Today we thought we would head to India for a few hours, well Little India. We were expecting a couple of streets of Indian shops and restaurants, but it was far more than that. As we got out of the metro it was like we had been transported from South East Asia to South Asia. The people, the buildings, the street decorations in preparation for 'Deepavali', the market stalls, all very Indian. We walked through a market that mostly sold Deepavali decorations, which were brightly coloured garlands and ornaments. I asked a trader what Deepavali meant and if it was different to 'Diwali' - it turns out it was the exact same celebration, just that Deepavali was a more accurate spelling than ours in the UK!
After mooching through the market stalls and along a road with little shops that mostly sold things to do with mobiles, gold bangles/jewellry, Saris and little Indian eateries we found ourselves at Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. We couldn't go in - judging by the shoes on the floor outside we guessed something was happening in there. There wasn't a huge amount to see from the outside except the ornate figures on the roof of the entrance building which were impressive enough!
We stopped for a quick drink and a sit at one of the eateries. The people inside were eating with their bare hands on vine leaves at tables. The place was nice enough. The only surprise was when the server told us that the bathrooms inside were only for men and Kirstie had to head down the street to find a bathroom for ladies.
After our drink we moved from Hindu to Islam and wandered into the middle eastern quarter, along aptly named Arab street to the Sultan Mosque. We popped in to have a look (after being asked to pop on some of their trousers to hide my legs). It was a large expansive prayer room with a digital display saying when the next prayer time was. Outside of the main prayer hall were a couple of lovely ladies answering questions about Islam and encouraging us to read the information displays - which were well laid out and well written.
After leaving the mosque we wandered down the street passing quite a few middle eastern restaurants and opted for a nice looking Turkish place which had a bit of shelter from the rain that was picking up.
After lunch wandered to Haji Lane, which is clearly an instagrammers paradise. It was a colourful row of fashionable bars, little independent designer shops and lots of street art. We navigated our way round the various photos shoots taking place along the road and popped into a few shops.
We popped over to China town for a bit of a mooch, but decided it was best to come back at night when it was more alive and lit up so we carried on walking back to our hotel for a bit of a rest (i.e. nap).
Feeling rested we wandered up to Chinatown, saw some of the illuminations, walked through the night market which is bustling with tourists and sellers mostly peddling tourist tat, took in some of the Chinese themed murals on the walls and then headed for dinner at the Maxwell Food Centre. Very similar to places we had been to in Hong Kong, the Maxwell Food Centre was a series of little eating kiosks with tables in the middle. If you wanted to reserve a table you needed to pop packets of tissues on the seats to let people know they were taken. Although some of the kiosks were closed or closing by this time, every table was taken. We had to wait for one to become free. We managed to pounce on one near a couple of kiosks we had our eyes on. I had XiaoLongBao (literally my favourite food in the world) and a Pork Banh Mi (a Vietnamese pork baguette I got into in Australia). Absolutely stunning. XiaoLongBao is rarely available in the UK and when it is, it is never quite right (except at Leong's Legend in London's chinatown - if you know, you know). The XiaolLongBao here was spot on. I probably could have had 2 or 3 more baskets, but stuck with my one basket. The atmosphere in the food hall was lively with what I guessed was a mix of tourists, wealthy locals and not so wealthy locals. It was cheap and very cheerful!
After dinner we wandered back to the hotel for a final night in Singapore. We had the following morning to explore more of Singapore before our flight at 5.30pm.
Little India Market. Very colourful.
Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple entrance.
A better shot of the figures.
Mural in little India.
The road to the Sultan Mosque.
The prayer hall.
Haji Street
Haji Street 2
The road to Chinatown.
Chinatown Mural 1
Chinatown Mural 2
Chinatown mural 3
Chinatown Mural 4
The Chinatown shops
Maxwell Food Centre. Looks closed… many more were open further along. I’m just a bad photographer.
Left: XiaoLongBao
Right: Kirstie’s dumplings
Not pictured: my Banh Mi that I destroyed pretty quickly.
The road from Chinatown.
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