Seletar Mall

There's a new shopping mall called Seletar Mall in one of the furthest corner of Singapore on the east side. For those not familar (especially tourists), you can take the MRT train (NEL Line (purple colour)) to Sengkang MRT Station and dont exit the station on arrival, take the escalator to the LRT platform (top level in the station) and take the LRT train to Fernvale Station (SW5) on the west loop (dont take the East loop). The mall is just next to Fernvale LRT Station.

The duration of the driveless train is quite frequent so dont worry about rushing to board the LRT Train.

Inside the mall, almost the same as any malls around Singapore with lots of restaurants, food court, eateries, etc but as the mall is new, the queue to eat in the restaurants are pretty long.

Spotted a huge christmas tree in the mall, is beautiful, was made out of recycled bottles.

We did not want to queue to eat in the mall, so we exit the mall and headed to fernvale point (neighbourhood shops/coffeeshop) just next to the mall.

It is not air conditioned but the outdoor seating had lots of fans so is quite comfy to eat here and the food is good too with reasonable prices.

I dont stay around here so is nice to walk around the neighbourhood. Interesting to spot a cobbler having some business repairing shoes. This is a dying trade, not many street cobbler can be found around Singapore anymore. I know there's still some at People Park Complex.

Sengkang is a pretty young town, with lots of new flats. These flats are known as HDB flats (not private condominium), although they are subsidized and known as public housing, they are really not cheap and are in the six figure sum in S$. Standard of living in Singapore has really risen a lot.

Tiong Bahru Housing Estate and Market

Tiong Bahru is one of the oldest housing estate in Singapore and were gazetted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for Conservation.

It has a very famous market with lots of food stalls selling very good food.

On the ground floor is the wet market selling vegetables, poultry, fruits, etc.

The cooked food stalls were on the second floor of the market.

It is not difficult to figure out the famous and good food stall, just look out for the queues during lunch and dinner time.

This used to be a famous coffee shop but has since closed for renovation. Doubt after renovation, they were the same owners.

The apartment blocks have very unique spiral staircases which makes them outstandng from the rest of the apartment blocks in other parts of Singapore.

The estate consists of about 30 apartment blocks with a total of over 900 units. The apartment blocks are made up of two to five-storey flats and the units are assorted three to five-room apartments.

Took these photos recently, the hanging of flags were due to the recent celebration of Singapore's birthday on 9th August. On normal days we dont hang the flags on our apartments, they can only be hung for one month from 9th August to celebrate the occasion.

Spotted a couple of hotels in the vicinity.

Found this nice bakery shop selling very tasty and good nonya kuehs.

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.


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Clementi Town

Wow these two blocks of 40 storey HDB flats just above the clementi mall. They looked so impressive and beautiful. Very convenient place to stay cause it is near the MRT station with good amentities surrounding it. I bet it must be very expensive.

Nice to spend a day just looking at the town centre seeing people shopping, working, doing their own stuff or just taking a stroll just like me.

Many choices of food in the Clementi Hawker Centre.

This is an old mall just next to the new Clementi Mall.

Very interesting sculpture infront of the Clementi Mall.

Wondering why so many people queuing infront of the shop?

Cheap hair cut at only few dollars. Wow if I just stay around here and just want to trim my hair, worth coming here. Few shops offering only few dollars hair cut. I saw one shop offering only $4.90 for a hair cut. Never had such cheap hair cut before.

Skywatch Friday - Crooked Building

No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes if you thought you saw some crooked buildings...lol.

These condominiums are designed to make them looked like they are being twisted and crooked. Very clever designs and they dont come cheap. Too bad I cant afford them. I would love to stay in there.

The condominiums are known as Reflections at Keppel Bay. They are world class luxury waterfront homes. You can view more information from their official website.

Took these photos from inside of a ferry when I was on my way to Batam, Indonesia.

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My World Tuesday - Shunfu Estate - Part 4 - Plants

Walking around the estate, I could spot those residents living on the ground floor, growing lots of plants. That's one advantage of staying on the ground floor.

These are HDB flats and about 80% of the population stay in these type of flats. They are known as public housing but they dont come cheap. They are in six figures and some are even more expensive than private condominium if they are located near MRT station, amenities and mall. The value of a four room flat (about 100 sq m) can cost about half a million dollars if they are purchased from the open market.

It is cheaper if one bought direct from HDB (housing development board) and they cost about $290,000 for a new four room flat (about 90 sq m) depending on which housing estate they are in. We are allowed to purchase direct from HDB flat twice only and we need to pay a sales levy if we purchased the second flat direct from HDB. (The figure $290,000 is based on a built to order flat that my hubby's nephew bought. Built to order means the flat are all ready except for furniture/cabinets , you just paint and can shift in.)

Most of the plants are grown in pots, they cant grow on the soil cause that's public property.

Spotted a pale pink hibiscus flower, it looked so beautiful.

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