Month Of Festivals

If August was already the month of festivals (the National Day month for Malaysia, Singapore & Indonesia), then this September is another round of celebrations.


3 Celebrations In One City By Singapore Tourism Board

The one thing I like during this season is the lining up of 3 major festivals... There is the happy atmosphere on the streets when the 3 major races (the Chinese, Malays & Indians) celebrate their festivities.

Over in Singapore, these 3 events are highly promoted and though it is very much local, but it is really a good eye opener to tourists.

Already, the lights at Geylang Serai (not to be mistaken with the red light district of Geylang) is up with its annual Raya bazaar selling all sorts of Raya goodies from food to clothes & even cars & carpets.

One can feel the excitement of the coming Raya just by walking in between the make-shift stalls. This is no ordinary bazaar as it is a huge one covering 2 main roads, and a few hundred meters each! And the roads beautifully lit just for the occasion.

Then for the Mid Autumn Festival, the malls are all packed with the stalls selling the many varieties of mooncakes. Somehow, gone are the days of the tau sar & plain lian yong cakes... the in thing now are those snow skin mooncakes with different fruit fillings. And the popular one here in Singapore is of course the durian mooncakes!

Already, I've seen some malls going 'out of stock' for this particular mooncakes. Now, that is fast.

And of course, the streets of Chinatown is being lit up with the tanglungs. In fact, this year also sees the new hangout place, Clarke Quay celebrating Mid Autumn - an event by the river.

And come mid September (20 Sept 2008), the Little India will become even livier (I say livelier as Little India is always known to be lively), getting prepared for the Festival of Lights, Deepavali. That is when the roads on this not so small Little India gets lit up with beautiful lights, and lots of goodies are up for buy as well.

For visitors, this is really the best time to see 3 different festivals at once! And even for the locals, it's nice to just soak in the atmosphere. As for the shutterbugs, this is a good opportunity for photo taking!

Simply, what a colourful Singapore! (And really, Singapore is getting livelier!)

I've already been to the Geylang Serai and had my try of the delicious mooncakes, and those are coming up soon! :)


*Apparently, most credit cards will give a 15% discount for the mooncakes. Aint that a bargain? :)

*For full information on these 3 festivals, and where to see the excitement, visit here.