Vintage Flea Market and LAKSA (!) @ Katong!

Hey everyone!

This week we are back with a trip to Katong, a neighbourhood known for its famous Perenakan-style food and culture! We visited this unique location because we were alerted to a vintage flea market in that area, and decided to check it out! We had with us our new SLR 670s (using Impossible Project’s 600 Colour film) and a nifty digital camera, the Carbon One Mini, which exterior replicates the Polaroid Onestep!

Visiting Katong

Our impression of Katong was shaped by the ‘old’ and ‘new’ interacting in this small but affluent neighbourhood. Rows of shop-houses were interspersed with modern housing, and unlike some estates which are fully modernised (like Punggol), Katong has many plots of lands on which many having been plying their trade for the longest time. For instance, we chanced across a huge floral garden:

photo_2017-03-12_23-04-17 — Amazing how this bougainvillea has so many flowers with different colours!

photo_2017-03-12_23-04-13 — Catching Damian catching flowers!

Having reached at lunch, we decided to check out the famous 328 Katong Laksa, of which we had only tried at their franchised outlets. Here, we could taste the distinctiveness of the laksa gravy, which had more coconut milk and thus more fragrant. It can be surprising how a bowl of noodles with only prawns and fish cake can be so appetizing!

A good meal for lunch! Can you spot the Carbon One Mini?

After our lunch, we headed for the flea market, which was located at a new shopping mall, Katong Square.

Image (22)d — Atop an overhead bridge, one can see the ‘old’ (the shop-houses on the left) and the ‘new’ (which is everything else, really). It’s really gracious of the government to retain these heritage sites and buildings, lest we should forget our roots!

The facade of Katong Square is now occupied by restaurants; but in the olden days, it used to be a police station.

We arrived at the flea market, wondering what was in store; we weren’t to be kept waiting, because the shop carts were perched outside, displaying the stock of old:

Many antiquities were put up for sale, such as vinyl records and jewelry!

This shop had many interesting trinkets, including some old binoculars, card holders and lighters.

We found a booth selling Polaroid cameras and various types of films (instax mini and Impossible Project)!

We were intrigued by this shop’s wares, which included the familiar SX-70, a mint Argus c4 film camera, several typewriters, and a very worn out stapler made in the 1800s!

had to capture the iconic Peranakan-themed shop-houses, with its stylistic exterior.

Image (22)b — Testing the SLR 670s indoors: since the aperture is pretty small (f/8), steady hands are needed!

Image (22)a — Heading our way back home, we captured a block of flats at Dakota… which may be familiar because we definitely wrote about our experience there!

photo_2017-03-12_22-56-02 — Our cameras which were well-utilised: the Polaroid SX-70, modified to become the Mint SLR 670S, the imitator in shape (but unfortunately not quality) Carbon One Mini and the untouched, original Polaroid Cube!

Katong is definitely a lovely neighbourhood to visit, and we are sure there will be hidden gems in this quaint location; we will definitely return for more in the future!

Till next time,

Damianwithsandra