Singapore - Part 2

When we last left Rick & Nancy, they were in Singapore where they were busy exploring the local culture(s) and sweating more than just a little bit!

Little India is a very unique part of Singapore and is a haven for the many (many!) Indians who inhabit the city. There are quite a few Indian men live in Singapore as laborers and send money home for their families (these payments are known as remittances) and they have one day a week off - Sunday. According to local counts, somewhere around 1/2 million people show up in Little India on Sunday evenings to "hang out" before work resumes the next day. Now - add to that the fact that our Sunday evening was the weekend before the Indian "Festival of Lights" holiday (it's a public holiday in Singapore) known as Deepavali and think "shopping the Friday after Thanksgiving" - you've good a real crowd of people!

We had been shopping earlier that day - me for my first "tailored" suit(s) ever and Nancy for some jewelry - and "Jack" (my new best friend and tailor) had provided us a car and driver to take us "wherever we wanted to go" that evening but when we said "please take us to Little India", the driver was visibly affected. As soon as we started to get closer to our intended destination, we understood why - this was a very crazy request! One of my employees (from Brisbane) was waiting for us at the Mustafa Centre - hub of the Little India area - and once we found him, we were off to the races! Inside the Mustafa Centre, you can find everything you would ever want to buy - and lots of stuff you wouldn't / shouldn't. The people were wall-to-wall and one of my favorite areas was the "Gold Room". Indians love gold - not just the color but the metal and 22 karat is the gold-of-choice (take at closer look at the picture of my tailor "Jack"). Inside the Centre, there was a room that held only gold jewelry (mainly rings and chains) but you dare not enter unless you are prepared to become a haggler.

Because of the upcoming Deepavali, the streets were alive in a shopping frenzy. I tried to get Nancy to let me buy her some of the colorful clothing available (at really reasonable prices) but she would have none of it. I kept thinking of the missionaries that used to come to our church when I was a kid, telling us of their work in India and Asia and the wonderful clothes they would wear for the slide show presentation - Nancy could have looked like a missionary! In the video below, you might be able to get a small taste of the "sound and fury" this Sunday evening held - we had a great time!

One last bit about Singapore. They really don't have a lot going on besides shopping but they are working on it. They have erected a giant ferris wheel called the "Singapore Flyer" that will open on Valentine's Day. The locals told us it was sold out for the first 3 months. Also, the Esplanade was hosting a touring production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" that looked good but we hadn't purchased tickets and really didn't have an evening free. If you look at the picture of the famous "Merlion" statue, you'll notice a zillion cranes in the background which are currently building a casino to rival some of the venues in Kuala Lumpur and Macau (near Hong Kong). This should add an interesting dimension to the city, which is very "anti-crime" and resisted the gambling lobby for quite a while.