Arab Street

I was so excited to find Arab Street! Some governor or other of Singapore decided that the different ethnicities congregated in Singapore needed to be sectioned off - with each race/ethnicity/whatever you wanted to call it, getting an allotted section of space within Singapore. That's why there's a distinctive China Town, a Little India as well as 'colonial' district, so today I went to Arab Street, the street and the surrounding area caters predominantly to people who've moved to singapore from the middle east

As soon as you walk through the high arch which signifies this area the Golden topped Mosque takes pride of place. 

 The 'main' street was a public walkway and it's been majorly renovated in the last few years, so it almost feels mediteranean rather than middle eastern, it did have a lovely relaxed vibe though with people coming here purely to sip some coffee and have some seesha (whenever I smell sheesha I can't help but think of Dubai!)

 The Mosque dominates this area of Singapore as it's high golden dome can be seem above every building in the surrounding area

I loved some of the little shops, there was one filled with beautiful leatherwork, lots devoted to silks and cashmere, the best of the bunch for me was this perfume shop though

Alcohol is banned in Islam which means so are most mainstream perfumes. This shop sold oil based perfumes and some of them smelt amazing!

There were a couple of these painted dotted around the moque

 Aside from the one main street leading to the Mosque there were a few narrow little side roads which had a great range of hippy shops

There were so many fabric shops I lost count

 a shop called the alternative who, selling all sorts of bits and pieces

I loved the side of this building!

After relaxing at the hostel for a little bit I headed into China Town - the place looks so lovely when it's all hit up at night!

 The Buddha Tooth Temple all lit up

some incredibly spicy popiah 

Year of the Horse Decorations!

Can't believe how fast my time in Singapore is going! It feels like I've been here forever and yet I can't believe how little time I have left!