End of a chapter for Sungei Road

Freeze Ice Bridge (Kek Sng Kio) or Sungei Road literally started in 1930 it is a rent-free hawking area and the largest and oldest in Singapore. It makes its name in the early days as a place to trade stolen or smuggled of illegal or pirated goods hence the name Thieves Market they deal in all kinds of stuff which old, used or new household items and some even deal in power tools. I used to visit those shop dealing in motorcycle decals and accessories which was a hit during the 70s illegal for all hell-riding activities. The markets come alive during the weekend and public holiday and attracted local and tourists alike to explore one of Singapore pastime attraction. Everything comes to an end when the Government announced the site acquired for building the Downtown Line MRT Station called Jalan Besar instead of Sungei Road or Thieves Market.

Arab Street toward Lavender Street

Lies at the corner of Arab Street and Victoria Street is the new location of the Stamford Primary School whose original site is at Waterloo Street, next to is the Madrasah Aljunied Islamiah, Jalan Kubor Muslim cemetery which next to the Malabar Mosque. Hotel Boss is another new addition to Victoria Street along with the Immigration & Checkpoint Authority Building with ELD Training Centre as its neighbour.

Still galloping at Two Horse Road

This is St. Joseph Church is a Roman Church at 143, Victoria Street standing next to Victoria Hotel and Grand Pacific Hotel and was built in 1906 till 1912.

This is the Bugis Village Building from the Victoria Street runs through Rochor Road now manage by Capitaland.

This building was once the Queen Street Community Centre sitting behind the Bugis MRT Exit now incorporate with the Downtown Line.

 

Xiao Po - Two Horse Road

Explore Victoria Street are full of old-time favourite building such as Victoria Hotel and next door is the former New Hongkong Hotel now renamed Grand Pacific Hotel, the opposite is the evergreen of Bain Street Bras Basah Complex 

Walking down Victoria Street

Victoria Street (Xiao Po) begins from the junction of Stamford Road right up to the junction of Lavender Street. Along the way, there are lots of old building but sadly they are disappearing soon due to urban redevelopment and the earliest building was the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, Covent of the Infant Jesus (Chijmes) I remember vividly I used to travel with my late mother one building stood at the corner of Bras Basah Road with Victoria Street called in Hokkien language (Teck Kok Seng Ong) which translate as a German Pharmacy, our mode of transport was the one-time famous pirate taxi plying the street, they will use to promote their fare, Xiao Po, 20 cents Toa Po 30 cents fast forward now we have the Taxi, Grab, Gojek for our convenience.

Kampong Bugis

Bugis which was commonly referred to as Xiao Po (小坡; little Slope) and was internationally known in the 1950s to 1980s for its gathering of transvestites and transsexual and know by others as Peh Soa Pu in Hokkien or Bai Sha Fu in mandarin  (白沙浮; white sand mounds). Beside Bugis MRT, there is Bugis Junction, Bugis Street Market (recreated from the former Albert Street), Bugis+, Bugis Cube, Village Hotel Bugis and so on.

Bugis Junction - Victoria Street (Two Horse Road)

It was built from the site of our former Bugis Street (Hak Kai), Malay Street, Hylam Street and Malabar Street bound by Victoria Street, Rochor Road, North Bridge Road and Middle Road. At that time it was known as Parco Bugis Junction and later renamed Bugis Junction. It is a commercial building with Offices, a Shopping Mall and Intercontinental Hotel

Along Victoria Street directly opposite our old Bugis Street stood Blanco Court with shops and a food centre together with some HDB flats in that vicinity and also a Community Centre before the construction of our Bugis MRT Station. When the plan was announced Blanco Court was evicted and the flats demolished to make way for the new development of our MRT, Blanco Court was converted and renovated into a private hospital named Raffles and the vacant plot was awarded to Raffles Group to build the new Raffles Specialist Centre.