After a lovely early morning walk it was starting to get busy, hot and humid in Chinatown so I decided to head off for a nice beach stroll along the East Coast Park, which lies on the south-eastern coast of Singapore, and is an easy bus ride from Chinatown. Before taking in the relief of the cool ocean breeze of the East Coast Park I decided to have a look around Joo Chiat, or is it called Katong? When reading up on the area I found it is often called Joo Chiat/Katong, but I am not sure why. Is it two distinct areas or just two names used for the same place? Anyway, it doesn't matter as Joo Chiat and Katong are known for some of the best shophouse architecture in Singapore. Joo Chiat is also known for a good restaurant scene.
I stepped off the bus near the intersection of East Coast Road and Ceylon Road and made my way up Ceylon Road to my first place of interest, Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple. During my metrotreks around Singapore I have definitely seen many Hindu Temples and thus plenty of gopuram (tower entrance). You would think I would be getting tired of gopuram by now, but the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple gopuram still impresses, and so it should as it stands at 21 meters, making it one of the tallest in Singapore. The artwork and colour of Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple gopuram is also different to the others I have seen. The golden figures on the bone white tower is really spectacular.