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.

An Oasis In Orchard Road

Orchard Central, the mall, is not much different from the other 47 malls you find along Singapore's most famous shopping street, Orchard Road. (Ok I made that magical figure of 47 up in case you were wondering) However, if you go up to the roof top, this is what you will find - a secret garden.

It is an oasis for the tired shopper who needs to rest his/her weary feet and give their eyes a vision break. Here is lovely green and better yet, more public art in a surprising location. I particularly like the immediately recognisable Victor Tan installation of twisted wire. His amazing work which is larger than life size is installed cleverly in between the 2 walls. This Singaporean artist who is almost blind, proves that you do not need sight to see beauty.

Hunt For A Good Cuppa

Coffee connoisseurs especially those who love Aussie and Kiwi coffees often lament the lack of a good cuppa in Singapore. Starbucks should be left to Americans who don't know any better and only want to seek out a familiar place and taste when they are travelling. We pity them, but should not join them in their folly.

I have done much research on the search of a good coffee in Singapore and am hereby declaring Forty Hands, a quirky cafe run by 2 Australian brothers in the gentrified area of Tiong Bahru which is now becoming hipper by the passing day (rents are shooting up there now), nestled amongst these Art Deco old Singapore Improvement Trust (predecessor of the current Housing Development Board) flats - to be the best Australian-style coffee in Singapore. I have an acute palate and have particularly high standards when it comes to things like food and coffee - and that's why you should believe me when I declare this tops in Singapore in the Australian-style coffee category.

Please also note that the prices are Australian as well, it costs $6 for a soy flat white ($1 extra for the soy milk) and $3.50 for a cookie to go with your cuppa.

Kung Fu Tea

Tea lovers please take note. Martial arts lovers also please take note. And if you are a fan of both tea and martial arts, all the better and you have come to the right place. The Chinese restaurant, Sichuan Douhua on the 80th storey of the UOB Plaza is the place to go.

First of all, the view from the top is great. One can get an almost 360 degree view from up there. But that is just the side show.

Once you have finished drinking in the view, you must turn your full attention to the tea master who wields a copper tea pot with a spout which is about a metre long. He goes from table to table, filling up your tea cup with a flourish, aiming the spout with deadly accuracy against the inside of your cup, at an angle which causes the tea leaves inside the cup to swirl in a whirlpool. He also occasionally performs a show with his tea pot, almost like how a bartender tosses his cocktail shaker and alcohol bottle around, except more stylishly and with higher stakes seeing as the liquid content is scaldingly hot. The master flips his teapot across his shoulder, stretching the long, thin spout behind his back as though it were a pole or a spear. This display of martial arts is highly entertaining. Visiting this restaurant just for the kung fu tea is alone worth it.

And oh, the dim sum here is not bad either.

Public Art Along Singapore River

The river bank on the side of the Fullerton Hotel in the evenings is a great spot to sit and watch the boats go by and have a quiet chat with a good friend. I find this side of the river very interesting, not so much for the bars and restaurants along Boat Quay, but between the Boat Quay stretch (before the bars start) and the Fullerton Hotel where the public art is.

You start off under the UOB Plaza in its vast foyer, a little further in from the river, where you will find a Newton statue by Salvatore Dali. It's such a landmark, many office workers tell their friends to meet them "by the statue with the hole in the stomach".

Along the river bank itself coming out from UOB Plaza, you will see the Fat Bird statue by Botero, a lovely, happy art work. How can one not smile when faced with a giant, fat, round bird?

Keep walking down the river towards the Fullerton Hotel and you will be greeted by artworks depicting local Singaporean scene of days gone by. There is the working ox and cart and its owner. Another one of a trio of men discussing business.

Then if you look very carefully by the side of the end of the Elgin Bridge, you will find a kuchinta, a local breed of cat with its sharp face and feline features.

A few more metres down, still on the same end of the Elgin Bridge near to the Fullerton Hotel, you will see a group of cheeky boys, pushing one another and jumping into the river for a skinny dip, including a little fella in mid-jump which is why the work is so dynamic. Such simple pleasures of olden days gone by.

Come discover the public art in Singapore, they will put a smile on your face.