Did you know that, just like many of us, the deities of Chinatown start their day with a cup of kopi?
Or that yusheng, a chinese salad-like dish associated with the Lunar New Year, used to be eaten throughout the year?
I certainly didn't.
From buying pineapple tarts and other goodies every Lunar New Year, to reading the origins of bak kut teh in my chinese textbooks, to my grand quest of trying every single chinese barbecue skewer shop in the area, Chinatown is one of those places in Singapore I thought I knew well.
So when My Community, a Singapore non-profit organisation, invited Mothership to participate in a tour of Chinatown Complex, I wasn't expecting anything new.
After all, across my school years, I must have gone on at least three field trips there, where I always saw the same sights, tried the same food, and heard the same stories.
Secretly, I was looking forward to the customary snack-tastings most.
On a sweltering Thursday afternoon (Jul. 27), after having a smaller to lunch to save stomach space, I arrived at Chinatown Complex.
There, Executive Director of My Community, Kwek Li Yong, greeted us and gave us a rundown of what to expect from the tour.
We'd be visiting four stalls, but the thing that surprised me most? No guides. At least, no official ones at least.
All the talking would be done by the stall owners themselves, with My Community volunteers only acting as facilitators and translators where necessary.
This piqued my interest. My previous tours always involved a Singapore Tourism Board (STB) certified guide who curated our experience.
Here, in contrast, I didn't know what to expect, since community figures like hawkers had essentially been given free reign to shape our tour.
First tour: Deities drink kopi too (with no milk, fyi)
Our first guide was Ngo Meng Nguen, a hawker who runs a zi char stall on the second floor of Chinatown Complex.
But that's not all he does.
With his casual clothes and fanny pack, one might not have guessed that Ngo's also the caretaker of the complex's resident deities.
Photo by Paul Rin.
Of course, a heritage site like Chinatown wouldn't be complete without its fair share of traditions.
Ngo is part of a committee tending to the three deities that live within the complex. As part of his duties, he helps to maintain the deities' shrines and provide offerings for them.
This is in addition to his already-busy schedule as a hawker.
Ngo told us that he starts his day at 4am, where he needs to prepare for the morning crowd. At 6am, however, he has to put his hawker job on hold to fulfill his divine responsibilities.
Shrines need to be unlocked and cleaned, incense has to be lit, and divine offerings like alcohol and kopi need to be placed.
Wait, what?
I thought I'd heard wrongly then, but Ngo beckoned us to step closer and excitedly pointed at a Styrofoam cup sitting at the base of the shrine.
Ngo holding up a bottle of special beer used as offerings. Photo by Paul Rin.
Yep. That's definitely divine kopi, alright. Photo by Paul Rin.
Even deities like to start their day with coffee, we learnt.
We also learnt that the youngest deities in the complex is only three years old.
The shrine on the first floor is dedicated to a deity named Tu Di Gong (deity of land), and it was built during the pandemic.
The community, faced with falling business amid pandemic restrictions, placed their hopes in a new deity, hoping Tu Di Gong could change their fortunes.
Gesturing toward the crowds of people flooding the walkways of Chinatown Complex, Ngo proudly says (in Mandarin), "you can't say that it didn't work."
Different deities have different purposes, Ngo told us. For example, the deity on the second floor, tua pek gong, watches over the entire building and everyone it, so even customers are often seen offering respect to it after meals. Photo by Paul Rin.
Second tour: From butterflies to pig-ears, the evolution of a beloved snack
Next stop, the makers of one of my favourite childhood snacks.
The Pig Ear Biscuit (left) and cuttlefish snacks (right) are some of Chai Wee Cuttlefish's iconic products. Photo by Paul Rin.
If you've never had Singapore's famous Pig Ear Biscuits before, then Chai Wee Cuttlefish is a must-visit.
The iconic stall, currently operated by a father-son duo, has been run by the same family for three generations.
Photo by Paul Rin.
Cornelius Tan, the son, has been making the stall's signature biscuits since 2015.
The act of rolling dough might seem simple at first glance, but according to him, it's an extremely tiring process that uses every muscle in his body. He can't go more than two hours before he starts panting.
Video by Paul Rin.
Video by Paul Rin.
But the effort is worth it. It makes the dough "happier", said Tan, and happier dough leads to "smiling" biscuits.
I can't tell if these biscuits are "smiling", but after one bite, I certainly am. Photo by Paul Rin.
What makes the biscuits truly special, Tan added, is that he's the one making it.
He was only half joking because, as he went on to explain, that's what made Singapore's hawker culture so special: he serves food to his customers as if they're members of his family.
Did you know, Pig Ear Biscuits were formerly known as Butterfly Biscuits? (left: uncooked, right: cooked). However, customers preferred smaller, thinner pieces, giving birth to the now-beloved ear-shaped design. Photos by Paul Rin.
Third tour: Chinatown Before and After
Our third guide was Arthur Wong, a veteran hawker who runs the stall, Sun Seng.
While I was initially disappointed that we weren't there to try his famous fish head soup, when he emerged from his stall carrying one photo album stacked onto another, my stomach stopped grumbling and I leaned in for a closer look.
As someone born near the turn of the century, Singapore's near-miraculous growth during the 70s and 80s is something I only get to hear about second-hand.
With the aid of his camera, Wong has been capturing the growth of Chinatown's landscape and hawker culture for decades.
Left: Wong holding a picture of the building next Chinatown Complex taken decades ago. Right: A photo of the building taken in 2023. Photos by Paul Rin.
And now he was offering us a rare chance to witness, photo by photo, how our beloved food culture transformed into what it is today as well.
Every photo contained a story worth telling.
We were told how, in the past, roadside hawkers were much more common than they are today, which many hawkers preferred (since they didn't have to pay rent).
Wong himself started out as one of these roadside hawkers, selling fish porridge along the streets of Chinatown.
Photo by Paul Rin.
I was also surprised to learn that in the past, hawker stalls were split into morning and evening sessions, like how schools used to be. That meant hawkers that didn't operate during both sessions had to bring all their equipment home everyday.
Not all changes might be good, though, as I learnt when I saw photographs of a yusheng store.
Yusheng, to many of us, is a special dish associated with the Lunar New Year, usually sold in already-prepared packages.
Imagine my surprise when I learnt that decades ago, yusheng was something people ate whenever they wanted, however they wanted. Like rojak or yong tau foo, customers could pick and choose their ingredients and eat them without the fanfare of chanting auspicious Chinese idioms.
Why did we stop doing that?
An yusheng stall in the past. Photo by Paul Rin.
Fourth tour: Chinatown's Romeo and Juliet
On the first floor of Chinatown Complex, you can find an antique store called Ho Art Antiques Bronze Wares.
Photo by Paul Rin.
There, you can look at all sorts of interesting trinkets. There's the usual religious paraphernalia, old clocks and radios, and ceramics.
But as the saying goes, "maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way".
Or in this case, the life partners we made along the way.
Known as Chinatown Complex's golden couple, husband and wife Ho Yoke Kee and Mabel Low run Ho Art Antiques Bronze Wares together.
They've been in the antique business for decades now, and it was antiques that brought them together in the first place.
As an art student, Low enjoyed collecting miniatures. Ho, already running his own business by then, happened to sell them.
A photo of the young couple in their store, along with some of Low's miniatures. Photo by Paul Rin.
As the couple told us, she kept visiting his store to buy miniatures, and Ho, smitten, worked up the courage to ask her out.
Or at least, that's the story we heard that day. Kwek, who was translating for us, jokingly remarked once the story was over: "some days they say is she chase him, other days they say is he chase her".
But who doesn't love a good story?
Couple goals <3. Photo by Paul Rin.
About My Community Festival
My Community is a non-profit organisation that "works to capture and preserve community stories, reconnect people to places and social networks, and deepen heritage appreciation and expression across the country."
As part of this year's National Day celebrations, My Community is partnering with STB and the community to organise My Community Festival: co-curated tours celebrating everyday people and places in our neighbourhoods, such as Chinatown.
The festival hopes to provide opportunities for Singaporeans to initiate greetings while meeting and connecting with their neighbours.
The four tours Mothership got to be a part of were only a sneak peak of what's available. Check out the full list of programmes, where you can hear stories from ornamental fish shopkeeper, jade dealers, and even... ladies undergarment retailers?
Last year's My Community Festival drew 223,000 attendees across several weeks. If you're worried about a language barrier, fret not. All tours and programmes are facilitated by My Community volunteers and guides, who can help translate Mandarin into English.
Top photo by Paul Rin and by Sunshine Clouds/Google Photos.