Upper Bukit Timah area

According to a URA Nov/Dec newsletter, this row of shophouses along Jalan Jurong Kechil were used as comfort houses during the 2nd World War. It said that there were plans to conserve this row. Currently, you can find a mix of shops there, from spas, clinics, to shops selling paint.   The lower building (in the upper picture, to the left) was a modern development, built in 1992. Picture taken Feb, 2014.

J K Building at Jalan Jurong Kechild -- a relatively new commercial development. This is just my conjecture -- it probably stands on where a row of prewar shophouses used to be (see PictureSG). Next door, some development is literally "under wraps". Further down the road, towards Toh Tuck Road, The Hillford has "choped" the land -- "Singapore's first retirement resort".

Kg Glam area

Aliwal  Street, named after a town in Punjab. Pic taken in April, 2013.  A little trivia -- most recent "happenings" seemed to be a fire which broke out in 2012 in the upper storey of one of the shophouses. Police busted a gambling den there, also in 2012. A backlane off Aliwal Street was known for its street barbers (now gone of course). There's quite a bit about the architecture of shophouses in this brochure by the URA.

Bali Lane  -- eclectic shopping and internet cafes. Pic taken in 2014.

Bali Lane. 2014

Belly dancer's abode? 2013.

Pahang Street.

Jalan Sultan. Tried the foot massage at one of the ground floor units of the row. After a long walk, the best thing was soaking your feet in a wooden bucket filled with hot water. But the massage was so so. Now, bus 980 (picture, right) looks like an interesting bus as its sign says "Sembawang via Rochore". Will give it a go one day soon.

S A T Alsogoff building at Pahang Street. Built, as the inscription at the roof says, in 1935 -by the same family who founded the nearby Alsagoff Islamic School. 

Pahang Street, April 2013, near Sultan Gate end. Many tombstone carvers operated there before, working on their granite blocks.

The back of Yummy Punjaby, No. 2, Pahang Street. Got to try and see whether really yummy.

 

Baghdad Street. March 2014.

Baghdad Street.  March 2014.

Arab Street. March 2014.

Nasi padang at North Bridge Road. Too late in the afternoon for me to try its nasi. Man sweeping up and "sou dong" already. Notice the "3rd storey" which seemed to be added separately? Wonder what it houses... and who added it....

North Bridge Road, March 2014. Tai Sing, according to their website, has grown in 1972 from a humble retail company to a regional business dealing with products from games and toys to health food. 

North Bridge Road. March 2014.

Sultan Gate, once known as the street of blacksmiths. Picture taken in April 2013. 

Sultan Gate. April 2013.

North Bridge Road. March 2014.

Chinatown

A drizzly day at Trengganu Street. Picture taken March 2013. According to Rediscover Singapore website, the building you see in the picture is  formerly a famous teahouse with a 834-seat Cantonese opera house called Lai Chun Yuen.

Temple Street. March 2013.

"Gateway" into heart of  Chinatown. Restored shophouses flanking Pagoda Street. Pic taken June, 2013.

Gemmill Lane. March 2013.

Gemmill Lane. 

Ann Siang Road which became Ann Siang Hill when it meets South Bridge Road. It was a real hill in the 1800s and 1900s and a Cantonese burial ground sprawled at its foot. Even as late as the 70s, the slope  of Ann Siang Hill was quite steep and narrow. Remember learning my driving there and the instructor would always test my "hanging-on-the-slope" skill in balancing clutch, accelerator and brakes at the slope. The test route was the area near Maxwell Road then. Now the road is full of "chi-chi" eateries and drinking holes. Not sure how true, but heard my friends telling me that in those days, if you were learning driving and knocked down someone there, stay inside the car or risk being beaten up by thugs around the area. The shophouses along the road are more than 100 years old.

Backlane scene of shophouses at Craig Road.

Backlane scene of shophouses at Bukit Pasoh.

Tin Sing Goldsmith, established since 1937 at South Bridge Road. 

Food Street.

South Bridge Road.

Amoy Street, where you can see beautiful conserved shophouses.  According to a report in Yahoo News (3 Aug, 2012), 6,700 shophouses in Singapore have been conserved.

Amoy Street. There are a number of eateries and spas in the area.

Clarke Quay, taken from river taxi. Jan 2014.

Little India

Clive Street, junction of Hastings Road. Very low lying shophouses, circa????. Picture taken in Feb 2014.

Veerasamy Road. Picture taken Feb, 2014.

Norris Road, where the Singapore Tamil's Movement is (on the upper floor). Almost end of the road is the Amman Temple. Pic taken Feb, 2014.

Yes, Kg,Kapor Road. (Yup, better take road signs along with the picture, to boost memory.) Pic taken 2014.

Rowell Road. Pic taken 2014.

Tyrwhitt Road.  Pic taken 2014.

Hmmm, can't quite remember where this was taken. Rowell Road? Kg Kapor Road? Pic taken 2014.

Yes, Baboo Lane. Or rather, picture taken from Baboo Lane.

Wanderlust Hotel at Dickson Road. Picture taken March 2013. This four storey building was built in the Art Deco style, in the 1920s. Previously the Hong Wen School. 

Geylang area

Shophouses along Geylang Road, opposite the old Gay World Amusement Park, dating back to ??? Notice the green window panes, a blast from the past. Hard to find these window panes today.

It may be called Jalan Sultan Prawn Mee (yellow signboard with a prawn at each end), but it's at Geylang.  Very popular among lunchtime crowds. 

Shophouses at Geylang Road, near the old People's Association at Kallang. A whole row of eateries mostly run by chefs from China, massage parlours and backpackers' inns.