Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Take in sights, sounds and smells of Singapore
A visit to the Maxwell Food Centre is a good place to sample the delicious local food travel2015
WE ARE almost drenched with sweat from walking in 34ºC heat and 98 percent humidity by the time we arrive at the Maxwell Food Centre – a market with dozens of stalls selling delicious Singaporean cuisine.
The rich aroma of tantalising Indian, Chinese and Malay dishes greets us as we enter the centre and our guide shouts repeatedly, “You must try the chicken rice!”.
But our priority is to quench our thirst before continuing with our exploration of this majestic city state, so we head for a stall selling freshly squeezed sugar cane juice and fresh coconut water.
I settle for the sugar cane juice and once we’re refreshed and have been cooled down by the blasts of the air con, we journey on, taking in the sights and visiting Singapore’s Chinatown to see the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple, a majestic structure built in 2007.
As our guide leads us into the temple, I cannot help but think: Christian woman being led into a Buddhist temple by a Muslim man on a three-day fast…
But that’s exactly what Singapore is – a melting pot of religions, cultures and languages.
We are not at the temple for the chants, drum rituals or meditation like the devotees who fill the ground floor facing a giant golden Buddha, or to join those spinning prayer wheels in the rooftop meditation garden.
Our guide has told us the Tang dynasty-style temple has a 3.5-ton stupa made from 320kg of gold.
Having walked past devotees chanting prayers led by Buddhist monks, and through rooms filled with golden ornaments, we arrive on the fourth floor, where a canine tooth – believed to be that of Buddha – sits majestically in a glass room with a golden floor.
We watch from the viewing area, because only monks are allowed into the relic chamber.
It is believed that as they pay reverence to it, they connect with the Buddha and increase in blessings and wisdom.
The cultural diversity of Singapore is also evident in Little India, where Hindu and Chinese temples occupy pride of place near mosques and churches.
With its array of colourful Indian outfits at reasonable prices, Little India is a haven for shoppers on a tight budget. Our guide, Francis Dominic Roch, explains that in the old days Little India was for Indians what Chinatown was for the Chinese. The government has introduced a housing model where residents of a building include a percentage of each of the major ethnic groups.
At night, we retire to the ShangriLa Hotel Singapore – a tranquil oasis with beautiful gardens and a waterfall, where we forget we are in the heart of the city.
The next morning – after a sumptuous breakfast of Malaysian, Indian and Chinese food, offered in addition to a continental breakfast – we cruise down the Singapore River, where Chinese shophouses (traditional buildings with businesses on the ground floor and residences on the top floor) are dwarfed by skyscrapers, and where amazing views of Singapore can be enjoyed from a different angle. For a bird’s eye view of the city, we hopped into the Singapore Flyer – at 165m, much taller than the London Eye.
Great views of the city can also be seen from the 56th floor of the Marina Bay Sands Sky Park.
To understand more about Singaporean history and its people, we visit the Peranakan Museum, which explores the culture of Peranakan, or mixed- race communities, in Southeast Asia.
The museum not only offers insight into the early years of Singa- pore, but also into the island’s early inhabitants and the mixed marriages that led to the Peranakan communities and culture.
A delicious buffet dinner awaits us at the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort, so we retire to the tranquillity of this haven, which is more like a family-oriented theme-park resort, offering care facilities for small children so parents may laze on the beach. The resort is a cross between our Gold Reef City and Sun City – with a real sea and beach, although the sand has been brought in from another country.
For the playful at heart, the Trick Eye Museum is a must. There you can step into two-dimensional paintings and let your camera produce a three-dimensional picture.
Early the next morning, while jogging along the beach and crisscrossing paths with cyclists, I not only get to enjoy the tranquillity of Rasa Sentosa, but find myself at the uppermost part of the Southern Most Tip of Asia, taking in views, before jogging back for breakfast.
There is no better way to wrap up a visit to Singapore than by visiting the Gardens by the Bay, where thousands of plants are grown in majestic but quirky vertical gardens that are 16 storeys high and known as Supertrees.
Our last night is spent at the Hotel Jen Orchard, but before retiring we explore the night life on Clarke Quay, alive with activity.
After a few hours’ sleep, we step out on to Orchard Road – a shopaholic’s hangout.
With the hotel having offered us a late check-out, we spend our last hours beside its 19th-floor serenity pool.
After eating a Chinese herbal jelly and sweetcorn ice cream and dipping my feet in a tank filled with Garra rufa fish for a pedicure, I leave for Changi airport feeling fulfilled.
● Mooki was a guest of ShangriLa Hotels & Resorts; Hotel Jen; Singapore Airlines and The Holiday Factory.