Day 16 – Singapore

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This morning we went to Haw Par Villa. This is a theme park build back in the 1930´s. It is not a theme park as we would currently know it, but still is a very interesting place to visit.

The park is all about Chinese folk law. It was interesting to see what someone all that time ago would have thought would be of interest.

The park is a long way out from the normal tourist track, so does not get very many visitors, most of them being Asian.

After this we got back onto the metro and went to Chinatown. This is another famous part of Singapore and we thought we could not visit Singapore without going to Chinatown.

All the streets are lined with stalls, and to us, it felt very much like walking through the Tenerife Sunday market. A lot of the products on offer were the same as on offer at home. Most have been imported from China and, like Tenerife, most are fakes. It was nice to walk around, but not an area that we will visit again.

One of the other reasons we wanted to visit Chinatown was to see the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and museum. Although this is still a working Buddhist temple, one level of it is also open to the public.

Neither of us are really religious people, but we were really touched by the feeling inside the temple. There was a mix of visitors and locals, some of whom had come here to pray.

Before we left, we lit a candle to remember all our departed love ones. This is always a very emotional moment.

Back at the hotel, we make a second visit to the local self-service laundrette as we are on the move again on Monday, so wanted to start with a clean suitcase full of clothes.

We decided that we liked the hawker centre so much last night, that we would make another visit there tonight. This time though, we went to the stall selling Indian food that we had seen last night.

Two large plates of meat, two speciality naan bread and two drinks came to the equivalent of £5. It was very tasty and cooked really well and fresh. We had no space for afters.

Another very different day draws to a close.

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Photos

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple
Remembering loved ones

Haw Par Villa - Tiger Balm Gardens
Memorial to creator