The area known as Little India of Singapore is where the main shopping commercial thoroughfare called Serangoon Road, that branches off into small lanes and streets that are lined with shops, small stores or even stalls that sells a wide range of authentic Indian cuisines and merchandise and Hindoo goods.
This vicinity is very accessible by Little India MRT station (subway); going out through one of the station exits will land you across Tekka Centre, from which you walk past it along Buffalo Road to reach the main Serangoon Road that meets it.
As you walk along Serangoon main Road from this point, you can see restaurants row selling Indian snacks & suppers, the signatures here being none other than the naans, pratas, and the mutton soup (kambing soup). Naans are usually rare if you ever see them, as the vicinity sells mainly South Indian foods, and naans are specialty breads that originated from North India. Down this main road, you will come to streets such as Campbell Lane, Upper Dickson Road, Veerasamy Road, Hindoo Road, Baboo Lane, and so on, 2 more streets down you will come to Syed Alwi Road where the main 24 hour shopping centre, Mustafa Centre, stands. If you feel that it is time to give your pair of sore feet some rest from the walking, you may want to consider popping by these two very popular Indian fastfood chain restaurants, Komala’s (9 Upper Dickson Road) and Ananda Bhavan Indian Vegetarian Restaurant (95 Syed Alwi Road) (highly recommended).
There is no specific trade or any particular merchandise or food that each lane sells as the streets in Little India operate in a similar way as how flea markets or night bazaars would have operated – although shops are located on the first floor of shophouses, they have small shop fronts and most of them push out mobile carts and set up tiny stalls in front, all fighting for patron’s attention. Indian spices, herbs and dried goods and daily groceries are interesting sights, a stall selling fruits and and vegetables can also be selling fresh jasmine flowers. Occasionally you will see them hand-making jasmine flower garlands and hanging them for sale. The traditional women wear jasmine flower garlands on their hair as fashion accessories. Indians probably have more spices & herbs to their name than any other ethnicities. The more commonly seen ones and those that tourists are happy to take home include red curry powder, curry leaves (karivepaku), turmeric powder (pasupu) & tamarind (chinthapandu). Some spices are sold fresh from their raw forms, upon selection, the shop owners have grinding machinery that helps to grind these spices into powder for easy packaging to take home.
In Singapore, it is no surprise that the good tailors around happen to be Indians. If you are adventurous enough, jolly well pop by a textile store, choose a silk fabric that you like, and get the in-house tailor to custom make a saree (or Sari), a traditional indian costume worn by women, with beautiful motif silk cloth wrapped around the waist at one end and the other draped over the shoulder, with the upper abdomen exposed (at midriff), to some, this costume can be incredibly sexy. This is to be worn with either a long skirt or long pants gathered & secured at the ankles, to make the whole look complete.
If you are into Bollywood movies, there are also plenty of Bollywood movie dvds & video cds spoilt for choice, and these are usually sold cheaper if you buy them in packs or bulk.
Old books, old art such as posters, photos, & other memorabilia and souveniers are also available for your pick.