Life in Tiong Bahru [ Pt. II ]
Continuation from Life in Tiong Bahru [ Pt. I ]
Just when you start thinking that there is not much to do or discover in your neighbourhood, picture this. A walk to the nearest community centre to be part of some interesting activities. Even sitting down on the bench under a tree, reading your favourite book could be quite a relaxing experience. Going an extra mile, to the nearby recreational place; having a picnic next to Lakeside in the west, playing kites in the East Coast, taking a short walk in Sembawang Park in the north or a little adventure in Labrador Park in the south. I may already started sounding like I'm marketing for National Parks now. Heh. Anyway, these are the things I realise about the convenience living in Singapore. You could go to such places within a short period of time.
Our walk around Tiong Bahru, although wasn't quite a stroll in the park, it was nevertheless an enriching one. Thought provoking too. Down by the corner of a street, we saw a little lorry parked with a little banner appealing for witnesses to a crime committed in Lucky Chinatown. How much safe do we think we are? Even Singapore, a place never thought to be associated with such, has her version of brutality. Malaysia has her own share of dark tales and it's getting worse by the day. Just today, I read from this blog about a guy who got beaten up in the train till he was unconscious. When he woke up hours later, he realised he has been robbed. His jaw was broken and detached and is now wired shut, his eye socket fractured, sinuses shattered, nose broken, teeth broken.. That happened in downtown Los Angeles train system. What has happened to the world today? Has people today already started letting their emotions take over their actions. I think you realised in the picture below, in the banner, the beating in Chinatown actually happened on Valentine's Day. Was it an act out of jealousy? Or revenge? The heart is definitely stronger than the head these days. Conscience is definitely taking a backseat. Actions speak louder than words huh.
I noticed the community centres around Singapore have a common architecture, particularly this Tiong Bahru centre. Bright red bricks, crystalised windows with patterns and some marble wall finishing.
With a well-planned city such as Singapore, I was surprised that a less sophisticated parking payment system is used around HDB blocks. I agree that that there is less energy used to dispense parking coupons and it being a fool-proof system that avoids vandalism is a great idea but I think the hole-punching on the coupons for the parking time used is a bit undesireable. Anyway, that's just a very minor issue.
Walking from Tiong Bahru to Funan never seemed that a big deal that evening. The scenic route we took definitely showed quite a bit of intriguing sights before we stopped at McDonald's while waiting for Big Brother Vincent. There, I familiarised myself using the D70 on Ben to kill time.
