Ginger Tea - Where to try it - and order in Tamil

Problem
What is it?

Answer
Unlike the ginger tea which I make in England, using a Twinings tea bag, which looks like a herb tea, ginger tea from a hawker centre in Singapore looks like a regular brown tea.

The first taste was pleasantly gingery. However, I soon forgot the taste. If you don't like ginger, that would be a good thing.

I do. I drank most of the drink without even noticing.

But that was because I was so engrossed in the conversation.

I had it at the hawker centre across the road, diagonally, from the Braddell Heights Community Centre, near Serangoon MRT (train station), on the circle line, and Nex shopping centre in Singapore.

The stall was Indian. Afterwards, one of our group ordered a big platter of food for our group of six to share. It was mee goreng, fried rice, but with egg and vegetables. Vegetarian but not vegan, so only five of the six of us were able to eat it. I could not see any egg. It came up with onion and ketchchup on the side.

To my surprise I ate some of the onion. I was hungry. I think that with curry or peeppery food you soon fail to notice the ginger flavour or any other flavour in your tea.

My general principle in Singapore is to eat and drink the same as the others. This has several advantages. If I don't like mine, one of them will finish it off. They will be able to explain the contents, the ingredients. They will be able to translate the meaning of the name of the food or drink.

I do not risk ordering something more expensive that everybody else. I can wax enthusiastic about their favourite food. I feel part of the group. I do not feel they are ordering something special for me.

The others ordered for me in Tamil. They spoke Tamil and so did the owners who were serving the food.

They also explained to me why Tamil was chosen out of two possible Indian languages. They claimed that Lee Kuan Yew heard from two groups who wanted their language chosen as the fourth official language, the one for the Indian minortiy. Lee Kuan Yew responded, "The Tamils supported me in my fight for independence, therefore they deserve to be rewarded with their language being chosen."

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Stunning Temples In Singapore

Problem
How do you photograph a temple when it is forbidden to take photos inside?

Answer
Photograph the outside from the street. Sometimes if you find a priest or caretaker they will let you photograph objects, so long as you do not photography people who are praying and involved in ceremonies. At other places, you may not photograph valuable objects which might be of interest to thieves or souvenir hunters, but can photograph a priest or local person in national costume with a small portion of a statue or column or notice with foreign font writing in the background.

Story
Here's another stunning temple in Singapore. I saw it first from the bridge, crossing from the Telok Blangah MRT station.

I was on my way to a towers residential block where a club was holding a meeting in a function room. I photographed the outside and only when I reached the entrance and considered going inside did I see the sign asking you not to take photos. It didn't matter to me, because I already had enough striking photos of the exterior.

Tips
Telok Blangah is the last but one stop on the yellow Circle line going south, just before Harbourfront.

See photos in next posts.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Henderson Wave Bridge, Singapore, the Danish Seamen's Church and Sun Yat Sen

Singapore has so much to see - on our way to the Danish Seamen's Church we passed the dramatic Henderson wave bridge, a pedestrian bridge which is literally the high point of a hiking trail connecting two parts of Singapore.

We took the MRT train to Telok B l a n g a h (stop number CC28), last stop but one on the Circle line going toward Harbourfront. 

Chinese Temple

The bus stop was on the same side of the road in front of the exit from the station. I spied a lovely Chinese temple which I wanted to photograph close up. However, we had an agenda, visiting the fair, buying from a friend, so we didn't stop. You might like to allow time to see the attractive and colourful Chinese Temple.

Henderson Bridge

Our bus journey was only two stops. We looked at the Henderson Bridge on Henderson Road on the map, intending to cross the road using it to get to a sales fair at the Danish Seamen's Church.  

However, when we got off the bus the bridge was way above us.  Instead we crossed the road on foot (which I hate doing). 

A zig-zag route up about four sets of steep steps took us to the top of the cliff face. About two thirds of the way up (or one third down) you can see the bridge through the trees.

Danish Seamen's Church
The Danish Seamen's Church supports sailors from Denmark who arrive in the busy shipping port of Singapore. The circular tower with its horizontal stripes of wine red and white can be seen and admired from the nearby road. It was built more recently than you might imagine, in 1984.The organisation has churches in London and around the world. (See the article in Wikipedia.)

Den Danske Sømandskirke
10 Pender Road
Singapore 099171
Tel.: +65 6274 6344 Fra DK ring 7734 7412 til dansk takst
Fax: +65 6272 9123
Send email til dkchurch@singnet.com.sg 

Here is the attractive church bell. 

We caught the bus back to the MRT station. This time we were the other side of the road and we crossed on an overhead pedestrian bridge which gave me a chance to photograph the Chinese Temple from afar and show you how near it is to the bus stop beside the MRT station exit.

Chinese Temple - 

The temple was built in 1923 (or earlier) according to the oldest date in a document.

Statues of the Eight Immortals stand on the front of the building.

578 Telok Blanch Road

Singapore

Telok B l a n g a h 

On the way back into the city centre we stopped to admire the mural in the MRT station of Telok B l a n g a h (spaces inserted because spellcheck prefers Blanch).

Cooking pot bay is the translation of Telok B l a n g a h. It is so named because of the shape of the bay. 

Close up you can see interesting references to Singapore's history and VIP characters who visited the island, such as Sun Ya Sen who lived from 1866 to 1925.

All photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

More Information From:
http://www.yoursingapore.com/see-do-singapore/architecture/modern/henderson-waves.html

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.