Pongal Festival, Serangoon - Singapore

Pongal or Sankaranthi is a thanksgiving festival for a good harvest, celebrated originally in Tamil Nadu, South India. It also heralds the auspicious month of Thai in the Hindu calendar. Boiling of milk in clay pots (pictured above) is one of the significant rituals carried out to celebrate abundance for a household. Notice that the pots all have painted mango leaves on their sides.

I had the opportunity to observe this festival in Singapore's Little India - Serangoon - one January week day.

Fresh ginger shoots are seen in a stall, perhaps reflecting the agricultural roots of this festival.

Purple coloured sugar cane are also made available amidst the varied produce and wares on offer. (above) The sugar cane is valued by the Fujian community of South China in celebrating the Lunar New Year, which often coincides with the Pongal Festival in Malaysia and Singapore.

Coconuts hold a very special place in an Hindu festival. Above image captures a display of young coconuts in their shell and some smeared with festive colourings. There are many stalls along Campbell Lane for the duration of this festival and it can be a sight to behold and discover.

Cattle symbolically honoured as acknowledgement for their toil on fields to help humans reap the benefits of a harvest. In Campbell Lane, Serangoon in Singapore, they are washed and had their horns painted. They were also garlanded with flowers, tinkling bells and multi-coloured beads.

Flower garlands, made from fresh blooms, are a requirement in any Indian festivals, together with fresh limes (picture above). Below, the main strip of Serangoon Road gets festive with colourful decorations hung overhead.

Waterloo Street, Singapore

Street walks are one of my fav past times, whether in a bustling metropolis, quiet village or heritage area. Recently I had an  opportunity to explore Waterloo Street in the city state of Singapore - the stretch between Bras Basah and Rochor Roads. The road was renamed, by the colonial British administration, from Church Street to its currently used label, in 1858 to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory in the famous battle in far away Europe.

The northern side of Waterloo Street is the site of flower markets, shopping centres, dry produce shops with five-foot ways, the well patronised Kuan Im Hood Cho Temple (picture above), the Maghain Aboth Synagogue and the busy Sri Krishnan Temple. For the visitor, it offers a microcosm of what Singapore is all about - trading, the mingling of various immigrant groups and shared values. Recent developments in this precinct include the campus of the Singapore Management University.

Painted wall murals (above) and feeding pigeons (below) add to the variety seen in the pedestrian mall section of Waterloo Street. Tamils refer to this road with emphasis on the Hindu temple, whilst the Fujian community in Singapore describe it as the street in Bencoolen where the vegetarian hall is. The Teochews refer to Waterloo Street as the road of horse carriages.

Below image, a typical back packer's hostel places the guest in the centre of much colour, activity and access to street food. I visited Waterloo Street during the busy preparations leading to the arrival of the Lunar New Year of the Water Dragon.

Kent Ridge Park, Singapore

The park may not fit the pervasive stereotyped perception of Singapore being an island of high rises, shopping centres and disciplined restrictions. Here, at the Kent Ridge Park in almost the centre of this city state, one can walk, mountain-bike, roam or run free under the shade of secondary equatorial forest trees, enjoy vistas of greenery and breathe in the air as Singapore founder Sir Stamford Raffles once did. Located near the higher education hub and the nearby campus of the National University of Singapore, the forty-seven hectare park provides twenty fitness stations for a refreshing and healthy time especially during early mornings and evenings. Acacias, tembusus, angsanas and dillenias predominate in the tree population.

Flora meant for lining public sites, roads and reserves are grown here (picture above) in one of the Government nurseries seen from a look out point at Kent Ridge Park.

Amidst all the greenery, we came across a low density apartment bloc known simply as the Peak. (above). I noticed the residents were mostly expats, and a couple of Eurasian children came out for a bicycle ride. Reminiscent of Hong Kong's Peak, the property commands a view of Singapore and the nearby isles. One can actually take the trail for over two hours from here, via the Alexander Arch, to reach the Henderson Waves Walk near Faber Park.

The calm of this park, replete with wild orchids and monkey cup plants, do not fully reveal that it was one of the sites for a significant British battalion during the Japanese occupation of Singapore, in the mid 20th century. A plaque in a car park commemorates the end of World War 2. Nearby South Buona Vista Road is the location of the battle for Pasir Panjang in 1942. Today Kent Ridge Park is a vital portion of the Singapore Park Connector Network project.

The battle for Bukit Chandu (Opium Hill in Malay) is marked by an interpretative centre in a well kept bungalow (pictures above and below). Here one of the fiercest battles was conducted by the colonial British Army and local forces before Singapore capitulated to the Imperial Japanese forces in 1942. Lt Adnan bin Saidi of the Malay Regiment is remembered as heroically leading his men in this battle.

Mangosteen Mania

Mangosteens hailed originally from the Moluccas Isles and the Sunda Islands in Indonesia, but can be easily available now in the rest of south-east Asia, usually as whole fruits at retail. The fun commences with hand opening the rather hard outer skin layer to get at its inner fruit, and the pleasure is in the milky white , juicy and somewhat fibrous fruit. I was told that Queen Elizabeth II graciously receives gifts of such crated fruits at Buckingham Palace each year.

Europeans generally baulk at the thorny, football sized, green coloured durian, but in contrast, they love the mangosteen. Queen Victoria reputedly offered a hundred pound reward in the 19th century to anyone who could deliver to her the fresh fruit of the mangosteen. The mangosteen tree can be tall and reach anywhere from seven to 25 metres. In Australia, it is now grown on a commercial basis in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The purple coloured fruit has an outer skin layer that discourages infestation by insects, fungi or plant viruses whilst it is ripening. The top of the fruit has a clover like arrangement in light green where attached to a stem. This is my favourite tropical fruit, but I am always careful when taking in the juice of the luscious white inner fruit - their stains have to be washed immediately from fabric or clothes, as they are rather strong and sticky. What is the best way of manually opening a mangosteen? I hold the single fruit with both hands, and gently apply pressure from the sides, so as to buckle the outer purple coloured layer. Once this layer cracks up, I see the target - the moist, ripened white segments, slightly aromatic, definitely delicious.

Sembawang Park, Singapore

Sembawang lies on the north-eastern corner of Singapore Island. It has been associated with a massive shipbuilding industry for many years and still is. Named after a native tree, it used to host rubber estates and then a British naval base. Sembawang is sited next to Woodlands, best know as the northern suburb of Singapore that is linked to Malaysia through the Causeway and Malayan Railway. Above image, day fishermen have a whale of a time at a wharf that juts out towards Johor in Malaysia.

Sembawang Park (above) is not far from the shipyard (picture below). Interesting enough, there are many examples of Australian flora in this park, the most famous of which is the Bottle Tree, originally from Queensland. I am told that this tree no longer exists as I write, but there is also the Cannon Ball Tree still on site. There is also a hot springs on location for visitors. This far corner of Singapore is also accessible by MRT to Sembawang Town. You may come across many National Servicemen in this area, as the Naval Diving Unit and the 1st and 3rd Transport Battalion of the Singapore Army are also based here.

A bungalow previously housing engineers and other technicians working for the Sembawang Shipyard has been turned into a restaurant in Sembawang Park - the Beaulieu House (picture above). You can dine on Chinese seafood and European cuisine, with a view to the Johor Straits, in surroundings I can only surmise as retro. Beaulieu House was built by the David family who were involved in the mining business and then acquired by the British Navy around 1910.

The Beaulieu House offers several private function rooms, one of which, the Alfresco A & B, can seat over 200 people.

You can enjoy both European and local reflections inside the Beaulieu House - a touch of old England (above) and a restored trishaw (below).

Sembawang does provide a refreshing hideaway from most of contemporary Singapore. Standing by its shore, I am reminded of schoooldays on another tropical island not far north - Penang. Both provide provdie the setting for lazy afternoons when we could still be conscious of the laps of the gentle waters of a sheltered straits and when the cares of the world were just borne by others. You can go cycling or running in Sembawang, far removed from the trials and tribulations of share market movements or strategic-politcal dramas. It also offers insights into what greeted Sir Stamford Raffles when he eyed upon this island of Singapore and made him negotiate with the then Sultan of Johor to take over the island.