Amidst the grand plan for a global city called Singapore is the small neighbourhood of Tiong Bahru, a place I like to go home to one day. Text and Photos by Justin Zhuang

Ever since I first stepped into Tiong Bahru a few years ago I’ve dreamt of owning a home there one day. Why? For very ‘Singaporean’ reasons. It is convenient to get to because it is near not one, but two MRT stations. I can easily find good food as there is a famous hawker centre in the heart of the neighbourhood. And, most importantly, Tiong Bahru is small – just like Singapore.

Compared to my current neighbourhood of 12-storey HDB blocks in Hougang, coming home to Tiong Bahru feels like I’ve entered Lilliput. Here, I don’t have to walk 5 minutes away to see my block in its entirety. I just look up and I can see lots and lots of blue sky stretching beyond the four-storey colonial blocks. As I stroll along the street, I hear the buzzing from television programmes and the clattering of mahjong tiles behind the curtains of residents’ homes instead of a silent void deck. And, when I walk past the back of homes, I’m not overshadowed by towering blocks, but welcomed by the smells and sounds of dinner in the making.

Yes, this is how small Tiong Bahru is, but it sure makes me feel big.

Singapore, the city, is small too – just a little red dot – but it has never stopped wishing it were ‘bigger’. Reclaiming land from the sea, digging underground bunkers, building skyscraper housing – this constant pursuit to expand is as if Singapore is saying being small means being inadequate.
But, what’s wrong with being small? Some may like the feeling of being on top of the world, but I very much prefer to have my feet on the ground. That’s how I feel whenever I walk through Tiong Bahru. I slow down to admire the messy but homegrown gardens. I peek into the residents’ homes to catch a glimpse of an Ah Ma cooking or an uncle sitting outside his kitchen. Along the back of homes, I spy cats lazing on the sidewalks, purring for some attention. The small and intimate size of the neighbourhood makes me feel like I’m a part of it, and not a dwarf amongst the skyscrapers.

Ironically, a small Tiong Bahru is also a big problem for me ever getting to live in there. As the rest of Singapore develops, the cost of getting a home in such a prime neighbourhood is ever-growing sky high. It’s the economic price of staying small – this is why Singapore had to develop to what it is today, to avoid becoming so expensive, we’re so often reminded.

But a home has never been just about how cheap it costs. It’s also about the people living in the neighbourhood, the environment it is in, and the place it has become – all the small things that continue to make Tiong Bahru my dream home.

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