Joo Chiat Today
A cycleabout around Siglap
3 weeks ago, a group of 4 of us decided to cycle around the Siglap neighbourhood to check things out on a Saturday morning. Below are photographs from the cycling trip.
LTN Coffeeshop – our ‘base’ during GE2011
Starting off from LTN 24-hour coffeeshop in Siglap, along East Coast Road. There is no market or hawker centre within the Joo Chiat SMC. There are only a few clusters of coffeeshops within the SMC, with this cluster being the busiest. Being right at the centre of Joo Chiat SMC, we had often used LTN as the meeting point and base during GE2011. The WP press conference in Joo Chiat SMC just before polling day was conducted at this coffeeshop by Mr Low Thia Khiang. It is also one of the nearest coffeeshop to my home. During GE, I often had supper here in full campaign gears. That gave us good opportunity to meet up with residents having their supper out, even at midnight! LTN coffeeshop is busier at night than in the morning.
Just before cycling off, we met a group of cycling enthusiasts who had just returned from Changi point. The group cycles every Saturday from Siglap to Changi and back. Let us all remember to cycle safely.
Jln Tua Kong market
Chatting with fruit stall owner
Another market besides the first market
Our first stop was the Jln Tua Kong cluster of shops. After the closure of the Siglap market nearly 30 years ago to make way for the current Siglap Centre, this has become the only market for Siglap residents (this was not the original location the market stalls had shifted to after moving out of Siglap). There are 2 shops side-by-side selling wet and dry stuff, open only in the mornings. I was told by a resident both market owners used to be business partners but have taken to run each shop separately now. I have not verified story though.
A coffeeshop that has ceased to be
Beside the market is a coffeeshop that I used to frequent. The former operator is a keen supporter of WP. He had volunteered to distribute my campagin materials during GE2011 to all his customers. He had to cease operations at the end of last e year when rental was doubled from $5,500 to $11,000. I met this former operator again last week when selling Hammer newsletter at Blk 58 New Upper Changi Road market. He told me the next operator after him operated only for a few months and had to stop as business could not cover operating costs. It is now used as a warehouse.
Across the road, another coffeeshop shop had been converted to a French fine dining restaurant. That did not last very long as well. This is a quiet neighbourhood, not a place that can deal with high rentals for F&B operations.
Legal loan sign next to Elite Park playground
Next, we cycled around the Tua Kong neighbourhood where I had met some nice residents during GE. I am still in touch with some of them via Facebook, emails and SMSes. We pedalled labouriosuly up the Elite Park hill, one of those places where I had loved to cycle to when I was young. Parts of Tua Kong was still underdeveloped up till the 1980s, with squatter and kampong houses, offering me some adventure to kill my afternoon boredom.
There is a nice playground in the area. We cannot help but notice a ‘legal loan’ advertisement stuck on a PUB box along the road. Such loan advertisements seem to be a lot more common now. You can easily find them around the streets of Singapore, despite it being illegal to put up such notices.
Young resident proudly showing off the neatly manicured garden patch outside their house
We next made our way through Yarrow Gardens into the single direction small roads of Siglap. I decided to visit a resident who had earlier posted on his Facebook about clogged up drains around his house. Shortly after GE2011, following feedback from this resident, I had written once to PUB over these same drains and they had responded rather quickly to repair the drains and remove plants growing inside cracks in the drain.
Apparently, the plants had grown again and were choking up the drains. It was nice to note that when we reached there, PUB had already cleared up the plants and removed debris that had choked up the drain. So we spent our time chatting with the resident and his children, and admiring the garden he had maintained in the public space outside his house.
Another morning of cycleabout was done. We had chatted with several residents and it was time for our group to return to my house and get ready for a Hari Raya lunch event we were going to.
Returning home and saying “hello” to residents as we went along
