Sole Trader
Chinatown Singapore offers treats for your toes and tastebuds, says Sarina Lewis
The reflexologist’s sign was half-hidden in one of the many doorways shooting off Smith Street, deep in the heart of Singapore’s famed Chinatown. The stairwell looked rickety but the promise of guaranteed relaxation was difficult to ignore. After two weeks of hectic travel, Singapore offered two days of food and foot-rubs, thank you.
But where? Between the colonial old-English grandeur of Raffles Hotel, the highly modern dining precinct along the quays, or the warren-like streets of Little India and Chinatown, pleasure-seeking folk are spoilt for choice. Ever since Britain’s Sir Stamford established this equatorial island as a major free trade port in 1819, Singapore has morphed from an unappealing backwater in to a colourful clash of culture and cuisine thanks to the floods of migrants that descended from across Asia.
Eats of Strength
The traditional heart of this cultural melange lies in Smith Street, Chinatown. Here you will be entertained by a head-turning array of hawker stalls selling delicacies to jump-start your senses; dig in to bowls of pork dumpling soup, or laksa tong tao fo, where thick rice noodles are immersed in a mix of spice, fish sauce and dried shrimp.
Elbow your way to the crowded tables and squeeze in to a rare empty seat, or grab a few sticks of satay and munch as you go, seeking the next delicacy (perhaps chilli crab?) to sate your hunger. The resulting indigestion can be just as easily cured, with open-air shops serving herbal remedies for everything from impotence to stomach ulcers. A pinch of dried scorpion and a dash of ginseng, all weighed with traditional handheld scales might do the trick.
Not that Smith Street has escaped modernisation, courtesy of the consumerism that has swept through a country where the eclectic and the ad-hock once ruled. Hawker stalls are lined up in easily accessible rows and the stalls themselves have been selected from a large number of applicants, ensuring quality and variety. Still, the atmosphere of bustling trade that was established with the arrival of the first Chinese junk to Singaporean shores in 1821 survives.
Footloose
Having eaten heartily, wend your way up that darkened staircase in search of the fulfillment of all your foot-rub fantasies. Let Dr Lee initiate your tired tootsies in the ancient art of reflexology. Recline sans shoes on a curtain-shrouded bed and benefit from the application of pressure to designated points along both feet, said to correspond with organs and muscles around the body.
Whether or not massage of your heel will invigorate your heart, there is no denying the soporific effect of Dr Lee’s skilled manipulations. Combine with a belly full of Smith Street curry and the search for true relaxation is complete. His is just one of the many reflexology dens scattered throughout Chinatown and, like the hawker stalls crowding the street, most deliver on their promise of satisfaction.
Lacing up my shoes with the shouts and smells of the food stalls wafting up from below, this feels a long way from the Singapore of modern hotels and duty-free boutiques. Anglo-Saxon name aside, Smith Street offers a window in to an exotic past and an experience that will linger long after your suitcase is unpacked.
Where to stay
Intercontinental Hotel Singapore, 80 Middle Road, Singapore, 188966. Tel. +65.6338.7600. Fax +65.6338.7366. Email: Singapore@interconti.com. Facilities: 403 rooms, business centre, conference and banqueting facilities from 12 to 430 people, high-speed internet access and fitness centre.
Useful website
www.visitsingapore.com