Friday, September 05, 2008

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.

festival singapore
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.

12 comments:

  1. i didn't know indonesia is having their national day with us n spore as well. a new piece of information for me indeed. :)

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  2. Come to think of it. Time flies. Yes, the bazaar is everywhere in Malaysia too. Hmm...I've never been to s'pore before. Very outdated. Wow, I've never ever in my life eaten any durian moon cake before. How was it?=)

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  3. I like lantern fest but I don't like to eat mooncakes :S

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  4. september is a month of celebations indeed! :)

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  5. @levian, yes, its quite nice to know so many national day celebrations heh :)

    @tekkaus
    oh u must try the durian mooncakes! they are hot sellers here. another one is the champagne mooncakes. :)

    @ahlost
    wow, rare one - i thought many people love mooncakes hehe. do you play the lanterns this time round? :)

    @LD
    yes, it is.. so fun haha :)

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  6. More festivals and celebrations, more public holidays..haha..that is what i love about.. by the way, quachee, where r u staying? Malacca or Singapore?

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  7. September is indeed the month of festivities! And the main draw during festivities must be the food! Lots and lots of food. Durian mooncakes - I love them! Yummy!

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  8. u commented jus when i was thinking of visiting yr blog :) oool. thanks for yr kind birthday wishes, buddy

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  9. I love mooncakes, esp. the ones loaded with nuts! But why do they have to be bl**dy expensive???!!

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  10. i love sept not coz of other festivals, but "my festival" :) as u know i'm late virgo.. saw another page about u and the new book from last last sunday's paper - Sin Chew. i think that's the good thing to give to other couch surfers next time, but too bad i have only 1 copy at the moment. order is available anytime, from u?

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  11. indeed. usually without someone mentioning it, we pay less attention to others, but only towards ours only. :p

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  12. @reanaclaire
    oh ya, love em public holidays too haha.

    btw, im based half the time in singapore. and the other half malacca (and with trips to kl) :)

    @foongpc
    yes, they sure are yummy! had my taste of those champagne mooncakes haha

    @bengbeng
    telepathy maybe? :)

    @nessa
    agree, they are kinda expensive. this year even more so.

    @haan
    happy happy birthday :)
    and thanks for sharing the book with clerics. yes, order ready anytime :)

    @levian
    agree. but with such atmosphere especially in multi racial countries, its just so nice to celebrate together heh :)

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Oh hey, thank you for commenting! :)