Little India!

[RafflesCity]

oh I would like to try it too...I trust your taste

haha...I thought its Indonesian because Ambon is a place in Indonesia, and pisang means banana, in Malay

ok...back to the festive and colourful scenes at Little India:

The bazaar


Gritty-looking 50s/60s block near Mustafa Centre, but with lotsa food

[RafflesCity]

Deepavali light-up like those of preceding years

18 Oct 05

WE REFER to Mr Shankar Sundram's letter, 'Have Deepavali light-up earlier' (ST, Oct 5).

The annual Deepavali light-up is usually held three weeks before the festival and lasts for a month. This year is no exception, with the street light-up being held from Oct 7 to Nov 6.

From our experience organising street light-ups, this arrangement builds up enough momentum leading up to the festival and sustains the celebratory atmosphere during and right after the Festival of Lights.

On the other hand, the Hari Raya light-up usually starts four weeks ahead, coinciding with the start of the fasting month of Ramadan.

This year, with the two festivals celebrated just days apart, the light-ups were timed to maximise the number of visitors to both precincts.

We would like to assure Mr Sundram that the festive lighting and activities planned for Deepavali do not fall short of those in preceding years.

We thank him for his interest, and wish him and all Hindus a Happy Deepavali.

S. Nallathamby
CEO
Hindu Endowments Board

Muhd Rostam Umar
Director, Communications
Singapore Tourism Board

[drwho]

raffie..i have to borrow some pics to post it in india-section if it is ok like

[RafflesCity]

no problems at all drwho!

[RafflesCity]

Sunday morning bustle

[babystan03]

Looks crowded and lively......

[babystan03]

Nov 4, 2005
New toy museum to open in Little India

By Krist Boo

HOT on the heels of news that Singapore will open its first toy museum in Seah Street in December, another toy collector has announced that he will open his own museum later this month.

However, Mr Marvin Chan's choice of location for The Toys Museum has raised a few eyebrows: 83 Rowell Road, a stone's throw from the Desker Road red-light area.

In the three-storey shophouse he is now renovating, he will showcase part of his collection of more than 3,000 pieces, with one storey dedicated to selling toys.

Mr Chan, who has published a book and held four exhibitions on his toys, said one reason for choosing the site was the playground located just outside it. He added that the neighbourhood is really not as raunchy as it looks.

'In recent years, the red-light activities have moved to Joo Chiat and Geylang. There are plenty of design houses here,' he said.

Many of his toys mark historical milestones in Chinese history. There are 1920s drums decrying the shame of foreign imperialism imposed on China and 1960s women doll soldiers clad in Mao suits - a product of the Cultural Revolution propaganda machine.

While some of the toys replicate those that will be on display at the Mint Museum of Toys opening next month, Mr Chan said he does not view the other outfit as a rival.

'The two museums can be complementary. What we cannot see in one, we can see in the other,' he said.

However, local toy collector Chu Kia Moh, 48, doubts that Singapore can sustain two toy museums. Unlike the United States and Europe, there are few toy enthusiasts here, he said.

But Mr Chan's museum of Chinese toys has got the nod of approval from The Little India Shopkeepers and Heritage Association.

The association's honorary secretary, Mr Rajakumar Chandra, said the spot would be a hit with tourists, though locals would likely be put off by the area's seedy reputation.

The Straits Times understands that the Government is considering Mr Chan's request to promote the museum.

Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved.

[RafflesCity]

Originally Posted by babystan03

However, Mr Marvin Chan's choice of location for The Toys Museum has raised a few eyebrows: 83 Rowell Road, a stone's throw from the Desker Road red-light area.

I like the contrast! anyway it sounds quite interesting

Tekka Mall first-time retailers go belly-up

11 Nov 05

5 tenants served writs have folded and 4 owe several months of rent

By K.C. Vijayan

LITTLE India's Tekka Mall is in a prime location, bustling with shoppers and tourists, but some of its stores are struggling to stay afloat and a few have even gone bust.



Five tenants served writs of seizure and sale have folded and four owe several months of rent.

Mr Gabriel Soh, 36, rues the day he moved in as one of five initial tenants.

The former resort manager gave up a five-figure salary to set up Karung Guni, a buy-and-sell exchange shop modelled on Australian-based Cash Converters, with a paid-up capital of $100,000. He poured another $150,000 into renovations, stock and four months' advance rent.

But by October last year, barely four months after his store's official launch, he quit the two-year-old mall for lack of business and $250,000 was wiped out.

His goods were seized under a legal writ for unpaid rent.

'I am very disappointed. I think part of the problem lay in insufficient marketing,' said Mr Soh.

Madam Tina Lim, 44, also had to close her basement cafe because of poor business.

She owed about $40,000 in rent and, in July, was served with a writ of seizure for the goods in her shop.

About a month later, another writ was issued to a beauty treatment shop operating on the fifth floor for unpaid rent. Co-owner, Mr Lai Kok Khiang, 52, said he had not been able to pay his rent since January as 'shoppers hardly move along the corridor of the fifth floor where my unit is located'.

He moved out last month.

Madam Fatimah Rosdi, 53, who runs a clothes store on the first floor, is also set to fold with unsettled rent.

She said her store sometimes went up to four days without any sales.

Another store, run by Madam Irene Guo, 37, selling Chinese lanterns and other souvenirs on the same floor, is holding a closing-down sale.

The affected tenants are on the six-storey second wing of the mall facing Serangoon Road, which also has two basement floors. Its anchor tenant, Sheng Siong, occupies one-third of the space in the two blocks, operating a popular supermarket, a fresh market and a well-patronised food court.

Mr Philip Leow, executive director of the mall's sole marketing agent DTZ Debenham Tie Leung, said while some tenants had failed, established players like Guardian Pharmacy and Old Chang Kee had now moved in.

The mall is about 70 per cent occupied.

Mr Leow said the landlord was bound by rules of audit and could be flexible with errant tenants only up to a point, stressing that issues were handled sensitively and with understanding.

The agent had issued five tenants with writs of seizure and sale since last year, he added.

'Four out of five writs served involved first-timers in the retail scene,' said Mr Leow.

He suggested they might not have had the right business model.

A Straits Times check showed the $180 million Tekka Mall is 90 per cent owned by Malaysian business giant Hicom Megah through its local subsidiary Corwin Holdings. However, 5 per cent is owned by shopping giant Mustafa's, which does roaring business at the other end of the same stretch of road in Little India.

About 18,000 customers throng Mustafa's on weekdays and 22,000 on weekends, said a spokesman. About 60 per cent of customers are foreigners who include Chinese, Russians and Vietnamese.

Asked why Mustafa's did not move into Tekka Mall, the spokesman said there were initial plans to occupy the entire space but they fell through. 'We are looking at expanding but not in the same area where we are now,' he said.

Asked what was needed to boost business in Tekka Mall, he replied: 'That's a problem for the majority shareholder to solve. We own only a very small share.'

[heirloom]

tekka mall looks hideous btw

[RafflesCity]

at least its one of the few available air-con places at its end of Little India

pic of the foodcourt, which seems to be well-patronised

[drwho]

coolnice place to chill and take a beer

[RafflesCity]

oh, yes...there are lots of such places to drink in Little India





also internet cafes

[ncon]

Little India is just like Jakarta Internet Cafe/Cafes/Shops 80% same

nice pics Raff!

[redstone]

RC: Second pic's red shophouse looks so cool! D

[redstone]

[Effer]

I've got to visit Singapore some day and check this out!

[redstone]

^Old, dilapidated shophouse, new car






^Colourful little shophouses

[heirloom]

uhm that wasnt exactly a new car........

[drwho]

Originally Posted by encon

Little India is just like Jakarta Internet Cafe/Cafes/Shops 80% same

nice pics Raff!

true


raffie:the little red shophouse in the middle is the coolest one


redstone: nice pics

[RafflesCity]

Here is another panorama of Little India