Little India & Botanical Gardens & Chengay Parade

Friends of the Sun, 

today I would like to share with you my unexpectedly eventful day in Singapore. After arriving the day before and feeling quite exhausted from my night at the airport, I went to bed early. I needed the sleep because I had booked a Free Walking Tour through my 'neighborhood' Little India for the next day. Since I was staying here, I thought I should also know a bit of history about it.

So, after a very one-sided breakfast (white toast with butter), I headed to the meeting point. This was at one of the exits of the subway station. After trying several stations above ground and finding nothing, I went underground and searched for the correct letter, which I eventually found. I was there on time, but I didn't see anyone waiting. Then I saw a family that also looked quite lost and I approached them to ask if they were also going to the Free Walking Tour. It turned out they were just looking for the street name.

After the pleasant conversation with the family, I continued my search and actually found the guide around a corner. Waiting as a guide behind a corner is a bit impractical, but the lovely Angel apologized briefly since she was 5 minutes late. And since someone always comes late to Free Walking Tours, we then waited for potential stragglers together. Two more people arrived, and as luck would have it, one was from Innsbruck, and the other was the intern from the Free Walking company, who was doing a concluding tour.

We had a great group dynamic and immediately got along well and laughed a lot. At each stop, Angel shared many facts about the area, and since she herself comes from the neighborhood on her mother's side, it felt like we were out walking with the Indian Karla Kolumna, as she really knew everyone and everything, and we had to keep stopping to chat with various people. We met cousins, sisters, and even an old schoolfriend at the Hawker Center in Little India.

The Tekka Center (Hawker Center in Little India) is a huge building where you can find everything from clothes to shark meat (I had to turn away because I found it so sad). The Hawker Centers are large buildings where all the street food stalls are concentrated, and I could have eaten until I was truly full, because here you can get authentic food for little money. Some of the stalls even had a Michelin star. After the tour, we got something to eat at one of those stalls, and I must say I truly miss the delicious Indian food and Asian cuisine in general.

After the Center, we went through a few smaller stops in Little India - the oldest building in the neighborhood, the Gold Street, the temple, the Silk Road, and finally the Museum of Indian Culture in Singapore.

We also got a delicious refreshment along the way. This drink had saffron, tea, ginger, and many other spices, and it was an absolute taste sensation. The young intern got something called a Dinosaur. A chilled drink made from milk and Milo powder. Similar to cocoa or hot chocolate, but in such a quantity that the powder doesn’t dissolve on top. In Singapore, this is a real delicacy and apparently quite normal.

Since we had Angel with us, we also dared to enter the temple and of course, we walked through the premises wearing appropriate clothing, which could be borrowed in front of the temple, and learned a bit more about the believers and their gods. Here, there’s really a god for almost every feeling and wish that can be worshipped, for example, one responsible for wealth. The temple also always has a small portion of food funded by temple donations. This food is sometimes given out in larger portions for those in need, and other visitors are also invited to take some. It was quite delicious, but especially the curry version of the rice was so spicy that I couldn't eat it and gave it away.

The tour ended at the museum, and Julian from Innsbruck and I decided to spend the rest of the day together since we got along so well. So we first checked out the museum. It was funny that we were the only tourists in this museum. All other visitors were school classes using the museum for educational purposes. Since English is mostly spoken in schools in Singapore, this was very helpful for us because we joined a school class and listened to the teacher explain everything. Very practical.

After visiting the museum, we got delicious lamb biryani at the Michelin stall in the Tekka Center and then went to the Botanical Garden to hide from the sun. First, we enjoyed a delicious coffee at the café and then relaxed in the shade of the trees and greenery of the garden. The Botanical Garden in Singapore has different sections featuring a variety of plants from the neighboring countries and the countries from where most of the immigrants came. It's just wonderful to walk through, and along the path, we could always discover life. For instance, we spotted a rather large lizard. The Botanical Garden is also home to otters, and there are signs everywhere reminding pedestrians to give way to the otters. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but it was still very interesting.

After all these wonderful experiences, we got hungry again and took the subway to another Hawker Center where we treated ourselves to delicious noodles.

And because a planless plan is the best plan, we then headed towards the canal and spontaneously stumbled upon the Chengay Parade. A huge parade in Singapore, where all clubs and sports courses, and sometimes even companies celebrate the Luna New Year, with a different theme each year. This year's theme was healthy food. The parade has a main stage with seats and lights and all that stuff, but there is also a section where no tickets are needed and where the parade has to pass through anyway to reach the stands after the main stage. Right there, Julian and I sat down and while waiting (because we might have been 2 hours too early) we met Sage and Wobit. An American and a Canadian who were also in Singapore for a few days and both currently teach English in South Korea.

And what can I say, we became part of the parade because we entertained the people around us so well and had so much fun - it was incredibly funny. Sometimes people cross your path and the wavelength is not just right, it’s exactly the same and every high is the high of the other person. In this case, it was 4 people at once, and it was just fabulous. Our standing neighbors even started filming us because we provided such great entertainment. We cheered on the groups, dancers, and runners so much that many came back specifically to thank us afterwards. Some even wanted selfies with us. It was hilarious. One of the reasons why we immediately exchanged numbers, and I ended up spending more time with Sage and Wobit in the following days. Julian, unfortunately, departed the next day.

It was an unexpectedly fantastic day in Singapore, and I arranged to go for a little hike with Sage and Wobit the next day. More about that in the next post. Until then, enjoy the spring,

Your Britta