Quiet Charms

Excerpts from an article from the Straits Times Urban, dated 30th Oct, by Imran Jalal.

Compared to glitzy neighbour Vivocity, the ambience at Telok Blangah and Bukit Merah is decidedly laid-back. But that itself is an attraction.

Before there was Tiong Bahru in the 1930s or Queenstown in the 1950s, there was Telok Blangah.

Snobs may well consider the shopping here to be stuck in a 19th-century time warp, what with its small neighbourhood shops being overshadowed by the glitz of the sprawling Vivocity nearby.

However, Urban uncovered some nice surprises, such as the nyonya snack store in Telok Blangah rise run by Shreen Peck, 57, and her husband, 61. Ask Lim why he chose this spot for his business and he says: The ambience here is very laid-back, very quiet and nice. (This couple looks so familiar to me, I have often seen them before...)

Currently, driving or using the feeder bus service are the best ways to navigate these two neighbourhoods, which include the sprawling Mount Faber. The upcoming Telok Blangah MRT station on the Circle Line should make shopping here more of a breeze soon.

To find out more about the variety of shops and eateries in HDB estates, visit www.hdb.gov.sg/where2shop.

Fast Facts:
At 105m, Mount Faber is Singapore's second highest point after Bukit Timah Hill. Today, the 36m-high Henderson Waves bridge - the highest pedestrian bridge here - links Mount Faber and Telok Blangah Hill Park.

Recommended shops:
Teck Neo Pineapple Tarts, 01-303 Blk 35 Telok Blangah Rise, Tel: 6275-1330
Ms Black (black glass jelly soya milk) 01-1702, Blk 111 Jalan Bukit Merah, Tel: 9101-4528
Tian Tian Hainanese Curry Rice, 01-253 Blk 116 Bukit Merah View, Tel 9821-0200

Matilda Moments

The advanced party kicked off the BBQ before last light.


Welcome to Zhou's Kitchen! :)


One Shingz, two Boomz, and one somewhere in between...


Third bottle, & halfway between sleepiness & drunkenness.


Heavenly Dessert: Baked banana with melted chocolate!


Do you know someone who knows everything? I do :)


Kelvin's music really perfected the evening! Incredible ambience.

Starry Starry

I was out near the rural areas over the escarpment last week, with SL and SP. It was a smooth pleasant trip out over the escarpment.

It was so dark at night, and the lights of houses and villages were not distinguishable from thousands of stars in the night sky. I felt like I was just standing in a sea of stars, reminiscent of a scene from Immortal Beloved, when after the young Beethoven escaped from his abusive dad, he found solace as he jumped into a lake in a dark forest and swam.

The scene was unforgettable, as the young protagonist stay afloat (and looked up to the starry night sky) on the lake which reflected all the thousands of stars in the night sky. For a few minutes, I immersed myself into that haven as I looked far and around me.

There amongst the sea of magical lights, laid the good old Orion, as well as the Subaru-logo-inspiring Pleiades', which you cannot see but you can notice with your peripheral vision if u look away from it. I was also excited to catch Aries, which is quite a faint constellation to find. Thankfully it was a dark night, and there was no city light pollution.

In my childhood, I heard of how in the older days, navigators used the stars to find their way across seas. I was impressed when I learnt of that; I wanted to be able to do that when I grow up: to navigate with the help of the stars! though I never really thought about becoming a sailor.

In recent years though, someone close to me told me that he had wanted to be a sailor, but his parents disapproved of it. That was kinda strange and nice to find out, because one, he had never shared much of himself with me, and two, he had opposed my ambition too.

There is a hymn from the fifties with a line of lyrics that read "... in the stars His handiwork I see..." but I did not think of that song when I saw the stars, perhaps because the beauty of a starry night is too poetic for a song to match... sometimes only the quietness of the night can be the right accompaniment to such a sight.

I found a clip of the scene from the aforesaid movie, eloquently tracked with the last movement of the composer's monumental ninth. Quite well done really.