Saturday we went on a heritage trail down Amoy Street, Telok Ayer Street, and Ann Siang Street -- the relatively unexplored subdistrict of Chinatown.



Five-Foot-Way
 

I've always had a thing for all things old (except men). Even as a English Literature undergraduate, I often hunted for old literature texts instead of buying new ones. Not only did it save me a lot of money (as on average I read 20 books per semester), it helped me cultivate a love for old books, especially if there are things written in it. The idea of a string of readers before me thumbing through the same book intrigues me to no end, as I peered at annotations in the page margins and imagine what they must have been thinking as we read the same lines on the same pages. And in a similar fashion, as I walked down the path, I imagined those who have came before me, walking the same grounds, and I imagine what they thought about what I am seeing. And wondered at how change has manifested through time, in this same place, that many have been trying to contain the memory the place holds, to freeze it.
 

 

The shophouses here are decidedly less flashy than the ones at the heart of touristy Chinatown. Many of the shophouses in this area have been converted to commerical use. Among them were the usual design houses and advertisement firms, PR agencies, and surprisingly, more than a few law firms. But what truly surprised me were the Chinese cultural, sports and clan associations that are still housed there. Many were closed-door and it was hard to tell if they are still in operations. But we did find one open-door one, which was sadly, not accessible by the public. We did, however, managed to peer in from the outside and sighted a few old folks inside the dim quiet unit, furnished with old wooden chairs. Black-and-white photographs and portraits of ancestors lined the interior, and together with the green-and-white old fashion tiles and creaky fan overhead, I swear, for a moment, I felt like I peeked into the 1940s!

It was also interesting, however, to see how modernity has caught up nonetheless, when we spotted the electronic numeral pads outside most of the commercial units there that use high-technology security for their establishments -- a juxtaposition of the old and the new.

Apart from the draw of architectural interest, it is also worth your while visiting this place, for you will find many quirky lifestyle establishments there. We had fun oohhing and aaahing over the many interesting finds we spotted in the shops there.
 

Animal rubber bands that will return to their original animal shapes after you untie them, and a rabbit egg molder! The fun at breakfast!
 

There are also very functional stuff like paper soap that will turn into foam when you add water to it, and laundry paper soap that works in the same fashion. Very useful for overseas trips, seeing how we now have restriction on liquids we bring onboard the plan. I also love the colourful and quirky eco-friendly paper luggage tag that are made from recycled materials that are tear-resistant, water-resistant, and best of all, help you to locate your luggage fast by the eye-catching tag!
 

And the most amusing of the lot -- The Mighty Wallet!
 

 

And a close look at the mighty wallet ...


 

Made from recycled material the like of milk carton paper, it claims to be tear-resistant, water-resistant, eco-friendly, and can be expanded to hold as many as 16 cards! There are 2 slots for cash and receipts, and 2 outer slots for cards. Very amazing. It only lacks a coin compartment. The entire mighty wallet is folded, and comes in 4 designs -- the envelope, the newspaper, the comic, and the computer paper. Be careful not to leave it carelessly on your work station though. The cleaner may just mistake it for trash and throw it away! :P

When we finally managed to pry ourselves away from the shop, we headed over to another sub-district of Chinatown -- Ann Siang Street.
 

A board detailing the history of Ann Siang hill
 

Over at Ann Siang Street are more quirky shops like the one we saw at Amoy Street. Most of them are establishments that cater to a specific crowd. We found a shop that sells very small keychain cameras.
 

Ikimono Series 110 Camera by Japanese cult design house Superheadz
 

Do not be fooled by the smallness (or cutesiness) of it. It is a fully functional camera. It takes pictures using the old 110 format, which from what I understand, dates before our 35mm format of childhood days. I made some enquiries with the sales staff and was told that only a few places in Singapore will develop the 110 format, and if we do buy the camera, they will provide us with the addresses. The camera goes for anything between SGD20-SGD30, depending on the designs you choose, and the shop itself sells the 110 format films, which goes cheap at SGD9. They also have other shutterbug collectables for sale, like vintage cameras, toy cameras (like Holga), photography books, as well as the very hippy half-frame cameras that will set you back about SGD100-SGD200.

In the same shop, we found the Mimibot Starwar collectors' thumbdrives, a perfume named Burning Leaves that really smelled like burnt leaves, and lamps made from paper. I think I very nearly simultaneously combusted with excitement.
 

We then trotted into Style:Nordic, another whimsical place that sells clothes, European kitchenwares, and furnitures. We invited ourselves to the second floor and ohhhahhh over the beautiful pieces of furnitures (and the price too, my god!). And there was the iconic stool 60 by Alvar Aalto.
 

And there the owner (I guess?) of the place was cheerfully at work, who greeted us and bantered with us for a bit before continuing his work again. We were quite floored by the vast collection of wallpapers available, as well as the beautiful art screens.

Then there was Books Actually. And its huge collection of moleskin notebooks, vintage cameras, and old-school typewriters! The place houses a magnificent collection of books (good books) and there I was surprised to find out that Cyril Wong wrote short stories (The Boy With the Flower That Grew Out of His Ass).

Next, we found a shop that, from the outside, looks like any other clothing shops, except it also sells collectables designed by the widely popular Hongkong graphic designer and illustrator Carrie Chau.
 

One of Carrie Chau's Illustrations

There are postcards, purses, wallets, notebooks, bags, cardholders, what have you. And mind you, the stuff doesn't come cheap. Frankly, I wasn't as much drawn to the Wun Ying collections as I was to the art pieces that decorated the walls inside, such as this one:
 

 

Replica of Yue Minjun's work
 

I first had a glimpse of Yue Minjun's works when I walked past a gallery along Beach Road. And ever since, I couldn't stop staring at his works, and other similarly quirky contemporary Chinese art, like this pop artpiece by Wang Jing.
 

 

We then progressed to Club Street where I was delighted to find many restaurants and pubs. A very charming district I must go back to! Especially this place because it marries the two loves of my life -- food and film.
 

 

The Screening Room
 

Before we knew it, it was getting dark. We made our rounds to admire the ever so fascinating Scarlet Hotel (I wish I own the place!) with its odd red-black goth and array of Asian contemporary art pieces (yes, those quirky Chinese popart I so adore) that decorated the place, before crossing to Sago Street.
 

And then we were hungry.

 

And we went for german cheese sassages and home-baked onion buns at the ever popular Erich's Wuerstelstand.



It was very entertaining eating at the stand. We perched ourselves on the stools next to the stand and witnessed the following very amusing conversation between Erich and his customer.

Customer: "Where are you from?"

Erich: "Austria!"

Customer: "Oh I see!"

Erich: *waving his knife about* "AUSTRIA! Not Australia! Austria, no kangaroos!"

I imagine many people have mixed up the Central European country with our Southern neighbour. Sounds 'bout the same. :D