Little India

First, just a few more photos of our neighborhood. We’ve had some nice walks along Frankel Avenue in the evenings. There are some HUGE homes here, but also some nice bakeries and restaurants. 

some of the little shops in our neighborhood

nearby Buddhist temple on evening walk

view from our kitchen window (4th floor)

On Saturday, we decided to take a break from work to explore Little India. After a delayed start due to several hours of rain in the morning, we took the train over, planning to follow the Lonely Planet’s walking tour of the area. We saw several incredible Hindu and Buddhist temples, along with lots of well-preserved colonial-era facades, restaurants, and various shops with Indian goods.

            We also had some South Indian food, which was a different experience for us. Most of the Indian food in the U.S. is north Indian, we're told, so this was new to us. We picked a place recommended in the Lonely Planet book. The lunch meal was a set menu so we didn’t actually order anything but were served the same thing as everyone else. Aside from the differences in cooking techniques, flavors, etc., one of the differences in this cuisine is that people eat using three fingers of their right hand. We caved and ended up being the only ones of the place who used utensils. We stopped by a big hawker center for another snack (that ended up being another meal) and were back home after only 2.5 hours or so.

Walking down Serangoon Road 

Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman Temple

across the street from the first temple we saw, old and new

Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman temple

note the drummer on the right

walking away from temple

a small Chinese temple a block away

across from the Chinese temple, the Sakya Muni Buddha Gaya Temple, with a 300 ton Buddha statue inside

walked past a veena class

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, just another block away

lots of beautiful old shop fronts 

the old (but remade) entrance to The New World Amusement Park, which featured lots of Filipino bands in the 1920's and 1930's. I didn't realize this was its location until we chanced upon this.

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, under renovation

old buildings with newer apartment high-rises in back

colorful store fronts on smaller side streets

a contemporary temple

yummy South Indian meal

This was highly recommended and was packed. See more about the restaurant here.

more colorful buildings

giant motorized mortar to grind flour for roti prata (we think...)

Inside the giant Tekka Centre hawker area

where we ordered what we thought was just a snack after lunch

this chicken murtabak was enormous and delicious