![]() |
| Singapore Waterfront in 1960s |
Previous: Seafarers' Singapore
( Part 1 ) Singapore is a city that never goes to sleep. Always there is movement, the clip-clop sound of Chinese wooden shoes and nowadays even the dock labourers work night and day in shifts to provide a 24-hour service.
![]() |
| Dock labourers at Singapore Harbour Board c 1930 | | |
|
![]() |
| Transport workers loading goods on the lorry c 1950 |
![]() |
| Clog-maker in Chinatown, Singapore c 1976 |
After dark, when the lights are on, the bustle of the day market changes to the quicker bustle of the night market - you can buy anything at almost any time in this great emporium. In the cool of the evening the streets in Chinatown are crowded as you thread your way through the predominantly Hokien area towards Trengganu Street. There the buildings are of particular architectural interest, having been designed and built by the early Portuguese traders.
![]() |
| Fruit stalls at Hokien St, Singapore c 1962 |
![]() |
| Hawkers at Trengganu St c 1950 |
![]() |
| Trengganu St at night c 1968 |
We can see rows upon rows of human habitations mostly divided into small rooms and then again sub-divided into cubicles with rows of bunk-like beds.
![]() |
| Cubicles with bunk-like beds in Chinatown c 1950 |
Here and there is the family ancestral altar with burning joss-sticks and everywhre hordes of children.
To be continued ...
