Breakfast, Neighbourhood and A Shoot

Up at sunrise to explore the neighbourhood and find somewhere to have breakfast. This whole area is home to the most beautiful decorative traditional Malay Chinese, otherwise known as Peranakan houses. Typically two storey and featuring large French windows often with storm shutters on the upper level. These are ornately decorated with tiles, coloured glass and decorative finishes to the posts and arched lintels. Every house is a different colour but mostly tending towards pastel in tone.

We make our way to the Dunman Food Centre where at this time of day, before 8am, only a few of the food stalls are open but that’s all we need for our first breakfast in Singapore. We have chicken rice and chicken rice porridge before Richard samples a prawn vadai and we both finish with coffee on condensed milk.

On our way back to our room I decide to call in to a small temple I had seen earlier and then feeling adventurous I seek out the Intan. This is a unique property housing an incredible private collection of mostly Peranakan ephemera. I know about this place because the owner, like me, was once a Heygo guide and I hope to be lucky enough to catch him there and free to see me. On finding the address I encounter two women waiting out front and get talking to them. It turns out that they are from the Singapore Tourism Board and they are here because they have connected Alvin with a film crew from Vietnam who are inside at this moment in the middle of a shoot. On explaining my connection they invite me to be part of the documentary they are filming. They really just want me to interact with Alvin as he describes the house and collection. What fun!Read more