Little India

I took a nice walking tour through the Little India sectino of town today. It was designed to take you to the major sights in the area, and it was a nice day to be out and about. There were a ton of shops, selling fresh fruit, trinkets, clothes, food... you name it. I am surprised so many shops selling the same things can survive in such a confined space.

The first major stop was the Abdul Gaffoor Mosque, which is about 100 years old, and which is described as "an architechtural explosion of styles -- Southern Indian and Moorish". I remembered to wear jeans today, so I was at least able to get into the mosque and look around today.

The mosque's visiting hours were not for a little while, so I stopped in for lunch at one

of the local street-front restaurants. I ordered the Chicken Biryani set, which is several rice-b

ased dishes with spices. According to Wikipedia, "The spices and condiments used in biryani may include but are not limited to: ghee, peas, beans, cumin,cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves

, coriander and mint leaves, ginger, onions, and garlic." They also say that the premium versions

include saffron, but I am pretty sure that this place was not serving "premium" anything. The food was

really good, though, and I enjoyed just sitting and watching the people go by as I ate.

From there, I walked on to the Church of the True Light, which is a more recent construction, and apparently very charismatic. The church and mosque are not quite right across the street from each other, but they are no more than a 1-2 minute walk, and they seem to co-exist peacefully.

From there, I strolled up to Dickson Street, and then up to the Sri Veeramakaliamman Hindu Temple. Also of recent construction, it is nonetheless a pretty impressive design.

I did pick up one very important thing while I was in Little India -- a package of Oreos. Mmmmmmmm...