Monday, October 27, 2008 Reflection after the field trip to enclaves in Singapore
Airiel is back again! Now instead of the research part, let's go to the reflections part! Okay, for my thoughts on the Burmese temple, it was simply cool and magnificent... Uh no not just that, it was tucked deep into this street where we had to walk for a little distance after the bus driver dropped us. We walked through this plantation where the teacher even told us a rich ang moh... lived in. It was a little creepy but, finally we saw the temple. Our teacher told us that many Burmese reside around the area. At the entrance, there was a signboard explaining the temple like who founded it etc. There were also banners hanging around the fence near the temple where there were some words in Burmese. We proceeded in then and our teacher told us that there the monks had a special way of wearing their vermillion robes. I really don't quite understand how it works but, I think they somehow tucked it in under their arms or something. Anyway, it was really interesting to watch. We then took off our shoes at the entrance, (reminded me of the time I went to the temples in Cambodia but I think at all temples, shoes should be taken off as a form of respect) There were also two lion-like statues guading the entrance. I wonder if the Burmese also believe that two is a good number instead of just one, like the Chinese. We proceeded to climb the stairs to see the famous white Buddha. Surely it was a sight to behold! The tour guide told us that the Burmese had a special way of carving the Buddha just like how the Thais do. Therefore, we can always tell the difference between the Buddhas. Anyway, back to the white Buddha. It was humongous and at the entrance to the praying room, we could see some paintings describing who the Buddha was shipped to Singapore. It seems that white marble is very famous in Myanmar. My fellow RSP friend, Sze Ning also mentioned that jade is valuable in Myanmar too. Just then, there was a little Burmese boy and presumably his parents entering the temple. The tour guide told us that we should never, ever touch a Burmese's head, no matter how cute the child might seem. It was a form of disrespect for them and they would feel very offended. It also appears that this temple was a form of refuge for the Burmese. We then climbed down the stairs to another room where there was another Buddha. In this room there was a stone tablet that had some coins on the carvings. The carvings had distinct shapes to them and there was one that looked like a horse. The tour guide told us that the Burmese put the coins there for good luck etc. With that, our first destination was cleared and done. Next stop: Golden Mile Plaza I really was quite terrified when the teachers told us to be extremely careful when we visited this place. I mean, being careful was a given, but they told us that street brawls were quite common here and fights etc. I sure do not want to mess with the people here. We were warned not to go anywhere without our groups. At the entrance, there was an international bank. I know it was a bank because there were English translations of the Thai words. We walked into the complex, where many signs were in Thai language, but, of course there were English translations. Our job here was to find some Thai words and their meanings, it would of course be a bonus if we could find a Thai and interview them. It would seem that finding the meaning of certain Thai words were not too difficult if you know where to go: the supermarket and its price tags. As we jotted down words as we went, we noticed some uncommon stuff that in our local supermarket could not be found. They sold dried frog and dried fish and dried... there was a whole stack of them and occupied a big section in the supermarket! Behind this section, there was a tank full of eels. Eww... I sure don't like those slimy things. After we left, (luckily no one wanted to sue us for not buying anything) we walked down to the first level where we saw a lady selling thai delicacies. Cherie and I decided to share the famous mangorice and ask her some questions in the process. She answered us somewhat hurriedly as there were quite a bit of customers. Ah well, after that,we left. Next stop: Peninsula Plaza At Peninsula Plaza, there we were given free time to roam and view some places on our own. My group which consisted of Min Yan, Ling Ying, Cherie and I got lucky as when we were looking at the shop directory, our teacher told us that she had a Burmese friend whom would be delighted to give us an 'interview'. It seems that her friend was the boss of a shop that imports seafood from Myanmar. He showed us some of the seafood that he imports and they included a prawn that had its head severed was as big as his palm. (And I am quite sure that his palm is bigger than mine) After visiting this shop, we went to the another shop that sells cloth from Myanmar and other countries. As we were not allowed to take photos, we contented ourselves by snipping pictures of the colourful cloth outside the shop. We went to another two shops after this. The second last being a shop that Ms Lee said was owned by a friendly Burmese lady who sold herbs and other things from Myanmar too. She was very welcoming to us and even told her daughter to change her clothes to that of traditional Burmese wear for us to take pictures and marvel at. She even offered for a few of us to try the herbs and my RSP friend Evangeline got to eat it. It did not include swallowing it though. This kind lady even directed us to our last and final stop which was very enriching for us. The last and final stop made here was a rather unexpected but, I would say it was the most interesting one. It was an art gallery at the top most story where, of course it sold and displayed Burmese art, as we goggle at the different kind of art displayed here, such as a portrait of a few Burmese lady, a dragon made of some gold coloured stuff encrusted with jewels etc. It was really beautiful, what really surprised me was that all these existed here, in Singapore! I must admit, I don't like making frequent visits to the mall and the like. But, I never would have thought that malls have such rich historical values too. It always struck me that those old temples were where we could learn the most things but now I guess not. Next stop: Lucky Plaza Lucky Plaza is quite the hustle and bustle as tourists and locals alike streamed in and out. This was more free and easy to us and we just explored the place level by level. At one shop, we were seen observing a tourist shop which sold mini gifts. Wanting to know whether this were things originating from Philippines, we stood and waited till the shop's customers cleared. A lady overheard us discussing amongst ourselves about this topic and unexpectedly came to our rescue. She told us that she was a Filipino too and no, those gifts do not look like Filipino gifts. We thanked her and conversed with her for awhile and found out that she was a Filipino tourist. It does seem that this place was indeed the place for Filipinos in Singapore! However, tucked in some quiet corners of the building, were some shops offering maid services from Indonesia, Philippines etc. I was harshly reminded of certain incidents where domestic workers were brutally treated in Singapore. Once again, we saw this bank with a humongous sign stating that you could send cash back to some countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and of course Philippines. This had, by far the largest queue as it stretched out way further than other shops we had been too. Finally there were also 'mama shop' like stores where a Filipino owned the place, and this marks the end of our trip.
