Eating

We spent today walking around the city soaking up the sights and sounds of the various areas.  After a Thosai Massala (pancake stuffed with vegetables)  for breakfast we wandered down to Little India.  We might have just eaten but it was lunchtime so many of the food stalls were set up including one selling samosas and pakoras - how could we resist.  The samosas were wonderful, hot and filled to bursting with curried vegatables in a delicious pastry.

We wandered past various religious buildings including the main mosque of the city.  At a Chinese temple there were lots of people coming in and out and stalls selling incense.  We sat outside for a while to watch the comings and goings.  There was a stall selling caged birds to be freed and we watched a man buy about a dozen of them.

  He then walked to the centre of the square and set them free.  Must be a good luck thing, poor birds.  We watched people coming out of the temple with huge bunches of incense holding them to the sky.  It seemed much busier than an average temple and we wondered what was going on.  A man came chatting with us and explained that it was a special day in the Chinese calender so that was why it was so busy.  He told us to go inside and see what was happening in there.  We walked inside through a fog of incense to see many people giving offerings to the Buddha.

Early evening we got into a rickshaw and went back to Little India.  It is a fantastic way to get around a city, very peaceful and relaxing - despite the poor, skinny Indian man who has to work very hard peddling!  Little India is a great area of the city, it is only small but is bursting with colour, sounds and smells.  We couldn't resist buying some more samosas as we wandered around.  Then it was back to Red Garden for some more food.  Tonight we both ate nasi goreng, spicy fried rice with chicken and prawn - food will never be the same again.