Kampong Glam Historic District

I went on my first walking tour yesterday – Kampong Glam Historic District. Geraldine, the guide, was so knowledgeable and made the tour quite worth it. I’m looking forward to taking future tours. There were only 14 of us: 3 Americans; 1 lady from India; and the rest were from Australia. The tour was 3 hours long and though didn’t cover much territory; we learned a lot and really got a glimpse into this historic district. I’m not going to be able to post everything tonight, but at least I’ll give you a taste and then I’ll go into more detail later.

Kampong Glam Highlights:
I met some wonderful people, including the Guide: Geraldine and a very knowledgeable couple from Wisconsin, who lived here in S’pore ten years ago – thanks for everything Mary and Doug! (After the tour, Mary, Doug and I headed off and had lunch at an Indian Restaurant; I had the Chicken Murtabak. Quite a tasty little dish. Then we headed off to Little India. That could be another whole posting so I’ll have to get to that later. Needless to say, the fabric is beautiful, the Lime Juice and Indian Treats are a must! Yum!)

Kampong Glam has some unique shopping opportunities, so I look forward to going back to see the fabrics and rugs on Arab St. and possibly some Malay and Muslim trinkets from Bussorah St.

One of the more interesting shops, C.P. Ghariwala (on Bussorah St.), sold Muslim prayer rugs, compasses (to mark Mecca), prayer counting beads and other clothing for the ritual of prayer. But, interestingly enough, the shop was owned by a Hindu; talk about cultural tolerance and interdependency!
In Melor’s Curios, we learned how to tie a sarong and the many uses for one simple piece of fabric (sewn or not)! Additionally, we learned about how, in the Malay culture, the ritual of the marriage proposal. The boy’s parents carried a set of leaves and spices (see picture below) to the girl their son wanted to marry. If the proposal was rejected, the leaf or the lid of one of the jars was turned upside down. Quite an interesting (and non-confrontational) way to reject a proposal of marriage!! The dagger on the table is called a Keris and it symbolizes manhood. In earlier times (before Sir Raffles), boys carried it around (you wouldn’t be caught dead without it!) but now lethal weapons are illegal so only a symbolic Keris is carried on the side of the man during the marriage ceremony.