Shhh! Secret Life of a Princess

Random, provoking thoughts from a self-confessed princess :: with focus on motivational learnings from the media. I hope to inspire everyone to be the best they can be

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Hari Raya in Singapore


Trust Singapore to come up with great ways to celebrate all festive occasions as highlighted in my photo blog for Mid Autumn Festival and you will have plenty to look forward to everytime there is a celebration in this country. In a country where the majority consists of foreigners, where I can speak to Philipinos programmers and Caucasian CEOs in my office and have Thai, Indian and Korean roommates while enjoying Japanese and Vietnamese food easily at every corner of the country, it is not suprising then that there are little nooks in the countries that host people from all over the world.

Golden Mile is a gathering for Thais where you can meet Thai ladies in the shortest of skirts trying to win the heartstrings and wallets of Europeans where you can have your pork knuckle rice and pineapple rice for a quarter the price you pay in Clarke Quay. Peninsula Plaza is the meeting place for Myanmarians, I rarely see them in Singapore, but when I go there, the place is reek with these olive skinned colored race. Singapore is also the only country that I find Japanese sushi buffet (Genki Sushi) at almost any shopping centres and have roti prata and beancurb with yau tiou when you are not full after the sumptuous meal.

So, what did I do to soak in the Raya celebration? I went to Geylang Serai, the biggest night market for Singaporeans regardless of race to sell their food, clothes, home utilities and many other items to those who wants to break fast during the Ramadhan period. It opens after 6pm and the entrance to the place enthralls anyone who enters as you can see in my photo above. The night market is the biggest i have seen so far, yes, bigger than Malaysia's and the best part is the location does not block any traffic unlike those Pasar Malam in KL. Food sold range from satay to lemang, roti john to kebab, ayam percik to keropok lekor. All looked so delicious but what I tried was a fantastic concoction of kebab and pita sandwich called 'kebabom'. They also sell this thing called minced beef hotdog, looked delicious.

Interesting part is we can find all races here despite knowing that most things sold here cater to the Malay crowd. Chinese sellers and European customers throng the area out of curiosity as well as to soak in the glamour of celebrating Raya the traditional way. All in all, I am looking forward to all other celebrations Singapore has to offer its people and tourists from Singapore Sun Festival, Singapore Jewel Festival, Singapore Design Festival and Chingay. Why not make some money out of these consumers and tourists, the Singapore govt say, I must think. ;)