Petain Street, Singapore

I love the Shop Houses in Singapore. This is Petain Street in the Little India area - a row of 18 ornate terrace houses built in 1916 on what used to be swamp land.

Indian-style stucco pillars and chinese symbols in the bas-relief plasterwork depicting animals, including rabbits and peacoks or flowers

Beautiful spanish floral tiles. I'd love these in my bathroom at home!

The full beauty of the tiles surrounding the windows

A sky scraper menacingly towers over its old neighbours!

The architecture is a blend of European, Malay, Indian and Chinese influences with carved wooden eaves which are apparently found in Malay houses, classical-inspired columns and pilasters

The architecture is termed Singpaore eclectic or Chinese Baroque. I love the stained glass too!



The decorative facades reminded me of delicious royal icing piped onto cakes!

Great care has even been taken crafting the iron work above the doors

Hard to believe that these houses, typical of 1920's architecture, have survived and are located on a busy road surrounded by modern sky scrapers!

Thank you to Theres more to Singapore for signposting this street and sharing the information. They have also described other interesting walks in Singapaore that are worth reading about on their blog.  

 

 

Upcycled world map table!

I recently visited one of my favourite shops: Stanfords travel book shop in Covent Garden. I love their giant map floor covering and globes! I'm soon off to Vietnam, so tested the water in advance! 

When I returned home, I noticed my tired old coffee table sat in the corner of the room....

...and thinking about my Stanfords trip, I was inspired to give it a more contemporary look!

I love a bargain! I sourced a sample paint pot for £1 and set about painting the table! 

Next, I glued an old map to the table top and covered the piece with a protective coat of varnish.

Finally, I added felt circles to the table feet to make it less noisy!

My newly upcycled map table! A modern take on a globe!



Detail of the coffee table!

 

Zurich highlights!

Confiserie Sprüngli

Paper shoes and shirts in the Louis Vuitton shop window

Bally mirrored shoe silhouette window display

A colourful sculpture near Lake Zurich

07.00 start for The Ironman

Giant duty-free Nutella jars!

morning coffee at Sprüngli

My favourite chair

Confectionery moulds

Freight containers forming the Freitag store mini skyscraper

Just a dress I loved in a the window of a shut shop

Music travels!

My great grandfather, Hymie Goodman (H.G), enjoyed travelling. I am now taking care of his collection of monogrammed leather suitcases. As handsome as they are, especially when I've just polished them, they are a little too small for all my paraphernalia! So they now live in Ealing, housing my DVDs!

I spied these silver suitcases in a pub at St Pancras train station. From one extreme to another...

Mahaco!

I love Arab Street in Singapore. It is lined with shophouses and fabric boutiques offering an amazing selection of magnificent textiles, including these lush raw silks, purchased at Mahaco (nbr 51), all for a fraction of the price one would pay in the UK. It was a gorgeous experience just browsing through the piles of artistically displayed, exquisite materials, trimmings and all things haberdashery. It even put John Lewis and Liberty to shame!

Ouch!

Whilst strolling along Little India in Singapore, we stumbled across a procession which celebrated the Hindu festival of Thaipusam. Shaven head devotees take part in a pilgrimage in January, on the day of the full moon, whilst undertaking various acts of devotion.

A common act is the "mortification of the flesh" by piercing the skin, tongue and cheeks with "vel" skewers, which are symbolic of the spears that were used to fight off evil spirits. Although it looked incredibly painful and some piercings were bleeding, it was a colourful and interesting spectacle!

Din Tai Fung or McDonalds?!

In the UK, dining outlets in shopping malls are often fast food joints. In Singapore, it's a very different story. I was lucky enought to be taken to Din Tai Fung, a dim sum restuarant that was in the basement of a retail centre. The food was just gorgeous!

  

The kitchen was on full view to the customers and watching the steamed dumplings being produced was pure theatre; an art form in itself and all part of the culinary experience! Chefs resembled surgeons wearing masks and white uniforms!

The speed at which they created the dim sums was also amazing.

A far cry from McDonalds!

Meanwhile at one of the Hawkers in Singapore,

this chap was busy making delicious "Curry puffs".

Ku Dé Ta (Our bar!)

During a gorgeous holiday in Singapore recently, I adored the architecture, ranging from colonial shophouses to daring feats of engineering. My favourite building was one of the newest additions to the landscape - the iconic Marina Bay Sands resort, a hotel complete with a sky park balanced on the top of 3 towers, 57 floors high!

It's hard to believe that this impressive building is built on reclaimed land. 

The park is home to an infinity pool, a restaurant and a bar.

The interior views are impressive with an Antony Gormley sculpture suspended in the atrium.

The Ku Dé Ta bar provided the most amazing backdrop at sunset for cocktails!