We went to 东风发 at Maxwell Food Centre for chicken rice (forget 天天, it’s over-hyped). After dinner, we decided to take a sightseeing stroll at Temple Street and Chinatown.

We saw miniatures of lion dance props, Chinese paintings, calligraphy and drawn fans, jade jewellery, cheongsams, embroidered shoes - a whole condensed world of the Chinese culture. I was sorely tempted to get a pair of the exquisitely embroidered cloth shoes but where on earth would I wear them to? LOL.

There was a shop in the old “Sei Yan Gai” (死人街）where there were very nostalgic pictures of olden Singapore on display. I bought a few to be framed up and displayed at home - in line with our decor theme of vintage nostalgia.

So nostalgic

Old Collyer Quay

Old North Bridge Road

Old Singapore River

Old Dhoby Ghaut

On a small table, small “wood clay” animals made by the owner were displayed for sale. He also sells the wood clay powder at S$5.00 a packet for home crafts. He explained that the wood clay is made from wood powder and we just need to add two parts powder and one part water to make dough. Basically you can add colour to the dough to make playdough. To prevent it from drying out and hardening, just keep it refrigerated in a plastic container or bag. To make an ornament or craft item, just fashion and sculpt when wet and leave for 1-2 days to dry out and harden completely.

The children being the usual inquisitive sponges that they are, gathered around him to 偷师. He very gamely started to teach my girls how to craft a hand, dog, and other ornaments out of the wood clay. Seeing that the kids are having such a ball, I bought a packet for them to do their thing at home.

The children are dolls. They insisted for making something for me.

Ger’s bear “pen holder” for me

Gean’s bear for me. She is waiting for it to dry before she paints it.

Bringing the children for a free “heritage tour” of Chinatown and spending a quiet evening doing crafts with them - these are a few of the simple things that we enjoy and which gave us much happiness.