Jane’s Walk Singapore with Tony Tan: Geylang Serai & Joo Chiat Uncovered

The government sponsors a lot of community programmes 
in Singapore. This particular community though has come 
together on their own to grow a variety of veggies - such 
as these sweet peas!

Colourful rainbow umbrella hanging on the window grills of this vibrant teal facade. I love the distressed door and the understated ornate door knob.

Saw one of few sand covered playgrounds left in Singapore. All are slowly being replaced by rubber matting. 

There are laws to protect the integrity of shophouses in heritage areas. But they only cover building facades - meaning property owners can do as they please to the other sides of the exterior as well as the interiors.

I love snooping around the back of pretty facades. Always humanises the other-wise too perfect experience. 

Pops of bold colour. Grill-work pattern. 

Beauty in the ordinary

This palm tree mural at the side of a building is the only thing that hints to what used to cover this whole area - a coconut plantation.

Educational graffiti 

Rectangles & triangles.

View from above - see the ships along the coast beyond? 

Like little toy houses with little toy people

Geylang Serai Market

Soft curves of the roof tiles vs the sharp lines of the grill work

White canvas

Tour guide extraordinaire - Tony Tan

Like many old buildings from Singapore's past - this building will most likely be demolished to make way for new structures.

Like how Thai's have Golden Mile and Filipinos have 
Lucky Plaza, part of Geylang Serai is called Indo-town. It is a 
popular hang out on Sunday's for domestic foreign helpers on 
their day off. 

One of few overhead bridges that have retained their original form 
since first being built. On the other side of the road once stood the 
Hollywood Theatre, a cinema which would always feature new films 
from the west. In its place the new developers are building a new 
mall which will boast several kilometers of shopping.

Purple & red

Easy like Sunday morning

I love that many places in the East have a law about how high you can build buildings. I think currently it is at 4 floors? With space becoming a commodity, it was shared this will move likely change in the near future.


Tony Tan's deets are here.

Jane's Walks are here.

Mid-Year Resolution Review

One of my resolutions this year was to get my finances order, specifically:

1. paying off all debt
2. cash savings for a rainy day
3. investing in some local insurance / forced savings scheme

I thought 1 & 2 could be done concurrently, after which I could focus on 3. But after re-looking at my budget as well as the events lined up for this year, it looks like number 1 is number 2's rainy day. 

In order for me to meet my goals, I've had to rework my budget so I only spend about 15% of my income on day to day operations, while the rest is funneled to bills and pre-planned big expenses. 

Easy to work out on excel but has proven to be quite challenging to do in real life. Lots of things and experiences I'd like to spend on which I've had to be especially choosy with. I find myself spending a lot of time at home as the minute I step out of the flat, money can't help but pour out. I think its the ban on traveling which has been especially hard as I love love love to explore and travel. Because I've been quite fortunate to do this frequently over the last few years, not having taken a trip after 6 month is making me a little crazy. Every time I've had to turn down an invitation to travel with people, I want to strangle myself just a little. 

The good news is, after June (which will be my tightest month yet), I would've sorted 75% of my number 1 goal, which I'm quite quite excited about! Nothing makes your heart do a little cartwheel like seeing zero balance on a statement!

The discipline and hard work is far from over though, so wish me financial luck as I dive into the second have of the year. 

As for my OTHER new year's resolutions... well, that's another story. How are your new year's resolutions going? 

From our little toaster oven that could, we have ourselves a white fish baked in mustard, lemon and horseradish (ok fine.. .wasabi), sprinkled with cheese. Because everything tastes better with cheese.

With mushroom-hating R away for the weekend, I finally got to try this recipe. Chicken prepped with thyme, salt and pepper then covered in wheat flour. Mushrooms cooked in butter, thyme, parsley, white wine, chicken broth. Oh my, butter really does make everything taste wonderful.

Something sweet & savoury to kick the long weekend off. Cinammon french toast using walnut loaf. Drizzled (ok, drenched) with honey. Cheese omelet.

Shifting

In the meantime, let's continue our meandering at this link: 

http://simple-serendipity.tumblr.com/