The Chinese temple was a nice contrast to the Hindu temple of the day before. Next door to this Chinese temple was a Hindu temple but it was being cleaned so it was closed.
I walked around outside to find many stands selling New Year’s gifts and offerings. Incense bundles in a bright pink and lotus flowers with their petal folded decoratively. There were shops which only sold a large assortment of dried seafood too.
The market place at Bugis, pronounced like “boogie,” is full of everything under the sun. The durian fruit seller was surrounded by a strong, unpleasant smell and I still have not gathered enough courage to try that fruit. I did have a drink called a lychee freeze that was yummy, icy and had little balls with a texture much like caviar. It was cooling. Next to the outdoor area selling clothing and everything else imaginable is a large hawkers market place where you can eat anything. Hawker's markets are really something unique to Singapore. They are large, covered areas below high-rise apartments usually. You can sit down and a waiter will bring you a whole selection of food from the many vendors and then tally it up in one check. There are unlimited choices available at these places and everyone sits around on brightly colored plastic chairs and eats contentedly. I would walk through them just to see the vast assortment of foods available. It seems that people in Singapore love to eat, they really love to eat. They have these hawker's markets everywhere people live. The variety is stunning. The smell was wonderful.
I continued to walk to a street called Arab Street. This is very scenic with many old shop/houses. You walk along a sidewalk archway that is covered by the overhanging house above which provides a cool area for strolling out of the noonday sun. Entering many of these shops reveals old wooden cabinets used by generation after generation of vendors. You could film a wonderful movie in these places. Dark wood, glass cabinets, muffled sounds. An Asian romance perhaps! Or a murder mystery. 
The vendors sell a lot of clothing items for Muslim women but also textiles from Indonesia and carpets from Afghanistan and Pakistan, wools from Kashmir. There are a lot of fabrics stores selling very fancy dress fabrics. There were silks, cottons, lace and sarongs in every color imaginable. I especially enjoyed the stores selling batik and found one where a man explained the process of batik making to me while another woman ordered a traditional Paranakan wedding dress. There were also stores selling a wide assortment of baskets and straw purses. This was great fun to explore.
A block to the side I discovered an even more scenic row of shops next to the very large Sultan Mosque. The mosque's golden dome really dominates area. I wasn't sure if a woman could enter a mosque so I didn't see inside. The architecture is a wonderful blend of Persian, Moorish and Turkish architecture and made me wish had studied Muslim architecture in college. Entering one of the shops I discovered a woman making beaded shoes. 
These are a traditional dress form for a culture called Paranakan. These are Chinese upper-class merchants who intermarried with Malaysians in the 17th century. The beading skills, though, are dying out because the younger people do not make or wear the shoes any longer. The beads are tiny, very tiny, and therefore the shoes take many hours to make. I would have bought a pair had I enough money. I loved talking to this woman in her Little Shophouse at 43 Bussorah Street. She, and later her brother, were a wealth of information about Paranakan culture. There is a branch of the Asian Cultures Museum which has exhibits about Paranakan but, disappointingly, that museum was not open when I visited.
When I left her shop I went to a museum complex that helps to explain the Malay culture. The grounds were so calming and beautiful and interpretive displays were helpful in understanding the Malaysian culture in Singapore We returned to this musum at another time to find children performing a dance/self defense art to drummers and enjoyed the museum shop.
As I exited this museum I heard the call to prayer being broadcast from the mosque and watched men wash their feet before entering. The sound remains as a wonderful memory of the area.
That night Shay’s coordinator took us for seafood along the shore named Jumbo Seafood. We had huge lobsters (or maybe they were very large crabs?) cooked in chili -- a messy meal. We also ate scallops wrapped with crispy taro. Everything this woman orders is heavenly. The site was gorgeous too. Offshore are many, many, many boats lit up and waiting to enter the port. This restaurant was very popular with the locals and tables sat full of families, children playing along the boardwalk. Nearby was a small waterskiing lake but you don't use a boat. Rather a circular cable or zipline much like a chair lift pulls the skier over jumps. It looked fun. Keegan, I think you would love it.
This city has so many cultures! I marvel at the mix. I think we talk about diversity in America but we are still processing the concept. Here in Singapore living with a diverse population is a necessity although the word necessity isn’t exactly right. It is less a hardship to the population and more of a concert to live by.
