EAPSI2011: Little India

Saturday, 06/18/2011, I visited Little India with Patrick and Gitt (Also EAPSI fellows, Patrick lives at East Lodge with me, Gitt is over at NTU). Our first stop in Little India was food at the Banana Leaf. Gitt and I shared Fish head curry and Chicken Korma. The Chicken Korma was delicious—the fish curry…well at

least now I can say I’ve eaten Fish Head Curry. After we tried to hit all the Top 10 Sites Recommended by my guide book. First up was Serangoon Road—it’s the main street in little India and seems to be the one place in Singapore that has escaped modernization. There’s lots of family run stores and restaurants. Walking around here was the first time that I actually felt like I was outside of the US. As we walked along Serangoon Road we came across Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple—supposedly one of the best Hindu temples in Singapore. From there we walked down toward the Kampong Glam area to Arab Street. Here we saw the Sultan Mosque and lots and lots of Textile shops—many of them with tailoring services. It’s unfortunate that I wasn’t in the market for fancy fabrics because this is certainly the place to get it—perhaps I should go back and get a custom made dress from one of the stores there. From the Arab quarter we walked back to Serangoon Road. On the way we came across Mustafa Centre—this mega department store that snakes through 2 city blocks. This store has everything from food, to find jewlery to electronics and clothing. As we walked along Serangoon Road to see the last two sites, we saw this who flash mob line dancing in front of the Farrer Park MRT stop—very cool. I tried to join in but the steps were just too complicated. Moving along, the last two sites that we saw in Little India were the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple and Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple. Fortunately for us, it was a Hindu holiday so the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple was open with lots of activity. We were the only casually dressed white people at the temple, but we got to see a concert from the Raffles Girls Orchestra and many of the Hindu rituals at the Temple.