the more seasoned fishmongers, butchers and other hawkers.
Information technology appears a new generation is preparing to take over from their parents' businesses at the marketplace, prompted in part by COVID-19 and other circumstances.
Have for example Alfred Goh, who's playing a bigger role in his family's seafood business these days. The 32-year-quondam, who now helps out at the stall while being a debates coach, recalled how fresh seafood was being thrown away daily - sometimes up to 100kg - during the lockdown period because people weren't buying.
"This is quite a significant fiscal loss and also it'southward a waste of food, so that was very upsetting for me. So what I did was I took a photo and posted it on Facebook and shared it among my social circumvolve (saying) this is the situation … we are throwing away shellfish; if anybody wants shellfish I can arrange," said Alfred.
"Overnight the post was shared thousands of times. It went viral; I was getting hundreds of letters because it was getting shared," he added.
This prompted him to rethink how the business is run and the setting up of Guang's Fresh Mart online. But despite the online presence, the offline marketplace remains special to Alfred.
"Whatever is left of the kampung spirit survived in this marketplace. Everyone is friendly … (and) there is a real sense of solidarity," he said, pointing out that while there volition be friendly rivalry, the stallowners would rally to help one another when in trouble.
Alfred added: "It feels like home and I feel that's part of the reason a lot of these stallholders, even in their 60s and 70s, they still get to the market place … it's a sense of customs that you lot cannot get elsewhere."
Mohamed Shahid Mohamed Yusoff would tell a like tale.
Terminal year's excursion breaker restrictions meant he had to outset an online business from scratch for his male parent's stall Haji Abu Bakar Fresh and Frozen Meat Supplier.
"During the excursion breaker, I just took a picture from my stall and I created a mail on Facebook saying: 'Okay, if y'all want your meat delivered to your house, we provide this service'," the 32-year-old said.
"That night I received a thousand WhatsApp letters (with) people asking from all over the place whether I can supply to them."
Since then, he has kept busy introducing innovations similar digital payment options to brand certain the business concern - which has lasted decades since its early days at Tekka Market - remains relevant to a new generation of customers.
Some other young hawker, Muhammad Taufiq Anwardeen, is also confident of Geylang Serai Market's future prospects.
In fact, the former cybersecurity annotator at Citibank believes that Singapore'south bell-ringer culture getting on UNESCO'south intangible cultural heritage listing concluding December is a shot in the arm for the market's future.
The 34-yr-quondam vegetable and stale goods seller, who took over the stall afterward his male parent suffered a heart set on, said: "I know I can pass (this stall) to my grandchild or son. It will be at that place forever and protected and that lone convinced me to stay there. I won't motion out anywhere (else and) continue this business growing."
CELEBRITI'S CORNER: A ROJAK OF Good FOOD AND FUN
You lot can hear Celebriti's Corner - the rojak stall run by Singaporean comedian, singer and actor Roslan Shah - before you lot see it.
It's no wonder as the boisterous Roslan can be heard yelling out orders for his rojak and entertaining his customers with jokes, making his stall difficult to miss despite it being in a small eating house called Al-Nour Kitchen at the junction betwixt Lorong 101 Changi and Changi Road.
The multi-hyphenate, affectionately known as Cik Lan, returned to Singapore from Malaysia before long before his mother'south passing in December 2019. Just with the COVID-19 pandemic shutting borders, he constitute it hard to return to Malaysia in early on 2020.
Stuck in Singapore, that's when the 50-yr-one-time decided to pivot from the entertainment sector to the nutrient and drinkable scene. "Nosotros cannot approach the Authorities to back up u.s. every day to give money … so we must do something. We cannot keep asking coin from the Authorities. We must practise work to find the coin ourselves," he explained.
Armed with his late mother'southward rojak recipe - 1 boasting a thick and rich peanut sauce and a generous helping of fruits and vegetables - Roslan set up Celebriti'southward Corner with the aid of another local celeb Allonym Kadir.
It may but have iii items on the bill of fare, but the stall has been a hit with his fans. Other local celebrities such as Aisyah Aziz, Suraya Hassan and Iskandar Ismail have likewise been known to patronise his stall.
And his star power has also rubbed off on Al-Nour'due south, with the owner Riskandar Roslan saying that Cik Lan's Facebook Live video streams "actually helps" its concern.
"(Roslan) is unique … He but sells three things only he pulls in a lot of customers. Every tabular array definitely has one rojak or char kuay (fried dough sticks) or his specialty (Maznah Ke Tu, a dish named after a line in P Ramlee'due south moving picture)," Riskandar added.
Proof of his pull: In just the few minutes it took the CNA team to fix for this interview, more than 300 viewers were queuing to melody in to his Facebook Live stream as information technology was rare for him to give an English interview.
Roslan attributes his popularity to his larger-than-life personality that looks to entertain, regardless of location.
"I (am a) natural. I (don't) follow other artistes. People don't like me I don't care, considering I don't ask them for coin. I like to make people happy.
"If you are very sad at home, very stressed, you come here, I tin can brand y'all happy," he said.
DIM SUM AND DURIANS: GEYLANG'Due south SUPPER SCENE
It'due south 11pm, and most eating places in Singapore would be endmost up if they've not already done so. This is not so in Geylang, however, every bit the nighttime is notwithstanding young and brightly lit food stalls are just gearing upwards to serve the supper-seeking hordes.
On Geylang Road, Tasvee Restaurant – a identify frequently recommended by those nosotros spoke to when there – serves upward Indian nutrient and remains open all night for those looking to get their fix of mee goreng (fried noodles) and roti prata (fried Indian apartment bread).
Along the same road is Eminent Frog Porridge, a popular nutrient haunt in the neighbourhood. It sells many dishes, simply most commonly seen on customers' tables are its sizzling claypot with frog's legs accompanied with steaming porridge. (Beware the chili kick.)
The crowds can as well be seen at Sims Artery where 126 Dim Sum Wen Dao Shi is located. Even at 1am, when we visited the stall, the queue to enter was snaking.
Patrons were willing to brave the cramped space and queues just to get their hands on the smorgasbord of dim sum ranging from siew mai and har gao to char siew bao.
No food run in Geylang is complete without a mention of its unofficial durian street beginning at Sims Avenue. With at to the lowest degree five such stalls lining the street, durian lovers can try dissimilar variations ranging from red prawn to D24.
The cheapest durians we found that solar day, afterwards feasting on the fruit in the proper name of inquiry, was S$5 a box, and it certain hit the spot.
Perhaps durians are equally practiced a representation of the neighbourhood equally any, according to Yinzhou.
"I think the charm is that Geylang, people e'er perceive it from i bending but actually when yous look at the complexity, it'south a lot more," he said.
"Like durian … How would yous depict the taste of durian? Y'all'd struggle to describe it. Different durians have different taste, and then Geylang is like durian."
Now it'southward your turn. Nosotros'd like you lot to tell us what'southward Up Your Alley. What is it that makes your neighbourhood unique? What are the places visitors may not notice at beginning glance, only are a unique and intrinsic part of the estate yous know and dear?
Write to us at digitalnews [at] mediacorp.com.sg or message us on Instagram or Facebook. Tell us about some of your favourite spots or virtually a person who embodies the spirit of the area.
Nosotros await forward to hearing from you!
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