Would you find it hard to believe if I told you that this entire set of pictures was taken right after Chinese New Year, sometime around March, in the first quarter of the year?
That although I had hoped to start writing about this bus ride as soon as I could, other trips, other meals and other stuff swung by, and I couldn't get to them on time.
What's interesting though is that I still have a clear recollection of this bus ride as if I'd only taken it last week or the week before.
And even though I might not remember the exact route very well- it is a long one- the landmarks are as clear as day, and fascinating they are too.
Bus 93 has one of the longest routes this side of Jalan Eunos.
You could count 966 and maybe 61 and 63 as well but I've not taken the last two buses yet (I really should) and the other super long route that I know is 51 on the opposite side of the road.
93 takes a sort of old-road kind of journey that begins from Eunos Bus Interchange, goes onto Jalan Eunos, Eunos Link, and then Airport Road. My bus stop begins from Blk 17, and so along the way I get to see a couple of HDB blocks, the junction into Ubi Avenue-something, a couple of car dealerships and then the Comfort Driving Center where you turn circuits as part of your practice session and where you go (I suppose) for your driving test.
On Airport Road, the bus passes by the Comfort Test Center, an SCDF HQ, and then it's onto Upper Paya Lebar Road.
I don't really know just what the names of the buildings on this road the bus passes by, but let's just say that they're industrial-use, and that there's Asiawide Industrial Building amongst them.
It's easy to recognize the Tai Seng area that's along this road.
For me, at least.
I just need to see the factories and industrial buildings that line on either side.
Bartley Road is a little more difficult to recognize.
I don't know it very well, save maybe for the entrance of Maris Stella High School, and which, in a couple of years time, may or may not be there as the road undergoes extensive renovation.
But still there're all these blocks from the still-new Bidadari Housing Estate and I don't think they're heading off anywhere.
From this road the bus headed straight on passing the junction of Upper Serangoon Road into Braddell Road.
I've always been fascinated by this road.
Not so much for it being what it is, but because it's sort of a connector between the East side and the Central side, exactly like what Bus 93 is now.
Sometimes it's hard to imagine a place like Upper Paya Lebar Road or Tai Seng being so close to Toa Payoh and beyond but that's where Braddell Road comes in, and she stretches all the way from the Bartley Road end to the Thomson Road end, which is, really, the MacRitchie Reservoir.
No small road is she.
Maybe that be why there used to be a reservoir or waterworks or something.
And maybe they be there because of the canal that runs perpendicular to Braddell Road after the junction of the Central Expressway.
It's a bit of a pity that I wasn't able to take more pictures this side of the road but I did get that of the PUB, and some recreational grounds that I think belong to that of the club there.
The blocks of Toa Payoh Lorong 8 came right after the building of ComfortDelgro Corp Ltd, then further on there was the SPH Building, then a couple of flatted factory buildings and then there was Braddell Heights, or as it is known now, Braddell View.
The bus continued on for a little bit onto Thomson Road, Lornie Road, and then Lornie Highway.
This is a stretch with just one bus stop, a lot of pretty houses, a lot of trees and a turn into the Pan Island Expressway.
Adam Road comes right after- a rather short stretch of which I was not able to take any good pictures- and then onto Farrer Road.
Farrer Road is again another interesting road this side of town.
Like Braddell Road it gives me strong connector vibes, but where Braddell connects the East to Central, Farrer Road links the Central to where one might call the Southwest Central side.
It's not immediate, of course, and there are a couple of intersections, but it is the road you take when you're coming from say, Marymount or Thomson or Toa Payoh towards Queensway, Commonwealth and Queenstown.
You don't think much about it when you're looking at a map, but come onto Bus 93 and the route becomes somewhat obvious.
Maybe that be why there is a housing estate on this stretch and maybe that be why there is a school there and condominiums.
From Farrer Road, the bus heads into Queensway, and this is where the view gets a little bit more interesting.
Right from the junction where the road cuts via Holland Road, the bus passes by Holland Hill Lodge, and opposite Blk 95. There's an Esso station somewhere along here, Queensway Secondary School, Queenstown Polyclinic, and then the blocks near Mei Chin Road.
They're not hard to recognize- these housing blocks- and different it hits when you see them behind the canopies of these beautiful old trees.
These blocks have witnessed times, I tell you, and sometimes I wonder how it were like for those living here to be this close to the Alexandra Hospital, the former railway track, Tanglin Halt and even Stirling Road.
It's still a significant neighborhood, this place, and long, I believe, will she stay that way.
After this the bus turns into Alexandra Road and although the bus stops are distinguished by landmarks like Queensway Shopping Center and Alexandra Point, the bus actually passes by the blocks of a housing estate oft referred to as the Alexandra Village Hawker Center that side.
Alexandra Retail Center is a distance further down from the Village Hawker Center, by the way, you'd have to pass the junction of Depot Road, the former Gillman Heights condominium, and the somewhat steep-looking slopes of Telok Blangah Hill Park before you get to it, but from there, the bus makes a left, and onto Telok Blangah Road it goes where it trundles along all the way until it reaches Harborfront Interchange on Seah Im Road.
Is there much to be seen on Telok Blangah Road?
Well, yes, and no.
For one thing, there're a lot of trees.
Well, there are a good number of housing blocks and careful horticulture planted here and there, but it seems to me that there are more old trees than there are new ones.
And delightful they are too, for Seah Im's not that far away, and what would it be if there were no trees nearing Mount Faber?
