Bus Ride Sights: Upper Serangoon Road

This is a route I used to take. 

But back then I didn't have a camera. 

And even if I had one, it wasn't in vogue to take pictures of one's daily commute. 

Of course, everything's better now; no one really bats an eyelid if you whip out a camera or a phone to snap your surroundings- be it the bus or the train. 

My route this afternoon started somewhere near the Serangonn Central Bus Interchange. 

Those familiar with the area will know of the estate opposite NEX shopping mall commonly called Lorong Lew Lian. 

Further up from the estate along Upper Serangoon Road towards town is a row of single-story shop houses, then a kindergarten, then the Braddell Road-Bartley Road junction. 

After this junction comes what used to be the Bidadari cemetery but is now the new Bidadari housing estate. 

The camera came out around here. 

I wanted to take pictures of the estate. 

But, being the slow coach that I am, all I managed to get of the new housing estate was a non-descript road junction, the shelter of the bus stop outside the estate, and a block or two. 

I was more successful with the area formerly known as Sennett Estate (right opposite Potong Pasir). 

Here, instead of the terrace houses that once used to be, there were condominiums. One situated itself right next to the (unyielding) (not demolished) mosque. The other situated itself right near the junction that used to have a Kopitiam and which connects Upper Serangoon Road to MacPherson Road and Kallang Bahru. 

I took a picture of the junction. 

Somehow I felt it important. 

Which, when you think about it, it really is. 

Because not only does it lead you to both MacPherson Road and the PIE, this area is in fact a roundabout that connects the areas of MacPherson, Kallang Bahru, Bendeemer, Upper Serangoon Road and Jalan Toa Payoh together. 

You don't feel it so much when your bus is trundling down the road, but if you look at the map you'll realize that- as much as the PIE cuts right across- it is from this spot that you can connect to (almost) the other parts of the island.

Let's start with MacPherson Road from which you will head towards Upper Paya Lebar, Tai Seng, Ubi and Bedok North. 

Slightly further down is the estate of Kallang Bahru, Geylang Bahru, and the Kallang River all the way to the National Stadium and the sea. 

If you take the route like I did on this afternoon, you will enter the areas of Bendeemer, Jalan Besar, Rochor, Fort Canning, Orchard and downtown. 

But if you go ahead and make a U turn to the other side of the roundabout, you'll get to Jalan Toa Payoh which then leads you to the edge of Toa Payoh Estate, the Balestier area, followed by Whitley Road, Bukit Timah Road, and finally Woodlands Road, Bukit Batok and Choa Chu Kang.

This be quite a significant spot, I should say.

My bus today led me down towards Bendeemer, past the Lai Wah Restaurant, the Micron (formerly Texas Instruments) Buiding, then the vehicle repair shops near the junction of Lavender Street. 

In front of the Lavender Street junction was Jalan Besar, beginning with Kam Leng Hotel on the right, Hoa Nam Building on the left, then the range of shop houses right after with their pubs, their cafes and their unique specialties. 

I can't tell what sort of businesses they are- they're very much random- and some of the shop houses seemed to be closed- but a good number seem to revolve around bathroom fittings and lighting fixtures. 

Bathroom fittings are the quintessential feature of Jalan Besar, by the way. 

This is the place to come to when you're wanting a new tub in your bathroom, a new toilet bowl, or maybe a sink. This is also the place to come to when you need to replace a broken toilet seat cover. The spare parts are all here.

How it started, I don't know. 

Maybe it has something to do with the (heritage) of night soil carriers on Lavender Street. 

Maybe it has something to do with the Jalan Besar area catering to traveling businessmen in the 50s until the 70s. 

One doesn't really know for sure.

We don't quite bother too much either. 

It's good enough that we know where to go to when we want to fix the bathroom.

I got to Rochor after Jalan Besar. 

Here I got a picture of Sim Lim Tower. 

Like Sim Lim Square and OG Building on the opposite sides of the road, she's one of the first buildings that comes to mind when you think of Rochor area, and Rochor Road. 

At one time we might have thought of the housing blocks across the road from Sim Lim Tower, but they're now gone, and we're left with these buildings, the river and the Queen Street Bus Terminal right behind.

We don't think of Rochor as anything more, anything less.

But this area is also a crossroads, where from one direction you can come from one end of Upper Serangoon Road, or Bedok North, or Toa Payoh, to the foot of Fort Canning Hill behind YMCA, and from the other direction, you can be connected from Bugis, Beach Road, Kampong Glam and Arab Street all the way to Bukit Timah Road, Woodlands Road, and even old Jurong Road via Kampong Java and Keng Lee Road. 

Christmas Meals 2021

We ate quite a bit when it came to the close of last year. 

Don't ask me why. 

It just happened. 

Maybe close of year is the time that you really start (wanting) to feast- and you really do. 

There have been years where we do a big buffet of sorts at hotels (because I like gingerbread houses and gingerbread cookies and all the Christmasy type of cakes) but there also have been years where we be precise with our appetites, and head straight for what we want. 

The close of 2021 happened to be a precise one. 

One of the first Christmas meals we had was at Donergy Turkish Kebab in Millennia Walk. 

It might not seem like a very unusual meal nor a very festive one- we frequent this place quite a bit- but there was a little Christmas tree in the premises and we had a much fuller meal than we usually did. 

One of the delights we had that evening was the lentil soup. 

It might be that we hadn't had the soup for some time, but the lovely rich soup (with its texture of chickpea) made for a warm, comforting accompaniment to our plate of chicken kebab, babaganoush, pita bread, salad, extra serving of beef, and long-awaited basket of fries. 

Another Christmas meal we had was at Itacho Sushi. 

We wanted to try their Christmas menu.

It would have been nice if we'd gotten to try everything, but the one that we did- a heap of Hana Maki arranged in the shape of a Christmas tree decorated with tamago presents and tamago cutout stars on the side-  had been made with a lot of heart- and we loved it. 

It was very difficult to eat up the star. 

On Christmas Eve, or was it the day before Christmas Eve, we headed to Shake Shack for their (Christmas) burger. 

Technically it wasn't a Christmas-Christmas kind of burger- there were no sprigs of fir nor were there any sort of decor on it- but my companion wanted to try the truffle, so here we were.

It wasn't too bad. 

In typical Shake Shack style, the beef patties were huge, the cheese was melted just right, and there were enough lettuce, but today's burger had a glorious heap of fried onions with a bit of truffle. 

Those onions- small as they were- made all the difference. 

I should know; when the burger arrived we opened it up, and decided to eat all the onions first.  

Same thing we did for the fries. 

Except that we alternated between the fries, the fried onions and the truffle mayo, so it was all good. 

It wasn't all dining out at Christmas time. 

There was a day where the stove got fired up and we had a meal of pan-fried scallops (yes, the frozen kind) in garlic butter served alongside with buttered rice. 

There was a day where we bought wagyu beef patties  and shallow-fried them with a slice of cheese each and big Portobello mushrooms.

And there was a day we suddenly decided we missed this ham and egg toast done Taiwanese style from Fong Sheng Hao- and had it Grabbed in. 

Salmons at Genki Sushi

A friend told me Genki Sushi had switched up their menu. 

So we went. 

I was given a choice- Plaza Singapura, Bugis Plus, Chinatown Point or Suntec City.

I decided on Suntec City. 

It was cool.

Genki Sushi has been around on our shores for some time now. Popular with families, families with young children, children, and adults who remain children at heart, their menu appeals to both the young and old. 

Maybe that's why they've done quite a rapid expansion in the last couple of years. 

A couple of years ago I would not have imagined seeing a Genki Sushi in Chinatown. 

But it's been at least four years since they've had an outlet there, and they're now at the basement. 

The outlet at Suntec City sits on the second floor somewhere between the escalators near indoor playground Superpark, and the escalators near to Watsons on the other side. 

There was a queue (of reasonable length) when we reached there. 

I didn't mind. 

We didn't have too long a wait either. 

Our seats this evening were side by side, quite near to the kitchen. 

I thought it a good thing. 

Being seated near to the kitchen meant that we could alternate between looking at the menu and watching the orders of other diners trundle past us on the chain's signature choo-choo train. 

That's one thing I like about Genki Sushi.

They know what works for them. 

And- Covid or no Covid- lockdown or no lockdown- they hold on to it. 

I'm talking about the train- the choo-choo train that delivers your food from the kitchen right to where you are. 

It's quite fascinating, really, to see the train- laden with your food- come to an automated stop right in front of you. 

And then it seems to know that you've removed your bowls and plates, because almost immediately after you've taken everything off, it reverses direction and returns to the kitchen.

Is it no wonder that it appeals to just about anyone? 

Our dinner tonight leaned heavily towards the salmons. 

Three variations of the fish we had. 

Salmon belly sushi, salmon sushi lightly seared with a little blob of (either) mentaiko or mayo, and a sushi of salmon and tuna paired with avocado and fish roe. 

We also had one with something like tempura prawn. 

I liked this one. 

The prawn was fresh, meaty, juicy and crunchy all at the same time. It was so good I ate it separately from the sushi rice.

All in all, it was a very pleasant, very fun, very lively dinner. 

I could actually have had more. 

But we had to go. 

I guess the signature sushi I wanted to try shall have to wait for the next time. 

Breakfasts of 2021

The year is drawing to a close. 

(Actually, at time of writing, the year has already drawn to a close, but the difference is but a day, so no matter)

I thought I would write a little about the breakfasts I have had during the year. 

Because for some strange reason I seem to have taken many pictures of them.

Eggs; there have been a lot of eggs. 

Breads; there seem to be a lot of them too. 

Each plate has a story- and I suppose I could write about them one by one- but that would be too much- and I think it better to let the pictures speak for themselves. 

All I'll say is that they're very meaningful- each and every one of them.

And I'm thankful for all the mornings they have brightened, the days they have energized, and the memories they have created. :)