Exploring Singapore in three days, part 3

-
I was in Singapore in January to attend an MBA orientation for prospective students at INSEAD. While there, I took the time to explore the city and learn a bit more about its history and culture.

I aside from eating, shopping, and visiting museums and art galleries, I also checked out the houses of worship. It's fascinating to see temples of different religions just a few paces away from each other. I didn't enter the Hindu temples but I was allowed to observe what's going in a Chinese temple. No photographs were allowed inside, so I just took photos outside the temples. The temples' facades were more ornate and complex than those of Roman Catholic churches. I've never been to Hindu temples so the experience of seeing some up close was overwhelming, if not intimidating. The Chinese temple was similar to the temple I've visited in Cebu City so it wasn't such a foreign experience. I visited Roman Catholic parishes and was free to talk photos of the exteriors and the interiors. One thing I noticed was that the churches I went to were in various stages of repair... reminds me of the Earthquake Baroque-style churches in Ilocos. However, the churches in Singapore are relatively newer than the centuries-old structures in Ilocos, I think. 

The one foreign concept I've noticed in Singapore (and it's the first time I've seen this anywhere in my limited travels) is that some of the churches have been converted into art spaces or into restaurants. It, I think, is an indicator that either the congregation of the particular church is getting smaller or the congregation has moved to a different location and the structure has some historical value so it cannot be demolished. In the Philippines and in Australia, I've seen the opposite: cavernous halls being used as venues for church events and then being used for secular functions right after.

Visiting these places just shows I need to get out more. I'm not as well-traveled as other people, and I find myself fascinated by the new sites, sounds, and flavors... typical of a country mouse in the big city. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

Skyflakes

-
One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe
Read more

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

-
I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

Surat Mangyan

-
Image
In high school, part of the Filipino curriculum was learning about one of the country's ancient native scripts called Baybayin . I learned back then that this script was eventually abandoned because the Spanish, and eventually the Americans, encouraged the use of the Latin script for written communications. But that's in the lowlands; the rules were different up in the mountains. In the lush mountains of Mindoro, groups of indigenous people called Mangyans  live largely in isolation away from the Christianised Filipinos. This isolation has led to the continuous development of the Mangyans' old script, Surat Mangyan . As I walked inside the Ayala Museum , I saw this bamboo tube (I'm not sure if it's an instrument) with Mangyan script written all over it. I suppose that this was equivalent to a book or a song. But I haven't figured out what's written yet, despite the translation guide provided. What I can do, however, is write my name in Ma
Read more