I really like Singapore. It's a small, financially stable country that sits just north of equator on the south tip of Malaysia. When traveling in that part of the world, it's usually that I'm on my way into India. Singapore serves as a very good place to spend the night after a very long series of flights from Seattle through Tokyo.

I usually wake up late in the morning, have some breakfast, and think of a place or two to visit while I wait for the next flight into Bangalore. These images were taken at the Sri Krishnan and Goddess of Mercy Temples found on Waterloo Street. The day I visited this time was on a Friday when many people are at work. The crowds consisted mostly of locals away during lunch and tourists.

From outside the Sri Krishnan Temple one could hear a conch shell being blown and a saxiphone playing some riff or another. One Indian gentlemen said that this was the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore. I did not visit the interior of the temple due to the fact that I was carrying a camera. But I took my time and worked on taking both color and B&W images for about an hour in just this one plaza.

Next door to the Sri Krishnan Temple sits the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yen Temple. The exterior tile work is quite colorful and is very artfully done. The documentation on-site shows photographs of the temple from over 100 years back. Over time the temple complex has been added to and expanded.

I spoke with a guard for a short time. He indicated that I could not take photos inside the temple complex. This I expected. So I asked him if I could step inside, not take any photos, and just see the Goddess. He said OK and I walked into the building. It is large and quite beautiful. Bas relief images of the various forms of Kuan Yen are nicely rendered around the inside of the exterior wall. The main image of the goddess is protected inside behind what looked to be plexiglass.

On my next trip I would like to visit the Kali Amman Temple. It is located in the "Little India" section of Singapore. As always when on these kinds of business trips I will take my trusty Mamiya 7 camera with a single lens, the 80mm L. And just like I took this time, a very small light Sunpak tripod will be used to steady the camera. After all those hours in the air I tend to be a little shakey on the shutter.