Day 8: Little India

I went to Little India with the same group of international students from the other day. Boy, it was a long day. First, we visited a Hindu temple which was practically covered from head to toe with carvings of dozens of Hindu gods. We had to remove our shoes before we could enter. I think it's because shoes are considered dirty in many Eastern cultures, and the temple is a sacred place that shouldn't be sullied by the dirt outside. Anyways, I saw little Hindu children with shaved heads running about and playing, and the adults were performs prayers, rituals, and offerings. One of these offerings involved brushing your hand incredibly close to a flame. I get nervous around heat and fire, so I'd never be able to do that.

Next, we stopped at a fruit stand and bought some coconuts. These don't look anything like the ones you buy in the U.S. They're large, green, and smooth. The people at the stand use giant knives to cut a hole in the top of the coconut and then give you some straws to drink the milk inside. Despite the name, coconut milk (at least in these coconuts) is clear. I didn't like it; I found it too sweet. After you're done drinking the milk, the people at the stand with break the coconut apart so you can eat the flesh. I liked the flesh of the coconut more than the milk, but I found it a bit slimy.

We walked around for a little while, stopped by a mall for a bit, and then visited a mosque. A new member of our group, a young man from Pakistan, explained how the mosque works. We couldn't go inside, but I was able to fit my camera through the gate bars and see a bit of what was going on. There were only men in there; women are not obligated to pray at a mosque. Like at the Hindu temple, people have to take off their shoes before they can go inside. Next stop was lunch. We went to an Indian restaurant in order to try some traditional Indian fare. Now, in Indian homes you eat everything (even rice) with your fingers, but we had some plastic utensils to use. The only thing we ordered that I liked was the bread, especially the garlic naan bread. Everything else was too spicy for me.

With lunch down, we next headed to a marketplace. There were all sorts of things here, from clothes to fruit to meat. There was a "wet market" here, which is kind of like a farmer's market, but meat and fish are sold instead of fruits and vegetables. There's ice to keep everything cold, hence the name "wet market". The U.S. Food and Drug Administration would never allow something like that in the U.S., so it was interesting to see. It was pretty smelly from all the fish, though. While here, we tasted some local fruits. There was a type of mango that looks a lot like the Magost Berries from Pokemon. It tasted a lot like peach to me, so I liked it. I wasn't too fond of the other two fruits we tasted.

The last major place we visited was selling some Indian sweets and other things. Here, I bought a pashmina shawl and a new bag because my purse is a bit too small to hold a water bottle (which is basically a necessity in Singapore). Pashmina is known as cashmere in the states, and the shawl I got was apparently handmade by the seller's father. Of course, there's always the chance I was duped, but the shawl was just so beautiful and so soft that I was completely won over. I figured I could wear it if I got cold in class.

It was a long and tiring day, but I had a good time. I'm looking forward to more trips in the future!