How Singapore Moved Hindu Temples, Built Pioneer HDB Houses - stories in the Heritage Trail - Toa Payoh Temple heritage trail - Sri Vairavimada Kaliamman Temple

Singapore flag.

Singapore has a Chinese majority but also Malay and Indian (Tamil speaking) minorities. The four national languages are Chinese (Mandarin) English, Malay, and Tamil. You can see Indian temples in Little India but also a couple of other notable examples. Her's one in Toa Payoh South.

The Toa Payoh South temple looks as if it has been there forever. It's a surprise to discover that the temple was shifted around two or three times due to redevelopment of the land where it was first sited. Temples and heritage trails, as always,  a delight for the eye and the inner eye, one's mind.

Toa Payoh South Temple

http://singaporehindutemples.com/templelist/SriVairavimadaKaliamman/gallery.html

The Little India Temple

Not to be confused with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Veeramakaliamman_Temple near Farrer Park MRT on Serangoon Road.

Toa Payoh History

The Heritage trail booklet has fascinating accounts of life in the days before the first HDB (housing development board) blocks were built by the government. Doors were left open. Chickens were kept outside ground floor flats. Meat was for special occasions. 

When the housing was pioneered in the Sixties, the young man doing the town planning was told that twice as many people as he had expected were to be housed!

https://www.nhb.gov.sg/~/media/nhb/files/places/trails/toa%20payoh%20trail%20booklet%20full%20set-low%

Travel Tips

visitsingapore.com

Where To Find 24 hour McDonalds

Singapore has several 24 hour McDonalds brnaches. This one is a McCafe. At Springleaf Tower. My motorcycling friend says the Springleaf district is around Upper Thomson Road.

Another 24 hour McDonalds is at Toa Payoh near the library, on a corner. Also near the church, and the police station in the Community Club. Near Toa Payoh MRT station.

Beautiful blue colours

This housing complex is opposite Braddell MRT station in Singapore. The station is on the red north south line.Braddell is only four stops not of Orchard, the centre of Singapore. The station number on your MRT map is NS 18. Braddell is one stop north of Toa Payoh (NS19). Braddell is one stop south of Bishan (NS17, where you are able to change onto the orange Circle line. Three stops south of Braddell is Newton where you can change onto the blue Downtown line.

I-Rings Protecting Your Mobile Phone Are Great For Selfies

Problems
I saw an i-ring on the back of a girl's phone. I asked what it was for. She said it kept your phone upright on a desk so you could photograph yourself in a selfie or video yourself giving a speech. How much do they cost? She told me, under ten dollars (Singapore dollars) - mostly less than five dollars.

Stories
Buying Bargains
I was in Toa Payoh in the centre of Singapore, walked up and down the market stalls across the covered path from the shops, and found a seller who had one for five dollars. I walked away to see if I could find anything cheaper and shops were offering them for ten dollars which I knew from their other prices was high and for locals used to bargaining, unlike tourists, would be double to final agreed price. I eventually paid
three dollars forty cents and was pleased with my bargain.

However, I later saw them sold for two dollars in the rummage trays in a ground floor shop in Bukit Panjang at Bukit Panjang Plaza. (This used to be the main or only shopping mall. Now Hillion has opened across the road.

Where do you stick the i-ring? Does it matter? If you are using it to hold the phone by your finger, whatever feels comfortable.

If you are using it to keep your phone upright or rather diagonally on a desk top, you may want to experiment.

I went on the web looking for answers. Instead I found another brand's excellent site which led me on a detour.

One Hand Operation Of Phones
The brand is Flytrap and they are American. From their website I learned that there are many more uses for holding a mobile phone in one hand.

I used to place my phone on my lap when I got into a car and needed my left hand to shut the door. When I got out, the phone would fall onto the ground.

The website also solved a mystery about the costs and tracking of sending goods overseas. I used to buy a lot of goods on ebay. Some arrived overnight. Others disappeared for a month. The website explained all that. The dearer 'shippers' - noways mostly flying deliverers, offer tracking, which not only relieves stress, it give you comeback if an item goes missing.

Meanwhile I am looking at my two dollar ring. Where do I stick it?

Tips
All you need to know on:
https://shop.flygrip.com/collections/flygrip-gravity

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Seclusion, Cinnamon, Fruit flavour but little fruit in the McCafe

McDonalds in the USA and Singapore
I made a new friend and we both decided we wanted to have time to talk longer. My friend suggested 'McDonalds'. I used to be a devoted daily follower of McDonalds when we had a child under ten years old. One of the attractions was the free toy. This was more important to me than our son. I am a sucker for freebies. Afterwards my tastes progressed on to Burger King and when I first arrived in Singapore, after 6 months of trying to eat local I reverted to Burger King for hamburgers and Starbucks for coffee and water and found my mood much improved. (I might have had an allergy to MSG or have been suffering from dehydration, cured by going to American style outlets where it was OK to ask for or help yourself to water.)

Later, with family members recovering from cancer, in the UK and Singapore we were on a strict regime of lots of fruit and vegetables. We avoided processed foods. We had a preference for brown bread, seed bread, crackers, or, because I was on a calorie cutting diet, no bread.

However, when I'm eating with others I go with the flow. A little of what you fancy does you good, goes the old saying. For physical and mental health. So a little of people you fancy, friends, does you good.

Besides, McDonalds has inexpensive coffee, I thought.

McCafe
To my surprise my friend walked into the mall at Toa Payoh in Singapore, beside the MRT underground station, towards the McDonalds and then veered to a cafe on the right. It turned out to be the McCafe which I had heard about but not yet visited so I was keen to check out the prices and choices.

I'd been under the impression that it would be alongside the serving area of McDonalds, a different cashier, or on the opposite side of the room. I had not envisaged a separate unit with a cake display,like the established coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

I looked at the prices. Oops. Not the cheap coffee I expected at McDonalds. The coffees all seemed more or less the same price. My friend chose a capuucino so I opted for the same. It was served in a large solid cup with a pattern in the froth on top. My fired asked for tap water so I did the same.

I looked at the cakes and saw what purported to be three or four vairites of cheesecake. Strawberries mixed in - a marble effect, something brown, either chocolate or Oreo cookies. A solid orange was mango. That was my choice.

I must admit the mango, although flavoursome at first bite, was light like a mousse or blancmange. Although it had a nice solid biscuits base, and being on a diet I would not expect or complain that I wanted a larger slice, it was not the solid clotted cream and baked effect of New York style cheese cake I had always loved in Singapore.

My friend chose a cinnamon dessert. It looked a bit like profiteroles with small balls of dough covered in cinnamon. I have read that cinnamon has health benefits.

We chose a delightful table, behind the square bar, against the floor to ceiling window, wo we had the entertainment of watching passers-by outside, but nobody pushing past us so I didn't have to keep watching my bag and packets the whole time. I could concentrate on my friend and our conversation.

Looking back on it, I loved the seclusion of the tables for two at this particular venue. The tables were tiny. But I could put my bag on the floor against the window - not very hygienic, but at least nobody passing would have access nor would they fall over it.

Looking back on our food choices, I don't think I'd have the mango 'cake' again. Nothing cake-like about it, apart from the shape. It seems to me you have more chance of finding fruit or vegetables in the regular McDonalds than in the coffee shop. (Starbucks elsewhere served an apple.)

Would I go back? Yes.

I looked on TripAdvisor and could not find McCafe in To a Payoh listed. I googled McCafe To a Payoh and found a Singapore food site which listed all the McCafe branches and discovered that Toa Payoh has four. At this point I have to hunt through my stored receipts to locate the branch I visited. (I always keep receipts. If you leave behind a phone or lose your doorways or hat or gloves or anything else and need to ring around, it's so handy to have the phone numbers of everywhere you have visited, if only to phone and get a no luck and eliminate them from your list of places to check.


According to a reviewer who is regular customer, the McDonalds sometimes has free flow of coffee in the morning breakfast time.

I picked up a leaflet in McCafe offering a loyalty system which gives I free beverage with 5 stamps.
Visit
www.mcdonalds.com.sg/mccafedevotee

For reviews on local websites see:
hungrygowhere.com
goodfood.sg

McDonald's To a Payoh HDB Centre
490, Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
Number 01-11 (ground floor, unit 11)
Singapore 310490
tel:63972392

My bill says I had a Mango Cheesecake Set at S$6.50 and aM Cappuccino (MC) at 0.70 total 7.20.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Seclusion, Cinnamon, Fruit flavour but little fruit in the McCafe

McDonalds in the USA and Singapore
I made a new friend and we both decided we wanted to have time to talk longer. My friend suggested 'McDonalds'. I used to be a devoted daily follower of McDonalds when we had a child under ten years old. One of the attractions was the free toy. This was more important to me than our son. I am a sucker for freebies. Afterwards my tastes progressed on to Burger King and when I first arrived in Singapore, after 6 months of trying to eat local I reverted to Burger King for hamburgers and Starbucks for coffee and water and found my mood much improved. (I might have had an allergy to MSG or have been suffering from dehydration, cured by going to American style outlets where it was OK to ask for or help yourself to water.)

Later, with family members recovering from cancer, in the UK and Singapore we were on a strict regime of lots of fruit and vegetables. We avoided processed foods. We had a preference for brown bread, seed bread, crackers, or, because I was on a calorie cutting diet, no bread.

However, when I'm eating with others I go with the flow. A little of what you fancy does you good, goes the old saying. For physical and mental health. So a little of people you fancy, friends, does you good.

Besides, McDonalds has inexpensive coffee, I thought.

McCafe
To my surprise my friend walked into the mall at Toa Payoh in Singapore, beside the MRT underground station, towards the McDonalds and then veered to a cafe on the right. It turned out to be the McCafe which I had heard about but not yet visited so I was keen to check out the prices and choices.

I'd been under the impression that it would be alongside the serving area of McDonalds, a different cashier, or on the opposite side of the room. I had not envisaged a separate unit with a cake display,like the established coffee chains such as Starbucks and Costa.

I looked at the prices. Oops. Not the cheap coffee I expected at McDonalds. The coffees all seemed more or less the same price. My friend chose a capuucino so I opted for the same. It was served in a large solid cup with a pattern in the froth on top. My fired asked for tap water so I did the same.

I looked at the cakes and saw what purported to be three or four vairites of cheesecake. Strawberries mixed in - a marble effect, something brown, either chocolate or Oreo cookies. A solid orange was mango. That was my choice.

I must admit the mango, although flavoursome at first bite, was light like a mousse or blancmange. Although it had a nice solid biscuits base, and being on a diet I would not expect or complain that I wanted a larger slice, it was not the solid clotted cream and baked effect of New York style cheese cake I had always loved in Singapore.

My friend chose a cinnamon dessert. It looked a bit like profiteroles with small balls of dough covered in cinnamon. I have read that cinnamon has health benefits.

We chose a delightful table, behind the square bar, against the floor to ceiling window, wo we had the entertainment of watching passers-by outside, but nobody pushing past us so I didn't have to keep watching my bag and packets the whole time. I could concentrate on my friend and our conversation.

Looking back on it, I loved the seclusion of the tables for two at this particular venue. The tables were tiny. But I could put my bag on the floor against the window - not very hygienic, but at least nobody passing would have access nor would they fall over it.

Looking back on our food choices, I don't think I'd have the mango 'cake' again. Nothing cake-like about it, apart from the shape. It seems to me you have more chance of finding fruit or vegetables in the regular McDonalds than in the coffee shop. (Starbucks elsewhere served an apple.)

Would I go back? Yes.

I looked on TripAdvisor and could not find McCafe in To a Payoh listed. I googled McCafe To a Payoh and found a Singapore food site which listed all the McCafe branches and discovered that Toa Payoh has four. At this point I have to hunt through my stored receipts to locate the branch I visited. (I always keep receipts. If you leave behind a phone or lose your doorways or hat or gloves or anything else and need to ring around, it's so handy to have the phone numbers of everywhere you have visited, if only to phone and get a no luck and eliminate them from your list of places to check.

For reviews on local websites see:
hungrygowhere.com

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Chinese Decorations and Statues at Toa Payoh in Singapore

Toa Payoh is easy to get to, on the red North-south train line, only four stops north of Orchard (which is the central stop, the Piccadilly of Singapore). Here's the arch you see as you exit from the MRT (mass railway transit).

At the other end, walking towards the community centre, is a pair of amusing statue groups, next to Starbuck coffee shop.

If it rains, inside the indoor mall by the MRT are more decorations and the Popular book and stationery store, as well as Fairprice supermarket.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, writer, author, speaker.