Hindu Temple

I seem to be drawn to Little India for some reason. It is such an exotic area. On my third bus trip to this wonderful place I followed a lady in a beautiful Sari. The walk we took was long but it was well worth it.

    

We ended up at her temple called Sri Thendayuthapani. The temple is also known as Chettiar's  Hindu Temple as well as Tank Road Temple. It was absolutely beautiful and amazingly intricate in it's design.



As she entered, she removed her sandals. I, of course, did not have to remove anything because I was bare pawed. The pretty lady went to pray as I wandered around trying to remain undetected.

I was amazed that the inside of this place of worship was just as beautiful as the outside. There were 3 dimensional depictions of all sorts of heavenly figures throughout the building. Some of these gods looked like multi armed people and others appeared to be animals. Tourists are encouraged to enter to see the beauty but as non believers, they are discouraged from going beyond a certain point.

It was time to leave. As I headed back to my bus stop I meandered through the tiny Istana Park which is full of lovely flowers. It reminded me that humans can paint and sculpt beautiful things but nothing matches God's ability to create the beauty of flowers.

Hakka Cemetery

Not far from my home I found a very interesting cemetery with approximately 3000 monuments, most of which are identical in size. The smaller ones are covered in small white tiles. 33 are slightly larger, and more ornate. There are also a few offering altars interspersed on the grounds. The grave site is nestled among some high rise buildings and hidden behind a car dealership in the Commonwealth area.

 

My new friend Ah Kun, the groundskeeper, gave me a tour of this serene place called Ying Fo Fui Kun Cemetery. He is a dog lover but told me I was such a pretty kitty he didn't mind spending time with me.

According to The Straits Times, December 21, 2012 By: Janice Tai And Melody Zaccheus, "The site is the last Chinese, Hakka Clan cemetery in Singapore and takes up about 5 acres. Urns of the deceased were moved here from other sites in the 1960's. They are housed in a building next to the monuments. Sadly there is talk that the cemetery may be demolished in the near future to make room for more housing construction".

Lam Pin Foo writes in the July/August 2013 edition of Passage Magazine, that the Hakkas " Who number between 40 and 50 million, live in seven of southern China's provinces, yet comprise less than 5% of the population." Despite their low numbers, many have become very influential military and political leaders. "Among their overseas descendants is Singapore's first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.  

I hated to leave this historical site as Mr. Ah was such a nice gentleman. However his dogs (luckily behind a chain link fence) were barking up a storm and driving me crazy.

Singapore's Little India

India is far from Singapore and the local busses (my favorite form of transportation) don't go there. Imagine my surprise when the double decker bus I jumped on took me to Little India. What an interesting place!

The area was very crowded and all the shops were doing a bustling business. The sky was overcast and a dull gray but the swirl of the full palette of colors surrounding me, brightened up the day. As I walked around I didn't see any animal friends to show me around so I wandered on my own.
In my exploration I came across the Tekka Centre, a two story shopping center that had stalls selling everything from food to clothes. The second story was where most of the stores selling clothing were. There was an abundance of beautiful hand made saris and other Indian tunics and blouses as well as children's clothes, men's brightly colored shirts, and shoes.

 

The bottom floor was where all the meat and seafood as well as fruits and vegetables were sold. There were also a few stalls selling lovely fresh flowers .

I was getting hungry smelling all the fresh food so I rubbed up against a guy cleaning fish. I watched him closely as he had a huge machete looking knife in his hand but he laid it down and tossed me a choice filet off of a huge sea bass. It was sumptuous!

It was time for me to go home to take a long nap. Before I sneaked back on the same numbered bus I arrived on, I noticed a mounted map indicating directions to Little India historical and cultural sites. I will definitely need to come back to investigate the rest of this area. I will be sure to come hungry so I can visit my new buddy, the fish monger.