My World Tuesday - Little India in Singapore - Tekka Market

Singapore is a multi racial country where the different ethnic group live together in harmony. We also have different ethnic towns for our people. For the Chinese we have the Chinatown, the Malays they have Geylang Serai, the Indians have Little India to represent them but we actually shop at any ethnic town regardless of race.
.
Last weekend, I was at Little India to take some photos to put in my blog. It really looked like I am in India but not as big as India so we called it Little India. It is located in Serangoon Road.

Many tourists love visiting this place to take photos and to shop. It is very convenient to visit this place, just take the MRT and alight at Little India MRT Station.

You might like to visit Tekka Centre located just above the MRT Station. You can read from wikipedia how Tekka Centre got its name. The centre gone through several changes to its unique name.


An Indian Grocery Shop selling different types of spices and other groceries.


On the first floor of the Tekka Centre is the hawker centre and the wet market.





You can find different ethnic food in the hawker centre.


On the second floor of the Tekka Centre are more shops selling clothes, shoes, etc.








Looking down at the courtyard from the 2nd floor.


View of the wet market from the second floor. The wet market is rather big.




Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Sesame Street Performance

It is the long school holiday in Singapore (28th May to 26th June 2011). Lots of activities for the kids at the mall. I happen to be in City Square Mall today and saw kids queueing to take photos with the characters of Sesame Street.

I was not there when the show was on, eitherwise I would take a short video of the show.

Parents with young kids might like to take the kids to watch the show. Please take note of the timing of the performance. The show will be on from 28th May to 26th June and from tuesday to friday the show will be at 7 pm and for weekend, the shows will be 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.

Skywatch Friday - Land

Land for sale. Singapore is a very tiny country and you cant even see it on the world map. So buying a land in Singapore is a very expensive business.


I think it will be another condominium on this land. Already there are two malls near this piece of land.


Spot the difference in the above and below photos. The above photo is public housing and the below is private housing. It is not cheap to buy public housing in Singapore and definitely very expensive to buy private housing too. It costs at least 6 figures for a public flat and some private housing can cost 7 figures depending on the location. It will be more expensive if it is near a shopping mall or MRT station. Forget about getting a private housing in Orchard Road unless you are really very rich.

But it is really funny that some public flat can actually costs more than a million dollars but this is very rare. I wonder why people want to pay so much for a public flat. One reason is that they downgraded from a landed property and wanted a flat near amenities and they can afford to pay such prices for a good location.

Public housing in Singapore are very well designed and each town have their own amenities and transport system.

How do the average Singaporean afford such flat? Most get loans and have to pay in 20 or 30 or 40 years depending on the size of the flat. But on the bright side, if you get a flat direct from the Housing Development Board (HDB) with subsidies (for first and second purchases of flat only) you normally make a profit when you sell it in the open market after staying in the flat for a required number of years (I think is 5 years) and get another subsidised flat direct from HDB.

But proper calculations and homework have to be done before you decide to buy your second flat direct from HDB, you have to include the sales levy depending on the size of the flat and check if you actually can make a profit. Even though you make a profit, you have to remember the profit might be small and enough to pay for the renovation of the next flat. But there are some people that make more than enough profit. (This is not meant as a proper guide for anyone getting a flat in the near future

Even though we are discouraged from making a profit out of the HDB flat but if we can sell and recover our housing loans, why not. Dont think anyone want to be a slave to our flat.

Each Singaporean can apply a flat direct from the HDB twice only. HDB flats are not for sale to foreigners.


For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

Bukit Panjang Shopping Mall

In almost every town in Singapore, there's a mall within the town to cater to the residents. It make shopping convenient for the residents, they dont have to travel far to town to shop. Singapore is a very small country but our people are so busy working and having a mall near their home helps a lot to get their groceries done.

Bukit Panjang - Ten Mile LRT Station

The above photo shows the Ten Mile Junction Shopping Mall. It was closed for renovation.

In few years time it would be linked to the not yet completed Bukit Panjang MRT Station. At present the LRT Station at Ten Mile Junction will closed due to the renovation but I found a video in You Tube showing the LRT station at Ten Mile Junction.

The above video was not taken by me.

My World Tuesday - Bukit Panjang

Been a long time since I visited this central north-western part of Singapore. The last time I came here was about twenty years ago...lol. Singapore is a tiny island but there are so many corners of the island that I have yet to visit.


Much changes in Bukit Panjang since I last visited. Bukit Panjang is just another town in Singapore where it is self contained with amenities for the residents of the town. Bukit means hill in malay and Panjang means long. Bukit Panjang literally means "long hill" which gets its name from the long range of high hills which ends in Bukit Timah to the south. You can read more information of Bukit Panjang from wikipedia.


Residents can shop at the mall in Bukit Panjang instead of travelling far to the heart of the city to shop.

The flats are linked via the Light Rail Trains (LRT). Residents can take the LRT to Bukit Panjang Mall or connect to the MRT Station in Choa Chu Kang to take them down to town. In a few years time, Bukit Panjang will have their own MRT Station which is the downtown line.



This is one of the LRT Station in Bukit Panjang (it is not the same as the MRT you see in Orchard Road, etc). The whole line is about 7.8 km. and has about 14 stations.


Inside one of the station.

A short video showing the LRT coming out of the station.


Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

My World Tuesday - Yishun

Been a long time since I visited Yishun, a heartland located north of Singapore. I used to visit Yishun almost every weekend when my kids were younger, cause at that time Yishun was a very vibrant heartland. Now twenty years later, the town is so much quieter and even the shophouses near the bus interchange are very empty.

The building where the shophouses are located is a two storey building. At that time, it seems to cater to the needs of the residents and shoppers but twenty years later, the building have to give way to better and taller buildings due to the space constraints of our tiny island.

The whole place looked like a ghost town with people still moving things out.

But nearby the famous chicken rice stall at another four storey building is not affected at the moment. I am surprised the chicken rice stall is still there after twenty years. You have to queue to order your food. This is a coffee shop/eating house. Owner of the coffee shop sells drinks/coffee/tea while renting out other stalls in the coffeeshop to different stall holders.

It is not cheap to rent these stalls some can cost S$3000 to S$6000 per month depending on the location of the shop.

Other stalls selling just as yumy and delicious food.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.

Skywatch Friday - Crescent Moon

A very simple photo of the sky for Skywatch Friday. The moon is so high up in the sky, I could not take with the surrounding scenery. There is just the wee bit of light on the crescent moon.

For other sky watchers, please hop over to Skywatch blog.

My World Tuesday - Singapore Election 2011

What's happening in Singapore today? It is the election fever. Once every five years, we get to choose our government. On 7th May, all adult Singaporeans get to go to the poll to cast our votes.

Last week, my siblings dragged me to the Rally to watch the opposition giving speech. I hated large crowds and I seldom like to be caught in such huge crowd. But last week, I decided to give it a try cause I have never attend a rally before...lol

The Rally will start at 7.30 pm but we were there by 6 pm to ensure we get seats in the stadium cause the rally will last for two and half hours and we dont want to stand in the field for so long.

Looked at the two guys (circled) carrying the a hammer, it is the symbol of the opposition that night giving the speech. It looked like they are attending a football match and people supporting their favourite team.

Some even came prepared, bringing food and mats as if they were having a picnic. I sported some carrying their own stools and chairs to the rally.

Soon the sky is getting dark and the crowd is getting bigger.

We were the lucky few thousands to get seats in the stadium, the rest stand in the field for two and half hours to watch the rally.

Wow I have never seen such huge crowd in this stadium before and I think it is about 30,000 people or more. The crowd spills out of the stadium too. It is strange the opposition always attract large crowd but in past records they dont win much seats.

My camera screen is too small to capture the whole scene.

At 10 pm, the rally ended and the crowd dispersed too. I am surprised that despite such a huge crowd, it is nice not to see a single fight or riots that night. No matter who we vote, we are all Singaporeans. Put on your thinking cap and decide who you want to be your government.

Should I vote for the ruling party to ensure a safe and secure country? Or should I vote for the opposition because of some unpopular policies? Or should I spoilt my vote cause the candidates in the either party looked like they are not made for politics.

I believe politicians are born and not made. This year spotted some very good candidates in both parties (the ruling party and opposition).

Frankly speaking, I am neutral and am still thinking hard about my vote...lol.

Just a short video showing the mood of the crowd that night.

Please visit "That's my World" for other parts of the world.