Singapore - Kampong Glam

We completed our tour of the ethnic enclaves of Singapore with a visit to the Malay Heritage area of Kampong Glam. Graced with imposing structures like the Sultan Mosque and the Istana (palace), the environment seemed much more conservative than the rest of Singapore with covered heads and caps being de rigeur among the resident Malay population. After a traditional Malay lunch chased by steaming teh tarik, we joined the hordes of school kids in learning about the rich heritage of the region (trivia: the black circles under the dome of the Mosque are soy sauce bottles given by poor villagers as their contribution to the mosque) and seeing historical artifacts in the museum housed in the Istana. The evening saw us explore the neighboring Victoria Street Wholesale Market with its wide variety of dried goods, finally ending up in the crowded area of Bugis and Waterloo streets where the sight of Chinese worshippers at the Krishnan temple and Indians at the Kuan Yin temple rounded off the multicultural experience of ethnic Singapore...