“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.

 

Fish Head Curry and other adventures in Little India

Roly-poly fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino in Italian restaurants with Oriental women! Garth, we were thinking of you.

On Sunday, we decided to explore in Little India, which is only a 10 minute taxi ride away from our hotel.

Deepavali was celebrated recently, and there are still arches over the roads decorated with swirling patterns and peacocks and lights. It’s a technicolor paradise: women dressed in gorgeous saris, fabric shops galore, and temples covered in statuary and floral decorations. The air is perfumed with spices and incense, and it was a far cry from the shopping malls of Orchard Road.

We visited two temples: Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, dedicated to Kali, and Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, dedicated to Vishnu. I wish I knew more about Hinduism to better understand what I’m seeing, and I guess this will be my year to learn! The second temple actually had a nice exposition tucked away on the side about Vaishnavism that was very interesting.

Shoes off before you enter, and it’s customary to bring some type of offering for prayers and to receive blessings, such as fruit or flowers, and there were many shops nearby to purchase them. Lots of chanting and people were queueing up at the different shrines to pray and prostrate themselves in front of them. You could wander the entire temple as long as you didn’t enter the inner chamber.

I could have happily stayed in the first temple for hours, watching everyone participating in small rituals. My favorite one is the ringing of the bells on the doors as you enter and exit. Both temples had huge wooden doors studded with small bells and carved icons, and it seems that the ringing of these bells creates an auspicious sound, announcing your presence and driving away evil energy.

We spent a couple of hours walking around, and on the advice of our taxi driver and Lonely Planet finally ended up on Race Course Road in search of fish head curry. Why? Why not! When in Rome…or Singapore…

Grant hadn’t tried this when he was in KL, and in the morning he announced that today was the day. Once the taxi driver recommended it too, it seemed like a no-brainer (and no, I don’t think I ate fish brains). Banana Leaf Apolo had been mentioned in the guidebook, and the promise of air-conditioning along with the presence of lots of Indians made it our choice.

We ordered a small Fish Head Curry to share, and the serving that arrived was huge; I can’t imagine how enormous a large order would be! It was delicious, not too spicy and kind of fun to pull the meat off the bones. After we’d attacked the first side, I flipped it over and the flesh kind of disintegrated into the curry from there, leaving the eye and the skeletal remains looking balefully up at me.

Probably not a dish I’d put on my regular rotation (there are too many options here to consider developing a regular rotation yet!), but I certainly wouldn’t hesitate to order it again, and I think it’s going to be one of those must tries for anyone visiting, but I promise not to force it on you. It’s too early to scare anyone away!

We have arrived!

And boy, was that the way to travel! Long, but very comfortable flight, and we probably got about 7 hours of sleep total. The food was ridiculously gourmet and we ate way too much. Everything was served on china and with real silverware – including knives (surprising on a plane these days, no?). The champagne was lovely, as was the cheese course that we were served twice! Service was top notch, and we were constantly addressed by name. I could certainly get used to business class with no problem.

All of our luggage made it with us, and managed to fit in one taxi with a tiny trunk. We’re staying at the Grand Park City Hall in Singapore for the first week, and we’ll figure out in the next couple of days if we want to stay here longer or switch hotels. Our apartment lease in KL starts on December 1st, but the big question is how long it will take to get Grant’s Professional Visitor Pass. We’ll be hanging out in Singapore until then, since he can’t enter Malaysia while the application is pending. We’re expecting to be here for 3-4 weeks, and Grant will be working from the office here starting on November 14th.

That doesn’t leave him with much time to adjust to the 13 hour time difference, so the first order of business was to do everything possible to get over our jet lag! We figured our best bet was to get outside and stay active, so we headed off to the Botanic Gardens looking forward to a sunny walk and beautiful surroundings. Singapore is also known as the Garden City, and there is lush vegetation all over leaving no doubt that we’re in a tropical location. Well, the heat and humidity keep reminding me of that too.

The Gardens were gorgeous, and I think we only visited about a third of it. It covers over 150 acres, and we started off strong, with Swan Lake, the Ginger Garden, and the National Orchid Garden. I couldn’t resist taking lots of close up shots, especially of the orchids.

I could have stayed there for hours, but the rumbling that got louder and louder was two things: my stomach and thunder. It was lunchtime, and we made our way back to the gift shop at the entrance to the Orchid Gardens just as it began pouring. I’ll admit to this: at the hotel, Grant had asked if we could bring the umbrella, and I didn’t feel like being weighed down with it so I said no. Browsed the gift shop for a lot longer than I really wanted to, and finally we gave in and bought emergency ponchos and took off. Luckily, we timed it pretty well, and the rain got lighter, and gave us a few dry minutes to walk over towards Orchard Road.

I’d heard Orchard Road was the fanciest shopping street in Singapore, and in my head I’d been thinking of it as a version of Newbury Street. I was just a little off – more like a cross between Times Square and the Champs Elysées. Malls are huge here, both in terms of size and importance. Shopping and eating are the two national pastimes, and we’re diving right in! My new shopping quest is for the perfect umbrella, and I think it will get a lot of use. I think of a new food quest every time I pass anyone eating anything. The malls have good food courts, very different from home, more like sanitized street food vendors.

We managed to stay awake until 8 pm on our first day, although we were really dragging for the last four hours or so, and ended up having dinner at the nearest mall since we were too tired to go further afield. I think it was important to push ourselves though, and we were up bright and early this morning and feeling great. All in all, this was a great start for us and I’m excited to be here!