The Journey of Re-discovery

The inspiration for this project came from my year as a graduate student in Sydney.

I spent more time exploring Sydney than I did studying. I never ran out of things to do on weekdays and weekends. Days were spent exploring new neighborhoods, or checking out cafes, second-hand bookstores etc with the aim of spending as little money as possible. Not much money on hand does call for creativity.

I think the push of wanting to experience everything that Sydney had to offer was to do with the fact that I knew I only had a year to do it all.

When I came back to Singapore, I kept hearing the same refrain, "But Singapore is boring, there's absolutely nothing to do." "The malls are full of people. I'm not sure where to go." And I settled back into that familiar, comforting groove.

But it wasn't until I met Mr. M, an American student in Singapore who told me about the hawker stall selling great fried tau pok (and only fried tau pok) that was just a street away from my house that I realised that he, like me in Sydney, was trying to discover as much of Singapore given the limited time he had.

So, I decided to re-look at Singapore, my home, the place where I grew up, with fresh eyes. This blog is about discoveries, of unearthing hidden gems in Singapore, whether it be a old-style cafe-bakery, a funky new designer, or a slice of heritage.

The areas that I'll be attempting to re-discover:

• Near the Valley: River Valley/Kim Seng/Tiong Bahru
• Heritage District & the Quay(s): Boat Quay/Clarke Quay/Fort Canning/Heritage District/Hill Street/Robertson Quay/Mohamad Sultan Area
• South of the Bridge: Chinatown/Outram/Telok Ayer/Amoy/Club Street/Ann Siang Hill/Tanjong Pagar
• Arts Belt: Bencoolen/Middle Road/Selegie/Bugis
• Little India
• Around the Mosque: Sultan Mosque/Haji Lane/Arab Street/Beach Road
• Westenders: Alexandra/Portsdown/Pasir Panjang/Buona Vista/Holland/Rochester
• Around the Orchard: Dempsey/Botanic Gardens/Orchard
• Hillside: Bukit Timah/Farrer
• Central Catchment: Newton/Novena/Thomson
• Red Alert: Geylang/MountBatten/Lavender/Balestier/Bendemeer
• Eastenders: Tanjong Katong/Joo Chiat/Siglap

I hope you will also enjoy this process of re-discovery as much as I will. I will be happy to hear from you at urbanewalks@gmail.com

Cheers,
Cindy