The colourful painted facade of traditional shophouses in Chinatown, Singapore. Shophouses, as the term suggests, were used traditionally as a shop on the ground floor and as residence on the upper storeys. There are different styles of shophouses, from the squat, two storey early style to the ornamental late style which may incorporate eclectic elements. Nowadays shophouses have been converted to eateries, spas, offices, but some old shophouses are still with their original owner and kept to its original purpose. However, increasingly these shophouses are being bought by new owners and converted to commercial use.
Singapore is a country of religious diversity. Above picture shows the Jamae mosque side by side with traditional shophouses. The mosque dates to the 1830s and it is a fusion of Chinese, Anglo-Indian and Malay architectural styles.
Here, you see the shophouses being dwarfed by towering skyscrapers. For more That's my world pictures, go here
