Buddha's Tooth

When you head out for breakfast at 6:00 am in China Town in Singapore, you never know what you will find.

The streets are strangely quiet and it is hard to imagine the chaos of mid-day on the same block.  A few pedestrians are stirring, shuffling off to their places of work.

We were heading towards the China Town Complex, where the Lonely Planet guide book had suggested that we could find good cheap food.

Few stalls were open at this hour of the morning, much to our surprise. Singapore does not get up as early as Vietnam! But there were a few lights on and we did see a guy with a cup of coffee. He showed us the way to his favourite coffee spot tucked away in a corner.

The coffee was so good that I asked the vendor what label it was. Turns out she makes her own. She roasts beans with a little butter added...then grinds the beans and adds sugar. It is brewed in a long basket filter, then poured into a cup with 1/4 inch of sweetened, condensed milk in the bottom. Talk about a jolt...especially for two decaf drinkers!!

Then it was on to the food. This place looked good.

But what to do...how do we order? What are all these items?

Lots of gesturing and pointing helped us to learn:

1. Pick five items
2. Use the tongs provided to place them in your bowl
3. Choose between three different noodle types or rice or a combination of any of them
4. Hand your bowl full of chosen items to the proprietress ( I chose braised tofu, eggplant stuffed with fish cake, fish cake, pork wonton and bok choy)
5. Mrs. cooks the ingredients, chops them into bite size pieces and pours broth over the top with chopped green onions to season on the top.
6. Mr. puts the chopsticks on the top, and adds the ramekins of hot sauce.
7. Mrs. takes your money...$5.00 for two. Who says Singapore is expensive?

Sated we walked out onto streets now bathed in smoggy grey light. We have arrived in Singapore just as the air becomes heavy with smoke from slash and burn fires in Indonesia. But through the fog we spied the entrance to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple.

We approached cautiously, unsure about whether "walk ins" were welcome. An attendant was indeed welcoming and even suggested that we could take pictures. 

Alone in this overwhelmingly beautiful place with elaborate statuary and hushed silence, we could only wonder at our good fortune at having stumbled upon this treasure a few steps from our hotel. 

Three floors of prayer halls and religious art were ours alone and we were somewhat overcome with the sacredness of this fortunate find.

from wikipedia:

"The temple is based on the Tang dynasty architectural style and built to house the tooth relic of the historical Buddha. The ground breaking ceremony was conducted on 13 March 2005. Costing S$62 million and 2 years later, a soft launch was held to coincide with the 2007 Vesak Day celebration."^[2] It is claimed that the relic of Buddha from which it gains its name was found in 1980 in a collapsed stupa in Myanmar.^[3]

Since opening, the temple has become a popular attraction within Chinatown. Simple vegetarian fare is served in the basement of the temple, though donations are accepted.