Local Tourist: Seah Street

Last Tuesday I met Elly for lunch - you might remember her from the last installment of Local Tourist - and she brought me on an impromptu mini-tour of this area, which is tucked away behind Raffles Hotel.

We had lunch at a coffee-shop on the corner of Seah Street which serves one of the best cups of teh-ci (tea with evaporated milk) I've ever drunk. It was so good that we simply had to go back for a second cup later in the afternoon.

Most of these photos were taken in and around Actually... and Supermama, which are both on Seah Street.



Little whimsical details along the stairs leading up to the two shops





I love how quirky these shops are and how the items they stock feel like they've been thoughtfully chosen and arranged.





Using their store signage for a photo op



It was a blazing hot day so we ended off our tour with some icy Chinese dessert at Liang Seah Street.



A bit of historical trivia: This area (including Beach Road & Middle Road) was where the Hainanese settled when they first arrived from China in the 1850s and the Singapore Hainan Society is still located on Seah Street today.

(photos from my Instagram feed)

City Tour

Surprise May Day post! My apologies for the long radio silence. Real life has been taking up all my time lately, now that I'm Gainfully Employed.

These photos are from my last day in Ho Chi Minh City. The architecture in the city is so diverse that it's possible to see grand, French-style buildings, shiny new skyscrapers and lively shop-houses all on one street. Many of the historical buildings are in District 1, within walking distance of one another, so we managed to visit them all in just half a day.

City Hall / Saigon Opera House / Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica /
a photogenic building / phone-booths














My favourite building: the Central Post Office. I couldn't stop admiring its interior decor!










The Reunification Palace: This place is stuffed FULL of history. Every tile, every curtain, every speck of dust has a story to tell. Okay, maybe not, but there's really so much to see in this building, with its underground war rooms, secret lift and rooftop helipad (and old-school typewriters!).