Banda Street, Singapore

Banda Street, Singapore (9 July 2011)


Banda Street is a short one-way street in the Chinatown of Singapore, just behind the newly built Buddha Tooth-Relic Temple. The only building along the street today is a high-rise apartment block with some shops at the ground floor.

From the late 19th century to just before the Second World War, Banda Street and nearby Spring Street was a red-light district housing mostly Karayuki-san, or Japanese prostitute. For that reason, the Cantonese people called the street Fan Tsai Mei, meaning "end of the foreign brothels". In this respect, Banda Street is similar to Cintra Street in Penang.

Karayuki-san, meaning "Ms-gone-overseas", are Japanese girls from impoverished parts of rural Japan who out of circumstance were forced into the flesh trade. They were a presence in many cities in Southeast Asia until before the Second World War.

Map of Banda Street, Singapore

Sights along Banda Street, Singapore

Banda Street roadsign (9 July 2011)

References

List of the Streets in Singapore; Discover Singapore

 Sights in Singapore

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

Streets of Singapore and Map of Singapore Streets

Singapore MRT and Map of Singapore MRT

Postal Districts of Singapore and Map of Singapore Postal Districts

Planning Areas of Singapore and Map of Singapore Planning Areas

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.