Sunday, July 4th, Part II: Sri Muneeswaran Temple

Most begrudgingly, we left the orchestra concert behind and headed to a Hindu temple visit for our religion class. We read a book for class (well, I didn't read it...but shh! Don't tell anyone :-P) by a professor at NUS who was an expert on this one minor Hindu god, Muneeswaran. So, our UNC professor arranged for this NUS professor to take us to one of the god's temples. It is on a very bizarre plot of land that, for very complicated historical reasons, is owned by Malaysia even though it is in Singapore. Recently, the governments have made a deal to grant the land back to Singapore, and this is almost certainly going to mean that the temple gets torn down.

It's a very interesting situation, because the temple is not "officially" registered with the state, and that's why it will be demolished. It's a fairly ramshackle little place, but it's crazy how intricate and intensely-decorated it is on the inside. It's clear that it plays an enormous role in the lives of those who frequent it.

It's also interesting because it is located in a rather swanky historic district (pictures above). As usual in Singapore, incongruous things are placed right next to each other - beautiful old houses that look like they could be from Charleston, SC, in front of high-rise HDB flats, with an abandoned-looking railroad and a ramshackle Hindu temple off to the side. Always a potpourri!

^^ The temple (note the ramshackle-ness, the beat-up lot, the railroad tracks)

^^ The incongruous HDB flats

^^ Ramshackle = trendy :-) haha

^^ There are several lesser deities around the periphery of the temple. They are sort of like guards for the main deity.

^^ The Malaysia/Singapore plot
^^ Sri Muneeswaran, the main deity of the temple

After the Sri Muneeswaran temple, we walked 20 minutes to the Sri Mariamman temple, which I had already visited two or three times on my own. It was cool to visit this time with a knowledgeable person. Afterwards, I was in desperate need of food, and wound up eating two double cheeseburgers and an ice cream sundae at McDonald's. Oops. Needless to say, I felt pretty disgusting (but soooo satisfied!) afterwards.