The Five Footway Festival is returning to Singapore from March 9 to 17 with a host of fun and exciting activities for visitors of all ages at various locations in Chinatown.
Gain a deeper understanding on the way of life, values, and traditions of the country’s forefathers in Chinatown, and how the lives of early immigrants were centred at the Five Footway across trades, clan activities, cultural, arts and entertainment activities and beyond.
Visitors to the festival can also register for the walking trail, Conserved Buildings in Chinatown, to learn about the conservation of heritage buildings in Singapore, the history behind some of the oldest buildings in Chinatown and the activities that used to line the Five Footways.
Other highlights include folktale-telling at Joss Stick Storytelling; a Hokkien Puppet Show, Kirin Dance Performance; and the Tan Ah Huat theatrical walking tour that tells the tale of Chinatown back in the early days of Singapore through the eyes of a Chinese immigrant from the 1920s. This tour comprises cultural theatre acts across Cantonese opera, Teochew opera and Peking opera performances, and more.
The festival will also provide visitors with opportunities to pick up some of these traditional skills through various workshops and classes.
Discover the rich heritage of Hakka culture with Hakka Imperial Kitchen – learn to make a traditional omelette toast, attend the Traditional Wedding Talk, and marvel as an expert cooks up Hainanese dishes.
Visitors to the Five Footway Festival, especially families with children, can enjoy childhood games together at Pagoda Street with the nostalgic can and ring toss, hoop wheeling, zero point, and snakes and ladders. They can also munch on the much-loved traditional Singaporean snacks and biscuits, and meet-and-greet with stilt-walking Samsui women and khaki shorts policemen. Other interesting activities include movie screenings, dragon dances, wushu and many more.
Admission to the Five Footway Festival is free.
For more information, visit Five Footway Festival.
TransNusa Airline, a subsidiary of Linkasia Airlines Group and Panca Global International Indonesia, has rebranded itself as a Premium Service Carrier globally.
Established in 2005. TranNusa stopped operations in 2020 due to the global pandemic and was sold. In 2022, the airline saw the injection of new shareholders – Panca Global International Indonesia (51 per cent) and Singapore-based Linkasia Airlines Group (49 per cent) – and a new management team, which developed a unique business model that allowed TransNusa to rebrand itself as a Premium Service Carrier.
TransNusa Group CEO Bernard Francis remarked that TransNusa has become the fastest growing airline in South-east Asia due to the business plan that was developed and implemented swiftly post Covid-19.
“We knew that traveller’s behavioural pattern had changed, specifically due to the pandemic. Our next step was to develop a customised business model for the targeted passengers,” he said, adding that the airline has flown over one million passengers between October 2022 and December 2023.
In April last year, TransNusa expanded its reach from domestic to international with the launch of its Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur route. Subsequently in the same year, the airline also launched three new routes – Jakarta-Singapore, Jakarta-Guangzhou, and Jakarta-Johor.
Francis, an aviation industry expert who specialises in airline turnaround and revenue management, said that TransNusa has increased its flight frequencies to seven times a week to Singapore, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China and Johor Bahru, Malaysia. The airline has also increased its flight frequencies to 21 times weekly to Kuala Lumpur, 14 times weekly to Yogyakarta and 35 times weekly to Bali.
“Last year, we expanded our operations to include international routes and even became the second Indonesian airline to fly into China. We also managed to obtain all necessary approvals in a short timeframe from world-class Changi airport, reflecting the strong commitment we have towards safety, security, maintenance and aircraft performance measures,” he said.
On the airline’s future expansion, Francis shared that the airline has plans to further expand its international network, as well as to establish another domestic hub and provide its domestic market with premium services.
He stressed that TransNusa’s current services exceeded that of a low-cost airline.
“For our domestic and international flights, we not only provide premium services with competitive ticket prices in comparison to other low-cost airlines, but we have attractive new product bundles called Seat, Seat-Plus and Flexi-Pro,” he explained.
Depending on the product purchased, passengers can enjoy check-in baggage weighing between 15kg and 30kg. Flexi-Pro features include checking in baggage of up to 30kg, seat choices, free F&B, priority check-in and boarding, as well as the flexibility to change the flight schedule and receive refunds if needed.
In addition, all TransNusa flights will only depart and arrive at major international airports, allowing passengers to enjoy the world-class services offered at these international terminals.