Singapore: Careful what you plan for...

One of the truly remarkable things about living in Singapore is that it is always changing.  Singapore is a very modern city, and one of the most remarkably well-ordered places I have ever visited, yet it still is a city/country very much in teh middle of a transformation.

Delightful Black Pepper Crab dish we were never able to share with friends and family

So it can be very tricky to plan anything like dinner at a particular restaurant, too far in advance.   Two cases in point.  Last year, we were planning for a visit from Claire's father and partner.  Now, Singapore is famous for its crab quisine, particularly chilli crab and black pepper crab, which are simply delicious.  Claire and I dined out at a local Singapore crab restaraunt that was within walking distance of home.  Everything that you could expec of a great meal.  And we thought, voila, too easy.  Next time we have a visitor from out of town, we walk them down to our local and treat them to a signature Singapore delight with out all the hassel of having to travel to the East Coast, or Dempsey or whereever.

So we were really put out when Claire's father visited to find out that the Friday before, the local crab restraunt shut down so the site could undergo redevelopent.

Just down the road from the defunct crab restraunt, is, or rather was, the famous Zion Road Hawker centre.  This Singapore icon is opposite the Great World Shopping centre and was famous in Singapore for one of hawker stalls that made char kway teow, a signature noodle dish of Singapore consisting of flat noodle, stir fried with soy sauce, pork sausage and seafood, including a very delicatly flavoured cockel.  Very unique, and very tasty.  I had told my friend Tony that this was a must try, because he had just moved into a new condominium in the area and I told him that this was a great place to eat.

Much to my surprise, within 3 weeks of him reporting back that the food there was very good, I discovered last weekend that the entire Hawler Centre has been closed down.  There is some major construction underway on the river bank adjacent the hawker centre.  It may be these works which resulted in the closing down of the place, or it may be a new development opportunity that is being undertaken   What ever the reason, is it a little disconbobulating to continutally have your plans and internal maps being continually rewritten by the whimsy of planning, development and redevelopment.

Coincidentally, I found out about the shutting down of the hawker centre when I was going for a ride.  There is a bike path that runs along the Singapore river from Queenstown to Marina Bay.  It was on this path that I was cycling when I found that it was blocked for construction and along with it the hawker centre was also made out of bounds.  This does happen quite regularly.  Just when you have a path sorted out for a bike ride or a run, circumstances will change and you need to reset your tracks.  Well, I guess the mental challenge could be good for preventing or delaying the onset of Alzheimers' but it does get a little exhausting sometimes.

"There'll be no diner here tonight".  World famous Zion Riverside food Centre is closed for renovation puting diners eating plans into dissaray.