Just outside the door

Singapore's shophouses are often dwarfed by high-rise office blocks or living quarters

Now I am not in Singapore on a tourist jaunt, this is strictly medical tourism and to be frank, I'm not in the mood to wander around a very hot and humid city with people staring at my angry red face. Nevertheless, just outside my hotel there's some interesting architecture dating back to the time when this area of Singapore, Little India, was home to the remnants of Indian convicts brought here to work as construction labourers in the 1920s. Given land and buffaloes as well as their freedom they settled in this area and it continues to this day, as colourful, noisy and busy as any so-called Little India's around the globe. There is an eatery every second shop or so it seems and a lot of them are housed in Singapore's shophouses, quite similar in style to the colonial French ones found dotted around Cambodia provincial towns. Here's a selection, all within a block of my hotel, when I popped out to get some lunch. My doctor has suggested a rest from sun, heat, sweat and dust, so it was literally, out and back in a few minutes. I know Little India has a lot more sights to see but maybe I'll have time for that when I see some improvement in my condition.

Built in 1925 these shophouses have all received a lick of paint in recent years

More of the same row of shophouses in Sam Leong Road, Little India

A colourful home and shop complex in Sam Leong Road, with definite Indian influences

The beading on this property look almost Georgian in style. This can be found on Jalan Besar Road.

This is my home for the next few days, the ill-named Classique Hotel in Little India - finding reasonable accommodation at bargain prices was impossible.