Brunch and a stop at Chinatown Museum

The strong fans and large patio umbrellas kept us cool at Prive as we sipped our morning coffees. This restaurant overlooking the Keppel Bay Marina has a huge patio that I've been admiring from a distance. There's a nice little play area for small children, but we had said goodbye to the kids at our playground back home.

We enjoyed our brunch selections. I had the banana pancakes. They were was topped with very fresh fruit and nuts, and came with a creamy peanut butter dip and a chocolate sauce on the side. Jonathan choose the traditional breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, fried mushrooms, toast, and baked beans. I stole his side salad.  I was probably the best sausage we'd ever tasted.

It started to rain about 1/2 way through our breakfast. They offered to move us inside, but we were well covered by the umbrella and it sounded lovely. After the rain stopped we realized we still had a lot of time so we headed to Chinatown on the MRT.

The Chinese Cultural Centre wasn't covered by our "Friends of Museums" membership, but we didn't mind because there was only the 2 of us. You can listen along to audio on headphones as you wander through the exhibits depicting some of the historical Chinese experiences in Singapore. We listened for the first few rooms and then stopped and just read the signs so we could chat about what we were seeing. I was glad we didn't bring 3 children here. You walked into each of the exhibits without any barriers. They were small spaces and there were signs asking you not to touch the artifacts.

The exhibits were set up as stories being told by the people who lived during the time depicted.  It was amazing to ponder large families living in these tiny apartment rooms. A family of 8 lived and worked out of the room below: a factory worker, a seamstress and their 6 children. I tried to picture my grandparents' family of 8 living in this room which is not much bigger than our smallest bedroom right now.

They would have shared a kitchen, toilet and shower with the rest of the building.

Of course I was intrigued by the Five-Foot Library. These lending libraries would have stood in the five foot covered space under the eaves of a building. In the 50s, you would typically have paid a few cents to borrow 3 books, so reading was a very common activity.

It's a small museum, but in a very central location, right in the heart of Chinatown (just moments from the MRT). We spent a bit over an hour in the museum, and could have spent a little long. 2 hours would probably we the absolute maximum if you could spend here if you chose to listen to all the audio. There were 3 levels to the museum:

• Work spaces/businesses - We wandered through the tailor shop where you could even flip through the order log.
• Homes - The detail of life were very through here, and then
• Communal spaces (which included stories of how people came to Singapore via ship and what happened when they arrived). People came looking for riches and instead usually found a short hard life, full of disease and vice due to the harsh working and living conditions.