Armenian Street

There used to be an interesting shortcut to Armenian Street from the old National Library, which led out to where The Substation is today. Pics: 5 April 2014.

Remember, it's $1 per half hour here :)

There used to be char kway teow stall somewhere near this corner, if I remember rightly. If you did not want to eat the wanton mee at National Library (I am talking about the old days of course), the char kway teow would be a "luxurious" alternative. Remember the reticent guy who fried the noodles (each lifting of the ladle accompanied by a rhythmic bounce of his body) at his huge wok? Patrons always joked about how much of his sweat actually went into seasoning the kway teow. These patrons remain faithful nevertheless.  

Waterloo Street

Beautiful, said a tourist (or at least, I think he was one) who emerged from the Catholic Centre which is opposite this row of shophouses next to the Chinese Calligraphy Centre at Waterloo Street. "What building is it? Beautiful! I too, took a photo of it," he said to me. And I had to tell him that I didn't know either. I saw a sign on its facade, and it said "State Property". Pic: April 2014.

A tantalising glimpse of the shophouse from Queen Street, which led me to the traffic arrow and thence, to Waterloo Street.

Old Tampines Road

This old row of shophouses, with tyres stacked along its front, lives up to the name of the coffee shop at the corner -- the Goodyear Restaurant, known for its Pontian-style bak kut teh. You can park at the side of the shophouses. Free. The coffee shop has been blogged about -- cheap and good.  Most of the other shops along the row seem to be fixing or selling tyres (not all Goodyear brand though) for trucks. Pictures taken in May 2013.

Old Tampines Road is not called "old" for nothing as it retains a lot of its characteristics which I remember from childhood.  Al the kampungs flanking the road, are gone of course.  Mum used this road to take us to Changi Village and to Pasir Ris.  Those days, these two futuristic-looking water tanks (?) were not there (of course).  And guess what, bus No. 72 (my childhood bus) now passes this way. Must take a ride in it some day. 

Balestier II: Starry, starry night

Shophouses along Balestier Road. By night, the area takes on a different energy. The area was given conservation status. See URA website: http://www.ura.gov.sg/uol/conservation/conservation-xml.aspx?id=BLSTRD#

A popular makan place along Jalan Kemaman.

Charming pre-war shophouses and low terraced houses are trademarks of the area, but condominium developments are threatening to take over.

Homely glow from old terraced houses along Jalan Kemaman.

One of the pair of stone lions guarding the Thong Teck Sian Tong Lian Sin Sia Temple at Boon Teck Road, off Balestier Road.

Balestier by Day

 Lunchtime jam.

From food, hardware, auto shops to lightings. You find them all at Balestier Road. 

Lorong Bachok

Just love buildings with the year of establishment clearly stamped on the roof top. So this row of shophouses at Lorong Bachok in Geylang was built in 1929 -- very pre-war! Thanks to PictureSG, I was inspired to visit the place to take a look at the shophouses there with their elaborate decorative motifs and tiles. There are no coffee shops there selling bachok mee... but a coffee shop at the end of the row, sells herbal turtle soup. Not my kind of soup though.

Some parts need a good scrub.

A very nice Sunday morning outing for many people, judging from the cars parked at the spacious public car park at Lorong Bachok.

Balestier Road -- up on the roof

Wouldn't do credit to those nice pre-war shophouses at Balestier Road if I don't show them close up. So I will definitely take more pictures soon. But I thought this picture taken from a carpark which is on a little hillock near the popular Boon Tong Kee restaurant offers an alternative view. Notice that most of the shophouses actually still have an old-fashioned chimney (picture left). The very modern chimney in the fore of the picture above, belongs to the newly refurbished  Balestier food centre.  BTW, the carpark offers free parking in the evening, so there is really no need to park riskily on the main road or side lanes (double white lines) for your favourite bak kut teh or roast duck.  Picture taken March 2014.

Serangoon Gardens

The shophouses in Serangoon Gardens are not that old. Perhaps built in the 50s? But they sure have undergone a lot of face lift. The late Dr Fernandez, whom everybody in Serangoon Gardens loved, had his clinic along this row. So was the Maggie hairdressing salon ran by two sisters which was next to his clinic. This hairdresser was around even up to the early 2000s. My mum used to have her hair done there and I would follow as a kid. The hairdresser would set a pile of movie magazines like the "Southern Screen" (those featuring Hong Kong actresses and actors) beside me. I would be in utter bliss poring through the magazines as mum got her perm. I remember the hairdresser saying to my mum in Cantonese, "Your daughter no need to talk hor, just let her read magazines can already." And the corner shop (now ACE SCORERS) was Mubaruk, a shop selling books, magazines and toys like those Matchbox cars and etc. I think the trees are orignial though, Angsana trees.

This is the row of shophouses across the road from the row shown in the picture above. The corner shop used to be Tip-Top in the 70s (and early 80s as well?) I think the only surviving shop from the good old days is the Chinese medicine shop, somewhere in the middle of the row (picture below). The signboard looks very different now though.

The UOB was where Chartered Bank used to be (which has now moved to another corner on the next row of shophouses adjacent to this row). It used to have pale blue mosaics for flooring along the corridor as well as the steps. It being the corner unit, it has the steepest steps among all the shophouses there (as they lead to the road itself, and not to another unit along the row). Today, the steps didn't seem that steep. Either they have raised the level of the road, or my legs have grown longer since I was a kid.

OK, this is a tree and not a row of shophouses. But in front of this very old Angsana tree (believe me, it has been around) is a row of shophouses similar to those in the pictures above. The corner shop at the mouth of Chartwell Drive used to be a coffee shop.  Next to it, was an Indian stall by the wall selling sweets, sundry goods and magazines. Both long gone. But now, there's McDonald's and Pow Sing chicken rice restaurant along the row. (Pow Sing is a very popular makan place, BTW). When I was a kid in the 70s, this row housed the Neo Soon Huat Emporium (hope I remember the name rightly).  It didn't open for too long though. I only bought a dress and poster colours from there, and I think a toy musical instrument which sounded like a yangqin -- but you only need to press on keys like that of a piano on one end and strum on the other end. Then, there was a shop in this row that sold crockery and China vases. Very deep, dark interiors (to me then), full of newspapers for wrapping the goods when sold to customers. There was Captain's Cabin of course -- the very Ang-Moh establishment run by Hainanese ( I believe) with heavy, dark wooden swinging doors selling fish and chips, ice creams (good old banana split and bomb alaska) and other western dishes. And even longer ago, there was the Singapore Dispensary along this row. It was aircon and definitely rather high class to me as a child -- definitely mysterious too, as you don't get any preview of what's inside, there being no display windows or whatever! The taxi stand was near this big tree. Taxi drivers used to smoke and wait around their vehicles and call out to you when you walk past. But of course, you hurried on to the little flight of steps which led to the road, and then cross the road to the bus terminus across. They are all gone today. (The bus terminus has moved to Serangoon Ave 2.)