Hawkers @ Ci Yuan Community Club
The transition of hawkers from street peddlers to hawker centres and the renewal of hawker centres is intriguing. My generation saw all of its making and some are from family whose parents were hawkers. The first hawkers I knew was when I was a young child was where at my paternal grandmother's place there was a push cart stall with wooden tables and stools that sold Yong Tau Fu and they always stayed at the same spot. Then there was a man peddling braised duck and pork and he carried two big pots of it balanced on a pole across his shoulders. He even has a bowl and dice and customers could gamble with him for some duck or even a pig's ear. I wonder what happened when he lost? Next, there was a motorbike man who sold pau (or bao/meat dumplings), siew mai, mai kai and fan choy. He carried the typical wooden tray at the back of his bike with steaming hot bao and this was where I would have a char siew bao with chilli dripped on it. So too the siew mai. Today's chiili sa...