So it happened to be one of those Saturdays where I was in Orchard, I knew I wanted to do something different rather than wandering around malls, but didn't know what I wanted to do.
At first I contemplated going to the library at Orchard Central, but then it seemed kind of far and I didn't feel like making the walk all the way down and all the way back up to Yotel again.
So since in Orchard besides the malls there's really little else other than the salon, the coffee joints, the cinema and the library (all of which I didn't want), I thought I'd go for a walk around the 'hood instead.
Orchard Road (on this end) technically borders on Scotts Road, Paterson Road, Tanglin Road and Holland Road, but there're also a couple of other roads that lead to other parts beyond this central zone.
Orange Grove Road, for instance, and Bideford, and Grange, and Claymore.
But I wasn't going to take these roads this afternoon.
I mean, I already knew where they led to, especially Bideford, Grange and Orange Grove.
So for a while I contemplated taking a walk along Orange Grove, but then I looked at Google Maps again and realized Draycott was just behind.
So I decided to walk over there.
It was one of those blistering blue sky hot days that make you question if you've made a right decision to be wandering about the streets of Singapore simply because you've got nothing else in the vicinity you want to do.
But Goodwood Park Hotel looked so pretty in her spot upon Goodwood Hill.
And Far East Plaza, with its distinctive 70s style design on Scotts Road from this angle- didn't look that bad too.
Draycott- and her connecting Ardmore- can be said to be one of those areas that are distinctly expatriate. It might be the presence of The American Club or the Tanglin Club that lie within the radius. It might also be the presence of the (historically) Goodwood Park Hotel that sits directly opposite them on Scotts Road.
Once at Ardmore I stopped for a while to take my bearings, then, after walking past a couple of high rise condominiums, found myself heading down the slope toward what I think was Stevens Road.
To my surprise, other than the condos, there wasn't much else, save maybe a couple of small little drains coming down the hill to the road.
This was an extremely quiet neighborhood.
It might have been a Saturday afternoon but there wasn't anyone coming out of their condos, there wasn't anyone walking out their dog, there weren't even domestic helpers out and about.
I was the only person there.
Enroute however I passed by what I think must have been the back of the former Raffles Girls' School. It's quiet now- the entire school has moved to Bishan- and there's not a pitter patter of sound within its compound, but I managed to see a building that previously from the main road I never had had the chance to see before.
You know how local schools have been said to belong to the era that they were constructed in?
Like how some schools have 60s design whilst others have 70s or 80s?
All along the Raffles Girls Secondary School that I knew looked like it was built around the 80s, 90s even, just like most of the schools built around that time.
What I didn't know was that they had a rather nostalgic looking structure at the back of the school, beyond the main road, and which you wouldn't see unless you were trundling along Ardmore or Draycott, which, if you ask me, how many of us would?
Looking at these pictures now, a strange thought occurs to me.
Perhaps Stevens Road, Scotts, Draycott and Ardmore hold more stories than we assume we know.
That afternoon I didn't stop to think much, however.
I simply carried on, going out onto Stevens Road, then making a left where I caught sight of Anderson Road.
I know Anderson Road.
I've traveled along it before.
But I'd never noticed the road from this direction before.
Rising beyond the canopy of lush green trees were the towers of Shangri La Hotel, yet standing here I felt strong old-road vibes.
It made me wonder what this place was like before all the condos and the hotels moved in.
Did it look more rustic than how it is now?
What were the houses like?
What sort of houses were they, and, more importantly, who was it that lived here?
There were so many questions I had.
Maybe because I didn't know this area very well.
All I knew was that it connected from somewhere near the PIE around the Raffles Town Club junction towards Scotts Road towards Orchard Road, Paterson Road, and beyond.
And that interlocking it were roads that led you through to Bukit Timah Road, Dunearn Road, Chancery Lane and Novena.
I had a choice that afternoon.
I could either keep walking down Stevens Road until I got to the end of it.
Or I could try one of the interlocking roads that would lead me to the other side.
I chose the latter.
After all opposite Anderson Road was Balmoral Road, and I'd not walked along that particular stretch for a very long time.
How long, you ask?
Let's just say that it has been more than twenty years since I last walked the entire stretch from Barker Road to Orchard Road via Cluny Road.
And that VIP Hotel- this exclusive, uber quiet hotel with dark green carpeting and the deepest pool ever- was there the last time I came.
It wasn't just the VIP Hotel that was still here back at that time.
There was still the Tudor-looking hotel- which I've since forgotten its name.
Both hotels are gone today.
The Tudor-looking one (I never got to visit it) has been demolished.
The VIP Hotel is still there however.
But the glass doors are sealed, the whole place looks abandoned, and a sign on the door says they're closed till further notice.
Seeing how things are, I'm not sure if it will ever reopen again.
Especially when there's (still) the YMCA Metropolitan (they made it through COVID), and the newly built Mercure Stevens a mere stone throw's distance down the road.
It's not all cold and concrete though.
There's now a lovely pedestrian path shaded at parts here and there with small hanging trees- very rustic- and even black and white houses here behind their fences.