Festival February

This month Singapore has been in nearly constant celebration or the planning of celebration. Firstly, this year is the 50th anniversary of the creation of Singapore as an independent nation, and there was a big kick-off at midnight on December 31. Since then preparations for Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year have been frenetic. But this month didn’t just contain Chinese New Year, it also contained Thaipusam, the Hindu festival celebrated by Singapore’s Tamil Community.

The first night of Thaipusam. Procession of a lighted shrine down New Bridge Road

Thaipusam began on February 3rd this year and was celebrated by devotees by making a pilgrimage through Singapore and ending at the temple Sri Thandayuthapani, very close to our apartment. The festival lasts for a few days and involves, among other things, creating shrines which the men carry upon their shoulders as they walk and dance. I had witnessed something very similar at the temple in December and still am not sure what festival that was, but we enjoyed visiting the temple again and watching the festivities.

At the Temple

 

 

At the temple

Our daily walks take us past an area known as the Float@Marina Bay, a band of outdoor stadium seating fronted by a large paved roadway and then the float in the bay. Concerts are staged here as well as soccer games, and the graduations of new cadets in Singapore’s armed forces. For Chinese New Year the entire area was transformed, preparations starting in early January, into a street carnival complete with children’s amusement park rides, tons of food and local specialties, and on the float an amazing array of lanterns depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac and figures representing fortune, and this year two huge peacocks. Even though the preparations had begun in January it took them every bit of those 6 weeks to be ready to open on February 18.The festival, called River Hongbao ran until the 28th and the last two days of the month also featured Chingay, a bit like a very restrained Mardi Gras, minus the excessive alcohol and heavy on the fireworks.

The “God of Fortune” lantern being built in preparation for River Hongbao

Peacocks being built in the seating stands of the stadium

The Float itself, adorned with a diorama of the Singapore Skyline

The entrance to the festival of River Hongbao

Looking down the avenue at the festival

Everywhere we went in Singapore in February there were elaborate decorations on the street lights, in restaurants and malls and the closer it got to the actual days of celebration the more you saw. But on the 19th, the first day of Lunar New Year, everything changed.

Children’s carnival games and rides

The Peacock lanterns lighted up

The now finished God of Fortune lantern lighted up at night. This lantern stood some 40 feet tall

Some of the interesting lanterns on display at the Float@Marina Bay

More lanterns

Strange tree lantern

The carnival avenue lighted up at night

Night time carnival

Carnival entrance

The town suddenly locked itself up (except for the street carnival), all the grocery stores closed, for two days! Restaurants closed, cabs were nearly non-existent, and the town seemed exceptionally quiet.

Carnival as seen from the Helix Bridge. Now you get a sense of how large the lanterns are.

Do you want BBQ squid?

Or Fried?

Ted chose BBQ squid

We went down to the Float at Marina Bay several times during the two days of official Lunar New Year celebrations to take pictures, eat some of the delicious food being sold and see the sights. Ted had some BBQ Squid and I enjoyed the Twisted Potatoes, as well as some yummy Kebabs and a few other delicacies.

Twisted Potatoes. So yummy!

I got them several times…..

Then on the 21st things began to open up again, and the festivities continued, traveling troupes of Lion Dancers would drive around town and do performances at different places around town, Chinatown was awash in different activities like Chinese calligraphy and puppet shows, and special dinners happened all over town.

Telok Ayer all dressed up

Lion Dancer performance set-up

Lion Dancers getting started

Lion Dance

I was lucky enough to participate in a reunion dinner hosted by my workplace, Upside Motion. Our dinner took place at Red House, a local eatery featuring seafood, as many Singaporean restaurants do.  Our group consisted of mostly Singaporeans with a few Malaysians, a couple of Europeans and myself as the sole American. Since this was my first Lunar New Year celebration my colleagues very kindly explained the significance of many of the dishes and also provided ample commentary on the quality of the dishes, most Singaporeans consider themselves fairly serious foodies. Our meal began with super tasty steamed peanuts that look a bit like large beans but taste heavenly. Then we had the yusheng, also known as lo hei, a tossed raw salmon and shredded veggie salad that comes to your table in parts. The parts are then added together and all the participants use their chopsticks to toss the salad, the higher you toss the greater your prosperity for the coming year. It’s a bit messy. But completely delicious. Next we had Sambal Kang Kong, a green kind of like spinach that is steamed and tossed in a chili and fermented shrimp sauce, Black pepper beef with bell peppers and onions, Jumbo Shrimp battered in what they call cereal, Chili Crab ( a local delicacy), duck, another crab and an array of other tasty dishes. I made it a point to sample as many as I could, but eventually ran out of room. But it was an amazing meal and I feel lucky to have had the chance to be a part of the dinner and sample so much tasty food and be a part of a Singaporean Chinese New Year.

As I have mentioned before, I’m too cheap to upgrade my blog to be able to include video here, so I’ll be uploading my travel videos to YouTube. You can find them by searching my name, or via this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSPO0tM4IM8cvXuMlCyV0tAI have a playlist for the travel videos and my YogAlign videos too. And as always you can follow me here, on my FB page, Instagram and Twitter. I’m learning though, so not exactly a whiz at any of them.

Next week we finally take some vacation and head to Chaing Mai Thailand for a week and then on to Malaysia for another week. I can’t wait to have the time to see some other parts of South East Asia and to share it all with you when I get home!

Sunrise view from our apartment.