If there is one thing that I haven't been doing a lot of this year thus far, it is that I haven't been able to take out Chonkycam as much as I wish to.
Not that I haven't been around, or that I haven't done anything, but I haven't been able to go about and around as much as I wish to, and so whilst most of my pictures are in my phone (Thank God) there haven't been that many on Chonkycam.
It was for this reason that I decided I wanted to take her out this particular morning.
We were going to the Tin Yeang Coffee Shop at the junction of Joo Chiat Road and Dunman Road for a prata breakfast, and so I decided it good to bring her along with me.
There aren't a lot of pictures, however.
I mean, Ceylon Road isn't very long.
There also isn't much to see.
But the camera came out on the bridge between Roxy Square and the shop houses on the opposite side of East Coast Road.
Form where I was, I could see the works of Singapore's Public Utilities Board.
I could see the beautifully painted shop houses on the other side of the road, and a short distance away, the residential tower of what used to be Odeon but is now most known for being Cornerstone Community Church.
The other side of the bridge saw more colorful shop houses. There was the distinctive red of the Red House bakery, then what I think is Bombay Garden, Stirling Steaks and Kim Choo Kueh Chang.
On the other side of the bridge, just above where ice cream parlor Birds of Paradise is, I turned back, and got myself a picture of East Gate, The Gym, and even a little bit of the Village Katong Hotel next to it.
A short walk below the bridge led to the East Coast entrance of Ceylon Road itself.
I don't have the full information of what Ceylon Road is, but it is a long road that stretches all the way down past Marshall Lane, Pennefeather Road, and Ceylon Lane until it finally ends at Crane Road.
I am a little familiar with Ceylon Road on the other side.
This side, not so much.
Maybe because I haven't really paid much attention to the landmarks that are here, save for these two religious institutions that look like they have been there a long time.
The first thing about Ceylon Road that catches your eye has to be the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar Temple. If you can't see the temple when at the main road, the gopuram, or monumental entrance tower, will surely catch your eye.
This temple, by the way, is one of the oldest Hindu temples in Singapore. Her origins trace back to the 1850s, and from what I gather, she hasn't moved from her site since then. There have been constructions, and re-constructions, of course, and today, besides the temple, there are also classrooms, halls, kitchens, a library, and a wedding hall.
On the opposite side of the temple are a few shop houses, including the well-known 328 Katong Laksa, and the Padma Vegetarian Restaurant.
But the unit that used to house a vintage-looking hair salon is not there anymore.
Further on down Ceylon Road one comes to St. Hilda's Church.
This church, Anglican in denomination, too has a story of her own. Founded in 1934, it used to be a two-storey wooden bungalow with worship services on the ground floor, and classrooms for students on the second floor upstairs. The present building- which they now call the Sanctuary- had its foundation stone laid on January 1949, and the building was completed in November of the same year.
You know, it is history like this that makes one wonder just how the space of those days were like. We like to think of it as a neighborhood the way we see it today, but there were two cinemas in the area at that time, not to mention, various trades and homes all around the east coast area.
Amber Road, Mountbatten Road, East Coast Road, Brooke Road, Ceylon Road, Fowlie Road.
I like to think of them as roads just gently sloping away from the shore into the hinterland.
After all, the entire stretch of shore did begin from where Marine Parade Road is today.