Tour Details by Offbeat Singapore

Tour days: Sat and Sun Start Time: 6.30pm Meet spot: Central Clarke Quay, in front of Burgerking End Time: 8pm End spot: Somewhere near Fullerton Hotel Flow Walking Tour flow: Clarke Quay MRT (start) → ??? → Somewhere in Fullerton area (end) Cost Per participant: S$45.00 *min. 4 persons for tour to start; Offbeat reserves the right to reschedule to another time/date in the event there are insufficient participants. Tour Story We will take you down a nameless back alley amid the skyscrapers, to see ramshackle Taoist street shrines nestled next to dumpsters and air-conditioner compressors, where the statues have aged and peeled, but the daily fruit offerings are still fresh. We will share with you the heart-breaking story of the heart-stoppingly grotesque underworld gods, the 1st and 2nd Granduncles (aka Black White Impermanence), and why labourers and cops were particularly fond of them. We will learn about worship rituals that use everyday objects supercharged with poetic meanings, such as umbrellas, abacus, opium pipes and good old Guinness Foreign Extra Stout. We will spy a Goddess of Mercy statue, perched uniquely on a roof ledge at a restaurant. We will develop an appreciation of the place of gods in the heroic nation-building story of Singapore, as we stroll from sunset into night, Yang into Yin. The tour is developed by Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop, one of Singapore's oldest heritage businesses (est. 1896). - Please note that this tour does not involve visiting temples, spirit mediums or Say Tian Hng Buddha Shop. - The programme is secular in nature and suitable for guests of all religions and races. No prior knowledge of Taoism is required. - Learn about their origin story, a riverside tragedy unknown to even many devotees. - Learn about the unusual worship objects, such as abacus, palm leaf fan and "red-tongue dog" Guinness stout. - Learn why devotees choose to worship them instead of the mainstream deities. - Switch on your phone torchlights and explore a nameless, dumpster-filled back alley to see hidden ramshackle street shrines of related deities. To bring: - Umbrellas *where necessary - Water bottles - Dress comfortably in tropical Singapore