Hall-Reppens in Singapore: A Fun Day of Shopping and Eating at Tiong Bahru Market

Michelle Tan met me at Tiong Bahru Market, as I was finishing my shopping there on Friday. She helped me select some plants for our apartment, and formally introduced me to her "uncle", the pork seller. Luckily, she had given me a good description of his stall on my second visit to the market, and he has been taking good care of me since that time! He always give me good cuts, and slices the pork in the best way for grilling. She also showed me the right prawn seller, and showed me a good fish seller, who slices the best fish for when you're feeling peckish.

We then went to the prepared food stalls. Michelle had had a hankering for porridge, but the porridge stall was closed until Sunday. She was going to get us shrimp wantons, but that stall was also closed. She ended up getting us traditional Prawn Mee, which was WAY better than the Prawn Mee that I had prepared! While she was getting the food, I went to get us beverages. Michelle's one vice is Coca-Cola, so I got her a can. I ordered a lemon tea for myself. While I was at the counter, a man came and ordered a green beverage. I asked him what it was, and he told me it was sugar cane juice, and it was quite nice. I ordered one to try it. They took five stalks of sugar cane, that were about 1 1/2 to 2 feet long. They then ran them through wringers, similar to the wringers that used to be on washing machines (for those of you old enough to remember them!). They ran them through several times, flipped them over, and did it again. When they were finished, they dumped it through a strainer, and served a glassful over ice. It was tasty, but not as tasty to me as the lemon tea that he made. My next stop was the bakery, next to our porridge stall. I know that Michelle's boys like the long bread fritters, so I got enough for us to have for lunch, and some for her to take home to her family. She told me that the literal translation of their name means "Beggar Man's Bones". They do have the size and shape of bones!

While we were eating, she told me that her mother-in-law had gone to Malaysia. The Qingming Festival had started on Thursday. At that time, people go to their ancestor's graves, to visit their deceased relatives. She suddenly realized that was why so many of the stalls were closed. When I told Rich about it, he said, "Yep. It's grave sweeping time!" I saw an article in Saturday's paper, showing the costs of paper replicas that you burn for the dead. I had been seeing all of these paper items at the market, but I didn't understand them. There were paper shoes, shirts, pajamas, robes, bicycles, cars, etc. When I asked Michelle, and her husband, Ben Lim, what they were for, they explained that you buy replicas of things that people would need in the afterlife, and you burn them. Besides the things I mentioned, there are tvs, iPads, mobile phones, etc. One seller said, "If you're getting a phone, you must make sure to get a charger!" The buyer responded, "Well, make sure to put your business card in the wallet that I bought, so that if this doesn't work, my dead relative will know to whom to bring his complaints!" I know that Michelle had mentioned that it is very hard to get a burial spot in Singapore, as the land is at such a premium. The majority of people who die now are cremated. I don't know how the whole "grave sweeping" and "burning things for the afterlife" works for a person who's been cremated. Questions for another day...