I had my first dentist appointment in Singapore. I was nervous; it was fine.
Jonathan got a referral from a coworker for a nice Scottish guy. I just wanted to make sure I could understand the dentist, as I don't always understand many Singaporeans' way of talking. The most noticeable difference was that there is no Dental Hygienist, instead the Dentist does everything in Singapore. There was an assistant who helped with handing tools and basically acted as an extra set of hands. A cleaning and x-rays went faster than I expected; I was in an out in 40 minutes.
The Dentist Office was in a row of old shop houses. Across the street was a small temple and hillside park. The entrance to the park was very enticing, so I figured I would wander through the park before calling a Grab home, and ended up instead wandering through a large temple. You know, just a typical Singapore wander.
These tiny green spaces are typical of Singapore. This park was just one side of a little hill, but it was a nice little walk with a number of elevations with lots of shady seating areas to enjoy a quiet moment. In most cities, this are would have just been a retaining wall, with at best some plants on it, but in Singapore it's a little park and a nice walking path.
Out of the park, I followed the back alley back to the main road and saw a nice mural which lead my eye to another little park.
Following the building around through the park, the mural turned out to be on the back of Thian Hock Keng - an 1821 traditional Joss House until 1842 when it was converted into a Chinese Temple. It holds a number of Architectural Heritage Awards.
Thian Hock Keng's website says it's a "rare temple that encompasses Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Ancestral Worship," which explains why I wasn't certain what type of temple I was actually in.
It was beautiful architecture, the curved lines, the tile roofs, the gold leaf, the wood columns. The girls would have been impressed with the carved dragons on the roof tops and the silk paintings of them too. There was a large wall explaining the significance of the the different motifs seen through the temple and grounds.
The floors and walls were covered in intricate tile patterns. I only took a few pictures, being careful not to take any pictures of the painted deity statues. I rang one of the bells and made a wish at the Wishing Well in accordance with the sign there. The Wishing Well replaces the original practice of drinking from the Well there for luck.
The noticeable COVID-19 impacts were a controlled entrance with temperature testing and government tracing check in and a separate exit. There were signs throughout the grounds asking you to be mindful of your time if there were worshipers waiting in line for entrance. There are limited capacity restrictions in place. On a weekday morning, I was 1 of only 2 people in the temple, but I'm sure it's very busy during religious holidays. I sadly noticed that there were no Monthly Events listed for September which is definitely due to COVID.
Well this little side trip, certainly felt like it added a little culture to my day. We haven't been adventuring out much and I forget how immersed Singapore's culture is with daily life here. From the temple I wandered about a block to the Market Street Hawker Centre to see about a cup of Kopi (coffee) and then noticing the MRT Station, I took the subway home, and grabbed Bubble Tea near home instead.