The Cheng San Market & Cooked Food Centre Tua Pek Kong Shrine

Whenever I visit a hawker centre for the first time to have a meal, I also search for its shrine. For every hawker centre, there is a unique shrine with its own deities, bearing a unique history. The hawker centre shrine is the nexus of the combined faith of a closely-knit community.

This is the shrine for the Cheng San Market & Cooked Food Centre at Block 527 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10. In Chinese, it is called 宏茂桥五二七巴刹和联合社大伯公 (Hong Mao Qiao Wu Er Qi Ba Sha He Lian He She Da Bo Gong), literally translated as “Ang Mo Kio 527 Market United Society Tua Pek Kong”.

The shrine has one deity - Tua Pek Kong.

According to the 7th Lunar Month poster next to the shrine, the market and cooked food centre’s 7th Lunar Month festival was on Day 14 (21 August) this year.

Thomson-East Coast Line Stage 3

Last August, Stage 2 of Singapore’s sixth Mass Rapid Transit line opened with six stations. Yesterday, Stage 3 opened with 11 stations.

TE11-DT10 🚇 Stevens

TE12 🚇 Napier

TE13 🚇 Orchard Boulevard

TE14-NS22 🚇 Orchard

TE15 🚇 Great World

TE16 🚇 Havelock

TE17-EW16-NE3 🚇 Outram Park

TE18 🚇 Maxwell

TE19 🚇 Shenton Way

TE20-NS27-CE2 🚇 Marina Bay

TE22 🚇 Gardens By The Bay

TE10 (Mount Pleasant) and TE21 (Marina South) will open when their surrounding areas are more developed, which could be years in the future.

Meanwhile, Stage 4 - seven stations from Tanjong Rhu to Bayshore - should open in two years. Looking forward!

Tay Guan Heng Joss-Sticks Manufacturer

Paid a visit to Tay Guan Heng Joss-Sticks Manufacturer at 4001 Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 1. I had seen online posts about its impending closure, so I wanted to see the place for myself before it was too late.

The humble factory space houses a dying trade that has endured four generations. The family business was founded in the 1930s, and specialised in giant, traditional joss sticks made of cinnamon wood clay, burned during Chinese festivals such as the 7th Lunar Month.

Like the paper offering industry, this business produces intricate, but transient, works of art that last only as long as the festivals for which they are dedicated.

During my visit, I was fortunate to meet the proprietor, Mr Albert Tay. He readily shared about his work, showing me old photo albums of the business’ glory days, and clay sculptures and dioramas on display on shelves.

The business will close at the end of November. Why, I asked. “A lot of pressure… a lot of stress”, Mr Tay shook his head sadly.

Until then, work carries on in the factory, to fulfil final orders.

Tay Guan Heng is open Mondays to Saturdays, 11am to around 4pm or 5pm. It is closed on Sundays.