Anyway, this long post shall be about the RSP trip that I went on on 23 August 2008. We went to visit some Burmese, Thai and Filipino enclaves in Singapore.
Firstly, we went to the Sasanaramsi Burmese Buddhist Temple. We saw the white marble Buddha statue (which was actually the largest of its kind outside Myanmar). We learnt that Myanmar is actually famous for its white marble, Burmese jade and teak. Also, Burmese people don't touch people's head as the head is like the crown of the person. Statues of Burmese Buddha actually have toes of equal length to show that they treat everyone equally and they also have long ears that touch the shoulders.
Next, we went to Golden Mile Complex. Although I went there quite often to take coaches to Malaysia, I didn't really look at the cultural aspect (?) of the building. :\ Anyway, this place is a Thai enclave where Thais in Singapore gather to exchange news etc. As we were given free and easy time, my group (Annabel, Hui Zhen, Symone, Hazel and I) decided to go to the Thai supermarket called "Thai Supermarket" XD The packaging of the food sold there were in Thai language but we could still understand what it was. In the end, we sort of went shopping and bought tidbits and instant noodles xD
Peninsula Plaza was the next place we went to. I t is also a Burmese enclave. To the Myanmar community, it's a slice of home where the Myanmar people in Singapore gather together. We went to a shop named "Golden Princess Pte Ltd" where the shopkeepers were siblings from Myanmar. They were very nice and answered all of our questions (we were given the task of interviewing a shopkeeper and to find out where his/her merchandise came from). They told us that all the products are from Myanmar except for liquor and beer. They also made this thing called kunyar. Kunyar was actually betel leaves wrapped with lots of herbs (eg.cloves) inside. Oh! And I learnt a Myanmar word - mingalaba - which means good morning or good afternoon.
The last place of the trip was to Lucky Plaza. This is a Filipino enclave and it's also one of the earliest SEA enclaves in Singapore. I learnt from one of the shopkeeper that the Filipino word for welcome is tuloy kayo.
Yeah, so the above is the (long) descriptions of the trip. Though I was tired at the end of the trip from all the walking, I have definitely gained some knowledge. (: