Upper Cross Street

Upper Cross Street, near the junction at South Bridge Road. Pics taken on a very hot Sunday, 28 June, 2015.

The road has a mix of budget hotels, coffee shops and restauants, including my favouite chicken noodle and dumplings. There are two of these shops called Chew Kee serving the chicken noodles -- one of them claims to be the original (but I am not sure which one). There is a dessert shop a few units away -- from bird nest soup to steamed milk pudding. Recently closed, my favourite shop for browsing -- it had tai chi swords, spears, shoes, etc and some pieces of antiques too. Spring  Court (spring rolls aka poh piah, Peking duck, etc) is also here. The restaurant which has a rich history, used to be at Great World Amusement Park at Kim Seng Road. The pigeon flying in the foreground is accidental, but adds to the charm :)

Selegie Road

Selegie Road named after a Malay word for a wooden spear hardened and sharpened by fire. The Sri Vijaya Vegetarian (left) is supposed to be rather famous though I have not tried the food there. Shall do so one fine day. Pic taken in 2013.

I guess I can't pass this off as a shophouse. This building, 100 Selegie Road, is now used by the International Institute of Tea Culture. It was once a upon a time, a landmark in this area, being the Tiger Balm Building. You can see a picture of how it looked like in its days of glory at  http://kaufmann-mercantile.com/tiger-balm/.  A 4th floor has been added to the building, and the tiger that was so majestic gracing its facade is gone.  The building now looks like a block of chocolate, but I guess, it's the colour of tea. Pic taken in Jan, 2015.

Happy Short Street

Five-foot ways of shophouses are among the most interesting places in Singapore -- for me. This one leads to Rochor Original Beancurd You Tiao at Short Street. However, I only tried the beancurd once. It was okay:)

And, it's a bonus if the old tiles of the five-foot way are original which I think these are. These belong to the five-foot way leading up to the Rochor Beancurd. Five-foot ways in Singapore, according to Wikipedia, date back to Sir Stamford Raffles who included this in his Town Plan of 1822. In 1880s, the government attempted to clear the walkways of hawkers which led to much unhappiness.  

Prinsep Street

Prinsep Street was originally Flint Street (named after Captain William Flint, brother in law of Sir Stamford Raffles. However, in 1858, the Municipal Council decided to rename it Prinsep Street after a nutmeg plantation owner, Charles H Prinsep. The current Flint Street near Battery Road was named in 1862. Prinsep Street once housed the Salmon Maternity Home. A Google search still yields a Salmon Clinic, at the same address -- 110, Prinsep Street. 

Wonder why the Lor Payah signboard (and the Stop sign) are stuck in the middle of this construction site at Prinsep Street :) There is a Lorong Payah nearby, but it already has its own sighboard. 

Keong Saik Road

Picture taken at the junction of Keong Saik Road and Kreta Ayer Road. The row of shophouses (with the spiral staircases at the back), was built in 1929 -- Hotel 1929 opened there in 2003. The Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar Temple (fore, right) was built in 1925. It has a rich history. The idol of Lord Vinayagar was brought to Singapore by a soldier from India who left the idol behind for the community to build a temple. As the temple was near the General Hospital, its worshippers were mainly hospital and prison staff. (There was a prison at Outram Road -- the first one, for civil offences was built in 1847, with another for criminals added in 1882. The prisons were demolished in 1970 and in their place, a public housing estate called the Outram Park Complex which was also demolished in the early 2000s.) I don't remember the prisons at all... do you? I do remember Outram Park Complex -- there was the famous char kway teow... also one Chinese physician who operated a clinic there. He was rather well known.

Clarke Quay Christmas

Clarke Quay was named after Singapore's second Governor, Sir Andrew Clarke (1873 to 1875). It was also where Sir Stamford Raffles landed in January 1819. I wonder exactly which spot? Apparently there was a debate as to whether he had remained in the ship while his men (including the Toisan carpenter, Cho Ah Chee landed first -- not along the shores of Singapore River but at Rochor River. Raffles subsequently landed, but it may be somewhere along Kallang River and not Singapore River. Information from Singapore Infopedia.  Picture: Dec 2014.

Zion Road

You can find retro tiles at this shop along Zion Road. The rather famous padang rice coffee shop nearby is gone and in its place, a roasted pork, duck & chicken rice stall. Haven't tried it yet. The nearby Zion Road hawker centre still has the well known char kway teow and carrot cake, so I would rather eat there if I happen to be around the area.

Corridor of this row of shophouses reminds one of those in Tiong Bahru. Signs of some hip shops coming up which seem similar to those at Tiong Bahru too.

But before those shops come around, these old iron gates have to go first. And some, like this one,  are holding grounds.