west coast park

To get warmed up, I figured I’d write a little bit about our trip earlier today.

For those who don’t know, here in Singapore the Chinese New Year and the day after are official holidays. Unlike the other holidays mostly celebrated by minorities but we ah… we don’t really talk about that here.

Anyway, two days off! WooHoo!

Hadn’t had much time to spend with the Littlest Dictator, and Jenia recommended West Coast Park. Perfect!

It’ll probably be empty, I thought. I foolishly thought. How very wrong I was…

Lengthy queues for… MCDONALD’S. DEAR GOD…

And yes, it’s basically the only place here where you can get food… unless you’re in the mood to go fishing for your lunch.

Jenia said that the last time she saw queues like this here, she’d waited an hour.

I quickly glanced at the McCafe section and the queue was short! Managed to place an order fairly quickly.

Unfortunately, we had to settle for their… sandwiches. Look, they’re not horrible by any means… but if I had to choose between their burgers and these, I’d go for the damn burgers. Yep, that’s where they’re at.

They’ll do in a pinch or during the apocalypse, is what I’m saying

The Himalayan Tea Latte was pretty good though, as always.

We then moved onto the park!

OK fine, fine… it wasn’t like it was overflowing with people. Just many more than I expected. And more than what I prefer… which is close to zero.

The weather wasn’t too bad, and it kind of hovered between sunny and just about to rain, with the dark clouds over the water seemingly too shy to cross over. The wind wasn’t shy though, which made it quite nice.

The Littlest Dictator was so excited to play, and she’s at the age where she’s eager to make friends (and burp directly in my face, but that’s a different story).

As we all know, it can be hard to immediately join a group, or even hang out with someone you’ve never met before, you know? Especially for little kids still learning social skills.

So I… sucked it up, and made friends with a few other kids and we played for a while until it was time to go.

Oh and fortunately this time round, none of the other kids called me “daddy”, which happens occasionally. And it’s never been not creepy.

They were great actually, and even cheered her on at one point, which made her really happy and proud. Always a huge bonus.

Also, WHY DO I ALWAYS END UP BEING THE ONLY ADULT WHO PLAYS WITH THE KIDS.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I mind all that much, and I do like entertaining kids.

And watching The Littlest Dictator having fun, socialising and being part of the group is totally worth it no matter how tired I get. Every time.

But yeah, it’s EVERY. TIME. I get the feeling I’m on the receiving end of a long-running prank I’m unaware of.

Ah, you know what though? If it means she gets to have fun each time and feel great about herself, then bring it on.

Yeah, a pretty good day.

After another long week, we finally got our one day away from the Littlest Dictator.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter. But any parents who claim not to want a break from their baby are either lying or have already gone off the deep end. Kids will do that to you. They’re like those Velociraptors in Jurassic Park, and you’ve always got to be on your toes or you’re well and truly screwed. It gets exhausting.

Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, the day off. So we headed over to West Coast Park.

I had a rough idea of where it was, but didn’t know exactly how to get there. And I wasn’t going to use Google Maps because dammit, I used to cycle past it on the way to work four or five years ago and I don’t need a damn phone to tell me how to get there.

I totally needed my phone.

We reached there eventually after walking about maybe 30 mins from the Clementi Bus Interchange.

We had a sandwich at a Subway-like place, at an newly-refurbished old, three or four-storey building in an equally old neighbourhood.

The many “licensed moneylenders” and pawnshops made it a little bit depressing. Clementi is what property agencies call a “mature estate”, which means it’s been around for longer than most, and is relatively well-developed.

The old housing estates and low buildings with shops on the ground floor and apartments on the floor above have got a kind of charm. Brings back nostalgic memories for me. And some not-so-pleasant ones.

I grew up in a tiny two-bedroom apartment, and as the years went by, slowly realised that we were on the lower portion of the income scale. Not dirt poor by any means. But yeah, quite lacking in certain areas.

By the way, as we walked through the neighbourhoods to get to the park, it only occured to me to take pictures once we’d arrived. So ah, you’re just gonna have to use your imagination for now. Put all those Sesame Street hours to good use!

After walking for a while and wondering if we were lost, and ng refusing to check my phone because I’m a man goddammit, we finally arrived!

Beautiful place. So green and windy and bright. Last time I was there, all I could remember was some tiny boats tied near the shore and nothing much else. Hadn’t been there in more than 15 years.

I was quite pleasant surprised.

Looks like it’s windy often because there were quite a few people there flying kites. Maybe one day I’ll show the Littlest Dictator how to fly one.

Usually a trip to a park in Singapore is accompanied by massive amounts of swearing and feeling like a perpetually melting chocolate bar. But this time it was pretty good. Weather was just perfect.

And even on a Saturday, there weren’t many people.

Yea I wouldn’t mind heading back there at all.

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West Coast Park on the First Day of Chinese New Year

West Coast Park