Stroll Sights: Jln Eunos-Bedok Reservoir

It was one of those days where I'd gotten back early to the 'hood but because didn't feel like going back home straightaway decided it better that I take a wander in the neighborhood elsewhere.

At first I wasn't sure where I ought to go.

Should I, for instance, go along Jalan Ismail and then turn into Lengkong Tiga and see where else my feet would lead me?

Or should I stay on this path along Jalan Eunos and then turn into Jalan Daud before going along and further beyond? 

I really didn't know.

So to Google Maps I went, and almost right away decided that there was more than enough time for me to take a longer walk, make a larger round, and visit Bedok Reservoir on the other side of the expressway. 

Getting to the slip road from the bus stop between Jalan Awang and Jalan Ismail meant walking along a path that I had been walking nearly every day for a couple of weeks now.

What's interesting though was that I'd never quite seen the path look the way it did this late afternoon- gloriously illuminated in the sunshine.

It might have been the light.

It might have been the atmosphere.

But all at once I found myself taking special notice of things which I hadn't noticed before- like how the light cast symmetrical shadows over the granite ground, like how the houses on the street away from the path shone in the sunshine, and how in the many interim parks the foliage of trees and shrubs brightened their green. 

There're a good number of interim parks along this stretch.

How many there are exactly I don't know- I don't count- but there's the Jalan Ismail Interim Park, there's the Jalan Awang Interim Park and there's the Jalan Daud Interim Park. 

Out of these three, I'm probably most familiar with the last one.

It's got a fascinating array of trees which, when planted together, remind me somewhat of evergreen firs- kind of incongruent with the tropical climate that we have here- and which give off a sort of cool, wintry grey vibe.

I dont' suppose it's got anything to do with the fact that it's at the entrance of the slip road, but, then again, who knows? 

There just might be.

But there was no time to stop this afternoon, however, and from this spot near the Jalan Daud Interim Park, I crossed the zebra crossing and entered under the PIE expressway. 

Over on the other side, a short path led me to a small plant nursery- the Eco Scape Garden Center, actually- which sits quietly by the side of the road behind the bus stop. 

Then, not too far after that, a right I made, and turned into the stretch that was Bedok Reservoir Road. 

I'm beginning to find this road rather interesting.

Not so much about the road itself-  urban planning has made a road nothing more than just a road, but now that I'm seeing these pictures, it won't surprise me that Bedok Reservoir Road be like one of those roads which have been there a long time, and which, if you follow along, will unveil and reveal themselves to you. 

There was no time for me to do the entire stretch this evening (I'll have to do it on Daffy one day) but let's just say I got quite interested in the way this area was laid out.

First of all there was space.

Not the sort of space that we sense in certain suburban districts, but the sort of space that you find in mature housing estates where the pavements are wider, the width of roads are also wider, and whatever's on the opposite side seems much further than what it really might be. 

That being said, it might have been the traffic.  

Or the lack of it. 

I was a little surprised to find the roads so quiet, because in my head, Bedok Reservoir Road is one of those roads that works as a thoroughfare, connecting you from one end of Eunos Link to parts of Kaki Bukit to the parts in between all the trees, along the reservoir proper, and all the way up to Tampines Avenue 1, Pasir Ris and Changi.

Maybe there'll come a time where I'll do this route on Daffy up to Tampines and IKEA.

But for today I took in the sights around me, like the interesting juxtaposition of housing board flats on one side, the terraced houses, and the condominiums on the other. 

I'm not sure if it was deliberate. 

Or why this side of Bedok Reservoir Road was planned this way. 

But there she was, with her space, her blocks of flats, her traffic lights, and her shops sitting snug amongst housing blocks of two distinctive designs.

Somewhere along the way I passed by a large fenced up field that had flags fluttering in the breeze, a large Chinese temple at the far end, and then after that, there were more housing blocks- painted blue and white, a row of neighborhood shops- provision, coffee shop and the like, stretched out under the void deck.

And then there was a school, with a huge drain running alongside.

Peace of Mind

To be honest, I don't know if I should be writing about this and I don't know (I'm afraid actually) that it may bring about a consequence which I don't wish to have, but there's perhaps something about this place being the very first picture that I snapped in the year of 2024. 

We were there for what I call a maintenance appointment. 

Not for me, but for an elderly who, due to very unfortunate circumstances several years ago, went through a bout of depression and so came here to see a Professor whom, thankfully, after all these years, continues to see her elderly patients here at the clinic in the Institute of Mental Health. 

Today everything was good, thank God- just the usual round of maintenance medicine required. 

However, coming to this place so early in the year made me think about myself, about the year past, and how it had been. 

I'm just going to say it as it is.

It wasn't good. 

Now I'm not going to say that it was completely bad- that wouldn't be fair to those who love me, those who look after me, those who have helped me and who continue to help me- but I have to admit that not for one day since early January of 2023 have I woken up feeling free and filled with zest to face the day. 

I mean, let's start with the fact that Night Owl me who used to sleep at 2am (waking up at 9) now wakes up at 630-645am no matter how late the previous night I've gone to bed. 

It's been like this for a whole year, now even more. 

I long for a day where I can sleep past 830am. 

I long for a day where I can not have to waste a precious hour in the evening speaking to persons whom I don't wish to speak to except for the sake of keeping the person happy (when there was never that much of a need to).

I'm tired of doing things for persons who take up so much of my time that I can't do anything else or have to factor those persons' s*** in.

And I'm tired of wasting a day getting stuff for persons who actually can jolly well do it themselves. 

What hurts isn't merely the time and the effort and the hassle. 

What hurts is that the appreciation given is just another tool to keep doing.

Still that's something one can try to cope with.

But what makes it impossible is the toxicity.

What makes it difficult to breathe is the level of control administered where subjugation (as a renowned psychiatrist told me) is a way of life. 

This is beyond mere control. 

This is a situation where persons tell you to do what to do, exactly how to do it, and hell become yours if you do it any other way. 

I've not been able to shut out the toxicity that sweeps upon me (in my head!) every time I have to do something for the persons. 

Neither have I been able to be comfortable and trusting because whatever interaction carries deep within it deceit, evil, self-centeredness, domination, and malice. 

There was a time I stopped the smile in the interactions.

Later I realized it got worse for me when I stopped the smile. 

So now I continue the lie to smile.

But tenterhooks and stomach churns do s*** to you. 

Perhaps all I long for is to have peace of mind. 

Peace of mind to truly be myself without having to 'devote' time to this and that and this and that. 

Peace of mind to live without having to balance two lives of which they must never, never, never intertwine. 

Tell you honestly?

I want to sleep.

I want to sleep and sleep and sleep.

I won't do it deliberately. 

There're visuals that I have that prevent me from trying to fall asleep.

It's not fair to those who love me and those who have helped me if I go through day on day with a black, sourpuss face. 

It's also not fair to those who have chosen to help me and solve s*** for me as much as one can. 

So even though I'm very, very, very tired, I try to heal.

This battle needs to be won. 

And I need to rest, I need to really, really heal.

Iberico @ Dian Xiao Er

Not wise it is, I tell you, to begin a post about food at 11pm at night when you're hungry but can't eat because you're fasting for a blood test that you have to take the very next morning.

What impulse it was that made me begin writing about a fatty piece of iberico pork from Dian Xiao Er, I don't know. 

But I don't like leaving things off when I've already started, so decided to continue.

Big mistake.

I got so hungry.

Not that I could make a hasty order for this dish eleven o'clock at night, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be on the order list when I go back to the restaurant next time. 

Dian Xiao Er has quite a variety of dishes suited for all ages.

Whether you be the sort who likes soups, vegetables, eggs, poultry, staples, appetizers or meat, this restaurant has it all. 

Of course their signature star dish is the roast duck which they serve with Angelica Herb sauce, or Tang Kwei sauce, and you'd be best not to miss out when you come eat here. 

We've been taking the duck with Tang Kwei sauce most of the time, but in recent days, it's not just the duck that we've taken a liking to.

There's also this- the Iberico Pork done Char Siew style- which I've had, I think, at least twice, and which, to me, is one of the more interesting dishes at Dian Xiao Er here.

It's a little hard to explain just why this dish is so good. 

At first glance it seems like an ordinary plate of char siew.

Which well might be, except that it somehow grabs your attention and lingers deep inside your mind for a very long time after.

To someone who's trying it for the first time, it might be the skin on the top of each slice that stands out.

To another, however, it might be the fat, or the caramelized sweetness of the char siew that (so far) I've found unparalleled to any other.

I take a great fancy to the skin of this char siew. 

At first glance, it might seem like a little burnt (like why is it so dark?), but poke at it with your chopsticks (if you can), and you'll find that there isn't any chao ta taste on the skin, and instead of a top which you have to painstakingly scrape off, you get a layer that's crisp, crunchy and chewy similar to the crackling tops of siew yok that most people know and love. 

It isn't just the skin of this dish that I've taken a fancy to, however.

There's also the fat. 

Which, even though it would be controversial diet-wise to some of us, is in fact the star of this dish, and a waste it would be if there were none of it at all. 

Fortunately the guys here at Dian Xiao Er do it rather well, and once you've gotten used to the spongy, collagen-like chew, once you've gotten used to the burst of natural oils that spring forth from the fat, this distinctive flavor, and texture, is exactly what you'll think of when you contemplate your order the next time. 

I've come to appreciate the flavors, and the chew, of the fat in this char siew. 

But more than that, it is the caramelized sweetness of the meat which I've come to love. 

Simply because I don't think I'll be able to find a piece of char siew this soft, this spongy, this tasty, and this sweet, at anywhere. 

Steppyhouse Meals

There're a lot more these pictures where they come from. 

And, what with the amount of cooking that we're doing these days in Steppyhouse, a lot more I anticipate there will be. 

It's been a time of experimentation for us.

Not just only with the ingredients and the manner of cooking, but also with the place, and the time. 

Our initial plan, when we first moved to Steppyhouse, was to do all our cooking at the open-air patio upstairs.

Which we did for the first couple of meals, cooking up a storm using leftover basmati rice, frozen chicken pieces, frozen sliced iberico pork. and, at another time, instant Hokkaido Miso ramen in Little Blue Pot.  

Not too long afterwards however we began to realize just how much of a hassle it was having to bring all the cooking equipment, the plates, the oils, the sauces, the ingredients, the cooking utensils and the dining cutlery up and down the stairs.

So we modified. 

And in recent times, we've begun cooking out at the balcony where it's much easier to run in and out with ingredients, plates, cutlery, and cooking equipment in hand.

There's still the need to plug and unplug the extension cord.

There's also the need to dodge the heavy plastic curtain whilst balancing everything and have our meal at a really low wooden pallet balcony table.

But it's been fun.

And much easier too it has become.

Out of the many dishes that we've begun to make in the past weeks, there're some that really, really stick out in the memory. 

Like this one- a huge mountain of leftover basmati rice from Sakunthala that we decided to fry with leftover Thai green curry and which, I will say, made for one of the most delicious meals outside of mutton briyani and green curry beef.

I loved that the rice wasn't very wet, neither was it very dry.

Maybe an induction cooker lets you control the heat as well as a stove might do. 

Another dish that I fell in love with, and which we also made using the induction cooker, was frozen chicken breast cut into pieces cooked with rice dabaoed from the chicken rice stall, and scrambled eggs. 

Don't ask me which was it I preferred. 

Let's just say that eggs are much easier to eat than chicken breast. 

And I like them anyway- be they scrambled or fried or soft boiled or sunny side up, and it doesn't matter to me how they're done just so long as they're delish and good. 

Everything in the pictures here makes it look like we've been eating a lot of rice, and, yes, we have- much of our daily meals have carbs in the form of rice here and there. 

Most of the time, that is, including that one time where, above what I think is leftover sushi rice, we pan-fried pieces of gorgeous foie gras goose liver fat. 

But it isn't just rice that we've been making.

There've also been potatoes.

So far we've decided to make it a rosti- complete with washing, peeling, shredding, and pan-frying of a single potato before we serve it up with whatever we've decided to have that day. 

This afternoon there was frozen bacon in the freezer.

There also was leftover grilled salmon belly in the fridge.

Bus Ride Sights: Toa Payoh-Paya Lebar

This is not a route I do often.

In fact this is a route which I hardly, if ever, do at all. 

You can say that there hasn't been much of an opportunity to visit Toa Payoh, and were it not for an impromptu drop-in to a nursing home somewhere along Toa Payoh Lorong 6, I probably wouldn't be here in this (presently) mature housing estate either.

Not that I don't appreciate this heartlander of a housing estate.

Just that I haven't had much of a reason to swing by here ever since I stopped coming here regularly on random weekday mornings to collect corporate mail and hand over monthly paperwork. 

Of course, things change- I might start coming here more- who knows- but for today I was over at Lorong 6, and afterward, here at the bus interchange in Toa Payoh Central taking a bus home. 

Now, I don't remember what bus it was- it might have been 26, it might have been 28, but the bus turned out from the interchange and went onto the road opposite what previously (or still is) the Toa Payoh Town Park.

From there the bus continued past Toa Payoh Swimming Complex, then Toa Payoh SAFRA, then made a turn. 

What Lorong this is, I don't know, but there's one of those Storage Unit buildings there, and then there're the HDB flats from the 80s, or even earlier.

After this the bus went on, passing by a couple of housing blocks both 'old' and 'new'. 

I don't know if the taller, newer block is of the public or the private domain, but infrastructure certainly has changed, and where once structures went up to max a height of 10-15 storeys thereabouts, now, nearly half a century later, they can go up to a height of 40. 

Amazing, that's three times a difference in wind, and view. 

Of course that makes those flats we have, or once used to have, a bit of heritage, and over here at Toa Payoh- one of the first housing estates in the country- heritage there is aplenty. 

A person disinterested might not find this block on the opposite of the road any fascinating, for instance, but it's shape, and the direction she faces, is in fact quite a charm. 

I don't think I'd ever seen this block glow as beautifully as this late afternoon today. 

No doubt it wasn't that frequent a time that I'd seen her- y'all know I don't come here often- but may I say that even from earliest memories- when the bus 153 stopped at the bus stop near here or when the family minivan made a turn into Lorong 7- this block held not such a soft, yet glorious glow in the morning sunshine. 

Maybe in this world there really are some places that transform when seen in the glow of the setting sun. 

After this turn, the bus made its way towards a route that rounds out from Toa Payoh towards Bishan, Braddell Road and the east side. 

I don't know how to describe this route, but let's just say it passes by the SPH building on the far side and then enters this wide four-lane road that, with Comfort Delgro also on the opposite side, can either lead you onto the CTE towards Ang Mo Kio, Seletar and Woodlands, or towards Braddell Road and Bartley thereafter. 

How the exits to the CTE are, I have a rough guess, but today I somehow didn't manage to take pictures of the relative junctions, and by the time I got the pictures, the bus was halfway on Braddell Road. 

The history of Braddell Road would be interesting if one really looks into it, and I say this because the houses, especially the smaller ones, seem to have a design that quietly speak colonial heritage despite being well concealed behind the foliage of their own garden trees.

I kind of wish I were able to see what this estate really were, and what those homes on the hills behind their backyards were.

But you don't get that sort of view when you're on a bus that's trundling down the road towards the junction of Upper Serangoon Road and Braddell towards Bartley beyond.

And so it were that right after a very long overhead bridge dotted with blooming bougainvillea flowers, the bus entered the stretch that once had Bidadari cemetery on its right side. 

It's all new housing blocks now- public housing flats, condominiums, the like- I'm not sure if there be any hint of the cemetery remaining still- and there're construction cranes here, there, everywhere, but some icons- like the gate of Maris Stella School with its distinctive arch- continues to remain.  

Steppyhouse In The Light

It was a particularly warm summer when we moved into Steppyhouse and began settling down. 

And because I wasn't able to have as many pictures as I wanted, I was determined that I'd take new ones whenever I could after things were more or less in their place and when I had the energy and the time. 

Let's just say that I got energized one bright sunny weekday morning, and so out came the phone, and here we are.

Beautiful, aren't they?

Okay, so the house doesn't exactly look like this now- certain shifts have been made- I moved a couple of things around and there're several cartons of POLAR mineral waters under the shelf where our plates and bowls are- but the place more or less looks the same. 

Our patio- with a bit more bird poop on the floor- still looks like a builder's yard. Nothing's changed.

Our balcony still has got the Decathlon camping chairs but what with the rain these several weeks I've shifted them further to the back corner where chances of them getting drenched are much lesser. Even the cat cushions have been shifted to the shelf behind so that they don't get soaked so much and I can still hug them when I'm on the balcony in the mornings and late evenings. 

My desk too more or less looks the same.

The black shelf is still there, the bell on the shelf is still there, the light and the stationery box is where it still is, and I've not shifted the position of any of those books either. Perhaps it's a little messier than what it used to be couple of months ago, but it's not hard to move things back to where they belong, and I'm very sure I'll have my desk looking the same way as it is right now in no time.

I love Steppyhouse.

I love how restful she is. 

And I'm so thankful for her. 

Doesn't matter if she's beginning to look more and more lived in. 

That's what a house is for. 

Because, now, for the first time in a long while I've got chilly northern winds blowing through the open windows and the open balcony door. 

There are days where the winds come in from the east (where the balcony faces). There are days where the winds come in from the northwest. There are days where the winds come in from both.

I open the windows.

I open the door. 

Sure, the curtains flap right up in my face and random receipts get blown off the table scattering all over the floor. 

But I don't care.

It's lovely to have a place to call home, filled with the scents that I appreciate and the things that I love. 

And I hope to have them as long as I wish to, with peace, reassurance and restfulness day by day by day. 

From Hard (Lens) to Soft

So it might seem like I tend to be indecisive most of the time, but really, there are a couple of things in life that, once I look off, look away and move on, I don't turn around, I don't look back, and I don't smile.

That doesn't mean I deny their existence.

How I see it is that they're just there, they've been there, and that's it.

No more, no less. 

It doesn't matter if they've been in my life for a good long while. 

It doesn't matter if I have been familiar with them and 'that's how it's always been'.

I now no longer care. 

Because they are, after all, no more suitable for me, no more a boon to my current nor future state and, in any case, no one- in the name of memories, sentimentality, or honor- should hang on to what has ceased to be a blessing, but has instead become a curse, and a source of hurt to them instead. 

If it sounds like I'm referring to a person, no, I'm not. 

I'm referring to these.

Which, after three decades of RGP hard lenses, I switched to, and I won't ever be looking back.

Why should I?

Why should I go back to what no longer works for me when today technology has evolved, perspectives towards eye care have moved on, and I have much faster, easier, more comfortable options for lenses rather than the hard, surface-scratched ones that I'd been using for more than 10 years? 

It's not just the lens.

It's that the shape of my eyelids seems to have changed over the last few years, and maybe them lids (and my eyes) are no more the same as they were when I first made these RGP lenses oh so long ago. 

I'm telling you, I won't soon forget just how painful and traumatizing it was for me in August when, all of a sudden, my right lens began giving me serious, SERIOUS trouble. 

Okay, it had been on a bit of an annoyance a couple of months before, but never had it reached a stage where my eye started to heavily hurt and tear the moment I slid the lens in. 

Such disruption to my already disrupted life, I tell you. 

Not only was it busy season- we had an MV to shoot and we were shifting place- each morning saw me waste thirty minutes trying to settle the discomfort in my right eye with a process that included excessive tearing, eye drops, taking out the lens, putting it back in, taking it out again, putting it back in again.

The discomfort got worse as the day wore on, and initially I thought I might have had some sort of conjunctivitis, so I went to see an ophthalmologist, but despite the prescribed eye drops and the steroids the blasted pain didn't go away.

It worsened. 

My eyes became sensitive to all kinds of light. 

I could not see the menu of any restaurant I went to. 

I could not see the food I was eating. 

Errands in the supermarket became a chore because I kept bumping into things and I couldnt' see the tiny print of the expiry date. 

Not just that, I had to wear sunglasses indoors (and my pair at that time had a bit of a blurred lens) and I couldn't transit from indoors to outdoors without my eyes tearing like mad. 

When I needed to sign documents I couldn't even see where exactly to sign. 

It was very, very frustrating, very disturbing, very dangerous.

Crossing the road was dangerous when I couldn't see the green man (the sunshine hurt my eyes when I looked up).

Trying not to show weakness in front of a person I term a bug was dangerous. 

And so desperate became I that I got fed up and went about my day with the (right) lens absent altogether and survived the day to day functions with much clearer vision in the left eye. 

Yes, it's unconventional.

But I didn't get a headache, and at least I didn't have to uncontrollably cry.  

With all that which has happened, I'm thankful, and grateful for these dailies that I managed to get hold from Bausch & Lomb- I forget the category- I think it's ULTRA- and I've been wearing them ever since. 

There is now no more worry that my lens will suddenly pop out of my eye when I look extreme left or right.

There is now no more squinting at fine print on paper because the power of these magical, thin dailies are suited for my present level of vision.

I can look up at lawyers and other people with sharp, expressive looks and clear, undisturbed vision.

And even though there're adjustments I have to make, like watching out for raindrops, like not being able to shower with my face up in the falling water, and like watching how I remove my lens- gawd, I'm sticking my finger into my eyeball- I can now fully relish and take pictures of everything and anything that I so desire, with clear, concise vision, and Chonkycam's mix of feels, visuals and eyes.