March 23, 2008

310507 四马路 Waterloo Street

or si beh lor (lit. four horse road or simply four road) in Hokkien...seven of these parallel streets in the Bugis area were thus numbered from southeast to northwest:

小坡大马路 (lit. small slope big road) North Bridge Road
小坡二马路 (lit. small slope two road) Victoria Street
三马路 (lit. three road) Queen Street
四马路 (lit. four road) Waterloo Street
五马路 (lit. five road) Bencoolen Street
六马路 (lit. six road) Prinsep Street
七马路 (lit. seven road) Short Street (some say it's Selegie Road instead?)

About a third of Waterloo Street is now a pedestrian mall, in the cat's opinion a great way to deal with the crowds that throng the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho temple & Sri Krishnan temple along it. Albert Centre market above the hawker centre at the corner of Albert Street & Waterloo Street (diagonally opposite OG Albert Complex) is where one can get Buddha amulets custom-encased in plastic for wearing as pendants, $7/pair school shoes (unknown China brands with flat soles suitable for wushu), & wooden moulds for pressing mooncakes & Teochew 笋果 soon kueh into shape. Also a most interesting but super crowded place to visit in the run-up to Chinese New Year.

People gathered around a makeshift altar for 大伯公 Tua Pek Kong:

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The ah pek whose face somewhat resembles that of the Tua Pek Kong in front of his belly:

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