wanderlust: chinatown
i've been itching to shoot and am fast running out of places to go. the weather has been pretty rainy during the evenings lately so sunset pics will have to wait.
for some reason or another, i've explored chinatown in the past and i found it to be quite an exciting place. i love walking through old buildings like the ones in people's park. there is a mix of the very old and new. the air is musky with smells of sinsehs and massage parlours where heavily made up ladies beckon the unsuspecting (or not) passerby for a massage and possibly more.
today i made another trip there. i decided to skip the musky buildings and dodgy ladies and decided to take a more scenic route outside.
this orange and green building is rather iconic in the area. pretty high huh? most of the residential apartments in the area are rather high up.
i can't resist going up in one of those high buildings. heh. this is taken from the 16th floor of a hdb block at cross street. super scenic view of chinatown.
rows and rows of orange tiled roof. most of the shophouses have undergone much facelift. a few years back i remembered some of them had crumbling facades.
i didn't take much shots of the heart of chinatown proper. there were just too many touts and i think they wouldn't like much for a local to be snapping away at them. hehe.
i saw this big tentage full of colourful lanterns i think. one of the local temples were having some procession or something.
i spotted another tall building nearby and decided to go up again. the area was going through the lift upgrading programme so only one lift was in operation. i managed to squeeze in the very tiny lift with the residents of the block. felt quite paiseh with my bulky bag and cam. they must have been wondering what on earth am i doing there. hahah.
i like these old lifts and the lift landings. i don't think you'd find similar old fashioned tiled walls in singapore anymore. so old school lah.
i went all the way up of course. the journey up to the 24th floor was a little bumpy and quite nerve wrecking especially for a second floor dweller like me.
the view was amazing. so high up that you can see most parts of the cbd area. amazing.
and then i had to look down. err yikes.
i spotted this blue old volkswagen van in the streets of chinatown. such a refreshing contrast to those modern cars.
my favourite picture of the whole trip. :)
*edit i forgot to put in this one. last one in the blue van series. :)
i walked on to ann siang hill. this is one posh and atas neighborhood. there were so many luxury cars. i spotted quite a few porshes. i think the crowd is there for the terribly high end restaurants and cafes.
amidst all the tall buildings and roads, there is actually a small park connector that runs behind ann siang hill and fringes the cbd area. this winding stairs lead me to telok ayer green. a small quaint park.
where i met these strange people with their pet (dead?) fishes on stakes. heheh. i saw an old gentleman in smart shirt and pants taking an afternoon siesta at the park. i too took a rest in there. nice place to look see people in large cars and power suits walking about.
part of a tower of an indian temple. it was just behind the park where i sat.
i find chinatown to be an amazing place to just walk about. it's interesting how the different communities back then coexisted side by side with their places of worship just next door to each other. chinatown is also interesting in the sense that there are many 'treasures' not really seen. you just have to walk there one day to experience it.