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I was up fairly early this morning and decided to head out and explore Little India and to go over to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, which was Little India's busiest and oldest temple, dating back to 1881 — although the present structure was completed in 1986.
Now for your first history lesson.....
Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is a Hindu temple located in the middle of Little India in the southern part of Singapore.
The Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple is dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali, fierce embodiment of Shakti and the god Shiva's wife, Parvati. Kali has always been popular in Bengal, the birthplace of the labourers who built this temple in 1881. Images of Kali within the temple show her wearing a garland of skulls and ripping out the insides of her victims, and Kali sharing more peaceful family moments with her sons Ganesha and Murugan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Veeramakaliamman_Temple
After visiting the temple I headed back to the hostel to pick up my bag and I bumped into Denise (from Germany) who had been at the same hostel as me in Kuala Lumpur as she was checking in to the hostel. I said "hello" and told her that I was heading off in to the city to have a walk around to see the sights and she asked me if she could come too so I waited for her to dump her bags and we both headed out to have a look around.
I wanted to head down to the harbour as I wanted to go and have a look at the new casino building known as Marina Bay Sands that I had seen built on the Discovery Channel.....
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands, it is billed as the world's most expensive standalone casino property at S$8 billion, including cost of the prime land.
With the casino complete, the resort features a 2,560-room hotel, a 120,000 sq.m. convention-exhibition centre, The Shoppes mall, an Art & Science museum, two Sands Theatres, six "celebrity chef" restaurants, two floating pavilions, a casino with 500 tables and 1,600 slot machines. The complex is topped by a 340m-long SkyPark with a capacity of 3,900 people and a 150m infinity swimming pool, set on top of the world's largest public cantilevered platform, which overhangs the north tower by 67m. The 20-hectare resort was designed by Moshe Safdie Architects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Bay_Sands
We decided not to go across the bay and go in the casino as we wanted to resist temptation to go gambling and also you had to pay just to go up to the top to the SkyPark to see the infinity pool and the city views. So instead we decided to go to the Swissotel called the Stamford as we knew that you could go up to the 71st floor and as long as you bought a drink in the New Asia bar you could get some great views of the city. I think this was once the highest building in Singapore.
When we arrived at the hotel we realised that we were not really dressed for such a smart place but as it was early we decided to give it a go and we were let in without any problems. We grabbed the lift and went up to the 71st floor to New Asia and ordered a cocktail each and took a few photos of the city while we were up here enjoying our £10 cocktails.
For dinner Denise and I headed out to Little India for a curry as two American Navy guys who were staying at our hostel had recommended the place to us. When we got to the restaurant we were sat out on the street on a table for 4 and soon after ordering our food we were asked if someone could join our table. The person who joined us was another Navy guy but this time he was an officer from the USS George Washington who was also in Singapore on shore leave along with about 6000 other Naval guys from the same ship. This was why he was eating alone, he wanted to get away from them all for a few days.
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