Singapore is somewhat of a melting pot of different cultures. Since it was settled much later than most other Southeast Asian countries, the population is a mixture of various cultures from the surrounding region. Singapore has four official languages- Chinese, Malay, Tamil, and English (left over from British imperialism), with English and Chinese being the main two. There is fairly even mixture of a number of different religions as well. The mixture of Asian cultures makes for unique experience in practically every cultural avenue.
I am very interested in a sympathetic view of things that I don’t necessarily agree with, but such views are difficult to come by and are often stumbled upon by accident. One of these accidents came when I visited a Sikh temple a few days ago. A few friends of mine went on a tour of the temple the previous weekend and invited me back for a free Sikh dance lesson. My time spent in the temple turned out to be far more of an eye-opening experience than I had expected.
Specifically, I was moved by the sense of community and compassion shared by the members. After the lesson, we were urged to have lunch downstairs in the cafeteria where hundreds of members are fed multiple meals every day for free. I am unsure of the economic status of most of the members, but it seemed to be an impressive system of private welfare, where anyone struggling would have a place to eat a few warm meals every day
I was not allowed in without a head covering, but one of the men outside provided me with his so I could eat. Inside, the people went out of their way to make us feel comfortable, insisting on serving us and making everything as easy as possible. I have no idea what I ate, but it was actually quite good. I am generally skeptical of any kind of religious faith, but my experience in the temple was a nice reminder of the other aspects of religion that I don’t often consider, such as instilling a strong sense of values and community. I came away very impressed and even made a little donation, which was really the least I could do considering my whole day there was otherwise free. I didn’t bring my camera with me, so unfortunately no pictures this time.
In other news, I have a trip to Bintan, Indonesia planned for this weekend (a 4 day weekend since I have Mondays off and Tuesday is Hari Raya Puasa), and I booked a flight to Thailand for my week off in late September. I’ll be there for close to a week, so I’d like to visit another country (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, etc) while I’m up there. If anyone is familiar with the region or has a recommendation, please let me know your recommendations!
Location: Sikh Temple, Singapore