The vibrant colours of Little India - Singapore

in travel •  7 years ago 

Aside from the local Singaporeans, Singapore has two main cultural groups. The Chinese and the Indians. They come to Singapore for the same reason anyone might migrate somewhere else. Economic opportunity. Of course this has been going on so long that most now were born and have lived in Singapore their entire lives. But they have retained their cultural heritage. The Indians and Chinese are groups who hold onto that no matter where they are and its easy to see why.

They have very rich and vibrant cultures which they take great pride in, and personally I would find it a great shame if they didn't. One of the things that make this world so interesting and vibrant is the mix of different cultures. It's something that should be embraced and celebrated, not feared and vilified like many like to do.

So we arrived at little India. It is very easy to get to as it has it's own metro stop called... you guessed it.. Little India.


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Coming off the metro and heading into the area you immediate notice one thing about the place. How colourful it is. It seemed to me the whole place was a kind of tribute to the Holi Festival (the hindu festival of colours). That's the one where they throw powdered paint around. Messy but awesome.


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Now, I lived in India when I was in High School (I had a rather international upbringing, I believe the term used is - "expat brat" or "multicultural kid"). Specifically I live in New Delhi for 2 years - the first 2 years of my high school life. And as I stepped into Little India I could definitely fell the familiar atmosphere of India.


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You know it's weird.. I've looked at this picture so many times yet I only just noticed the pidgeon! lol! Ok back to the story - I immediately felt like I was back in Delhi with the statues, the colours, fountains and of course locals!


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The amazing murals painted on the side of buildings was unique to Singapore though, i never really saw that in India. They're impressive though but you can tell they are organised and commissioned by an artist, not random grafitti (that's super-illegal in singapore).


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This took me back to nostalgia lane though, the street market with stalls selling all the typical Indian stuff, pashminas. saris, incense burners, bags and other such things.


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This truly reminded me of what it was like in Delhi as a kid wandering the markets, except here i wasn't getting harassed to buy something, which in Delhi happened about every 5 seconds lol!


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As we continued on things became a bit more Singaporean as most shops were in their own buildings instead of market stalls, and they were all still in the older style colonial buildings of the early 19th century. I really do love the style, and if I won the lottery i'd probably try and get a house built out there somewhere in that style.. not in Singapore though, that's impossible these days, the place is so built up now that the only thing you can buy is apartments.


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During our walk we encountered a small field/park in between all the buildings that was filled with little (and large) Elephant statues that were painted in bright vibrant colours and intricate patterns, they were a beautiful sight. I don't know what they were there for, if it was for a specific purpose, exhibition or for an event or just for overall decor.. but i liked it.


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This squatting one was really cute i thought.


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Although from this angle it kind of looks like he's having a poo which is not so cute. Lets pretend its not that.


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Look at how awesome and intricately painted this one is. It looks a little weird sitting on a metal frame like that but all the big ones are. I guess due to their size they'd fall over without the added support.


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Another amazing mural covering the entire side of a building. They really did an amazing job with this.


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Look at this, even the innocuous boring plain buildings have some form of bright colours painted on:


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More street art:


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At this point we've pretty much come full circle and returned to the building where the statue with the Pidgeon perched on it was. I haven't mentioned it yet, but it was an absolutely scorching morning, the sun was super bright and for most of our walk we were getting cooked in the sun So we were starting to look into returning to the hotel at this point... just to cool down a bit!


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I wonder how long it took to paint that building.. it takes me long enough just to paint one wall a single colour! Oh and of course, no Indian place is complete without a nice statue of Ganesh.. probably the most well known and most recognised hindu god.


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Finally, as we were returning to the metro station to head back to our hotel for a refreshing dip in the pool and some lunch we encountered this wonderfully colourful mural just outside the station. I'm sure you all know how the Cow is regarding in hinduism (if you don't, they're considered sacred) so it should come as no surprise to see at least some kind of tribute to cows somewhere.


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Notice the little instagram icon for likes over the cows? I thought that was so random.. I was guessing that it was an encouragement to take pictures.. like "take a pic of this and get lots of likes on instagram".


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There are also a lot of restaurants in the area and if you want a really authentic Indian cuisine experience, this is probably the place in Singapore to do it. We weren't really interested in food though, we were interested in air conditioning and perhaps a dip in the pool at the hotel, especially in the heat, which you can't really convey in these pictures, but rest assured.. we were dripping in sweat. yuck.

If you ever go to Singapore, then you need to add Little India to your itinerary, even it if is just for a morning wander about the place.


!steemitworldmap 1.3069145 lat 103.8518281 long The vibrant colours of Little India - Singapore D3SCR


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Heya, just swinging by to let you know you're being featured in our Daily Travel Digest!

Thanks @steemitworldmap that's wonderful :)

Omg. I am a singaporean having lived here my whole life but I didn't know about these in Little India. Especially like the street art paintings, never knew they exist!
Will be sure to check them out the next time I pass by that area.
Great post btw.

Thanks! You are lucky to live there :) Definitely check it out.. they're kind of in random places but usually down streets off the main road :)

Ha! If I hadn't read about the pigeon I would have never seen it!

Crazy right? That pigeon is so well camouflaged :)

so colorful and bright must be so interesting walking around and seeing this

yeah it was awesome. :)

I bet it must have been such an awesome experience

Absolutely, every bit of it :)

👍👍👍👍👍

Thanks :)

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Thanks, Yes the colours are beautiful, it really gives life to the neighbourhood.

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This looks like such a cool place to explore. I've never heard of it to be honest and I know quite some people who visited Singapore. Thanks for sharing it with us.

My pleasure, definitely check it out if you ever find yourself in Singapore :)

Great post about Little India in Singapore. I was there myself many years ago and got to see a lot of the same stuff. There wasn't as much street art back then, but those buildings...man, the colors. Such a contrast to the newer parts of the city, and even to the other ethnic areas. I mainly chilled around the Persian area of town. Northern Indian Curry, nom nom nom.

Thanks! The colours are really striking, I don't think you see that kind of colourfulness anywhere else. We had limited time so we didn't get to the Persian area ourselves. I think I will need to add that to the list so i have a good excuse to return for another visit ;)

If you want to see similar colors, head north a bit into Malaysia. Malacca is the first major town you'll come across. Another great place to chill for a couple days and explore :) Lot's of color, great food, fun people, historical sites.

Thanks for the tip :) next time I make it out there I will try to add it to the itinerary :)

Another great post, added to our Singapore to-do list!

Thanks mate :) How much longer before you go?

Unfortunately old folks health issues are getting in the way. Not that serious, but such that we can't commit to long lead-time bookings (or financial commitments!). Planning some shorter last-minute trips instead, not sure where or when. Take care.

Ah good luck with that. I'm sure you'll find some great adventures.. the last minute ones are often the most interesting :)