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NEIGHBOURHOODS
109
April15
THE SCENE
When you walk out of your place,
the first thing you see is:
The beautifully restored shophouse of
my neighbour, Mr Andrews. His home is
markedby elegant Chinese character signs
accented with gold leaf. On any given day,
it’s common to see tourists taking pictures
of his house. I always find myself thinking,
“Hmmm, what’swrongwithmy house?Why
aren’t you taking pictures of my house?”
The closest store to your front door is:
The three popular bars at the end of our
street that are filled with punters from early
afternoon until 2am. Despite having these
bars just steps away, can you believe I’ve
still not managed to find the time to visit?!
Your street would make the perfect
backdrop for a remake of:
Desperate Housewives
.
Your neighbours are great, but you
wouldn’t mind a little less:
Odd, creative parking solutions! Our
street is a small, tight lane and it doesn’t
take much to disrupt the traffic flow.
The unofficial uniform of your
street is:
Large, dangling cameras. Whether
they’re tourists, or fashion photographers
trying to capture the neighbourhood
backdrop, we see the full spectrum
of amateur to professional camera
paraphernalia on display.
If a celebrity moves in next door,
it will most likely be:
Martha Stewart, ready to tackle the
Singapore edition of
Living with Martha
Stewart
. Or Kim, Kanye and North, ready
tomake
TheKardashians takeSingapore
!
When you’re in need of a dose of
culture, you:
Skip off to the wet market in Tiong Bahru
to capture the daily rhythm of local life
in Singapore.
If you’re missing home, you:
Slip over to Chinatown for a quick dose
of my hometown culture, as I was born
in Shanghai. I also enjoy eating at Din
Tai Fung.
A mandatory stop for out-of-town
guests is:
The Singapore Zoo and its resident
pandas. We end the day with a stop at
Newton Circus Food Centre to sample
Singapore’s diverse food culture.
A common myth about your
neighbourhood is:
That it’s noisy and occupied by expats,
because of its location off Orchard
Road. Neither of these assumptions
aligns with our experiences. While it
is a little touristy at the junction with
Orchard Road, if you keep walking, it
is surprisingly peaceful. And more than
half of our neighbours are Singaporean.
If you’re ever woken up at night,
it’s almost always due to:
My restless 18-month-old son.