I live on a street with a Chinese temple called Hong San See Temple

Its name means “Temple on Phoenix Hill” in Chinese, and it is dedicated to Guang Ze Zun Wang, the God of Fortune.  It sits on a hill which once had a view of the sea.  Today the temple is surrounded by high rise buildings and the sea is much further away because Singapore keeps reclaiming new land. 

Temple

I have walked by it many times over the last months, but because it has many steps, I have  not made it up to see inside. 

Several times over the last three weeks, there have been parades that begin and end at the temple.   I was fortunate enough to catch a few pictures of the parade.

I have not been able to find out anything about the parade.  Those who know are not able to speak enough English for me to understand. 

There were several dragons that twirled and danced down the street.  There were big kettle drums that drew me down to the street to enjoy the spectacle.  There were priests and cymbal bands.  There were even a few floats.

Probably the coolest images are the one of the tall puppet figures.  It was hard to imagine how they were carried.  At first, I thought the people inside were on stilts.  They were actually very small people who peeped out of a small hole in the giant’s belly.   

Wonderfully expressive figures

Behind the two figures, you can see a man freeing himself from his costume

Today is a Jewish religious holiday so I am off from school.  I used the day to visit Little India, an area where most Indians live and market.  The market has mostly fresh fruits and vegetables along the street and in a section of the covered market.  There were two other sections of the covered market.  On the upper floor are many Indian clothing sellers.  The largest group was women’s clothing vendors.  The dresses are rich in color with a lot of embroidery.  Indian woman are generally small so I am not able to find clothing for myself.  I enjoy looking.  I chose to take pictures of some of the most elaborate clothing.

Wedding Clothing

On the lower floor of the main building is what is called the wet market.  It is called this because the whole area is hosed down every day.  The largest section is the seafood and meat section.  I made the choice to take a picture of that section from the upper floor because I have trouble with the smells.  

The vegetable sections is connected and along the streets.  Many of the vegetables were unknown to me.  I thought you might like to see pictures of some of them.

Sugar cane

Buying flower garlands

 I stopped for lunch at a traditional Indian restaurant.  I got the vegetarian combination from the Southern Indian menu.  My tray came with three tomato based curry type dishes.  There were two vegetables, a squash and a yogurt-cucumber dish.  Tofu and a type of cheese made up the protein.  The tray is lined with a banana leaf that doubles as the plate.  The man came by with a bowl of rice and dumped some rice in the middle of the banana leaf.  There was no silverware.  The food is eaten with the fingers.  Until I specifically requested it, no napkin was given to me.  I watched with great interest as others ate with their fingers without making a mess.  I was not as good with it.

I have decided that I want to learn how to cook Indian food especially vegetarian dishes.  I got a couple of cookbooks and went to the main Indian grocery store last weekend.  The herb section was the largest section in the store.  It is huge.  I bought cardamom (green and black), cinnamon sticks, curry leaves, coriander seeds, cloves, cumin seeds and a few others.   I went home and began making a few of the recipes from the book.   The combining and cooking of the vegetables and beans are typical and easy.  Preparing the herbs is what is different.  The herbs are used whole, sautéed until they are fragrant, and then ground.   The directions ask me to sauté herbs until it is fragrant.  You should have seen me standing over the pan sniffing and sniffing to decide when the herbs were ready.   The dishes  were okay, but I still have a lot to learn.  I didn't grind the herbs enough so I spent a lot of time picking the herb pieces out of my mouth after each mouth full.  I found that the dishes tasted better the second day. 

All the best of all of you.   I am very good and enjoying my time here.  Sara

I have reached a stage in life when I can no longer see my brows to pluck them.  I went into a salon to get my brows either plucked or waxed so I would look okay for a school event.  They do not pluck or wax, they thread.  The person holds one end of a twisted thread in her mouth.  In the middle where the threads are twisted,  the threads are moved across the face plucking hairs as they move.  Ouch!

I looked it up, it is an ancient way of removing hair from the body that reportedly comes from India.

One thing about it, it last much longer than either plucking or waxing.  How about that!

Buddhist Tooth Relic Temple

Right in the midst of Chinatown is a Buddhist temple that contains (supposedly) one of Buddha’s teeth.  It is a very beautiful and I thought you would enjoy the pictures.

Buddhist Temple feeds the Hungry Ghost

The day I visited was the last day of the month of the Hungry Ghost.  Under the edge of the roof all the way around were tables set for the ghosts.  As I walked back to my house, I walked past multiple sites where people were burning money and other gifts for the ghost. 

Hope all is well with all of you.  I think of you all often and send you my love.  Sara