15/10 - Little India (Deepavali)

Once again, a Couchsurfing event was on the program for the evening: a 'local' who has been living there for many years, took us through Little India.

But before that, we strengthened ourselves at the Indian Food Centre with some typical Indian snacks for the tour (and the hustle and bustle, of which we knew nothing yet); the first time that Indian food tasted good to me here in Singapore - maybe I should go out for Indian food again next time with locals.

Since Deepavali (Festival of Lights) is just around the corner for Indians (the most important holiday of the year for Indians in Singapore), the whole of Little India is already decorated and beautifully lit at night, and Indian families are busy preparing for the holiday.

That includes getting new clothes. So the clothes bazaar was our first stop after eating.

Bazaar for traditional Indian festival attire

The hall is huge and offers traditional attire in all conceivable colors and patterns for Indians from all regions of India.

Bazaar for traditional Indian festival attire

On the way to the next bazaar, it was already dark and the festive lighting of the quarter really came into its own.

It was a mystery to all of us how one can seriously voluntarily shop amidst such masses of lights, all kinds of knickknacks, and above all, people. But for Indians, this doesn't seem to be a problem, on the contrary: the people around us all seemed blissful in their shopping frenzy. (I much prefer a leisurely stroll through the department store instead ;-)

After that, the host led us through hidden alleyways beyond the hustle and bustle, which we would probably never have discovered ourselves, and he had the craziest and most interesting information about them.

A 'secret' red-light street, which none of the other participants from Singapore knew about, of course could not be missed.

Just like a closing group photo :-)