A Day As A Tourist In Singapore Part 2

Yes! This is the second in the series of "A Day As A Tourist In Singapore". Today we went to visit Ann Siang Hill, Duxton Hill and Tiong Poh Road. These are actually places that are just next to the busy roads like South Bridge Road and Neil Road, but they have a completely different feel from the latter.

We started today's tour at Shots, a nice cafe at Ann Siang Hill. As usual, no detailed elaboration of the food here, but will be at my Food Blog. Here is a picture of the interior of the cafe with its brand name.

Shots at Ann Siang Hill

We also visited a long Club Street and Ann Siang Road, and saw really old shophouses along the way. At the same time, there are also a few newly renovated buildings that look just so out of place in this setting.

A 110 years old shophouse

European style bistro

Not sure if there is maintenance at all

The road is named after a businessman called Chia Ann Siang. It means "serene, peace", which aptly describes this place, because it's so quiet compared to the busy South Bridge Road just a few kilometers away.

The corner of Ann Siang Road

The back alley of Ann Siang Road

This part does look 1980's to me

Contrast between now (right) and then (left)

Can you believe this is actually a condominium?

A chinese building which is actually a condominium

A grocery store that was opened in 1940

We also went "up" the Ann Siang Hill Park, which has nothing much to see, but you can see the modern high rise buildings from there.

High rise buildings from Ann Siang Hill Park

After exploring Ann Siang Hill, we walked to Duxton Hill, which was just about 10 minutes walk. Duxton Hill is a even more interesting place, you don't even feel like you are in Singapore.

Duxton Hill

The greenery of Duxton Hill

Shophouses along Duxton Hill

We ended up having dinner at a cafe called Group Therapy, which is at the 2nd storey. More about how great the beef shank stew is at my Food Blog again.

Door tag made from egg shells

Menu on a blackboard

As we were so full after having the beef shank stew, we decided to walk all the way to Tiong Bahru, yes, a 20+ minutes walk from Duxton Hill. But it was worth the effort, because apparently the train broke down around the same time, so we were really better of walking instead of getting stuck in the train. Along the way, we saw some interesting shops such as the Sun Yat Sen's Press.

Tong De Press

Back to our story, we ended up at Tiong Poh Road which is just next to Tiong Bahru Road. We came here for the cafe Drips Bakery Cafe, and had a nice dessert time, again more at my Food Blog. Also because it is in the Tiong Bahru neighbourhood, which is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in Singapore.

Drips Bakery Cafe

We also wanted to find out an old shophouse recommended here, which I thought must be tuck somewhere secluded, turns out that it's actually just along the main road.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Store

This was indeed a very fulfilling tour, as we find out the unusual part of Singapore, unusual because modernity and tradition are found at one place. If you are bored of the modern landscape, you should visit these places to have a feel of what it looked like in the early days.

Visit them at @ Ann Siang Hill, Duxton Hill and Tiong Poh Road.

A Day As A Tourist In Singapore Part 1

Yong Siak Street, I haven't even heard of the name before I went there. But it's a nice neighbourhood, it's like 1980's settings in 2012 time, although I don't exactly know how 1980's look like.

When you are at the junction, you will be greeted by this 4-storey residence. It's quite rare in Singapore nowadays isn't it? And it just appears retro to me.

4-storey retro looking residence

There are a few cafes along this street, and some indie bookstores and merchandise shops. We went to visit a few of them, like Books Actually, which sells books (obviously) and some vintage stuff.

1960's comic books

A whole shelf of vintage toys

Vintage soft drink glass bottles

Books actually

The store front

We didn't manage to buy any thing from the store, because the prices are a bit on the higher end, but at the same time I feel quite sad for bookstores that people are buying fewer books nowadays.

We also came here for the food, and our target of the day was 40hands. It sells coffee, sandwiches and paos. But I shall not elaborate too much about the food here, I will have a post about the food in my Food Blog. Just to post some pictures of the cafe interior.

The counter

Ninja, yeah creepy

There are also some apparently abandoned shops that still has the retro zig-zag gates and we also took pictures of the back of a building which still has the spiral stairs.

Spiral stairs at the back of the building

Spiral stairs

Zig-zag gate

Shophouses with zig-zag gates

Corridor with the retro feel

Interestingly, there's a very modern high-rise condominium at the end of this street, called Regency @ Tiong Bahru. We thought it's such a big contrast to have a modern building in the background of a retro setting.

Regency next to the old buildings of Yong Siak Street

If you are tired of the busy city life, you should come visit this quiet and peaceful neighbourhood. Find a cafe and read your favourite book, accompanied by the smell of laidbackness.

Visit them at @ Yong Siak Street.