A quieter corner of busy Singapore

Amiddle-aged man gets down on his hands and knees and takes his time lighting three cigarettes before carefully placing them on a metal stand inside a small shrine. He then joins his hands and completes three rapid bowing motions.

It seems strange that you are even allowed to light up inside a temple, let alone leave three cigarettes burning in front of a bunch of flammable ornaments and decorations.

But this small and intricately decorated temple is full of offerings from worshippers. Evidently this man believes the Taoist deity he worships is a smoker. Judging by the other gifts on show, the deity is also a fan of oranges and cake.

We are at the Goh Chor Tua Pek Kong Temple at 249 Balestier Road in Singapore, a small refuge along a busy road. Its surrounds bear little resemblance to when it was established in 1847 by Hokkien labourers no doubt searching for a sense of community and spiritual guidance while working on the sugarcane plantations which dominated the area at the time.

The plantations are all gone, but this modest temple is a reminder of the Balestier area's beginnings.

It has stood in this place for more than 150 years, but you get the feeling very little has changed here as progress took over all around it.

It is still maintained by the descendants of the original keepers, and incense constantly burns both inside and in the spacious area facing out on to the bustling street. Fortune tellers on are hand to speak of the future but looking at this temple is like looking into the past.

Balestier is named after the first American consul-general to Singapore - Joseph Balestier - who owned a large, and eventually failed, sugarcane estate. Along with his business, Mr Balestier lost both his son and wife while in Singapore and left in 1852.

But the area named after him has not only survived, but flourished, and offers plenty to keep an intrepid visitor interested.

I'm splitting my time between two hotels in the area, which are separated by Zhongshan Park.

Unlike much of Balestier, these hotels are relatively new. Days Hotel Singapore at Zhongshan Park opened in December 2012 and the Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park just six months later, in May last year.

There is no shortage of five-star-and-up hotels competing to be the most opulent in Singapore, but if you're looking for a more affordable mid-range option you might have more trouble.

Days and Ramada fill this gap. The rooms at Days are smaller and there is no swimming pool, but the beds are good quality and you have everything else you need. You will have more space, and slightly more luxury at Ramada, including a spacious third-floor pool to while away a sunny afternoon, but there is no drop-off in the service from the friendly and efficient staff at either hotel.

The two hotels co-operate, sharing staff. The friendly face of bellboy Ben, who shows me to my room when I arrive at Days after midnight, later delivers something to my room at Ramada the night before I leave.

The restaurant at Days, 21 on Rajah, is Mediterranean themed (don't worry, there are still plenty of local cuisine options), and has become halal certified - a move which has heralded an uplift in business. That means you will not find alcohol at 21, but any guest who wants it can nip across the park to Ramada's Flavours, where there are some lovely cocktails on offer such as the curry-leaf mojito to go with the local Peranakan cuisine.

Either hotel will provide the perfect base from which to wing your way around the Balestier Heritage Trail. It has been a labour of love for the National Heritage Board and the Urban Redevelopment Authority to record the history of the area and its rich cultural significance.

My guide for the morning is Li Li. Only a few metres down the road, we find ourselves at the beautifully adorned Burmese Buddhist Temple. Inside is a huge marble Buddha that was transported from Burma almost 100 years ago. Upstairs, a mural charts the giant ornament's journey, a reminder of Singapore's diverse cultural and racial mix.

The temple overlooks a mansion with a fascinating history of its own. Built by a wealthy businessman in the 1880s for his mistress, it was later bought by rubber merchant Teo Eng Hock as a residence for his mother. My guide in the museum tells us that his mother was never happy in the house and yearned for the busier areas of Singapore that she was used to. Mr Hock was a great supporter of the Chinese Nationalist Movement, which wanted to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, and the mansion became a key location in the eventual victory of that campaign in 1911.

It is now named the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, after Dr Sun, who became the founding father and first president of the Republic of China. It is clear Singaporeans are proud of the role their people and this place played in such a huge moment in Chinese history, and they celebrate it here.

Guests at Ramada and Days can show their key card for free entry into the beautifully maintained museum, which contains rare photos and records about the period and about Dr Sun, all within a building that was witness to the events. Dr Sun visited no fewer than nine times while planning revolutionary activities, but my guide also stresses the important role played by the Singaporean businessman who brought Dr Sun here.

Travelling down Balestier Road, you will notice plenty of lighting shops. When Li Li moved into her first home, this is where she came to buy light fittings. A highlight of the strip is the way the intricate shophouses have been preserved, celebrating another step on this road's journey.

Many of the shophouses show the eclectic mix of the Western and Eastern influences that have characterised this place. Another sign of this is the old-fashioned water kiosk that Li Li points out as we pass some workers digging up part of the road.

A charitable organisation refills the water for anyone on the street to use. Singapore used to be peppered with these kiosks, but this one on Balestier Road is the only one left, a reminder of a time when rehydration was more of a luxury.

Li Li now makes a call. She's trying her luck to see if her contact - Uncle - is at the now-disused Shaw Brothers Malay film studios. Uncle answers and invites us in to have a look. It is like wandering back in time. Looking at the clean but dilapidated courtyard, I can imagine films being made here. Some of the old equipment has been lovingly cleaned up and displayed in preparation for a school group which is soon to come through. In a storage room, we see dust-covered film still on the reel.

Back on Balestier Road, we stop again to admire more of the elaborate shopfronts which are being protected for posterity, including an Art Deco facade.

Also along the road are family run stores, passed from generation to generation. We step into an optician. The brother-and-sister team learnt from their father and have carried on the traditions. They happily invite us in to see the old-fashioned equipment they have long used to test eyes. Li Li herself is a customer and swears by their craftsmanship. Next door is a coffee shop which opened more than 50 years ago, and has been famous for its local coffee, which is roasted with sugar and margarine. But it has moved with the times and now also offers a variety of beans from overseas.

The fragrant smells of a bakery drift up a side street and there is no barrier to stop you seeing the team hard at work. At this 24-hour-a-day bakery, they cut off the crusts of the loaves to reveal a white fluffy centre that has been much-loved by the locals for the past 50 years.

A little farther on, we reach the food market, where I discover carrot cake like I've never had it before. It is, in fact, turnip and egg cooked up together. It's delicious, as is the traditional pork rib soup, and sugarcane drink I wash it down with.

Another day, I sample the famous chicken rice at Boon Tong Kee. This restaurant is now a chain throughout Singapore, but the first was here on Balestier Road. You can't book and after we wander in just before noon, the dining room quickly fills and there is a line out of the door. Some of the staff seem very elderly to be waiting tables. But this is part of the attraction of these traditional restaurants where, it seems, people stay for the long haul.

There is so much more food to try in the area that there is a whole booklet to guide you through the culinary adventure.

A $10 cab ride will get you to the city centre and the famous shopping strip at Orchard Road. But it's nice to retreat back to Balestier, which feels a little more peaceful.

Zhongshan Park, which has retained two 100-year-old banyan trees for heritage purposes, is filled with people as I wander from one hotel to the other after dinner.

People spill out of the mall, which is attached to the Ramada, and in the morning there is a large tour group congregating and people exercising their dogs to add to the feeling of community.

Balestier may not have the reputation of some of the more famous areas of Singapore, but there is real substance. Maybe it's a hangover from the sugarcane plantations, but there is something quite sweet and satisfying here.

• fact file *

·A city view room at Days Hotel Singapore costs from $S150 ($133) while a city view room at Ramada Singapore is from $S190. Both prices are per room per night with free wi-fi and local calls and are for stays before March 31. To book this rate, call +65 6808 6838 or email reservations@ramada-dayshotelssingapore.com and quote _The West Australian _.

See dayshotelsingapore.com and ramadasingapore.com.

·Scoot Airlines has daily flights between Singapore and Perth. flyscoot.com or

(02) 8520 1888.

Fortune tellers on are hand to speak of the future but looking at this temple is like looking into the past.

Bridget Lacy was a guest of Singapore Ramada and Scoot Airlines.