A Surprise!
Following up from yesterday’s post, caught snooping around with the camera outside Betel Box, we were warmly invited by the staff to take photos of the interior of the hostel. They had lovely hand painted wall murals of Joo Chiat.
And then, the friendly staff said, “And you must check out the toilet!”
And ta-dah! This was what we found!
A toilet wallpapered with the paranormal views of Joo Chiat Road. Pretty isn’t it? With such a delightful hostel, I wish that I was backpacking around Singapore.
Exiting the toilet, on hearing that we were doing a project on Joo Chiat, the hostel owner, Tony, invited us to sit in on a social gathering that he was having with a group of Joo Chiat residents/entrepreneurs.
Curiosity beckoned, and we crept into the meeting room, the gathering had started some time ago and they were in the midst of viewing a video from Channel News Asia introducing Tony and his business. Other than opening the Betel Box hostel, he also operates The Real Singapore Tours. Instead of the usual tourist attractions, he brings people to experience the ‘real Singapore, where the real Singaporeans live’. Other people talking about their exploits are the creators behind CityScoops and Urban Explorers. Dawn, one of the creators behind CityScoops, said that in their explorations of Singapore, without any idea of a destination, they would simply take the first bus that came and see where it led them to. Getting lost in wonderful places that they never knew existed, they found many things they never knew of Singapore. And for Urban Explorers, a group of friends who went places that ‘you normally wouldn’t want to go’, quoting Azy’s words and documenting these places. He showed a video they filmed of an exploration.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150496818132440&set=vb.134240099958563&type=2&theater
Guess where this place is? You would NEVER guess where this is. Not Johor, not Pulau Ubin, it’s at Sentosa! No one could ever have guessed!
It was a real delight, but we had to leave halfway through to continue our exploration of the sleaze of Joo Chiat (check the photos from the previous post).
As we continued to wander along the streets of Joo Chiat, we encountered several walk-in condominiums. Here is a picture of a new walk-in condominium under construction.
These walk-in condominiums, along with the meeting we just attended (someone commented that everyone at the meeting was below the age of 45), tell of the changing demographics along the stretch of Joo Chiat.
According to government regulations, only married couples are eligible to purchase HDB flats. Singles above the age of 35 are only allowed to buy resale flats. Hence, young singles who want to be independent and live on their own are limited to private housing. Walk-in condominiums are popular among singles as they are small (one doesn’t require too big a house when living alone) and they are affordable as well. Young couples, with no plans to build a large family in the near future also favour these walk-in condominiums, which offer the luxuries of private housing on a limited budget. Another group that walk-in condominiums are popular with are also single expats. In fact, previously, out of the small gathering of slightly more than ten, three were foreigners.
The emergence of walk-in condominiums along Joo Chiat is attracting the young independents to the area. And this may lead to a change in the culture of the area.
The food industry will continue to prosper, as these young generations tend to eat out. The area will also see the appearance of hang out joints for these people to chill and relax after work or during the weekends. Places such like Everything With Fries, Awfully Chocolate, My Lovebites, and 112@Katong. Probably, a horde of entrepreneur start-ups as well, such like the gathering that we had accidentally stumbled upon. And the startings of some highbrow artistic culture (refer to High Culture?).
DATE: Thursday, March 22, 2012
TIME: ||12:49 AM ||