Sunday 12th June 2016
Sean was off to work again. Carmel and I set out to explore some the the vibrant ethnic precincts of Singapore. Now that we have mastered the art of travel on the MRT (Mass Rail Transit) we boarded our first train to Little India. As the name suggests it was all about Indian culture. The food markets, the street stalls selling flower garlands, cooking utensils, silks, sari’s and off course the gold. We could have bought gold jewellery by the pound of any sort – mostly very large, very decorative and (to be diplomatic) very unappealing in design. I was keen to visit Serangoon Road, the heart of all these stalls and the colonial architecture of a bygone era. After our nostrils had had their fill of incense we backtracked to our MRT station with our next stop – Bugis Junction and the Kampong Glam precinct. This is the Muslim centre of Singapore and is traditionally home to mosques, carpet shops and middle eastern cuisine, although more recently this has become the scene for boutique cocktail bars, funky restaurants and great shopping.
Back to the Bugis – In the mid 17thC the Bugis were spreading east from Sulewesi to set up trading centers throughout the region. Often, they had to sail to distant lands and fight indigenous tribes. They rarely lost, which is how they received their reputation as fierce warriors. This is how the first Europeans saw them and why the name of the Bugis entered into the English language as the dreaded “Boogieman”.
History lesson now over – back to shopping. We boarded our MRT train and onwards to the next precinct of Chinatown. Lots of souvenir stalls with glittery clothing, poor taste souvenirs (lots of arm-waving fortune cats) and lane ways decorated with paper lanterns. However the food was fabulous. We bought a banquet for the princely sum of $20, caught the next train home and laid out a huge feast for Sean on his return from work.
The night was young so we were off for our next adventure to the Night Safari at the Singapore Zoo. We spent hours exploring the nocturnal habitats of binturongs, raccoons, wolves, hyenas, Sloth Bear, Malayan Tapir, Red River Hog and many,many more. We fell into bed by about midnight, very tired but proud to report we walked 17kms today.
