There was a time, couple of months ago, when the brain wasn't braining, and so because the focus was completely out of whack, I decided- on a whim- that instead of sitting here at the laptop trying to figure out words, and getting very restless at it, might as well take a gander around the area and see what Chonkycam might be able to take.
Now it so happened that I was at Odeon Towers.
At the Hans.
So up the escalator from the basement I went.
One thing about this area is that there is quite a bit to see.
One spot alone grants you views that, whilst seemingly in sharp contrast side by side, actually do blend so well together that you don't realize just how different they are until you look at these pictures, and then start to wonder.
To be honest I wasn't sure how they would turn out.
But here they are.
And interesting they are too.
Directly opposite me was the Jubilee Hall of Raffles Hotel, and the street of Seah Street right next to it. Jubilee Hall might not be known to the most of us, but it is one of those places that holds a stage, theater seating, and is suitable for performances of most (family-friendly) kinds.
Seah Street, of course, is known for the row of shop houses where one features restaurants and coffee places, and the MINT Museum of Toys. There are also, if I'm not wrong, a couple of clan associations here up on the second floors of various shop houses, but which they are, I don't quite know, and can't quite tell.
It is pretty much a heritage street, actually, and would bear plenty of insights if one were to dwell over it.
To the right, westwards, there was, of course, the whole stretch that makes up the North Bridge Road side of Raffles Hotel, and then, further down, that of Fairmont Hotel and Swissotel.
To my left, eastwards, there was the Jun Xin Building- one of those properties that serve as office and retail, and which you don't tend to pay much attention to until you need to go there. Most of the time one pays attention to the cafe below (Rockymaster?) more than the name of the actual building itself.
If there was the view this side of the road, there were also views of the buildings behind.
On one side there was the Shaw Tower, now currently under construction- you can see the cranes.
On the other side, directly behind Raffles Hotel, were the glassy facades of South Beach, once an NCO Club, now offices, retail, and JW Marriott.
It doesn't seem much, perhaps, but there are all these trees.
And a difference they really do make.
On a whim I decided to go up one of the housing blocks nearby, not for any other reason other than to get an aerial view of my surroundings, which I would not have been able to get elsewhere.
So into the lift, and up to the second highest floor I went.
This was the view.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine just how the view of a public housing block looks if you don't see it for yourself.
I mean, one can guess, yes, but it is a different feeling altogether when you get up there to the corridor and see this expanse of view right in front of you.
Long-term residents of this place probably saw the Esplanade be built, the Marina Bay Sands be built, and the South Beach be renovated. Where once the view of them blue waters was closer to them, now they'd be further, blocked here and there by the structures of the country's development.
There'd be some structures familiar- those of Raffles City, Odeon Tower, the Adelphi, the financial towers, and Raffles Hotel down below.
But there'd also be the sense that things can, and might, perhaps one day, change.
One never knows for sure.
Still not all change is bad.
It enhances the view; a little less nostalgic, a little more contemporary.
I went back down after a while- not so good to hang outside people's corridors for too long- and went towards Funan where my friend was already there waiting for me so we could have dinner together.
Again, one gets a rich sense of history, and nostalgia- maybe- coming here.
You first walk down North Bridge Road, cross this little street called Carver Street, then past Carlton Hotel. Past Chijmes you then walk, which, today, because I was walking on the outside, decided that a blank wall was not much of a story to have, so only when coming towards Stamford Road did I take a picture- with lovely architectural building and beautifully landscaped tree.
It hadn't occurred to me that you could actually see the logo of Perennial above the Capitol Kempinski Hotel.
Neither had it occurred to me just how charming such buildings looked with their leaves and trees out front.
It didn't matter if it were the 70-storey hotel of Swissotel, once Westin, the stretch of Capitol (on Stamford Road itself) or St. Andrew's Cathedral, its steeple peeking through the leaves of the big Angsana tree right in front.