We had planned on catching the bus on Day 2 to visit places on the Yellow line of the hop on hop off tour route. A restful night and we were getting ready to get on the move again. Kerry hopped in the shower but was suddnely overcome with dizziness and despite calling me to the shower ended up falling over. She passed out and I was able to wake her and together we got her to a seated upright position. Fortunately she had not done any harm but she was still light headed. She said she only wished to rest today and urged me to go off on my own. After arranging breakfast I took off to catch the bus before 9.40am which was the expiration of my tour ticket. I got to the bus by the skin of my teeth and travelled the yellow route the the rest of the day.
The yellow route tended to travel north west to south east whereas the red route had travelled north east to south west. So I caught the red route bus to the terminus then changed bus to the yellow route. The first stop was near the Singapore Flyer – a ferris wheel overlooking the outer bay. It then followed the red route to the Gardens by the Bay then meandered through the CBD out to the Botanic Gardens and then returned to the terminus at the Suntech Mall. I again transferred to the red route to return to the hotel. The following is a pictorial of some of the sites along the way.
On the first day we had passed the Yueh Hai Ching Temple. I decided I would visit the temple which required I get off the tour bus at the Fullerton Hotel and wind my way back to Phillip St and find the temple. The Temple is walled and the front doors being open I stepped into the square at the front of the temple. Yueh Hai Ching Temple is also known as the Wak Hai Cheng Bio from its Teochew pronunciation. The temple, whose name literally means “Temple of the Calm Sea”, was the first stop for Chinese immigrants to Singapore in the early 19th century. Philip Street was once near the sea, so that sailors could head to the temple immediately after docking to offer their prayers and gratitude for their safe journey . Due to land reclamation, the temple was effectively distanced from the shore.
There are in fact two temples. The right temple is dedicated to Xuan Tian Shang Di, otherwise known as Duo Lau Yah. The left temple is dedicated to Tian Hou Sheng Mu, otherwise known as Ma Zu. The Xuan Tian Shang Di is a god worshipped by the Taoist. It is very much respected and worshipped by the secret societies in 19th Century. Mazu is worshipped as she guides ships to safety in times of peril. Our son Adam has throughout his life been a Chinofile is now a highly accomplished Mandarin speaker, writer and translator. After his service in the military and before retiring he served representing Australia in Beijing for 3 years. Because of his interests in matters Chinese I sent him photos of the temple and its Chinese scripts and he was the first to alert me tothe fact that the Temple in fact worships two Gods namely Duo Lau Yah and Mazu. Here are my photos.
I wanted to send him images of the manuscripts on the walls for his interest and my need to have a translation so I took further photos with my phone for ease of transfer.
I have forgotten what Adam told me about the different scriptures but understanding that there are two temples and these manuscripts were prepared at different times I begin to understand why there are marked differences.
I returned to Kerry at the hotel. She was feeling better and I think we may have taken a walk to obtain dinner that night. All of the various cafes and restaurant all seemed to fire up after dark. “THE RETIREES GO AROUND THE WORLD – Singapore Day 3“
glendon1954 