Little India

A glimpse of Little India.

My buddy from U.Maryland will be attached to my supervisor for 2 months and he has been consistently exploring parts of Singapore for the past 2 weeks with other exchange students from the States. And finally on Tuesday, we decided to go to Little India after work.

Once out of the MRT station, we were greeted by the trademark scent of the Indians: a nice blend of spices, sweet jasmine garlands and indian incenses. Well some may not like it, but being born and raised in a multiracial country, I am accustomed to the aromatic fragrance:) As expected, everywhere we saw Indians: peddling, praying, loitering, eating, along the walkways...etc. I noticed that there were quite a number of goldsmiths there, might be able to get a good bargain for gold here:p

We went to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, built as early as 1855 by Bengali labourers to venerate Goddess Kali, the consort of Lord Shiva. This is the first time I entered an Indian temple and it's like walking into a Buddhist temple, except more down-to-earthy and simple. The goddess is often portrayed as having many pairs of arms and hands; a close resemblance to the Chinese thousand-hand goddess guan yin.

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

Kali, Goddess of Death and Destruction

We stroll a little further to another temple but did not go in as there is a talk going on. While travelling by foot, Ed and I chatted along the way and unknowingly we had made a big round and ended up on the other side of the MRT station exit and then we settled at Banana Leaf restaurant for dinner. I think there is this Banana Leaf franchise in the States in California...is there? Anyway, the food was bud-tantalizing but a little pricey. We ordered 6 dishes for 7 and the meal cost $21 per pax. Nonetheless, would still drop by once in a while for the mango lassi:)

The gang (From left): Ed, Aaron, Gibson, gnu, cm, Thomas and Elizabeth

There are 20 MUST DOs at Little India, which we didn't do much that night...Might go another day probably with my DSLR and CM will get her henna tattoo then...

Pic of gnu and CM in the MRT taken by Thomas.