Tiong Bahru Wet Market

We finally made it to the Tiong Bahru Wet Market after a few snags. First we left the house without our backpack. We didn't get far before we realized, but when we got to the lift we and realized our key was in the backpack and not around my neck where I usually put it.

Ms.C insists it's her fault we forgot it. She asks if I have my key every day before she lets the lift door close. I have assured her it was not her fault. Anyhow, you can't get up the lift without the key. We called Security on the Lift intercom and they directed us to the office. The office got us to fill out a form and had a security guard let us back into our place.

That took an extra 30 minutes so then we were running late, then I forgot that online directions always take longer because we can't take escalators and have to walk all over the world to find use the Lifts. It was about a 15 minute walk from the MRT station to Tiong Bahru Wet Market.

Tiong Bahru is a very trendy hipster neighbourhood, home of the oldest housing estate in Singapore with its iconic curved low-rise apartment blocks. We briefly considered living here, but while I love the look of these buildings, I am not into dragging a stroller, 3 children and the groceries up the stairs. We also got on the wrong bus every time we tried to come here, which didn't help, and it's not that close to the MRT. I still find buses difficult and would rather walk a long ways than deal with them (Sorry Ms.C).  

We met another homeschool family here with a 1 year old and 5 year old. I find the whole "homeschool" term confusing here, because people call homeschooling too if they don't send their kids to preschool. School starts the January you turn 7 years old, but most people really do "preschool" here and it's very academic.

The Wet Market was lovely. I understand it's not the cheapest market around, but it's fun and clean and packed with interest. The perfume of a garden of cut-flower stalls is the first thing that greets you, rather than the smell of wet fish. The girls took a long time picking out some flowers to take home. Ms.C spent $4 total on 3 red roses and Ms.E handed over $2 on some purple dried flowers. The rose heads were wrapped individually in plastic mesh to keep them safe. I was worried they would be super wilted after spending hours out in the heat, but they were just fine when we got them home and into water. They wont last too long, but they remind me of the roses off our sundeck back in Canada. I wonder if that's was what drew Ms.C to them too.

After buying some fruit to take home: grapes, mango and pineapple, we spent some time at the fish stalls. Some of the fish heads on display were huge - over a foot wide. There's so much seafood to choose from.  The girls watched an uncle scraping the scales off a fish with a giant cleaver, and another cleaning a crab. Ms.C said, "Poor crab. I think I might be a vegetarian." Everything looked quite fresh even at midday. The snails were curling in and out of their shells. We saw some live fish swirling around in a bucket. The prawns tempted me, but we were not heading straight home.

We had picked up some pre-cut pineapple to add to our lunch upstairs in the Hawker Centre. The Chicken Curry we bought was too spicy for the kids, but they kept going back to the stall for $0.30 bowls of white rice. I ate Lotus Root and Pork Rib soup. Ms.C tried to find dumplings as we were leaving, but by the time we found the stall, there was only 1 of the type she likes left. She ate it anyhow. I bought a "copi take away" (coffee in a to-go cup) for my walk back to the MRT station. The girls shared a big cup of freshly squeezed mango juice.

As we were leaving I noticed a box of muddy lotus roots, so now I know they really are like a sweet potato; I've been wondering.

Outside of the Wet Market is the neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru. You could spend a lovely afternoon in Tiong Bahru snacking in the french bakeries, browsing the bookstores, shopping in these boutiques store, with an eye out for the outdoor murals scattered around - actually I'm hoping to do that very soon. We just took a little stroll about the neighbourhood near the Market and discovered a simple playground to run around in before heading home (address: Block 44 Moh Guan Terrace).

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