Sago Lane, Singapore

Sago Lane, Singapore (12 September 2010)


Sago Lane is a narrow lane in Singapore's Chinatown. It runs from Banda Street to South Bridge Road. It originally goes all the way to Keong Saik Road, but the section between Banda Street and Keong Saik Road has since been paved over and pedestrianised. Block 4 Sago Lane is a reminder of where a section of Sago Lane used to be.

Today Sago Lane is next to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, which was built just a few years ago. Despite its present reduced size, Sago Lane has been around since the 19th century. It got its name because there were factories here processing sago, way back in the 1840's.

By the end of the 19th century, Sago Lane had become built up, with brick housing similar to what we are seeing today. The trade of the area has also evolved to centre on funerary practises. Sago Lane in particular was the location of Death Houses. These are houses where the terminally ill aged poor were brought to die, a rather pitiful form of hospice. Within the same street are funeral parlours ready and shops specializing in paraphernalia related to funerary rites.

What I mentioned above is now gone. In its place, Sago Lane has since been pedestrianised, gentrified and made touristic with street vendors selling trickets and prayer items related to the temple next to it. The shops along Sago Lane have likewise moved with times.

Map of Sago Lane, Singapore

Sights along Sago Lane

Block 4, Sago Lane, one of the flats in Chinatown, as seen from Keong Saik Road. (29 July 2017)


Sago Lane roadsign (9 July 2011)


Sago Lane roadsign (10 July, 2006)

Sago Lane Singapore on Google Street View

Sago Lane, Singapore (Nov 2018)

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.