Heritage trails from Singapore
Walk Asia's old cities with the women who shaped them
Our trails start in Singapore and follow the women who carried culture from one generation to the next, in Malacca, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Kyoto and Xi'an.
Our core value
Heritage you can walk, taste and learn.
Nuren Heritage Trails keeps living culture alive by telling the stories of the women who carried it: on the streets where they lived, at the tables where they cooked, and in the lessons we pass on.
Every story is tied to a real street you can walk.
Every trail ends at a table, from hawker stalls to Michelin kitchens.
Every story is checked against history and written for the next generation.
Women who led the change
They cooked it, wore it, wrote it, and kept it alive
History is usually told through kings and wars. In every city on our route, it was women who kept the recipes, sewed the clothes, ran the markets and inns, and passed the culture on.
Each city page introduces the women behind it, and how what they wore changed as their lives did.
Singapore · Keeper of recipes
Mrs Lee Chin Koon
A Peranakan matriarch who wrote down nyonya recipes that had only been passed on by hand. Mrs Lee's Cookbook, published in 1974, is still in Singapore kitchens.
NMMalacca · Matriarchs
The nyonya matriarchs
They ran large households, kept the family rites and decided how the next generation dressed, cooked and married.
PSBangkok · Chef
Pichaya "Pam" Soontornyanakij
Named The World's Best Female Chef in 2025, the first Thai and first Asian winner, cooking her family's Thai Chinese food at Potong.
VMHo Chi Minh City · From digger to guide
Vo Thi Mo
Helped dig the Cu Chi tunnels as a teenager, led the district women's guerrilla platoon at 19, and later guided visitors at the tunnel site.
MSKyoto · Writer
Murasaki Shikibu
A Kyoto court lady who wrote The Tale of Genji in the early 1000s, often called the world's first novel.
YGXi'an · Consort and dancer
Yang Guifei
Emperor Xuanzong's beloved consort, one of the Four Beauties of ancient China, and a skilled dancer and musician.
The route
From Singapore to five old cities
Every city follows the same three pillars: Travel, Food and Education.