Penang Road- Clemenceau Avenue

So, with this being one of those days where I had a lot of time to kill but not feeling up to window-shop at yet another Orchard Road shopping mall, I took myself (and Chonkycam) to the streets instead. 

It's been a while since I went on Clemenceau Avenue (slowly) and since I already was at Dhoby Gaut, I crossed the road towards the current UBS Building and headed from there. 

I didn't choose to go along Singapore Shopping Center though. 

I went on Penang Road instead. 

People may no longer remember this but the building that is now Ji Hotel once used to house the offices of the National Council of Social Service a long time ago. 

That is, until the offices moved over to Ghim Moh. 

It sounds a little strange to associate a hotel property with that of social services, but the Red Cross Building still stands at the back of Penang Road- and I don't think it's going away any time soon. 

A short flight of steps brought me to Clemenceau Road.

I continued on from there. 

Originally I'd hoped to go up the hill to Oxley Rise (and take a look at the GCB bungalow of the Meyers) but one look at the hill made me reconsider and so I stuck to the foot of the hill instead. 

The doors of the Church of the Sacred Heart were open. 

I could hear sounds of the evening mass going on inside- the priest's voice seemed to bounce off the walls of the sanctuary through to the doors to the passers-by outside. 

Further on from the church was this shop house with the words Tank Station right across the front. 

I don't know what it is. 

I also don't know what it used to be. 

But this road used to run along a now-gone railway, and the significance of this word must mean something. 

There're three distinctive structures along this road. 

(The fourth one- Chesed-El Synagogue- is up on the hill- the very hill I didn't want to climb)

I'd already passed by the church with her steeple.

I was now passing by the building with its green roof and distinctive Chinese architecture. 

At first glance it looked like a Chinese temple, but no, there was something different about it. 

Maybe the way the trees were arranged around the building. 

Maybe the colors. 

As it turned out, it really wasn't a building of religious order, but the Teochew Poit Ip Huay Kuan. 

I thought of going close for the picture, but people are cautious these days and I didn't want to talk to security. 

So on ahead I went, coming upon this time, a building of religious order. 

It wasn't easy taking a picture of this Hindu Temple.

Particularly since there were groups of worshippers and their families heading in, and out. 

Also, I didn't want to talk to anyone who might enquire, so I stood a respectful distance away, behind a tree, and took these. 

They're not the best pictures- you can't really see the stupa (is that what they call it?) but there's a glimpse of it through the trees. 

I didn't stay long there, of course, even though I did manage to see a worshipper smash a coconut (hard) in a designated place on the ground. 

I wish I knew why. 

But it didn't seem convenient to interrupt someone who had just walked out from prayers, so I moved on. 

I crossed River Valley Road, passing by the space of field that I think once used to be the Van Kleef Aquarium, towards UE Square. 

There's a bit of history to the space where they now stand. 

It wasn't always this structure that we see over here. 

Once upon a time it used to be the factories of United Engineers and of those who worked alongside them. 

Later they left. 

And the space became UE Square. 

I suppose it must have been quite an interesting sight back then. 

But there aren't many pictures. 

One just has to use imagination. 

But it is a little difficult when these days you have a view like this. 

Few of us from this generation can actually remember what this area used to be like before Robertson Quay got banged up with restaurants, Mediterranean-style buildings and chain hotels. 

But it is a view to be reckoned. 

Because not only do you get to look over to Clarke Quay and Boat Quay across the highway, walk a bit further up and you find yourself standing at a very interesting crossroads. 

There aren't that many places in Singapore have a mix of buildings like what we see at this traffic junction. 

It feels like it was planned. 

Yet it also feels like it was unplanned. 

On one side you have Holiday Inn Express (Clarke Quay), on the other side of what is actually Upper Cross Street, you have the flats of Chin Swee Estate, Sheng Siong supermarket, and the Manhattan House office building that's along Chin Swee Road. 

Opposite that is the estate of Jalan Kukoh, the Singapore Thong Chai Medical Institution Building, and The Seacare Hotel, all of which stand bordering the junction between Chin Swee Road and Havelock Road. 

I myself was at a crossroads. 

On one hand I thought I might walk down Havelock Road towards Copthorne King Hotel or maybe down Kim Seng Road to Great World City, but I'd already gone there before, so I crossed over to Chin Swee Road, and continued on from there instead. 

On The Roxy Bridge

I like to take random pictures once in a while.

It's a very charming activity to do. 

I used to do that a lot. 

Unintended, unplanned photography. 

I've yet to get the mojo completely back.

But I will, soon. 

Maybe because I know just how fast our cityscape can turn. 

We live in a country where one day this building might be here and suddenly another day the entire building's torn down. 

All because you didn't have the time nor purpose to go there every day. 

It's not even the buildings. 

Sometimes it's the tenants. 

Fortunately the tenants of East Coast Road haven't changed very much. 

At least I don't think so. 

Roxy Square has stood here since the 70s when the cinema was torn down to make way for this shopping center. 

Katong Shopping Center hasn't changed very much either. 

Of course you don't find them strata malls having the same tenants as those in, say Parkway Parade, PLQ or Bedok Mall. 

Roxy has a blend of beauty salons, hair dressing salons, a few pubs, and other stuff. 

Katong, on the other hand, has a mix of print shops, fashion retail, and a host of FDW agencies which dominate the tenant mix. But there's a popular food court in the basement known for its chicken rice. 

But whatever the tenant mix, they're still there. 

There didn't use to be an Indigo nor a Holiday Inn Express, of course. 

But they're here now- between East Coast Road and Marine Parade Road- with one side overlooking the sea, one side overlooking Joo Chiat and Paya Lebar, and the other looking towards Bedok and Changi. 

There's a supermarket along this road- Fairprice Finest- and a provision shop or two. 

What makes this place stand out, however, are the restaurants. 

They come and go, like others, but some make you feel a bit more regretful.

Like Heavenly Wang which used to be at the notable red building which, a long time ago used to (really) house a bakery.

Nevertheless, this is a stretch where you can get mookata, Korean BBQ, Western fare, tonkatsu, Nyonya kueh, brunch, laksa, Pad Thai, Thai Green Curry, Northern Indian and char kuay teow all at the same time. 

Not to mention- artisanal ice cream with amazing waffle cones whose fragrance waft through the air as you're waiting- in the queue outside. 

Working over Mobile

The IT Department said it was time to add on another piece of gear. 

So I was assigned this. 

Technically it's mine. 

Realistically it goes around the different roles who 'urgently need a tablet, thank you, thank you' until it comes back to me. 

Some days I have it all to myself.

Other times I don't see it for a day or two. 

It's a fairly functional piece of working gear.

With the exception that one needs adapting to Android instead of Office. 

It takes time. 

Like when documents get sent over in the email. 

Or when I want to edit a document that has come in through the mail. 

The built-in Office App tells me I have to subscribe. 

But the IT Department downloads for me Libre Office *use this!* instead. 

Which isn't much of an issue when reading documents.

But writing and editing is a wee bit of a chore. 

Because now I cannot simply open a New Document and start. 

I have to open a New Document, click the Pen button, Save it, Reopen it, Click the Pen button again, Save it (1) then click the Pen button again before I can edit.

It's a bit more of procedure. 

And an extra file in the Documents folder.

It fortunately isn't much of a hassle when it comes to sorting documents or sorting pictures. The system works very much like your phone and it gets easier once you get used to the screen size. 

One thing that puzzles me is how they expect users to post stuff on the Facebook app in portrait mode using the tablet. 

You can read stuff in landscape mode, no problem, but try writing 'what's on your mind' and you have to turn to portrait mode to get it done. 

But some of use keyboards. 

Someone got one for me off Shopee. 

A pastel green one with cover and Bluetooth keyboard. 

It works well. 

Particularly for typing and blogging, which, by the way, is one of the secondary tasks on the tablet.

I've grown more accustomed to working on the tablet digital-nomad style. 

I like how the screen's great, the battery lasts well, and the Bluetooth keyboard is smooth (too). 

In recent weeks I've added Spotify, edited pictures, sorted them, rearranged folders, and made the tablet more mine. 

I only wish I could force the custom font. 

That's one of the things that Android doesn't let you know. 

Yes, you can do it for some of the apps, but not all, and not for Chrome nor Samsung Internet either.

To be honest, it irritates me (a little bit)..

Because I do think this digital nomad thing and tablets are going to be synonymous sooner or later. 

It's just a matter of time. 

Just like how people switched from working at desktops and CPUs to laptops in cafes and co-working spaces, in the same way I feel that the general tech consumer will be switching to tablets more and more. 

Particularly since an increasing number of tasks are cloud-driven, and can now be done over applications, it serves as little surprise if users gradually switch from casual laptops to tablets. 

We're also no longer in an age where 10-inch or a 13-inch tablets are not of serious caliber.

(On the contrary, they are) 

I'd seriously love it if I could change the fonts on my Android Chrome to Kristen ITC and force custom it. :D

Or at least let me make it whatever system font I'm currently using. (Choco cooky, anyone?)

After all, fonts are like visuals of the Latin alphabet (and any other alphabet) and why should they not be in the shape and size that we like, when we're going to be looking at them (almost) all the time?  

Peck Seah-Tanjong Pagar

Remember a while ago I wrote about taking a walk at Far East Square, Telok Ayer Street, Amoy Street, and the little park next to the Amoy Street Food Center where the roosters were? 

What I didn't tell you then was that I went ahead across the road to Wallich Tower, Tras, Peck Seah Street and Tanjong Pagar. 

It's not a very far walk from the park. 

It's literally across the road. 

I guess that's what makes this area interesting. 

It's like a hexagon (I think). 

On one side you have the business district of Shenton Way and Anson Road, on the other side you have the shop houses of Amoy Street housing creative agencies, offices, cafes, pubs and restaurants, One cannot miss out the MND Building on Maxwell Road, and, on the Tanjong Pagar side now there is Maxwell Chambers, and the former Registry of Vehicles.

I crossed over from the traffic light towards Wallich Tower past the entrance of Sofitel City Center. 

There my friend sat at Starbucks, and I did a roam around the area.

I'm familiar with Wallich Street, Peck Seah Street and Tras Street in a sort of roundabout third-party way. 

It's not an area I'm very familiar with. 

But it's an area I've heard plenty of stories about. 

Of course the place has changed greatly now.

You won't find the block of walk-up apartments on Peck Seah Street anymore. 

Instead you find this. 

You also won't find the block of walk-up apartments on Wallich Street anymore. 

It's been replaced by this. 

Tanjong Pagar has become  a space that combines both the professional, the leisure, and the personal. 

And they're almost right next to each other.

Like how the International Plaza looks over to Wallich Tower on one side but looks over to the flats of Tanjong Pagar at the corner. 

This is a place where you can get Kagoshima Ramen and cupcakes in one building and beer-battered fish and chips in  one of the housing blocks opposite. 

This is also a place where you can alternate a Tuna Mayonnaise bun from the neighborhood bakery on one day and go for a Mentaiko French Bread from Japanese bakery Pullman Bakery on the next. 

The buildings here are impressive. 

No one remembers what this used to be, but it's today a hotel. 

And I don't know what this is, either.

This place is a comfortable juxtaposition between the heartland and the downtown. 

You might live in the flat, for instance, but you can most certainly go to Starbucks for a latte or a Frappuccino or cross the road to the hotel for delicious fare. 

In the same way a person dwelling in the Wallich apartments might decide to cross the road for a good plate of nasi lemak or a delish plate of freshly-fried char kuay teow. 

It's the heritage of this place that gives this place her charm.

I don't just mean the 100-year old Seng Wong Beo Temple.

There's also Maxwell Chambers which has preserved its exteriors as well as, I believe, its interiors. 

And there's also the former Red Dot Building which (I think) is not red anymore. 

I don't know if its still red, because on this particular evening I chose to walk only at the back, not the front.  

The back of the buildings seemed more interesting to me.

After all that was where driving instructors used to park their cars, and everyone who needed to practice parking, reverse parking or beginner rounds would do so in the car park behind. 

Kelongs out at Sea

This is an idyllic picture, is it not? 

I don't know where precisely this kelong is, but in Singapore waters for sure, that I certainly know.

Kelongs are described as offshore platforms built predominantly with wood oft found in the waters off Malaysia, Indonesia (and once Singapore). They're built without nails, instead using rattan to bind the tree trunks and planks of wood together. 

Primarily meant for the purposes of fishing and fish farming, kelongs have open spaces where nets dangle in the water keeping the captured fish live and fresh until it's sold, or cooked. Kelongs- whether in shallow water or deeper water- sometimes double up as dwelling for the fishermen, and their families. 

Most kelongs are isolated, but some are connected to land. 

It depends. 

In the original (uncropped) picture Miss Brown's family is seen coming down a wooden gangway. 

They are smiling. 

Her husband is in the picture. 

So is her son, who looks to be about eleven years old. 

A picture like this we don't get to see very much anymore. 

Not merely because of the years that have passed but because there aren't that many kelongs in our waters anymore. 

Wikipedia tells me that there're some still in the northeastern waters. 

I however haven't seen them, and even if there were, they wouldn't be so open to visitors casually dropping by their premises anymore.

It should surprise no one if they have become more reticent. 

After all, the offshore kelong community has shrunk. 

And (I think) we have far fewer local fishermen than we used to have.

You can say that the directives have changed.

Where once we had regular fish farms, ornamental fish farms, fishing vessels and kelongs, today much of what we have (I think) are ornamental fish farms, and regular fish farms. 

If there be a fishing fleet plying about our waters still, I don't know.

I also don't know if Four Fish Farm Road still exists. 

I hope it does. 

I had a friend who lived there.

We sat next to each other, two little girls just starting primary school. 

I don't know when it was that we exchanged addresses, but I haven't forgotten the moment she told me she lived on (what I thought super unusual) Four Fish Farm Road. 

Much later I discovered where that road was. 

During our fifth year in primary school there was a guppy craze. 

Everyone was buying little fish tanks, collecting guppies, exchanging guppies, adding guppies. 

She brought beautiful ornamental guppies to school- as gifts, and to sell. 

These are wonderful memories. 

And I think they're worth a story. 

Better yet if we can revisit them. 

Like a kelong that maybe kids and adults (who haven't been to one) can visit. 

After all, at one time, we could. 

Our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents also could. 

Bus Ride Sights: Geylang-Bendeemer

We were on Bus 21 this particular afternoon. 

Bus 21- if you must know- has a very interesting route. 

It's one of those routes that begin from the (extreme) northeast of Pasir Ris, comes down through Tampines, Bedok North and Eunos, before turning into Changi Road and Geylang Road afterwards. From Geylang it enters Kallang Industrial Estate and Upper Boon Keng Road via Geylang Lorong 1, after which it comes out onto Bendeemer and Jalan Besar before making a right into Kitchener Road, Serangoon Road and another left into Balestier Road at the junction of Lavender Road and Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital. Here it makes a gigantic round through Moulmein Road, Thomson Road and Balestier Road again before turning into Whampoa Drive and- finally- the bus terminal at Whampoa Road. 

We got up the bus in the vicinity of Eunos MRT. 

And we got down at Kitchener Road near Mustafa, Little India and Serangoon Road. 

The camera came out after the bus stop of City Plaza. 

Because I thought the sight of Guiliemard Road running along the banks of the Geylang River looked kind of beautiful. 

Bus 7 would have turned left onto Guillemard Road.

Bus 21 however goes straight.

Geylang Road has undoubtedly to be one of our most colorful districts on the island. 

I don't mean just the nightlife. 

Because even in the daytime, in the bright sunshine, the shophouses small and large hold shops of so many varying kinds that you never know what to expect as you make your way down. 

At one spot there might be a coffee shop. 

At another there might be a mobile handphone shop. 

There're shops selling bags and shoes and wallets and random clothing. 

There're shops selling daily necessities and household stuff.

To be honest I don't know for sure what the shops here at Geylang sell, but one thing I know is that Geylang's big on food, and some of the best delights have their roots here. 

I just wish I've had the time, and appetite to try more. 

To date I think I've had meals at maybe four coffee shops, and a dessert place or two.

One of the foods I like to go for when I come here is the Klang Bak Kut Teh. Sure, there are a couple of other places all around the island but it feels more authentic having it in a claypot at this coffee shop place along Lorong 11. 

The other thing that's good here is the dim sum. 

There're a few places, but the one that's cool here is on the other side of Geylang going up towards Eunos on the Sims Way side. 126 is notable for their scallop yam puffs, fish maw meat balls and their cheong funs. I can do their fried scallop yam puffs any day. 

There're a lot of roti prata and Indian Muslim food along this stretch heading down to Kallang, actually. The funny thing is that you don't really notice it- it just comes upon you- but I think there're at least three or four coffee shops offering roti prata, mee goreng, teh alia and sweet iced drinks at the counter. 

Of course, it's impossible to miss out on the range of mainland foods on this stretch. They're everywhere. One side will see the skewers and the BBQ. The other will see the Northeast cuisine taste that's familiar to some, acquired for others. I'm okay with skewers and the mala chicken and some of the dishes. I've yet to appreciate some of the colder ones. 

Perhaps what makes Geylang interesting is its variation of structure.

It is a place that can be shophouse, shophouse, shophouse, then suddenly,,, petrol station. 

The bus came upon one just when I was stoning off- but I got the picture.

So, yes, there is variety in scenery. 

Different architectural styles, different purposes, a myriad of colors. 

It charms one's eyes. 

Of course, there're no shortage of hotels here on Geylang Road. 

I don't know how many there are, but there're probably one for every two Lorongs. 

They aren't fancy, so don't expect five, or four-star. 

They're probably in the range of three. 

But they aren't all sleazy, however, even though some (admittedly) play the role, and some look the part. 

It's all very subjective, honestly. 

A hotel in Geylang doesn't necessarily mean it has to be for a sexy purpose.

It could simply mean that they haven't been upgraded, or haven't kept themselves well maintained, something. 

We don't know. 

If you ask me, some of the hotels look like the sort that- at one time- would have been suited for the visiting engineer, the traveling salesman or the cost-cutting representative from a family-run business here to expand trade opportunities in Singapore. 

There're some pretty interesting hotel properties here. 

This here be one. 

I've always wondered if Lai Ming Hotel was always a hotel. 

And if it wasn't, what then was it before? 

Nothing shows up on the website. 

Nothing shows up on Google.

But because this isn't a place where you can simply waltz in and ask, we'll have to take it as it is- and leave your answers to the air.

The bus made a right turn into Geylang Lorong 1 not long after. 

I took a picture.

But I didn't take that many pictures of the route after that. 

Except for the very calm view across the (Kallang? Geylang?) river towards Nicoll Highway.

And a couple of buildings in the industrial estate.

This stretch of Bendeemer I've done a couple of times before. 

So I decided Chonky should go home. 

But I took two more pictures. 

Because they, to me, always seem to define this particular stretch of Bendeemer Road.