People flock to Ramadan bazaars after absence of two years

CROWDS COULD BE BETTER

For a few first-time vendors at the Geylang Serai bazaar, the crowds could be better – even though the SafeEntry barriers were removed on Tuesday when CNA visited. 

“We expected it to be even more crowded. Those stalls that are known are quite crowded, but the newcomers … they are not (drawing) that big of a crowd,” said Fattah, 27, an employee at the Rancho Meats stall. 

Even though there was a shorter queue at the entrance to the bazaar because there were no more SafeEntry barriers, Fattah added that the crowd size could also be due to the fact that it was still a weekday. 

“When it comes to the weekend, we’ll find out how it goes … as it’s the last weekend of Ramadan, so it’ll be the busiest weekend,” he said. 

At Latif’s Briyani, 66-year-old Mohamed Salim, who was helping his sister-in-law with her business, said the crowds “could be better”. 

“Weekends are okay. But as I said, it can be better. Because the bottleneck is at the (entrance). No TraceTogether today (but) not much difference,” he said. 

As for first-time visitors, Mr Salim only had one piece of advice: “They have to bring a lot of money. With fasting month, you will want to drink a lot and buy everything to eat the minute you break your fast.” 

Despite the less-than-ideal crowds, he added that he enjoyed the “family” atmosphere at the bazaar. 

“We’re a family: This guy, that guy; they help us out, we help them out,” he said.

“If they don’t have certain bags, or they don’t have spare change, we give them. We don’t have, they give us. We give them biryani for a break, they give us drinks for a break. It’s a family atmosphere here.”