Okay so I can't be sure just when it was that I took all these pictures but very likely it were in the months of either October, or November last year.
It might have been that we had just come from Marina Square, or Suntec City, or had just had a meal at one of the restaurants over there.
These pictures aren't very much a big deal, but it was one of those days where I had brought out Chonkycam and it felt incredibly stupid to not take pictures when the atmosphere was good, the light was good and there was enough to be seen.
Also, I believe in the moments.
So here we are.
The very first picture I took from the bridge at the Suntec City side. Here is the multi-storey car park on the left, and the tower of South Beach on the right. I've never quite gotten used to seeing this tower, maybe because I haven't quite entered it before, but it is a glam-looking, business-type one with a hotel- the JW Marriott- offices (maybe) and residences (maybe, as well)
Directly on the opposite side of the bridge on Nicoll Highway looking east, there was Midtown Modern (by Guocoland), another Midtown (of which I have forgotten its full name), Gateway Building (where the light glows) and, right at the back, Plaza Beach Road- whose units I will keep in memory for some time to come.
Of course there are the towers of Suntec City which cannot be mistaken.
And then, halfway along the bridge, next to one of the Guocos, there was the still unfinished glass facade of the new Shaw Tower.
I'd like to know how it will look like some day.
And maybe who the tenants are.
Off the bridge we then went, cutting through the open-air section of the office area South Beach, and then towards the junction of Beach Road and Middle Road.
This is the part where the architecture becomes interesting.
You still get the skyscrapers and the glass facades, yes, but there're also buildings of heritage.
Right on Beach Road here near the junction of Middle Road is what I call the Hainan Building. That's not the proper name, I know, but that's how I tend to think of it. It's one of the few buildings this side of Beach Road that has Chinese characters printed so clear you can see it from far away.
I love the moon-shaped entrance, and the Chinese-styled roof with the modernity of glass in between.
What's cool these days is that they've started their own F&B, and so where once the doors tended to be shut most of the time, now they're open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can't remember their full menu but definitely there's some sort of a Hainanese curry rice, there're small bites, a bit of a pork chop dish, toasts, and variations of tea and coffee drinks both hot and cold.
For some reason on this particular evening I decided to look back towards Nicoll Highway and Suntec City.
Interestingly the view did not disappoint. I had thought I'd see the towers of Suntec City, instead I got the side view of South Beach, the new Shaw Tower, one of Suntec's Towers after, and the towers of Millennia right at the back.
So seldom did I turn back towards this direction that it took me a bit of hard staring at the picture before I recognized what I was looking at.
Of course, onwards was a view I recognized better.
There was the new condominium of Midtown (something) and further on, across North Bridge Road, the hotel of Intercontinental, which, as had been announced, in a few months time, would leave said property for a logo of Marriott's brand to come take over.
Perhaps it is for this reason that I decided to take this picture.
Things change, in this country, if not today then tomorrow, and one never knows just how long a building will stand, or how long even, a logo on a building will last.
Thankfully though some things take longer to leave.
If they do leave at all.
Like this housing block of flats that boasts an excellent view of the City Hall-Marina Square Downtown Core, Raffles Hotel, the MBFC area, and which, from the ground this side of Middle Road, looks towering tall next to the National Library, bathed in this evening's particular light.