Singapore
If you are travelling to the Lion City, look out for Jamboree Diwali 2016 at Holiday Inn, a festival of food, music and dance. Every Diwali, Serangoon Street is lit with lanterns and fairy lights. However, for a completely desi experience, try and catch the specially decorated Diwali train to Little India, with its dazzling street decorations and fireworks. At the Festival Village on Hastings Road and Campbell Lane, a huge array of stalls sell traditional savouries and ethnic wear. Don’t forget to drop into one of the three south Indian temples along Serangoon Road.
For a Diwali meal, head to Yantra, which serves a blend of Indian regional cuisines.
At Raffles Hotel’s Tiffin Room (pictured), you can tuck into a special Diwali thali that includes most north Indian festive delicacies including the delicious jaggery-infused rice.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to Singapore: Fly Economy Class from Dh1,800, with three-night holidays from Dh2,799
Jakarta, Indonesia
India Club Jakarta (right) is where Indians in Indonesia’s beautiful capital often meet to hang out, bond and exchange stories about home. India Club also hosts a gigantic Diwali bash, complete with fireworks, a veritable feast with dishes from both northern and southern India, live music and a dance floor. The Indian embassy also hosts an exuberant Diwali bash, which is open to Indians living in Jakarta and people of Indian origin travelling to the Indonesian capital on holiday. Kathak performances, lamp-lighting ceremonies, Indian festive meals and beautiful dances raise the entertainment quotient a notch further.
The Signatures restaurant at Hotel Indonesia Kempinski hosts a special Diwali dinner with a range of cuisines from northern tandoori to southern biryani dishes. Among other Indian restaurants with a special Diwali menu are Samy’s Curry at Kunigan City, and Kinara at Kemang Raya No. 78-B.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to Jakarta: Fly Economy Class from Dh1,990
Australia
The largest celebration of the Festival of Lights is the Diwali Mela, a street bash at Parramatta Park in Sydney, organised by the Hindu Council of Australia. There’s a spectacular display of fireworks and stalls with ethnic clothing, crockery, gifts, and savouries and sweets. An unusual celebration is held at the Sydney Harbour Bridge: a small band of revellers are taken to the top of the coat-hanger to celebrate with fireworks and sweets. Sydney’s Opera House is bathed in gold on Diwali night.
Diwali at Melbourne’s Federation Square is one of the biggest Indian melas: a mash-up of fashion parades, live music and food stalls.
★ Book with Etihad Airways to Sydney: Fly Economy Class from Dh5,450, with five-night holidays from Dh7,299
