Little India

Yesterday we visited Little India, one of the last remaining traditional settlements in Singapore.  

Little India was behind the hotel, but first we had to cross Bukit Timah Road, and the Rochor Canal, now covered over.  Plenty of building work around, as I think that is where they are building the new metro line.  

Now I wonder how long this old building will last, on the wrong side of the tracks I think.

The entrance to Little India on Serangoon Road, a wide one way street which ran through the area.

The Deepavali (Diwali) sign above the road.   Deepavali, a five day Hindu Festival of Light, starts on the 10th November.

Little India dates back to the 1800s.   Tamil workers settled in this area, and opened up shops and restaurants.   Over time some Chinese settlers also moved into the area and opened up shops as well.

The small shops, and cluttered footpaths, plus narrow uneven walkways, were once commonplace in Singapore, but now only evident in the really old areas.  Even Chinatown has been beautified, with level bricked pavements.

A street of colourful Chinese goods for sale.

Walter walking along the uneven pavement, and keeping an eye out for any sudden drops in height.

A colourful row of shops.   I managed to find a gap in the traffic in order to take the photograph.

Now what will we have for lunch?  Goat bone, goat intestine or goat brain.   Not today, thank you.

A very large bronze idol, Ganesha, for sale, for about $12,500.

We arrived at the enormous Mustafa Shopping Centre, about six stories high, and full of merchandise.  This shopping centre is really a huge department store rather than a shopping centre.  The place appeared to have no real order to it, within each department.   Just masses of racks and racks of goods, piled this way and that.  Amazing.

After perusing the electronic accessories department, Walter bought a new lens cap for his camera and I bought two new cables plus a memory card.

By then we were feeling hot, tired, thirsty and a little hungry.  We noticed a sign which said that there was a curry restaurant on the roof.  Perfect.

And it was too, in an airconditioned dome.  Plenty of choice too.

Walter looking very happy as he waited on his food, Chicken Korma, quite different from the dishes available in the UK, spicy and not full of cream.

My dish was vegetarian, extremely hot and spicy.  And it left a great after taste, once the heat went away.  I managed to use many tissues throughout the meal.  It certainly cleared the sinuses.

A view of the surrounding area from the roof top.  Little India surrounded by high rise buildings.   The skyline is extremely hazy, due to the fires in Indonesia.   The slash and burn of native timber in order to make way for palm oil plantations.

A little part of Litle India.  Old Singapore.

And the new highrise urban buildings that seem to be getting closer and closer to Little India.

Brightly coloured apartment blocks.

Such an interesting day.