Revisit Singapore Part 12: Katong Area and Esplanade

[Introduction]

I traveled to Singapore in late June for the first time in two years. In addition to famous tourist areas, I went around spots I have never been to before this time. While I have lived in Singapore for a year and half before, I find something new whenever I revisit Singapore. In this article, I will write about Katong area and Esplanade as part of Day 4.

[Visit Places (series of articles)]
* Day 1: Fly to Singapore with Scoot
* Day 1: Don Mueang International Airport
* Day 2: Raffles Marina
* Day 2: Chinese Garden
* Day 2: Tiong Bahru/Outram Park/Tanjong Pagar
* Day 2: Orchard Road Part1
* Day 2: Orchard Road Part2
* Day 3: Sentosa (Madame Tussauds/Merlion etc.)
* Day 3: Sentosa (Palawan Beach)
* Day 3: Sentosa (Cable car)/Henderson Waves Bridge
* Day 3: Chinatown
* Day 4: Katong area/Esplanade [This article]
* Day 4: Marina Bay Sands/Gardens by the Bay
* Day 4: Marina Barrage Part1
* Day 4: Marina Barrage Part2/Gardens by the Bay
* Day 4: Marina Bay Sands etc.
* Day 5: library@orchard etc.
* Day 5: Little India
* Day 5: Bugis
* Day 5: City Hall/Marina area & Return Home

[Travel Date]
2018.06.23-27

[Main Part]

Go to Katong Area

The fourth day of my Singapore trip started. To begin with, I will have breakfast at Grand Park City Hall where I stayed.

As I mentioned in the past articles (second day morning and third day morning), breakfast of Grand Park City Hall exceeded my expectation. In addition, a female staff showed great hospitality, so I was really pleased with the breakfast and service.

In the fourth day morning, I was going to Katong area where there were lots of Peranakan style shop houses.

I started to walk around Katong area from Koon Seng Road.

Actually, the shop house along Koon Seng Road was the most famous one in Katong area.

It was very colorful, wasn’t it?

Zoom up.

Here are photos at Joo Chiat Road, which runs north and south at Katong area.

I moved south along Joo Chiat Road and came to East Coast Road.

East Coast Road was a main street with two lanes each way and there were lots of commercial facilities including hotels and restaurants.

This was “112 Katong Mall”, a shopping complex.

Photos from a pedestrian overpass.

I was afraid it became cloudy.

Katong is famous for Laksa as its local food and I stopped by “328 Katong Laksa”.

I ordered “Katong Laksa”.

Abrupt Visit to Esplanade

I caught a taxi to move from Katong area to Marina area. I headed for Merlion park, but it started to rain. When I reached Marina area, the rain became to pour down. It was almost impossible to walk around Merlion park, so I changed the destination to Esplanade in order to escape from the heavy rain.

Esplanade, officially “Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay”, is an art performing facility opened in 2002. A variety of programs, from music and dance to theater, regularly take place in Esplanade.

There were lots of art works in Esplanade. Here are some photos.

Shopping Malls around Esplanade

There were several shopping malls around Esplanade and they were connected each other via underpass, so I will go around them.

First, the underpass itself was a shopping mall, called “CityLink Mall”.

In Singapore, there are a variety of Japanese restaurants.

This is “Suntec City”.

Various sightseeing tour buses arrive and depart from “Suntec City”.

For example, “Hop on Hop off bus”, open-top double-decker bus.

I also saw “Duck Tours” vehicles, but it seemed the tour was suspended due to heavy rain.

In addition, there was “Fountain of Wealth” in “Suntec City”.

The fountain is turned off and visitors are invited to walk around a mini fountain at the centre of the fountain’s base, three times for good luck. Around this time, only one visitor walked around the fountain due to the heavy rain.

This is “Marina Square”, a long-established mall since 1980s.

I will have a lunch at “Rong Hua Bak Kut Teh”.

In the restaurant.

I ordered “Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶)”.

Revisit Esplanade

I returned to Esplanade and dropped by “The library@esplanade”.

There was also an observation space “Roof Terrace”. It stopped raining around this time.

Visitors were able to enjoy views of “Marina Bay Sands” on the left and “Fullerton Hotel” on the right.

[Closing]

That’s it for the article about Katong area and Esplanade as part of Day 4.

Regarding Katong area, there are other locations where visitors can watch Peranakan shop houses in Singapore, but I think shop houses along Koon Seng Road are best in terms of colorfulness.

As for Esplanade, I just visited it due to the heavy rain, but found it was more attractive than I expected. I realized even if the weather was bad, travelers could find alternative ways to enjoy their travel 🙂

In the next article, I will write about Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay as part of Day 4.

[Map]
Katong area

1 Koon Seng Road
2 Joo Chiat Road
3 East Coast Road
4 328 Katong Laksa

Around Esplanade

1 Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay
2 Suntec City
3 Marina Square