Booking A Holiday During Ramadan? Closing times of restaurants for Ramadan in Singapore, Malaysia and Worldwide & Night Markets

Ramadan in Singapore has just ended.
In 2020 the dates are the evening of the 23rd of April to the evening of the 23rd of May.

Singapore
In Singapore you might find that some shops and stalls selling Muslim food are closed during the day during fasting periods. So are some buidlings such as Community Clubs. However, plenty of other restaurants are open.

You will find kiosks and music in the Malay, Muslim and Arab areas. Check your map.

Malaysia
In Malaysia look for the Chinese restaurants in large urban areas. From a distance, driving through Malaysia at night looking for a supper spot, it was easy to see the orange lanterns of the Chinese restaurants.

Note which parts of the country are more religious. If you are a night bird, note that although restaurants are closed in the day, stalls selling food will open after dusk.

Other Countries
The hours when restaurants are closed vary from country to country. A country with short daylight hours will have restaurants opening earlier in the evening. Every country is different. Timing goes by the local sunrise and sunset, not by the clock. Pretty easy to guage. Just look out of the window or check the newspaper or internet for the sunset times later in the day.

When book a holiday for next year in a Muslim country, check the hours of Ramadan and the local laws.

Private Picnics
A good idea to choose food which is not strong-smelling. If you have something such as banana skin which smells strong in the heat, you will want to dispose of it fast. Have your food in containers which seal well.

To eat in privacy, you can eat in a car which has dark windows. In buildings I have retreated into the toilet. A chance to eat unseen and dispose of food.

Self-catering
Self-catering accommodation suits Muslims and non-Muslims. Muslims can fast by day and cook at night. Non muslims can stock up with food and eat in privacy during the day.

Holiday Timing
If you are not Muslim and want to avoid causing offense or going without food in the daytime, visit the Muslim coutnries outside Ramadan; and during Ramadan go to non-Muslim coutnries and current or previously secular or communist countries such as Russia and China.

Useful Websites For Travellers
http://www.when-is.com/ramadan-2020.asp
https://publicholidays.sg/hari-raya-puasa/

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.

The Longest Day, and Latest Sunset affecting the English, Jews, Muslims

Problem
When do I get long days and late sunsets?

Answer
July 21st, today, Thursday in 2018, is the longest day. However, that does not necessarily mean the latest sunset.

Why does the sunset time matter?

1 VIEWS OF SCENERY VERSUS PEOPLE
If you want to eat outdoors at a restaurant you might want to book an outside or inside table. You might want more light, especially for photographing a view over London.

When dating you might want bright light to get a good look at your date. You might want less light if you have a fabulous voice but not much in facial department. You might want to hide your bald head or wrinkles in the more romantic candle-light indoors.

2 Jewish groups or couples might want to book a Friday or Saturday meal when kosher restaurants are open, which is different in summer and winter. In winter in the UK, in an area with kosher restaurants such as Golders Green, you will notice that the restaurants have closed earlier when it gets dark on Friday evening. But the restaurants are opening earlier on Saturday evening when it gets dark. By contrast, in summer the restaurants will close later on Friday, but won't open early on Saturday evening because it is still light and the Sabbath.

Opening and closing times are also going to be changing gradually throughout the seasons all year.  So check diaries or Jewish newspapers or signs on restaurant doors or websites.

If you are visiting a Jewish host who is observant, they may be using the traditional method of judging sunset by when you can see three stars. In a city where it is so cloudy and polluted that you cannot see any stars, you will have to go by the calendar. Ask your hosts what time you should arrive and what food or drink would be appropriate.

3 Moslem groups observing Ramadan, which last a month and has just ended, cannot eat or drink in the daytime all month. However, they can eat and drink after sunset. If you are providing food and drink for a group which has Muslim members of visitors, they have not eaten all day and will be very pleased if you have halal or vegetarian food they can eat.
The evenings and weekends at the end of Ramadan you will have big celebrations in the Muslim restaurants and areas eg in parts of Singapore and in Muslim countries with a Muslim majority or a large Muslim minority or restaurants and shops and residences area.

UK light nights
Travelling from Singapore to the UK, the long days are lovely.

Useful Websites
visitsingapore.com
vistibritain.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset

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

What's cheap and what's not? England, Wales, Cambodia, Kenya, Singapore ... read more

Problem
Where can I go to get good value for money? It can be swings and roundabout, lose on some gain on another. What's cheap and what's not?

I'm going to compile a list of countries with cheap flights, seasons and accommodation, food, attractions. I'm starting the blog today and will keep adding to it. When it gets too unwieldy to read, and the seasons and circumstances have changed. I'll start another post.

You will find bargains and cons all over America, Europe, Asia, Australia.

ENGLAND
SHOPPING
GAIN
Cheap stores:
Poundland.
Poundstretcher.
CLOTHES
Primark.
Charity shops: St Luke's.
LOSE
Some charity shops seem to charge higher prices. Oxfam.
FOOD
Supermarkets:
Aldi.
Lidl.
£1 sandwiches in Poundland, Tesco Express.
Reduced prices in a reduced price area, or through the shop towards closing time - good if you are a night owl and eat late. It's on food which is reaching its 'eat by ...' date.
LOSE
You could find your fruit or hummus has gone off if you leave until tomorrow breakfast time - or even midnight, after the shop has closed and they won't accept a return next day.

CAMBODIA
GAIN
Tuk-tuks or motorcycle taxi are cheap. It is probably cheaper to hire one by the day or week than to keep taking different taxis. We were asked 6 pounds/dollars for one one-way journey but 15 for the whole day.
LOSE
The temple entry tickets are expensive. You can't just buy a ticket for Ankor Wat. About £20 for a day. We might have visited one temple a day, or two, maximum five, with an hour's walking at each if we were determined to get our moneysworth. So a three-day pass for one of us was £60. For two of us £120, paid out on day one - a lot of cash, so you might run out of cash, if they don't take credit cards or charge extra for your use of a credit card. Check the cost in advance. It might go up or down since I was there and you might be getting a reduction.

KENYA
Shared taxis.
Cheap Hostels and homestays. I haven't done this but read about it in Wikivoyage.

SINGAPORE
SHOPPING
GAIN
Cheap or good value department store with huge variety:
Mohammed Mustaphas by Little India.
MUSEUMS
TAXIS
GAIN
Use uber. Sign up and they email regular deals.
Share a taxi from some queues in busy shopping malls and stations.
LOSE
Regular taxis if you go in the Central Business District (CBD for short) especially in peak, hours, and more surcharge for after midnight. Phone for a taxi and some companies charge for an advanced booking fee for a taxi.

WALES
GAIN
Many free museums fun by the government or local council, for example, Cardiff.

SEASONAL
CHINESE NEW YEAR
GAIN
If you head for a shopping mall before opening time on New Year's Day and are first through the door of a family shop or even a supermarket, you might be given two oranges, or offered a reduction because you are the first customer and bringing luck.

RAMADAN
LOSE
You might find no restaurants open during the day. In Malaysia look for or ask for a Chinese restaurant. They are exempt (so long as they are not Muslim).
GAIN
Many mosques and other places offer free food for breaking the fast after sunset.

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

Moslem Greeting Eid Mubarak - how do you reply?

Problem
Cards and greetings, from family, friends, strangers, businesses, people overseas - I received a Muslim greeting on what's ap, a picture with Arabic writing and the words in Roman script:
EID MUBARAK.

I am sure this person didn't send me a greeting last year. Maybe that's when they were overseas and could not use phones which work with the UK, or maybe they just joined Whats Ap, or maybe they sent to everybody they knew, and accidentally included me on the list

Regardless of their motivation, how do I reply.

My first thought was to reply in English, briefly: Many thanks, and all good wishes to you and your family.

Somebody else said, you don't have always have to reply. Then, as if in answer to my question, up pops the answer on the internet.

WHICH FESTIVAL?
Moslem Festivals
Firstly, I thought Eid meant any kind of celebration or holiday. Then I thought, it's only the big two, one of which is Ramadan. Ramadan is the whole month of fasting during the day, eating after sunset and before dawn. Ending with a big feast and lots of outdoor food stalls in Little India in Singapore and many more in the Malay area.

(If you are in Malaysia during Ramadan, the food shops and restaurants will be shut during Ramadan However, in the suburbs you will see Chinese restaurants with Chinese writing or orange lanterns serving food.

Then I read about the festival being connected with the sacrifice of firstborn son Isaac by Abraham, the death being averted by the signal from God when an animal ran forward to be sacrificed instead.

Jewish New Year
I had attended Jewish New Year several times, and eventually discovered that the reason the story was so familiar was that the entire bible is read through the year, started again with the first story about the averted sacrifice of the son each Jewish New Year's Day.

So if you only attended synagogue for the Jewish New Year, every year you would hear the same story (in English as well as Hebrew at the Liberal Synagogues in London, England).

Ramadan and Jewish New Year are the same time of year, following the lunar calendar, not the solar calendar.

Christianity and Sacrifice
Christianity, with the sacrifice of God's son, Jesus, recalls the earlier biblical story.)

The Greeting
EID MUBARAK

Two possible replies:
KHAIR MUBARAK

This sounds balanced.

JAZAK ALLAH KHAIR is an extra word, and can be translated as
May Allah reward you with goodness.

That sounds more formal. Should I act like the Chinese and Asian system that you must give back more than you received?

Am I using the right language, if it's Arabic? I thought, if that's Arabic, some Muslims are not Arabic and don't speak Arabic. But if I have received a greeting in Arabic, I should reply in Arabic, unless the greeting is more or less the same in all Arabic speaking countries, but the reply is in various languages and dialects.

As the hours went by and other events interrupted, I worried that if I spent too long on research, I would be too late to catch the event and out of politeness I should reply within 24 hours.

In 2017 the Eid ul Adha lasts until Tuesday September 5th 2017.

Tips
https://www.quora.com/When-is-the-best-time-to-wish-Eid-Mubarak-to-Pakistani-friends
https://www.quora.com/What-do-you-respond-to-Eid-Mubarak
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/25/eid-mubarak-how-to-wish-someone-a-happy-eid-in-11-different-languages-6721865/
https://www.slideshare.net/AbdulaiAbarika/eid-cards-sms-and-images
http://metro.co.uk/2017/06/10/five-places-to-eat-in-london-this-eid-al-fitr-6700005/
https://www.duolingo.com/comment/16511473/Happy-Eid-Everyone-Here-s-How-To-Greet-Muslims-in-Eid

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages.