Singapore

Day 7, Wednesday, January 18, 2006.
Today we went to Mt. Faber, Singapore’s “mountain”. The mountain permits great views of much of Singapore. Bob got a picture of the statue of the Merlion in the harbour with his telescopic lens that was fantastic, considering that it must have been at least 2 km. away.
From Mount Faber we went to Tolok Blangah Market (another hawker market) to have the fishball soup that Dad liked so much when he was in Singapore. We also sampled several types of noodles. Then I tried a new drink--ice jelly water. The jelly is a gelatinous substance made from seaweed and softened and mixed into a sugar syrup--quite thirst quenching.
We went to a couple of bookstores and, to my delight, I found several books of Zen poetry. We also went to a mall that seemed to specialize in sporting goods and Bob was able to get a pair of Teva sandals, so he’ll be able to walk a little more comfortably now.
Before going to supper, we went back to the Sri Mariamman Hindu Indian temple that had been closed on Saturday. There was some sort of ceremony going on that involved drums, a huge brass bell and a long wind instrument, and chanting and incense. The temple is the oldest Hindu national monument in Singapore. It is located in Chinatown and is about half a block down from a Muslim mosque, also in Chinatown. Quite a tribute to Singapore’s ecumenical attitude toward religions.



Supper was at the Teochew Restaurant, where Poh Seng and Swee Chin had also invited Goretti, Bob and Marisa; Andy and Swee Hua to join us. We tried a number of new dishes starting with a traditional dish to celebrate the New Year called raw fish salad. It involved a very touching ceremony, and one that we felt honored to have been allowed to participate in. The rest of the dishes were also new year celebration dishes--a jellied pork, roast goose, sweet potato greens, prawn rolls, and a number of different sauces and a desert with taro and pumpkin.
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