Singapore/Little India

Little India is, as the name promises, the centre for the large Indian community in Singapore. While a rather sanitised version of the real thing, Little India retains its distinct identity without degenerating into a mere tourist attraction and is one of the most colourful and attractive places to visit in Singapore.

Get in
Little India (North-East/Downtown line interchange) or Farrer Park (North-East line) are the most convenient MRT stations near Serangoon Road. Bugis station on the East-West line is an 11-min walk away (see Bugis). Rochor (Downtown line), near Sim Lim Square, is 6 minutes walk.

Get around
Little India's main drag is Serangoon Road, which starts at Rochor Canal Rd and continues northward to Serangoon. The action is tightly concentrated a few blocks on either side of the road, and can be easily covered on foot.

There are several public buses travelling along the length of Serangoon Road from the bus stop, Tekka Ctr (ID 07031).

Hailing a taxis can be difficult on the crowded main streets like Serangoon Road or Race Course Road. Consider booking through a ride-hail or taxi app at a location away from the main street (Serangoon Road), where there are strict restrictions on where vehicles may stop.

See
Little India's primary attraction is the district itself. Here too you can find the gaily painted shophouses that are an icon of Singapore, but now most of the Chinese signs (almost) disappear to be replaced with Tamil, Hindi, Bengali and other Indian scripts. Stores hawk saris and gold bangles, spices and incense waft in from the doorways and Bollywood's latest soundtracks blare from every other alleyway.

Do
The most extreme thing to do in Little India is to join the festival of Thaipusam, held yearly during the full moon in the lunar month of Thai (usually Jan/Feb). Male devotees attach ornate shrines to their flesh with piercing hooks known as kavadi and walk across town in a day-long procession. Female devotees usually just carry a pot of milk on their head and join the procession. The procession starts from Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road and proceeds to the Sri Thandayuthapani Temple at Tank Road.

Around Deepavali, the Hindu festival of light, Serangoon Road is festively decorated (with lights, of course!) and open-air markets are set up to sell Deepavali goodies. Like Thaipusam, the exact date is set by the lunar calendar, but it takes place in October/November (usually on the new moon day occurring in these months) and is a public holiday. Near the beginning of Deepavali, the fire-walking festival of Thimithi is held, in which many male devotees walk across a platform of burning coal. Although the actual fire-walking takes place at the Sri Mariamman Temple in Chinatown, the procession starts at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple in Serangoon Road and makes its way to Chinatown early in the morning where the fire-walking commences.

A more low-key event happens every Sunday evening when a half-million workers from the subcontinent throng the streets of Little India to hang out on their day off. Most of the crowd is friendly enough, but inevitably a few get into drunken fights and there's a heavy police presence about to keep an eye on things.

Buy
The central streets of Little India are packed with stalls selling all sorts of Indian goods. Two giant shopping centres, however, are unique not just in Little India but all of Singapore:

The other shopping options in Little India cater more to the Indian market:



Eat
The thing to eat in Little India is obviously Indian food. Both southern and northern cuisines are well represented, food is cheap even by Singaporean standards, portions are generous and vegetarians in particular will have a field day. Note that these are authentic Indian places and people around you will be eating the way Indians do, namely by hand &mdash; it's best to shed your inhibitions and dig in, although cutlery can be provided on request.

Drink
Race Course Rd has some funky pubs and bars. Desker Road is Singapore's dingiest quarter of ill repute and best avoided, especially on Sundays.

Little India has quite a few sarabat stalls offering local drinks, especially teh tarik ("pulled tea", a local variant of sweet, milky Indian chai), also available in iced. A particularly popular one can be found at the intersection of Perak and Dunlop Rds, next to the mosque.

Sleep
Along with neighboring Bugis, Little India is Singapore's backpacker district and has many hostels offering cheap lodging, as well as some of the most affordable hotels in town. Some of the cheap hotels around Desker Rd cater to the sex trade.

Farrer Park MRT station on the Northeast (purple) line gives convenient access to many of these hotels. Follow signs for an exit on Birch Road to get close to the budget Penta Hotel. Exit G puts you near two luxury hotels, One Farrer and Park Hotel, or walk down Serangoon Road a bit for a Hilton. Rangoon Road (where Exit G is) becomes Kitchener Road on the other side of Serangoon Road, and there are more hotels along Kitchener. You can reach them from exit G or via exits H and I which are on Kitchener. Neither H nor I have signs near the centre of the station; follow the signs for G to find them. H puts you near three more upmarket hotels including Parkroyal, while I leads through the City Square Mall so it is not always open but when it is it is a convenient way to reach two decent budget hotels, Tai Hoe and Hotel 165.