Connections

Singapore exists as all these little pockets of different areas for me.

Because we often took the MRT, which runs underground to get around, I don't have a good sense of how neighbourhoods connect together.

After lunch Jonathan and I decided to go for a walk. We started at Black Tap at the Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands and walked a little bit around the bay, but we've walked that way many times. Instead we struck out randomly into the City Centre.

Just a few blocks later found ourselves in front of Lau Pa Sat (Telok Ayer Market). This heritage building was built in 1824 as the fish market and then rebuilt in 1838. If you've seen the movie "Crazy Rich Asians," this is the first hawker centre they enter upon arriving in Singapore. At lunch most of the stalls were closed, but I peaked in to look at the architecture. At night the street along side is closed, opened up to Satay vendors, and tables are placed in the street.

A night eating Satay at Lau Pa Sat is on my list of things I need to do in Singapore.

Not much farther down the road, and we arrived in the familiar neighbourhood which houses our Dentist's - Telok Ayer Street. It's all heritage shop houses and little eateries with patio tables lining the streets around here.

Passing through the neighbourhood, we took a break in a swing in the park beside the Chinese Methodist Church. We've done this before. The Church still has signs on the door saying you need to register in advance to secure a seat. This is just a few more blocks from where Jonathan's office is (before Covid hit), and where the bus stop to home is.

We were in need of a beverage, so we decided to keep wandering. Jonathan pulled out Google Maps to try to find a rooftop hotel bar he knew. Google Maps kept getting us turned around, so he turned to another Map App.

I was excited as we passed the entrance to Tanjong Pagar MRT Station. When I arrived in Singapore for the first time, we took the MRT to our hotel (for research purposes). I wanted to know how far away the East Coast was from Jonathan's work to help us narrow down our housing search. Our hotel was the Oasia, right across from the MRT. This neighbourhood was my first glimpses of Singapore. It felt so familiar, even though I hadn't wandered around here in almost 2 years.

Our beverages did not turn out. We arrived at the Carlton City Hotel, next door to the Oasia, to find it is currently being used as a Government Quarantine Facility. We left the area quickly and picked up drinks at 711 instead. This location was the first 711 I had visited in Singapore. It still had cooked, individually wrapped, corn on the cob at the door.  

Our hour of randomly wandering around Singapore, connected a few more places on the map for me. I marvelled at how close they were together. Suddenly this island, seems even smaller.