Telok Ayer Post Work Route Planner: Old Shoreline Walk

Telok Ayer MRT station on the Downtown line opens directly onto Telok Ayer Street, a road that ran along Singapore's shoreline until land reclamation in the late nineteenth century pushed the sea back towards today's Marina Bay. A Telok Ayer post work route planner follows that old waterfront: temples and mosques built by arriving communities, restored shophouses on Amoy Street, and a hilltop pocket park, all inside a ten-minute walk of Raffles Place.

The name Telok Ayer comes from the Malay for water bay. Early immigrants landing here built places of worship facing the sea to give thanks for safe passage, which is why so many historic religious buildings sit along one short street. As you walk, picture the waves breaking where the road now runs and the whole layout begins to make sense. Telok Ayer Green, the small park beside the Al-Abrar Mosque, has bronze figures of early settlers that help with that picture, and it is a pleasant place to stand for a minute while the evening traffic eases on Cross Street.

Thian Hock Keng, the Hokkien temple completed in 1842 and dedicated to Mazu, the sea goddess, is the grandest. Its granite pillars, carved beams and ceramic roof dragons were built by craftsmen from southern China, and it was gazetted as a national monument in 1973. A few doors along stand the Al-Abrar Mosque and, at the northern end, the Nagore Dargah, built by South Indian Muslims in the 1820s and now home to the Indian Muslim Heritage Centre.

Most CBD workers can reach Telok Ayer on foot. From Raffles Place, cross Cross Street into Telok Ayer Street and you are at the northern end in five minutes. From Tanjong Pagar on the East-West line, walk north along Amoy Street instead. The finish depends on where you live: Chinatown station, on the North East and Downtown lines, is a ten-minute walk west, while Downtown and Telok Ayer stations both sit on the Downtown line if you head towards Marina Bay.

Amoy Street runs parallel to Telok Ayer Street, one block inland, and is lined with conserved shophouses dating from the mid to late 1800s. Look up rather than at the ground floor: plaster pilasters, timber louvred windows, ceramic tiles and the occasional carved panel above a doorway. The covered five-foot ways in front keep you out of rain and sun alike.

Amoy Street Food Centre at the southern end is a hawker centre built for the office lunch rush. Our honest advice is not to build your evening around it, because its busiest hours are the weekday lunch break, and many stalls have far less on offer after work than at midday.

Between the two streets, a set of steps climbs to Ann Siang Hill Park, a narrow strip of green on one of the few natural rises left in the district. It is easy to miss, and that is its charm: a short shaded path, a couple of benches, and views down over shophouse roofs with the office towers rising just beyond. From the top, Ann Siang Road and Club Street curve away past more restored terraces.

Club Street fills quickly with after-work groups on Thursday and Friday evenings. If you want a quiet walk, visit it earlier in the week, or take Ann Siang Road down towards South Bridge Road and the edge of Chinatown instead.

From Ann Siang Hill, cross South Bridge Road and you are in Chinatown proper. The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, Sri Mariamman Temple, Singapore's oldest Hindu temple, and the Jamae Mosque all sit close together on and near South Bridge Road, which echoes the diversity of Telok Ayer Street a few minutes earlier. Pagoda Street leads to the Chinatown MRT exits.

Head east instead and you reach Lau Pa Sat, the octagonal cast-iron market hall first built in 1894 and now a food centre. On many evenings the adjoining stretch of Boon Tat Street is closed to traffic for satay stalls, which gives you smoke, noise and a very Singaporean outdoor meal. From there, Collyer Quay and the Marina Bay waterfront are a ten-minute walk, with the skyline lit up across the water.

Use Karpo to shape the stops around your route. In the Karpo APP, you might write: leaving an office near Raffles Place at half six, forty-five minutes of walking around Telok Ayer, a quiet dinner for two, ending near the North East line. Karpo suggests places along the way and an order that brings you close to Chinatown station at the end.

Karpo does not report how full a restaurant is right now, cannot make reservations and is not a live MRT tracker. Check the venue's official site before going, and if the first suggestion does not work out, ask Karpo for an alternative within the same few streets.

A thirty-five minute version: Telok Ayer station, north past Thian Hock Keng and the Nagore Dargah, back down Amoy Street, up the steps to Ann Siang Hill Park, then Ann Siang Road and South Bridge Road to Chinatown station. It is short enough for a Monday, when all you need is to be outside and walking before the train home.

A seventy-five minute version for a Friday: the same start, then east to Lau Pa Sat for satay on Boon Tat Street, followed by a slow walk along Collyer Quay to the Marina Bay waterfront. You will share the promenade with runners, families out for the evening air and colleagues still in their work shirts, and Downtown station is close by for the ride home.

Places of worship expect modest dress and quiet behaviour, and their opening times are much shorter than those of the bars nearby, so you may only see some facades after work. Afternoon storms are common, and the covered five-foot ways make Amoy Street the best wet-weather option. On Option B, avoid Lau Pa Sat at the height of the Friday rush if you want to sit down.