Day 8: Singapore (Chinatown!)

I had no idea our last day in Singapore would be so memorable! I started my day with some cold udon noodles from the Don Quijote nearby (we had quite a few meals from there while we were in Singapore).

We set off on foot for Sri Mariammom, a Hindu temple that was only .5 miles away from our hotel. On the way, we saw more creative ways of creating green spaces.

The temple was as colorfully vibrant as I'd hoped, and we spent about half an hour there checking it out. We removed our shoes, donned our shawls to cover our waist, and saw good number of priests (?) who were chanting. It was stifling hot, so we made our way by ofot over to the next temple...which was less than 1/4 mile away.

On our short walk over, we saw a massive public housing building...

And a number of al frescos of Chinatown as we approached/got closer.

Again, I couldn't help but marvel at how many buildings were designed to be green.

The Buddha Tooth Relic temple is exactly what it sounds like...a massive, sprawling temple (it was like an entire block) built to house what is arguably one of the Buddha's teeth. Experts tend to agree it is not likely, but that did not stop the construction of this temple...which we liked, largely because it was mildly air conditioned...and therefore SIGNIFICANTLY more hospitable.

There were hundreds and thousands of plastic gold Buddha's on the walls once you walked in, which reminded me of a temple in Japan that was very similar.

What looked like a little store in the temple, was actually where you could buy offerings for the temple. 

I was required to cover up not just my legs, but shoulders as well. Normally, this is quite stifling, but this building was cooler, and this was mostly tolerable.

We left after opting out of viewing the tooth, as I don't think a single tooth from what might be a woolly mammoth warranted an extra hour or so of our time (it was housed on the second floor). I saw a very waxy Mao Zedong in Beijing 25 years ago, and have opted out of viewing bodies and body parts since then.

We walked over to Chinatown, which was just steps away...

Despite the heat, it was a vibrant, clean, quiet Chinatown, but packed with stores/restaurants. 

I found 6 dishes I ended up buying that they carefully wrapped in bubble wrap for me to hand carry home. But boy did I want to buy every bowl in the shop! For the last ten years or more, dishes are usually the only souvenir that I will buy.

There were a lot of very life-like food magnets in Chinatown, adorable but not for me! Another reminder of Japan...

The rest of our time in Chinatown was spent hunting for these gorgeous al frescoes which told a story of what life was once like in that area.

We took a break during a sunny-sky torrential downpour at a Thai restaurant (as they tend to be more gluten-free friendly than most other cuisines). It was delicious!

We ended our day with a final trip to Don Quijote for Japanese snacks and desserts to enjoy before we packed our bags to head to the airport early the next morning.

Other than the higher cost of living and sticky weather, there was SO much to love about Singapore- I enjoyed it much more than I had thought I would. We enjoyed the modern architecture, green spaces, street art, affordability and diversity of so many different Asian cuisines, English being so widely spoken, the easy of the subway, etc. It was truly a very international city, and foreigners seem to match the number of locals. Anytime we needed help, asked for directions, etc - we were helped courteously. Folks offered their seats to my mother, and there was no street hawking, litter or unsafe areas. The city was clean, organized and everyone was polite. An overall very pleasant/stress-free place to visit, with so much to see and do- the Gardens by the Bay, the two domes, the Skytree grove/light show, the waterfall at Changi, the colorful Peranakan homes and the Old Hillstreet Police Station...and vibrant Sri Mariammon. So much to appreciate and remember in four days.