Gone to India... be back soon!
Guess where I was yesterday…did you guess India? Then you’re right! Well, not totally, since I wasn’t really there, I was just in Little India, one of the suburbs of Singapore. However, it was pretty authentic, and probably the closest I’ll get to real India in the near future. It was incredible!
Since Little India is one of the cool places to go while in Singapore, a bunch of us actually woke up early yesterday to get there with plenty of time. It’s crazy, because as you drive down the street, suddenly the architecture changes from typical city to a tiny village. The store fronts are tall houses smushed together, painted in some of the brightest colors I’ve ever seen. They range from pink to green to blue to yellow, and the intensity is only brightened by the colorful wares hanging in and outside of the stores. The other funny thing is that everyone there is Indian. Now I have to clarify here, because all the people in Singapore love the joke about Indians (woo woo woo woo) and Indians (with the dot). On the way to Little India we actually had a gregarious cab driver who sang us "Ten Little Indians" and then laughed hysterically when we said we wanted to see Indians from India. When we did arrive, that’s what we saw.
The whole district is great for the shopping, and I definitely picked up one of the last batches of souveniers that I’ll be buying before I come home (hopefully, although you never know because I’m a compulsive shopper). There are beautiful saris, gold jewelry, bells, and temporary tattos. There are pillows and throws and fabric everywhere. There are small boxes and statues of different Hindu gods and goddesses. The people selling are pretty outgoing, and they’ll try to talk you into buying anything. The sweet smell of incense pervaded every room, stall, and space we walked. Every few clothing/fabric/accessory stall we would pass, there would be a tiny restaurant with Indian food. Now I’m not always a fan, but after a few hours of shopping Maria, Jessica, Joe and I decided to get adventurous.
We found the restaurant that our cab driver had recommended, where they served you a traditional South Indian meal on a banana leaf. We ended up with tons of food – although with a lot of it we had no idea what we were eating! Luckily, I had gone for Indian food in Malaysia with our friend Peter Hoe, who had explained a lot of it to me. We had chicken, rice, curry to pour over the rice and food, a cold cucumber vegetable dish to cool the spice in your mouth, fried salty bread, a bean dish with bacon and veggies, lime juice, and spicy mango chutney. Even though the only thing called spicy was the chutney, I have never been in such pain in my whole life. When we ordered we told our waiter that we wanted the un-spicy version, but the smirk he gave us should have warned us. The un-spicy version was so hot! I had to keep shoveling food into my mouth or it would burn and make my eyes water. By the end of the meal we were all sweating and our lips were tingling, but it was great!
While we walked around we also found a small temple that was very intricately decorated, and had apparently been around since the 1500’s! The style of a Hindu temple is also very different from most religious buildings that we’re used to. The deities are sometimes human, but they also could have a human body and a head like an elephant or something. They’re very into statuary and even small scenes made of these people. The whole roof of the temple we saw was covered with brightly colored statues -–making it the craziest building on the block. Maria (a staunch Catholic) considers the whole Hindu style a little tacky, but we all admire it for its originality.
We ended the day by getting Henna tattoos – don’t worry Mom, it’s not permanent! Alyssa on her hand, Joel on his bicep, Joe on his leg, Maria on her lower back, me on my upper back. Dana couldn’t stand the incense and had to leave for some fresh air, and Jessica declined because she was content with her own real tattoo. I am definitely much happier with the idea of a temporary tattoo, since I could never make up my mind if I were to get a real one. This makes my parents sigh a huge sigh of relief. Anyway, overall Little India was awesome! If anyone ever goes to India, my advice is this: eat bread when things are too spicy, cover your nose when things are too smelly, and don’t be surprised if you stand out!
Since Little India is one of the cool places to go while in Singapore, a bunch of us actually woke up early yesterday to get there with plenty of time. It’s crazy, because as you drive down the street, suddenly the architecture changes from typical city to a tiny village. The store fronts are tall houses smushed together, painted in some of the brightest colors I’ve ever seen. They range from pink to green to blue to yellow, and the intensity is only brightened by the colorful wares hanging in and outside of the stores. The other funny thing is that everyone there is Indian. Now I have to clarify here, because all the people in Singapore love the joke about Indians (woo woo woo woo) and Indians (with the dot). On the way to Little India we actually had a gregarious cab driver who sang us "Ten Little Indians" and then laughed hysterically when we said we wanted to see Indians from India. When we did arrive, that’s what we saw.
The whole district is great for the shopping, and I definitely picked up one of the last batches of souveniers that I’ll be buying before I come home (hopefully, although you never know because I’m a compulsive shopper). There are beautiful saris, gold jewelry, bells, and temporary tattos. There are pillows and throws and fabric everywhere. There are small boxes and statues of different Hindu gods and goddesses. The people selling are pretty outgoing, and they’ll try to talk you into buying anything. The sweet smell of incense pervaded every room, stall, and space we walked. Every few clothing/fabric/accessory stall we would pass, there would be a tiny restaurant with Indian food. Now I’m not always a fan, but after a few hours of shopping Maria, Jessica, Joe and I decided to get adventurous.
We found the restaurant that our cab driver had recommended, where they served you a traditional South Indian meal on a banana leaf. We ended up with tons of food – although with a lot of it we had no idea what we were eating! Luckily, I had gone for Indian food in Malaysia with our friend Peter Hoe, who had explained a lot of it to me. We had chicken, rice, curry to pour over the rice and food, a cold cucumber vegetable dish to cool the spice in your mouth, fried salty bread, a bean dish with bacon and veggies, lime juice, and spicy mango chutney. Even though the only thing called spicy was the chutney, I have never been in such pain in my whole life. When we ordered we told our waiter that we wanted the un-spicy version, but the smirk he gave us should have warned us. The un-spicy version was so hot! I had to keep shoveling food into my mouth or it would burn and make my eyes water. By the end of the meal we were all sweating and our lips were tingling, but it was great!
While we walked around we also found a small temple that was very intricately decorated, and had apparently been around since the 1500’s! The style of a Hindu temple is also very different from most religious buildings that we’re used to. The deities are sometimes human, but they also could have a human body and a head like an elephant or something. They’re very into statuary and even small scenes made of these people. The whole roof of the temple we saw was covered with brightly colored statues -–making it the craziest building on the block. Maria (a staunch Catholic) considers the whole Hindu style a little tacky, but we all admire it for its originality.
We ended the day by getting Henna tattoos – don’t worry Mom, it’s not permanent! Alyssa on her hand, Joel on his bicep, Joe on his leg, Maria on her lower back, me on my upper back. Dana couldn’t stand the incense and had to leave for some fresh air, and Jessica declined because she was content with her own real tattoo. I am definitely much happier with the idea of a temporary tattoo, since I could never make up my mind if I were to get a real one. This makes my parents sigh a huge sigh of relief. Anyway, overall Little India was awesome! If anyone ever goes to India, my advice is this: eat bread when things are too spicy, cover your nose when things are too smelly, and don’t be surprised if you stand out!
posted by Beth at 10:29 PM
2 Comments:
Smart, smart girl not to get a tatoo! xxxoooguess who!
I'm leaving for India tonight - thanks for the advice. Love, DAD
Post a Comment
<< Home