Chinatown MRT is situated right in the centre of an alley, when you come out of the station, you're right by stalls selling trinkets, cushion covers, souvenirs, Chinese-style garments and many other things. Walking past a tailor me and Nikki got dragged in to be shown fabrics and dress templates, for $300 we could have a dress tailor-made with elaborate fabrics. After telling him we'd be back (I don't know if we will), we venture further down the street. I guy offered to give us a tour on a trishaw for $16, but we refused. They're all lied up in the street waiting for customers.
We took a walk down Chinatown food street, where there are at least 100 hawker stands, selling food, in particular, seafood. These are reasonably price, but Nikki and I wanted to try the famous Singapore Chilli Crab, so we had lunch at the Chinatown heritage restaurant, it's fairly pricey but it's a tourist spot and the food is amazing. We both had soft-shell crab plus prawns with chilli sauce on spaghetti. I've never really eaten shellfish before, so was a little unsure of what I could eat, I left the crab's shell (but was informed later that you can eat). The meal plus a can of coke cost $18 (including the 10% service charge, which they spring on you when you receive the bill). Whilst we were sitting there, a girl with some form of disability, walked down the street, pushing an amp and cd player, singing along to a backing track, begging for donations, it was really bizarre to see.
After we looked at more shops and markets, then headed to the Thian Hock Keng temple (Hokkien), where elaborate dragons and statues are carved in stone, tile and wood, splashed with reds and gold. Some of the statues were grotesque. We then moved onto the next temple, the Sri Mariamman temple (Hindu). This is the oldest temple in Singapore, similar to the temples of Little India, there were 2 guys playing instruments during the worshipping. When each deity was revealed, the worshippers would move over and pray. After both me and Nikki, had a henna tattoo done on our hand, it cost $8, and lasted for ages.
We then went to look at the malls, which were completely different to the others we've seen, they were so basic and a little bit dingy.