After surviving the Kampong Glam walking tour (2.5 hours is no joke), I took a break for two days then returned for the Chinatown walking tour, again with Monster Day Tours. 
Our guide for the morning was Basirun (or Bas). The meeting place is at Exit A of Chinatown MRT station, and the walking tour ends at the Fuk Tak Chi Museum in Telok Ayer. I thought Bas had a “air steward” sort of voice – the kind that’s so pleasing you’ll either zone out or fall asleep. But he confirmed that he had never been employed as cabin crew before. :DI liked that he used an iPad during the tour, to show us pictures from Singapore’s past, etc. The highlights of this particular tour is the trip to the hawker centre (free popiah!) and a tour of the wet market located at the basement.
It’s a tough job, I think, trying to make the tour entertaining and engaging for not-easily-impressed angmohs. Using an iPad means there’s no need to search within the bag for laminated pictures, as the guide during the Kampong Glam tour did.
I thought it was really funny how Bas took us to a shop that sells paper offerings which, as you probably already know, are burnt as gifts for deities and deceased loved ones. There are chicken rice sets, cigarettes (what?!), cars, clothes, passports and ferry tickets, among other “essentials”. I could not believe my ears when an angmoh lady said she was going to buy some of the items to bring back and show to her pals. (@_@) I didn’t even want to step into the shop, as I had no business to be there. Maybe I’m slightly pantang.
Bas points out what was formerly an opium den for the rich (levels 2 and 3) and for opium sales to coolies (level 1).
We also saw lots of artwork along the streets, one of which depicted a scene from a ‘mass wedding’. Bas had even prepared a picture to show us. I think he said the photograph was from one of his colleagues. We were told that couples had to pay just $6K to participate in one, and they got a honeymoon trip to HongKong, Bali and Japan too, alongside all the other couples. Sounds pretty unromantic to me. But I guess people had to do what they had to do back then…
I absolutely LOVED the trip to the wet market. Here I am thinking that seafood at FairPrice supermarkets is cheap. And at the wet market, I saw prawns being sold at HALF the price I’m used to paying! My goodness. I’m going to shop at wet markets from now on…
I thought it was HILARIOUS how the angmohs tak boleh tahan this part of the tour. They looked like they were going to pass out. So nauseating meh?
It was quite funny how a group of us were standing outside this live frog stall at the wet market, and as the boss was taking out some of the frogs (presumably for another customer), one agile frog managed to escape and stood proudly on the cage, breathing what must be the air of victory and freedom, and along comes the dude again, giving the frog a backhand swipe so it falls back into the cage! The angmoh ‘cheerleaders’ were devastated. XD
Joked with Bas about their reactions, and he simply said he had already forewarned everyone about what they’ll experience during the wet market tour and everyone still wanted to participate so yah… We wisely decided not to tell anyone about the yummy frog leg porridge at Chinatown.
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Overall, I enjoyed the tour. Gave the guide a $10 tip ‘cos I felt he deserved it. He bought popiah for everyone to share (I didn’t eat it ‘cos he’d specifically ordered popiah without chili and I think popiah HAS to have chili in it lah).
The vibe I got from Bas is that he’s very friendly and open, and he cared enough to ask me what I work as, whether I was on leave that day, etc.
When he told me that his wife had just given birth last week, and he’s now the proud father of his first child (a girl), I was so happy for him! I really think he should have told the group this good news at the start of the tour. So if he ever looked tired, all the guests who are parents would be able to commiserate. I’ve been told that babies keep their parents awake throughout the night but have never experienced this myself, so I can only try and imagine, you see. I’m sure they’ll be more generous in tipping too. *wink wink*
And he was happy to satisfy my curiosity about his job too. He shared about his journey to becoming a tour guide, money matters, and even about their non-competition clause. Also, I learnt how some tour companies actually disallow people from joining their tours if you’re training to be a tour guide and you’re going to work for another company. (What? They know some secrets about Singapore’s history that no one else knows, is it?)