Odyssey: September 2005

Hindu Temple Tour

We met at the Chettiar Temple in Tank Road near Mohammed Sultan at 5.30pm. The tour guide is Geraldine, a senior "ang mo", who is a local guide that gives many walking tours about Singapore.
There are about 20 of us, mostly museum guides. We were given a tour of 2 South Indian Hindu Temples; the more uppity class Chettiar Temple and the working class Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple. The tour was pretty interesting, I felt that it was pretty short though. I did learn more about Hindu temples. Maybe I should do a Hindu Temple tour too and charge money for it as well!:P

Devotees queuing to give the priests their "request slip" for their blessings.

Priest giving out sacred ashes to devotees. Behind him, the statue of Parvati.

Lord Ganesha at Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple at Little India

Entrance to the Chettiar Temple

Priest teaching kids to sing hymns. In the background, Shiva-Nataraja, the king of dance. Lord Shiva doing the cosmic dance symbolising the destruction and creation of the universe. He steps on the demon which symbolises ignorance.

The Bull, Nandi, vehicle of Lord Shiva, looking at the altar of his master

Mirror reflection of the altar symbolising the 9 Planets around the sun

A devotee praying to the altar symbolising the 9 planets.

Chettiar Temple at Tank Road. Its a Shaivite Temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. The pagoda itself actually tells a lot about who the temple is dedicated to. In this pagoda, u can see his sons Ganesha and Murugan.

Listening to our guide Geraldine(back behind)

Pityriasis Rosea

Strange rashes started popping out for no reason on my arms and my legs. I went to the doc 3 times and each time i was given a different diagnosis. I was so damn worried!
I was referred to the specialist finally and was diagnosed as Pityriasis Rosea, a kinda viral infection. Which will clear after a couple of weeks! Thank goodness!!

New Asia Bar

After Starlight Cinema, some of us proceeded to New Asia Bar at Swissotel at 2am!
Its free entry after 2am! The dance floor was still packed but the music stopped after another 40mins. We sat around talking more than dancing....had a good time....the place closed at 3am unfortunately... So off we left!