Tekka Market- a true find!

In NYC, one of my absolute favorite things to do- whether it be summer, spring, autumn, or winter- is to stroll through the union square farmer's market. I love the bounty of fresh seasonal produce and abundance of so many vendors to choose from, and the sunshine that somehow always pokes through the towering buildings to shed light on the farmers who stand there, come rain or snow....Anyways, enough reminiscing! My last week in NYC I was starting to feel sad about leaving my dear friend, the Union Square Market, especially because, after doing some research and asking locals through email, there supposedly was no market in Singapore that would compare. Luckily, and thank god-fully, they were wrong!

Introducing....Tekka Market! Tekka Market is a landmark in Little India. It has a history dating back to when the area was filled with Bamboo ( or tekka in Hokkien) trees. It was a place all ethnic groups came to shop for their produce and cooking staples. It has been around a long time. Enough history. I actually don't usually care much about history. I care about the here and now, not the was or has been.

So...fast forward to 2011 and Tekka Market still stands strong. The first thing that grabbed my attention as I left the car was the smell! Of strong, stinky fish! Then all sorts of smells begin to waft in the air, vegetables, coconuts, fruit, flesh of all animals in front of your eyes...and of course, the most favorite of all smells...Durian! hehe

After my nose got adjusted to the plethora of smells in this huge, covered market, I was able to see how incredible and vast it is! Endless produce!! It is great. I managed to get a large bag of vegetables including a bag of tomatoes, zucchini, a pumpkin, and several other things...for somehow only six Singapore dollars- so about 4.5 USD...a clear bargain! If you don't mind walking past a pile of dead chicken heads or other things you usually don't see in everyday life, then I highly reccommend it- the produce is incredibly fresh and you can find all sorts of vegetables that are not so easy find other places.

I love vegetables.

The Many Facets of Singapore

Now that it's been a few weeks here, I can personally attest to the fact that Singapore is a city within a jungle- it's a slightly bizarre melange of uber-modern architecture with bits of British, Asian, European, and rainforest charm. Last Sunday I went on a private tour of Singapore with a true Singaporean, who showed me highlights and significant places here, shown below: "Wait a sec.....am I seeing things?? Why is there a ship in the sky? And is it just me, or do those silver domes on the left look like Durian fruit?" Yes, there is actually a ship laying across 3 tall buildings. Well, at the very least, it definately is original! The pointy silver domes are theaters shaped like durian- the fruit which smells like dirty feet- and have some of the best accoustics designed in the world!

Posing with Sir Raffles himself- the founder of Singapore!
Note the quaint terra-cotta roofs and "bum boat" in the foreground with the sleek silver monsterous skyscrapers towering behind- quite the contrast!
Kinda strange, right?
Now for some temples:
Singapore's oldest Hindu temple shown above.
Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in Chinatown
And lastly, you will see my favorite sight of all, MONKEY and rainforest:


TADA! And that concludes today's post. Next post will be about Litte India, so stay tuned!