Venturing into Old Singapore - Margaret Drive (and Food Centre!)

For those who don't know, despite being called "@Holland", Viz is situated in the Queenstown area, and Queenstown has a long history in Singapore's development into the modern city state it is now. Queenstown is known for many 'firsts' - first branch library, first satellite town, first HDB flats, first neighbourhood shopping complex. And many of these are still in existence along Margaret Drive.



If you turn into Margaret Drive from Queensway (heading past McDonalds and the Esso Station), you'll see a part of Singapore that has yet to be redeveloped (although that will happen in 2010 when the Selective En-bloc Redevelopment Scheme tears down the remaining old HDB blocks to make new pigeon holes). Already the newer Dawson Place HDB blocks and Dawson 21 estate (designed by WOHA architects) have modernised the area, erasing some of the prominent histories of the area.

You can read the history of Queenstown here. This links to the Heritage Trails site, which contains a lot of information about specific locations in Queenstown and Margaret Drive.

Here's some interesting points that remains there, at least until the bulldozers and developers come, destroying the past in the name of modernity (and greed):

• Block 6C is I believe still occupied (about 50%) but it has a subculture that's developed over the years - skateboarders would train and learn there outside the Go Sports shop, one of the remaining shops in the block. You can find skateboarders of all races hanging out there. You can read about that here.
• Opposite 6C is an area long abandoned. You can spot a lone fire hydrant near the 'jungle', abandoned stone table-tennis table, and some stone benches.
• Going further in, the left side houses a Foreign Workers' Dormitory. Previously it was Queenstown Polyclinic.
• Opposite the dormitory is the Margaret Drive Food Centre, two stories of stalls, although quite a number of them are no longer occupied. There are some notable stalls here, in particular:
• Famous Char Kway Teow - This guy's stall has a damn long queue that starts as early as 5pm and lasts till 9-10pm (until his kway teow runs out). He cooks each order individually, hence the long queue. Yet people will queue up and wait, and wait. You can read a review of it here.
• Poh Piah - Featured as one of the 4 best poh piah stalls in Singapore, you can find this humble stall on the ground floor facing the carpark area. You can read a review of it here.
• On the side row as the Char Kway Teow is a You Char Kway stall, that sells deep fried banana balls, Ham Chee Peng, Butterfly can't-remember-the-name roll etc. They close early too, so take note. You can read a review of it here.
• Finally on the upper floor is a famous chicken rice stall, which also has a long queue of regulars. You can read it's review here.
• Finally, there's the western stall (same row as the Char Kway Teow stall), which have regulars frequenting it.
• Diagonally across the road is the National Library Queenstown Branch. For those of us staying in Viz where space for books can be a premium, there's nothing better than using the library to borrow books to read. Secondhand books are practically worthless in Singapore anyways, so visit the Library which stocks new and old books. New books can be 'ordered' from other libraries or 'reserved', such as Dan Brown's Lost Symbol (which we finally received notice that it's arrived at Queenstown... after almost 5 weeks' wait!).
  
• Across from the Queenstown library is a multistory carpark. Situated WITHIN the car park is the NTUC Fairprice, which will not be visible from Margaret Drive. You need to drive or walk in to spot this secluded supermarket. Still, it's the closest supermarket to Viz (aside from the more upmarket Cold Storage at Holland V). However, note that the fresh meat variety (and freshness) can be limited at this NTUC.
  
• Jalan Penjara, across from the multistorey car park, houses the now-empty Queenstown Remand Prison, a golf driving range, a spa, a restaurant for tourists, and a carpark area that was converted for use by remote-controlled car hobbyists. These have since moved out.
• If you go further down Margaret Drive, past Dawson Road on your right, you will eventually reach the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) Centre, which houses a 2nd hand thrift shop which both sells, and accepts, 2nd hand items. If you have any, feel free to drop by the shop. Do take note of the opening hours - Tues and Thurs from 1030-3pm. Shop sells clothing, accessories, household items, toys, books. "Good as New Charity Shop" 800 Margaret Drive, Tel 74641043. They are looking for household and electrical items in particular.
  
• And for those who prefer the New and the Modern, you can read about the new developments at Dawson here.

Do feel free to explore a part of Singapore most Singaporeans would not bother to venture to nowadays, preferring the glitz and shine of Orchard Road to the memories of Margaret Drive.

Tags: viz @ holland, viz holland, viz@holland, holland, queensway, margaret drive, old singapore