We're well into the Year of the Boar, yes I know, we're three months away from the Mid Autumn Festival, yes I also know. but since I did make a trip to the bazaar at Chinatown during the season of Spring this year, and since I've got the pictures, well, might as well plonk them here, eh?
After all, who doesn't love a festive looking palette of pictures?
That's one thing great about being Chinese.
We can talk about our pinks and reds and cheongsams and qipaos and chinoiserie and peonies and chrysanthemums like anytime.
Year on year I make a special trip to Chinatown during the season for the celebratory atmosphere, and to capture the scene. Some years I get there in time to take plentiful pretty ones. Some years, like this one, I get there in time just to inch my way through and grab as surreptitious a picture as I can.
Whatever it is, the atmosphere is one that I'm there for- and never once has the spirit of the bazaar failed me.
It doesn't matter which side you begin from. Whether you're starting from Pagoda Street, Temple Street or Smith Street, whether you're coming from the Eu Tong Sen Street side or the South Bridge Road side, either way you're going to pass by the signature stalls, and the ubiquitous ones.
There are some that you will most certainly not miss.
Like the jellies stall.
Of which I have no pictures this year because I'd arrived in the afternoon and the stall was packed with people jostling about with plastic bags filling them up and I couldn't get a nice, colourful panoramic shot.
Neither could I get a shot of the sacks of red melon seeds, black melon seeds, green melon seeds(!), walnuts, groundnuts, roasted groundnuts, milk groundnuts, garlic groundnuts, pistachios and so on. There were lots of people at the stall- some buying, some sampling. I did get a few samples of the garlic groundnuts and the milk groundnuts though.
Samples are one great, great, great reason to come to Chinatown.
If you ask me, their generosity with the samples highly contributes to the fun. Tourists love it- they get to try some of the festive stuff without needing to expend their wallets. Locals love it- we get to exercise our kiasee side in a legit way. And even if you're there in some sort of mood, their upbeat moods and cheerfulness will set you smiling anyway.
The jelly guys are lovely with their samples- whichever place their stall is at, you'll spot their scissors working overtime as they dip their hands into the chiller box, snap a jelly in half and hand it out to eager, outstretched hands. It's often a game for me to see which flavour I get. (Plum is my oft received one- plum and mango) Then there are the mochi guys, the seaweed cracker guys, the mushroom guys, the melon seed guys, the soybean milk (from South Korea!) guys, and the pineapple tart guys.
It works; I've seen countless purchases being made simply because of these samples. One year I bought the soybean milk (even though I'm not a fan of soybean) because I liked the taste and I wanted the bottle and okay, because it was from Yonsei. Then another year I got the pineapple tarts from the stall because they tasted good even though I have my regular place for purchase. But even if I don't get from this stall this year, I usually get it another year.
That's what I do with the dried persimmons that are a family favorite.
I would have loved to spend a longer time there this year, but I couldn't, so this year I did a quick run between the gao lak (roasted chestnuts) stall, the dried persimmons stall, the décor stalls, the candied fruit stall, the lap cheong stall, the cookies stall, the flower stall, the sweets stall, and the piggy toy stall.
I'm already looking forward to next year.
But first, Lanterns and Mooncakes!