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.