“You have learned our ways.”

True quote, said by an elder in…a hawker center. Maybe I haven’t exactly achieved spiritual enlightenment, but I’m figuring out how to get around!

While Grant has been working hard in the office, I’ve been working hard to see everything Singapore has to offer. Basically, each day I’m choosing a new neighborhood and hitting the streets. I’m working on learning the city, so I’ll be a better tour guide both for him and for all of our visitors!

I spent a day in Chinatown, and the first temple I saw was not a Buddhist temple, but the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. I loved the sacred cows perched on the top of the walls.

This is on the corner of Pagoda Street, which leads into a pedestrian shopping area aimed directly at all of us tourists, but that was fun to wander anyway. The surprising highlight was The Tintin Shop, which seemed out of place amid the souvenir booths. Grant is a fan, so I was excited to bring him back here. The new Tintin movie is the top movie here in Singapore right now as well, but it’s doubtful we’ll see it while we’re here. We just got word that Grant’s visa has come through, and we’re headed up to KL on Sunday!

My favorite shop was the one that sold nothing but chopsticks, and Grant bought me my first (and only, so far) souvenir. They are Chinese zodiac chopsticks, and I was born in the year of the monkey. That means I’m very smart, or so the saleswoman told me. I think she was a very smart saleswoman.

After running the gauntlet of shopkeepers, you emerge at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple (top picture). This is a striking building, five stories tall and built during the last decade. As it turns out, it is directly across from the Maxwell Road Food Centre, a hawker center we had eaten in on our second day here. We may have been feeling the effects of the jet lag more than we thought, since neither of us had noticed the gigantic temple.

It’s very ornate inside, and the main hall is lined with small statues of One Hundred Buddhas and tables holding offerings that have been made to the Three Jewels: Buddha (the Enlightened One), Dharma (the Teaching), and Sangha (the Spiritual Community). Upstairs, there was a beautiful museum telling the story of the life of Buddha and displaying Buddhist icons from all over Asia.

At the other end of the spectrum in temple visits for the day, was one of Singapore’s oldest temples: Thian Hock Keng Temple, also known as the Temple of Heavenly Happiness. It’s dedicated to the Goddess of the Sea, and Chinese sailors would visit it to pray for safe passage.

Today was my first meal on my own, and I knew the custom was to first “chope” or save yourself a seat by putting a package of tissues down. I’d brought some with me so I was ready to dive in, but I wasn’t sure what the etiquette was for joining other people at a table and the place was pretty packed.

My technique in food courts and hawker centers is to wander the rows of food stalls, looking for the ones with long lines and counting on those to have the best food. It’s tough to choose with so many options (poor me, right?), but this day I settled on a fried rice and noodle stand, and saw a table for six with only two people at it not far away. I asked if I could take a seat, and left my tissues there – it helps that everyone speaks English!

By the time I returned with my food, two gentlemen had sat down as well, and the older one watched me as I claimed my seat and put away my tissues, and then leaned in and announced “You have learned our ways”. Whoo-hoo! I felt pretty good about that.

They were very friendly, and interested in who I was and what I was doing there. They shared their perspective on Singapore’s history, what food I should eat next (very important!), and other sights to see. They pointed me into Singapore City Gallery, which I hadn’t planned on seeing, but ended up spending over an hour there. It’s an exhibit about the nation’s planning efforts, and covers the past, present and future with videos and dioramas. Since their land is so limited, this city-nation is in a state of constant evolution, but they are very aware of the need and desire to preserve historic elements as well. That conscious planning effort comes through in a slightly Disney-esque feeling as you stroll the city, which I don’t necessarily mean as a bad thing. This is certainly a comfortable environment for me to ease into life in Southeast Asia.