You know how sometimes in life you think you know a place well enough but then once you start going in deep, you realize you don't really know the place that well at all?
I thought I knew Tanjong Katong Road.
Rather, I thought I knew enough of Tanjong Katong Road.
But then one afternoon I decided to take a walk along one half of the road, and realized- quite to my surprise- just how little I knew.
It isn't the landmarks, or the road that I know not of.
It is the atmosphere, and the little ins and outs of the road that I, to date, had not gotten to see.
Maybe that is why people say one has to go in person to a place in order to genuinely appreciate it.
My route this afternoon did not begin from convention.
At other times, were I with other people, I might have entered the road through the junction from the East Coast Road side. Today, however, I decided to approach from the side.
So, instead of walking along East Coast Road past Haig Road to the junction, I decided to enter Tanjong Katong from the middle, through Haig Road.
The route wasn't that hard to find.
All I needed to do was to find Ean Kiam Place, make a left through the roadway of the former Odeon, and then onto Mugliston Road before going all the way past beautiful terraced houses towards Haig Road.
At first glance, this side of Haig Road might not seem very significant.
it is just a road with a lot of traffic going to and fro.
But I walked into the residential estate now known as Haig Road Colonial Houses- and stopped in surprise.
The back of a school's grounds were right across.
I had heard about this place.
In recent years it had served as a campus for the Canadian International School. Locals in the area however think of it as the original campus for Tanjong Katong Secondary School.
What made it interesting for me is that I had always seen the school from the front, not the back.
And it was not until this moment, standing on Jalan Tembusu, that I realized just how large and spacious the compound of this school was, not to mention how well maintained the buildings still were.
Something about the way they were kept made me feel like they were still waiting for new persons to come.
A bit of a pity that I wasn't able to explore the school grounds.
Going into its interiors- the front of which reminded me of another school in Siglap- would have made a lovely part of a Tanjong Katong district tour, same too like the Haig Road Colonial Houses I had strolled past earlier.
I particularly liked the trees.
They made me think of places like Holland Village, Newton, Botanic Gardens, and Cavanagh Road, coincidentally, also estates where houses like these too were.
There is a bit of story about these houses- the details of which I don't really remember- but I think they used to serve as quarters for workers and their families in the Municipality.
The most interesting thing about these houses is that we don't really see them much this side of town.
But they're appealing.
Each house has a neat, disciplined, minimalist vibe that allows the resident to make it homely, cozy or even expressive. The windows and doors are neat and tight. The garden is cozy and neat.
Every unit is like a white canvas that lets the renter decide how they want to make of it.
After these homes here, I headed down Jalan Tembusu, then made a left, before coming out onto the main Tanjong Katong Road junction directly opposite Chelsea Lodge.
Here I made a right, walking down the red-topped pedestrian path.
This path is a highlight this stretch of Tanjong Katong Road.
Why, I don't know, but if I'm not wrong, it is one of the only two pedestrian paths along this road, and it bypasses a newly opened multi-storey nursing home, a new condominium and a condominium still under construction.
My route this afternoon headed towards a row of shop houses that included a spa, a butcher shop, a yoga studio, and an Italian restaurant.
There isn't much for me to talk about with regards to the shops.
They are all very practical to meet the needs of the residents in the nearby areas.
I wasn't keen so much in the shops as in the architecture of the shop houses they sat in.
It didn't matter that they weren't the heritage (decorative) type we see along East Coast Road, Chinatown, Little India or Syed Alwi Road, but they carried their distinctive flavor of charm.
You didn't sense it so much if you were at a distance, say, across the road, or on a passing bus.
Up close, however, their quiet charm revealed.
At first I didn't know what to make of it- I couldn't identify what exactly it was- but slowly, gradually, I began to realize what it might be.
To some people these units might make them think of UK's council flats.
I, however, thought of their seaside towns, the ones with the ports, you know, something like Liverpool or Portsmouth.
Maybe I'm wrong.
Maybe I'm right.
I haven't been to any of these cities, much less know what a typical English town looks like.
But they made me think of those towns.
Those quiet, residential ones that you read about in fiction books or see on TV.
Am I sure?
No.
It might just be.
In any case, if this side of the road interested me, the opposite side of Tanjong Katong Road next to Chelsea Lodge and Boscombe Road was just as intriguing.
From where I stood, looking across the stream of cars driving past, I found myself thinking of the Ellison Building- that one with the dome- at the junction of Selegie Road, Rochor Canal Road, Serangoon Road, and Bukit Timah Road.
This one here at Boscombe Road did not have a dome, but it did have a diner.
However, I didn't actually take this picture for the building itself.
I took it for the tall rustic-looking coconut palm behind it.
From this spot, I headed down along the road.
Before that though, there was this singular flight of stairs right before what I thought was a very cozy, eclectic storefront with its potted green plants, trailing leaves and wood.
There was also this doorway.
To someone familiar with the place, you wouldn't think of this entrance much. Heck, most of us would simply have walked past it to our destination without giving it a second glance, or second thought.
But this afternoon, from the ceiling, I noticed the steel wire netting.
It was the kind of aesthetic that I had not seen around for a very long time.
The last place where I saw units and apartments with steel netting like this above the doorway was probably in Tiong Bahru.
Those units were constructed just before WWII.
It made me wonder how long these shop houses, and the units above them, had been here, and what was it that made the front entrance and staircase look as untouched the same way they were since the day they were new.
I don't mean that the cement of the staircase is blackened and old, by the way.
I mean that I haven't seen such an aesthetic for a very long while.
Would I say that it is nostalgic?
A little bit.
But it adds a small bit of heritage, time, and story, to a space that most of the time, you don't normally connect with other parts of the country.
From here I went on to the next row of shop houses.
Now, I don't really know how to describe this row.
I also can't really remember.
It doesn't have decor the same way their neighbor has, and offhand, I can't remember of any major landmark, but right at the end, there is a coffee shop at the corner- famous for its chicken rice, roast duck rice, and roast meat rice.
After this row of shop houses I walked past the petrol station- it's just next to this coffee shop- then after that, another stretch of mixed-development property with shops on the ground floor, and residential condo units above.
Totally different decor, this one, but also very neat, compact and with that kind of vibe that made you want to throw tatami mats, rugs, cushions, and potted plants all along the sheltered balcony.
I wish I paid better attention to the shops on the ground floor though.
From what I saw there was a Pizza Hut takeaway, a diner offering Indian cuisine and sweets, a KTV lounge right at the corner, and perhaps an enrichment center there.
i liked how the blinds cascaded down from the balconies belonging to the residential units above.
It was somewhere around this area where I decided to cross the road to the other side.
It wasn't because there wasn't anything else to see up ahead- there was more- but I was nearing the junction of Dunman Road, it was late evening and there were still buildings on the opposite side that I wanted to see.
So at the traffic light I waited.
But I'll write about the other side of Tanjong Katong Road another time.