Walking Tour

As noted before, we are staying at a hostel in the Little India neighborhood in Singapore. The folks here are really nice, and if you need a cheap place to stay we'd recommend "the inn crowd". As is the case with most hostels, they have events for the patrons and even do a walking tour of the neighborhood.

The first place we visited on our tour was the oldest Indian mosque in Singapore, Masjid Abdul Gafoor. Our host Karen showed us the appropriate behavior for entering, including wearing modest clothing - even the men have to cover their knees and we were given wraps, so that we could respect the rules. Karen also showed us where we were supposed to go to wash our hands and feet. Without a guide, I'm sure we'd have made many mistakes and violated as many customs. This part of the tour was very helpful.

Next, we visited a tradional tea shop. India has many tea options, and we were educated again on the local customs of how to order and what each item on the menu meant. Erin and I ordered 'teh tahrik,' which is "pulled" to cool the tea as well as to make it foamy. I had heard of pulling tea before, but I had no idea what it meant. Seeing it in action helped me to understand what it was all about. We plan on visiting this shop a few more times before we move on in our journey.

After tea (and a savory donut), we walked on to a Chinese market. It may seem weird to have a Chinese market so close to the Little India neighborhood, but that is one of the amazing things about Singapore. There are mass cultures and people all smashed together on this little island. One of the most amazing things about S'pore is how so many different cultures coexist in such a small place. Karen pointed out that on the same street there is a mosque, a hindu temple, a buddhist temple, a jewish temple, and a christian church. Anyway, on with our story...

Erin and I had walked through the market earlier in the day, but Karen pointed out certain shops and customs which educated us on what was really going on there. We visited the Hindu Sri Krishnan Temple (slightly fuzzy picture above) and saw the evening prayers. We also visited the buddhist temple next door, the Goddess of Mercy Temple (Guanyin), and got our fortune told. We even got to eat some "local" ice cream, which was served on bread instead of in a cone or on a stick. The ice cream stayed with us a little longer than we would have liked.

After the tour, we spent a little longer wandering the markets. Shopping is a major form of entertainment in Singapore. We did not partake (yet) but enjoyed watching the chaos. We were grabbed multiple times by eager shopkeepers who wanted to hawk their wares and get a sale. It takes a bit of getting used to, but we are enjoying it nonetheless.