Book City

There is a building in Bras Basah Road next to the National Library, known as Book City to the generations of Singaporean school children. Amongst the many book stores in that building, there is a cool book store called "Basheer Graphic Books" and they specialise in books on architecture, design (interior, landscape, fashion, product etc), art and craft and photography. They carry a very comprehensive range of such books and magazines and one can just spend hours browsing and getting lost in the dazzling array of design books in there.

There's also some cool products like lomo cameras, origami-making sets and a humorous set of real plywood stickers which you would stick on convenient locations like your mobile phone in case one needs to "touch wood" for superstitious reasons and one can't find wood conveniently! Next time you are in the area, remember to drop in to check out all the cool stuff in the book store.

Vintage Online Shop

Vintage lovers in Singapore are simply growing. Many young people who are setting up their first home are turning to vintage furniture and housewares such as clocks, drinking glasses, candy trays to make a statement. Retro designs are classic and the quality of those products which have lasted the last 30, 40, 50 years are proof that they are well-made and have stood the test of time.
Ipreloved Reloved is a cool online vintage shop that my partner-in-grime, K and I have set up together since mid March this year. We also have a Facebook page where we aim to have a gathering of the like-minded especially in Singapore. We stock vintage wares that are in good condition, sometimes even mint condition as we get new old stock and items which have probably been sitting proudly in a display cabinet and never been used by the owners because they "couldn't bear" to use them like this half dozen 1950s drinking glasses with gold/gilt rim and printed purple and black floral design from Sydney.

Another popular vintage category of beauties we offer is retro handbags. Why pay $80 or more for a vinyl handbag which is available at all the departmental stores? Why not spend the same amount (or less) on a well-made and uniquely designed bag which will definitely get you compliments and a demand to know where you got it. If you are selfless and kind, you will tell them you got it at Ipreloved Reloved, a cool virtual shop in Singapore!

Little India - Chappati & Keema

When you set foot into Little India, you can almost imagine that you are not in Singapore. The people look different, the food looks different, the shops look different. You can find all sorts of Indian spices, fresh provisions and groceries, traditional sweets, apparel and accessories, music here. There are traditional Indian services like face threading and henna. It is indeed a small piece of India in cosmopolitan Singapore.

If you get hungry, make sure you stop at one of the traditional coffee shops or India eating houses. Skip the ones with the big animal models, tropical trees, coconut trees - those are for the tourists and come with tourist prices.

A little corner shop like this one serves freshly-made wholemeal chappati, made by an old Indian man on the spot. He deftly makes them on the flat hot griddle and pats them down, releasing the air inside, with a fat, padded utensil and then serves them up on the plates. Make sure you order the keema as well and a ginger tea to wash that all down.

Yan Kit Swimming Pool/ Duxton Plain Hill

Yan Kit swimming pool is the first public pool to be opened in Singaopre. It is on Yan Kit road, a little hillock where Duxton Park is, behind Cantonment Road, near to the Pinnacles, the tallest HDB blocks in Singapore. So I guess it is in the area of superlatives - the first, the tallest etc!

Yan Kit is after Look Yan Kit, a wealthy and popular Cantonese dentist who migrated from Hong Kong to Singapore in 1877.

The art deco pool may have been disused and closed for years, but it still brings back lots of childhood memories for me. I used to visit the pool every once in a while, I was about 4 years old and still remember the snack of a rice dumpling with sweet sauce mum used to buy on the way home after a swim as we walk through the unique walkway tunnel that runs under Neil Road. I can smell in the vestiges of my mind, the tobacco leaves as they undergo processing in the nearby factory, where plumes of white smoke would be pumped up through the chimney and we would be able to see if from the pool. Perhaps that accounts for why I actually like the smell of tobacco leaves in a cigarette although I hate the smell of cigarette smoke!

Go check out the architecture of the old pool before the authorities decide to pull it down for yet another condominium development in this prime district. The area where the pool is situated, Duxton Plain Park is a lovely place to have a wander. There are big old mature trees and benches to rest when you get tired. Heritage shophouses back into the park so you can admire the old spiral staircases and other architectural features.

This makes for a nice little walk around a heritage area, end your walk with a cold drink at one of the old coffeeshops nearby.

Ice-Cream Sandwich, Singapore-Style

This is probably an institution which is very Asia. This is the Singapore version of a Mr Whippy ice-cream truck. It is usually an elderly man on a scooter-powered ice-cream "vehicle". I say vehicle because it is a little side cart contraption joined to a scooter with a big umbrella over the top.

The other thing which apparently is unique to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia as far as I know, is our "ice-cream sandwich". Singaporeans are very pragmatic people. We call a spade a spade, ice-cream sandwiched in a slice of bread an ice-cream sandwich. Not so for people in other parts of the world apparently. To them, an ice-cream sandwich does not have bread at all. It is ice-cream sandwiched between 2 wafers.

So the next time you see one of these ice-cream carts (which is common in Orchard Road and some also make daily calls into housing estates and near schools just like Mr Whippy), please stop and for $1, enjoy an ice-cream sandwich, Singapore-style.

Thieves Market

This is the original flea market in Singapore. This is the Sungei Road Thieves Market where I guess from its name was the fence for where thieves come to offload their stolen wares. Today, I am sure it is not a fence anymore (the police would be onto them in a jiffy) but more of a flea market for mostly low-end, secondhand household goods.

However some of the more interesting finds that day when we stumbled onto the market quite by chance, were retro turntables in great working order and ancient-looking ceramic bowls. "Ming Dynasty!" so claimed the vendor but I didn't bother to get more into it because I am just a cynic and I don't think I would be so lucky as to score a Ming Dynasty treasure at a bargain price.

I had been lucky once, scoring a Steve Sheridan bowl in a garage sale for a song in Sydney, and I think I've used up my quota in that department.

But a wander around the Thieves Market is an interesting way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Free Concert In the Botanical Gardens

The Singapore Botanical Gardens is a lovely and huge park right smack in the city, at the fringe of the Orchard Road shopping belt. Admission is free and the garden boasts of tall, old trees providing lots of shade for park goers. The rolling hills are great for picnicking, kicking a ball around or just generally hanging out with friends. Lovely flowering plants, beautiful bronze sculptures, a few big ponds with gorgeous lotuses dotting their surface are some of the attractions of the gardens. Remember to save those stale bread and cut crusts to feed the colourful Japanese kois, and the lazy tortoises. The gardens is magical because when you step inside, cocooned in the vastness of the greenery, you see no tall skyscrapers and hear no traffic noises - you can almost make-believe you are not in busy, bustling Singapore.

As an additional attraction to enjoying the gardens, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra often performs free concerts in gardens as part of the Classics in the Park series. There is no better way to enjoy the gardens than to pack your own picnic basket, come on down when the sun is setting, on a lazy weekend to spend an hour on the grass with a thousand or more like-minded park-goers. Kids kicking balls, dogs chasing kids, kids chasing dogs - everyone finds their own fun in the gardens, especially during these events.

Anyone who says Singaporeans only stay in the air-conditioned bubble of malls and cinemas and shun the outdoors, just need to come to one of these concerts. You will see a different side to the people and the city.