Friday 20 June 2014

Singapore: A day for sketching

The sketching day started on top of the Chinatown Complex car park which provided a superb view of the morning's laundry activities in the purple and white Kreta Ayer Heights HDB block. I should come back at the weekend where there will be even more pants and socks on display. 

I strolled through the market to New Bridge Street for a hasty scribble at the Art Deco building which belongs to the Poon Yue Association. Once the sun comes over the roof, there is no shade, so to avoid turning into a pork scratching, I wandered a few paces to the People's Park complex for a third scribble.

Although I was out of the sun, the humidity in the pedestrian bridge meant that that moist patches appeared on the paper from dribbles of sweat. Sometimes I disgust myself.

The last sketch of the day was in Keong Saik Road where the Tong Ah Eating House has re-opened as the 'Potato House' bar and restaurant. No more kaya toast, runny soft boiled eggs and luke warm coffee - it now includes a burger bar, a lounge called Studio 1939 and a rooftop garden. Just what the area needed.

A very nice lady stopped to chat as she descended from a taxi and told me to go inside to look at the decoration which is the work of the Australian artist David Bromley.

As I was soaked in sweat, I decided to leave that for another occasion. I was hot, clammy, hungry and thirsty but I'd had another lovely day pottering around Chinatown.

Tomorrow, I have plans to sketch from the top of the Pinnacle on Duxton Hill.

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