Itaewon @ Singapore

Hubby braved the traffic and came to Singapore over the Hari Raya and Singapore National Day long weekend. We made plans with friends to go over to Bintan for a short getaway a couple of months ago. However, some stuff happened and I needed to pull the trip. Felt really bad about that, especially towards the two friends who were looking forward to the trip (and of course, we too). However, sometimes in life when we could not duplicate ourselves, family really needs to come first.

Any case, this lead to me becoming the local guide when hubby was here.

And I am really a bad guide. I am not one to party, not one very into food, not one very into shopping, basically not one very into getting out of home.  I blame that on internet; I can virtually be almost anywhere, anytime with the click of the button.

So I decided he would just go where I wanted to go! We made a trip to Kinokuniya before we made our way to Albert Centre Market & Food Centre; I wanted hubby to try Singapore's version of Rojak. I am always telling him how different it is from Malaysia's version. And bohoo! Forgotten totally about it the minute we stepped in the food court. Thereafter, we shopped in Bugis Village briefly before we made our way to Arab Street and Haji Lane area. My intention was to check out the fabric shops, and we were so surprised to find "Itaewon"!

Street art lines plenty of the wall and it made the entire street lively and colorful. Some of the areas are the back alley of shop houses. With the art decorating the wall, the area practically becomes a gallery. There are a lot of cafés, especially middle east themed cafés. People were enjoying their drinks and chatting within the groups in the lazy afternoon.

As we strolled down, another pleasing sight greeted us.

Further down the lane, there were plenty of shops for browsing and buying. Some were selling accessories, some were selling clothes, one was even selling bicycles from Japan!

Frankly, the shops were not selling stuff that are extremely interesting or very different from what we would find from shops in the malls. But what really differentiated them was the way they themed their shop, and their attention to details. Their efforts made the shopping a lot more visually pleasant and when almost every shop along the lane did their part, the entire experience was totally different.

Besides the middle east themed cafés, there are of course alternatives available.

The uniqueness and the atmosphere reminded us totally of Itaewon in Seoul. The randomness, the shop houses, the attention to details, the pacing, except for the weather, haha! 

But of course, this is right in the city of Singapore!