Singapore

My first day in Singapore I met Vesna on Orchard Street, the big shopping street, which is only a few blocks from the Thomas' condo. Orchard Street has every imaginable designer label but most items cost at least three times what they do in the United States, so all I did was window shop. 

After checking out Orchard Street we caught a taxi to Chinatown. The taxis in Singapore are quite cheap.  In off-peak hours they cost no more that $7 and only a little more expensive during peak hours. Chinatown is in an old neighborhood in the city.  The shops are in renovated shophouses that are remnants of British colonial rule in Singapore.  The shophouses well maintained are characterized by intricate molding painted in an array of striking colors.  They offer an interesting contrast to the modern skyscrapers that loom above them only a few blocks away. 

While in Chinatown we visited the oldest Hindu and Buddhist temples in the city.  Sri Mariammam Temple, the Hindu temple, is white and clean, but filled with statues that are bursting with color.  The most common statues are those of brightly painted sacred cows that line the temple complex walls, but my favorites were the statues inside the walls.

The Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and Museum, the Buddhist temple designed in the Tang Dynasty style, is only a few blocks down the street. To enter the temple you are required put on a pashmina to cover exposed shoulders and a wrap to cover bare legs.  I did not realize that you had to cover your shoulders when I first walked in, but I learned quickly after being scolded. The inside is richly decorated with bright reds and warm gold and yellows.  While we were there a special ceremony was in progress that consisted of monks in traditional garments chanting so loudly that the sounds of the bustling city streets were drowned out by their songs.

From the temple we went to the wet market around the corner.  Most native Singaporeans go to markets like this daily for fresh fish and vegetables.  Tanks full of live eels, huge frogs and other exotic delicacies skirm around in cages and tanks in many of the stands.  One section of the market has piles heaped high with dried baby shrimp, mini fish and other things. 

From Chinatown we went to Arab Street, a neighborhood that is architecturally similar to Chinatown, but it is full of stores with oriental rugs, Indian silks, lace and cotton batik. Cotton batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. The most well-known batik pattern in Singapore is the one worn by Singapore Airlines flight attendants. The Sultan Mosque in the Bussorah Mall, which was once a stop on the Haj, dominates the center of the neighborhood.  Unfortunately at the time we went prayers were going on so we could not go inside, but is definitely worth seeing.