Tekka Market (GPS: 1.30598, 103.85077) is a place to enjoy watching the street life in
Little India. It is the name of a wet market that used to be located there. The name "Tekka" means "under the bamboo grove" in Hokkien (
Taiji Romanisation: teik1 kha1
). It refers to the bamboo grove that used to grow there.
Today the Tekka Market area has been rebuilt with working class shopping complexes. At the junction of
Serangoon Road and
Bukit Timah Road is
Tekka Centre, which was previously the Kandang Kerbau Market. Today it still functions as a wet market downstairs. One floor up, you find stalls selling cloth, shoes, watches and other knick-knacks. It is a good place to look at how the locals shop.
Across the road from Tekka Centre is The Verge, until August 15, 2008 known as Tekka Mall. It occupies the site of the Kandang Kerbau Market, which was demolished in 1982. This is a six-storey shopping complex opened in 2003. It is the largest shopping mall in the Little India area, and houses a supermarket at the basement, a food court, a few fast food outlets and some stalls.
Getting there
The nearest MRT stations are the
Bugis MRT Station (EW12) and
Little India MRT Station (NE7).