Category: heritage

Tiong Bahru giant rooster

From the Cheekiemonkies and IG GingerbreadMum, we knew that some Godzilla giant roosters have reach epic proportions in Tiong Bahru!

We thought street art only exists in Penang, imagine our excitement when we embark on a mini treasure hunt for fowls and fishes.

Tiong Bahru’s huge animals are part of Tiong Bahru Festival, and the creative murals belong to Ernest Goh.

We pretend to play 老鹰捉母鸡, these roosters are definitely not on your KFC menu!
Tiong Bahru cock

Video : Big Roosters!

While hunting for Tiong Bahru giant animals, we are actually taking a walk down memory lane.

The alley ways, the rare spiral stairways and even the papaya trees along the corridors.
Then we can always spot a swanky 40 storey high-rise condo behind the conserved building. A new niche cafe, bookshop or eatery next to traditional Bak Ku Teh, or curry mixed rice.

There is a nice blend of old and new.

Old architectures unique to Tiong Bahru estate.

The iconic Community Center, with it’s bright red brick wall, resembles a fort.

Junior explorers, the stairways always appear dim and mysterious.

Old windows and walkways, some are air conditioned.
Map of big animals Tiong Bahru

Old Tiong Bahru, 中峇鲁 is built in the 1930s.

Hide & Seek among the bushes, even the rooster is playing concealment.

We spotted Papaya trees, herbs and laundry lines along some of the corridors. We can spot some of CBD’s skyscrapers in the distance.

You will notice that the whole Tiong Bahru estate has pockets of shades, thanks to plenty of trees and thick overhead foliage.
Heritage buildings Tiong Bahru

We will end our Tiong Bahru exploration with Guppies and Goldfish.

Guppies are hidden in the alley, watch them swim into the drains.

A life-like goldfish next to the post office.

Kids pop by some real arowanas before we head home.

We completed our treasure hunt of Tiong Bahru’s giant animals, kids jump for joy.

You must catch more Tiong Bahru Animal Murals at Instagram #tiongbahrufestival.

Videos : catch the cool Timelapse creation of the cocks (part 1 & 2)

We spend about two hours touring the quiet neighbourhood, hunting for the roosters and guppies. Timing includes 30min for meal time at Tiong Bahru market.

More tips about Tiong Bahru estate :
– Hunt for 10 Tiong Bahru Heritage
– WW2 Air Raid Shelter
– Wiki

* 3 roosters and 2 fishes in Tiong Bahru, grab the map from Cheekiemonkies blog
– More Tiong Bahru photos on our Fanpage

Chinese Garden Pagoda

The view from the top of Chinese Garden Pagoda is fantastic, it is windy too ! We are talking about the 7 storey Pagoda.

Video : Kids were running laps at the Pagoda and shouting at the top of their voice.

Anyway, we are on a tour of 4 iconic Towers or Pagodas in Singapore, starting with Upper Seletar’s Rocket.

Did you noticed the Pagoda kept hiding behind the trees? It is definitely a landmark for the neighbourhood. We always pass this Pagoda from our car or on the MRT, but it never occur to us that we should go up the Pagoda one day.

How tall is Chinese Garden Pagoda

The Pagoda is opened from 8am to 7pm. Did we mention that you have to scale the spiraling steps up to the roof?

You will hear the kids’ echoes down the stairway, giggling and laughing as they hop up the steps. We seldom see these type of steps in Singapore.
can we climb up Chinese Garden pagoda

Trust us, the view from the top is worth the perspiration.

These are the other icons around the garden.

Chinese Garden is not exactly big, but maybe because there is lesser crowd, kids got vast space to run and explore.

They can choose to go slow, catch some tortoise or feed the carps too (Ticketed exhibit).

Perhaps Hide and Seek in the bamboos?

Tons of photo opportunities all around.

Bollywood casting ?

Be it hopping across the pond on big boulders..

.. or throwing pebbles at the smaller Pagodas. We had so much fun!

Kids trying to spot more fishes under the bridge.

Do pop by our Fanpage album for more photos.

There are 4 Heritage towers in Singapore, and we have already covered :
– Upper Seletar Rocket
– Chinese Garden Pagoda (this post)

Daddy wondered whether the hexagonal bridge at Toa Payoh garden is still around?

Next on our list :
– Toa Payoh Garden Tower
– Jurong Hill Tower

Additional information :
– Entry to Chinese Garden is free, some exhibit might require tickets
– The Pagoda is opened from 8am to 7pm
– If you like Chinese Garden, we suspect you will like Japanese Garden next door
– More details about these two gardens can be found here
– Chinese Garden is 5 min from Chinese Garden MRT

Although we call it Chinese Garden, we see more Filipinos and Indians, Singaporeans are all hiding in JEM or ice-skating at Jcube?