I have learned that Singapore has two inter-monsoon periods between December - March and June -September. Translation: it is always raining. I caved and purchased an umbrella yesterday which I stepped out with today.
I started with breakfast at Killiney Kopitiam to taste the famous Kaya Toast. Genuinely, I am not sure what the hype around Kaya Toast is, as it is just toast. The only thing special about it is the coconut jam on top of it. It is advertised everywhere too and so many restaurants serve Kaya Toast!
In Singapore there are many vending machines selling various packaged and fresh juices. One vending machine I kept seeing frequently was the IJOOZ machine that sold fresh orange juice. For just $2, the machine squeezes 4 oranges and makes fresh orange juice that is then delivered to you. I tried it and it was very good! Very fresh and really hit the spot! Apparently there is a sugar cane vending machine too so I am on a mission to find that one next.
I wandered to Little India to see the town and check out the temples. I was also really missing India so I figured it might help. Unlike Chinatown where all of the Chinese were confined to live in that area, Indians arriving from India settled in that region due to the natural resources. There were a lot of water resources for raising cattle and growing limes. It was known as Soonambu Kamban which translates to Village of Lime in Tamil. In the late 1950s, the village caught fire and the slums were rebuilt to create a vibrant and colorful neighborhood.
One of the most impressive sights in Little India is the Tan Teng Niah. The Tan Teng Niah is a very colorful and bright villa that was constructed in the 1900s. It is a traditional Chinese merchant house, the last of its kind to survive the rapid industrialization and modernization. In fact, Little India was built around it. The house is painted rainbow colors and stands out in stark contrast to anything around it.
The main temple in Little India is the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple that was built in the 19th century. Like most of the temples in India, this one had a very beautiful and colorful Shikhara. Little India had several streets where people were selling everything from marigolds to little Indian trinkets. There were many sari shops but more than that, the area was full of gold and diamond shops. The shops were filled with Indians too! I guess Singapore was the place to buy gold.
For lunch I had passed by a restaurant called Fishball Story and since I love fish balls, I knew I had to return. On the menu, the fish ball soup I ordered looked like a combined soup with lots of fish balls and noodles. When my food arrived, it looked so odd as the soup was given separately from the noodles. In the soup were the fish balls floating while the noodles were coated with a sauce. I enjoyed the fish balls but it looked so odd to have them separated like that. It was a light lunch.
Sentosa Island is on my list not for the attractions per say but more for the scenic gondola ride and views. Sentosa Island is home to Universal Studio, the S.E.A aquarium, beaches, and more. The other big thing in Singapore is the zoo. Since I had little interest in any of those things, I hopped on a bus to Haw Par Villa Park. The park was just outside of the city and accessible by a 30 minute bus ride.
Along the way I caught sight of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and hopped off since I didn’t get to see the interior yesterday. The inside was completely red and golden. Three deities were placed in the middle of the room surrounded by many offerings. Along the sides of the temples were hundreds of statues of Buddha. There were so many details and different statues in this temple it was very impressive!
Back on the bus, I headed to the Haw Par Villa Park. The park is a heritage garden with sculptures depicting Chinese myths and fables. It is very beautifully constructed in the Chinese style of architecture. From the gate to the entire park, sculptures were everywhere! The best part about it was there were descriptions for every sculpture explaining the history and what is happening in the scene. Prominent stories I remember were that of Buddha’s enlightenment and how Tiger Balm was created. The inventors of the tiger balm also have monuments decided in their name. I even saw a statue of Lady Liberty!
The temples, although not real, were so well crafted with stories about what the temple would have been used for. The park was very educational and informative about Chinese history. In several of the ponds there were turtles which you could feed for $1 so I purchased a package of food and had fun feeding them. The level of architecture in this garden was impressive and I really enjoyed marveling at the different sculptures piecing together the myth with the visual.
There was one last attraction I missed in the downtown area - the Merlion. The Merlion is Singapore's national icon. The mythical Merlion bears the body of a fish and the head of a lion. The body of a fish pays homage to Singapore’s roots as a fishing village and the lion head is for the city’s original name Singapura. In Sanskrit, Singapura means lion. Therefore, the monument blends the two aspects together to symbolize the city.
For dinner I finally took Divya's recommendation of trying Din Tai Fung for dumplings! I love dumplings so I was very excited. I ordered the Xiao Long Bao, which are soup dumplings filled with either pork, chicken, or shrimp. I was first introduced to soup dumplings at ChoLon in Denver and those soup dumplings, despite being fusion, are the best I have ever had! So these soup dumplings had a bar to reach. The soup dumplings arrived in a cloud of steam and I excitedly extracted one from the tray and placed it on my plate to cool. Then I delicately placed it in my mouth as the little pouch burst and soup exploded in my mouth. Soup dumplings are so fun and I love them so much I once even went through the painful process of spending hours making them. Very labor intensive. These soup dumplings brought back all those memories and were pretty good. I think the soup could have had a little more flavor but other than that I enjoyed them very much. I was still hungry so I ordered a steamed sesame bun as well.
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