Today we went  to 4 Buddhist temples, 1 mosque and 1 Hindu temple. we spent about 5 hours in total at all of the temples. First we went to a temple called the Wak Hai Cheng temple which had really cool clay dragons on the roof. after that we went to one of the bigger one, Thian Hock Keng Temple, which was also cool- had a history of Chinese New Year, a mean looking god of war, and a altar to Confuscius. We even used google translate to translate the Chinese signs at a wishing which said things like prosperity or good health. then after a quick stop for Singapore’s national dish, chicken rice (which was a much better option than the Phyllis cheese steak that the booth next store was advertising) we went to a mosque/museum called Al-Abrar . after that we went down  to a street with these buildings called shophouses. they were really cool because they were shops on the 1st floor and houses on the 2nd.  After a stop at a super authentic Chines restaurant, Jin Hua Xiao Chi, for our 1st soup dumplings in Singapore (good but not as good as Dim Sum garden)- we went to the main attraction- a modern Buddhist temple (built) called the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple  built in 2005.  And yes- they have one of Buddha’s teeth-in a stupa (Buddhist altar of sorts) that had almost 1000 lbs of gold –  along with a two story high golden statue of Buddha and over 10,000 tiny statues of Buddha.  The whole complex is 5 stories tall complete with a roof top garden and a prayer wheel on top.  On the 2nd story, they was a whole museum on the life of Siddhartha Gautama- a prince who abandoned his riches to find enlightenment and after 7 (or maybe it was 49 days) under a Bodhi tree- he found it- and became the next incarnation of the Buddha.  We also learned that the somewhat overweight Maitreya Buddha will be the next incarnation  – but he won’t be here for a while.

A quick stop in a Hindu temple, Sri Mariamman- that had a pagoda pyramid of gods- (and a lot of statues of cows) concluded our day! (Note when going to see temples- bring socks- many places make you take of your shoes)